Again, IKON crowding is a real thing out west. Not just in Utah, but Palisdes and a lot of resorts in CO.
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The ALTERRA SUCKS Thread
- Thread starter thetrailboss
- Start date
x10003q
Active member
There is a big difference.
Alterra only can eff with the 18 resorts Alterra owns out of roughly 77 resorts on the Ikon pass.
Vail can eff with all 69 of their resorts.
Just because they dont outright own them doesn’t mean they can’t pull their partner resorts arms to force decisions if they feel inclined.
slatham
Well-known member
Highly unlikely.
urungus
Well-known member
Example ?
They do.
x10003q
Active member
What can Alterra do to Boyne or Killington that matches what is happening at Wildcat or Hunter, for example?
Well now you’ve moved the goalposts. The question that you initially posed was what can Alterra do to partner resorts. Not how can they negatively impact operations. But my point would be that they discourage partners from restricting IKON access (i.e. reservations, etc.) IKON and EPIC both cause crowding. But Wildcat and Hunter are Vail controlled and many disagree with the operational issues.
A better apple to apple comparison might be Solitude and Sugarbush. Both have been subject to some operational limitations (not as extreme as Wildcat). And both have not had the same level of capital improvements as folks might have hoped.
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As I said, discouraging restricting IKON access or implementing some crowd control methods (such as reservations). They’ve slowly allowed Alta and JHole to limit access, but it’s been begrudgingly.
They can choose which resorts to move capital too, even if they don’t own them there is still investments and incentives involved. Obviously Vail has more day to day oversight but Altera can steer partners in their decisions.
Huh? Alterra isn't investing capital in resorts they don't own. Am I missing something here or misinterpreting your comment?
What operational limitations have there been at SB? As for capital spending...they did already replace 2 lifts and spend millions on snow-making fixes so far. You can't do everything people want overnight. Let's not also forget that there was a global pandemic that drastically altered the economy and spending overall for a few years. The economy isn't exactly booming lately either... As much as I'd like to spend millions now on all the wish-list items people at SB have, I'd rather they take a pragmatic calculated approach to avoid over-extending themselves. My single biggest complaint at SB continues to be the lack of communication.
They get money from pass redemptions and I’m sure theres other behind the scenes mutual benefits for a resort to partner with them.
BenedictGomez
Well-known member
Agreed, but not only that, Stratton specifically attracts the type of consumer who "wants" to pay extra to feel "special", so in a douchy way you probably aggregate these people in the first place. Still crappy, but if you hoard a bunch of people who want that in the first place, have it it....... I guess.
BenedictGomez
Well-known member
I'm not sure Alterra's quite as bad as Vail Resorts, but I get your point. It boils down to "forced" transparency versus no transparency.
As a publicly traded company, we get to learn what's going on behind the veil at Vail, you can even listen in on conference calls & presentations.
As a private company, with Alterra you know virtually nothing, only what they choose to make known. So much of Alterra's sausage-making is obscured.
BenedictGomez
Well-known member
I'll just buy lift tickets in advance for the massive savings.
Hey thats $10 more you can spend on some chicken tenders
Ha! You aren’t wrong! (in our opinions obviously)…I feel the main reason the “skip the line purchasers” are paying more isn’t to actually ski more runs, they’re mostly doing it so they can show or say they got to skip ahead of regular people. (I ski all day, and there aren’t many times I see the same people before chairlifts start and then again after the lifts stop. And the people I have seen all day are not “Fast Pass” purchaser types, they’re typically the duct tape on the ski pants type haha)
That's completely different than what you stated. Alterra can't say "hey, we're not going to give you the money we contractually owe you for people using Ikon at your reseort if you don't implement xyz policy or make abc change". That partner is getting the money as long as people redeem Ikon at their resort. I think the partners have far more influence/sway than people give them credit for. Alterra stands to lose more from losing a partner like Killington or Boyne in New England. Yes there's a monetary gain for those partner resorts, but Ikon would be substantially less appealing in New England to many people without those partners. Doesn't impact me since I use it primarily as a Sugarbush pass, but there are many others that use it specifically for the variety of resorts in New England they can ski. If you lose those partners, the pass is de-valued for that audience.
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