If they do not live in the greater Seattle area or are already headed to the Seattle area for another reason I cannot see anyone traveling to Stevens because the have an Epic pass. Bottom line there is not the infrastructure (hotels, resorts, bars, restaurants … etc.) to support this close to Stevens. Getting there even when you live in the Seattle area can be a pain in the butt. And the weather can be unpredictable going from awesome snow and POW one day to rain the next. Don't get me wrong I like Stevens, but if I had to travel to get there it would be the bottom of my list as there are so many other resorts I would travel to first and one of them always has great snow.
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Vail's Latest Acquisitions: Okemo, Sunapee, Crested Butte, and Stevens Pass
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- crested butte mountain resort epic australia pass epic local pass epic military pass epic pass karl kapuscinski mount sunapee resort okemo mountain resort ski resort holdings llc stevens pass vail resorts vail resorts acquisitions vail resorts portfolio vail resorts will acquire triple peaks llc whistler blackcomb edge card products
I have my pass and will upgrade to Epic once the deal is done.
So for 3000.00 a family of four can have unlimited skiing in the area they live in and also pre-paid lift privileges at several "travel to vacation spots" for the entire season. This might sound like a lot for people that only ski once in awhile, but for a family that skies as much as they can in a season this looks good. Also for those that might spend 2000.00 a year on this sort of thing for a mere 1000 more they have full access . As someone pointed out Vail gets to sell passes that basically determines what the ticket for the year income is (reduced price for a season might mean more can spend more time on the slopes. Vacation dollars now shift to winter as part of the cost is already covered. It keeps more people buying/staying at resorts instead of just day tripping. We use to partially determine our ski holidays outside of our local ski hill by factoring ticket prices for X number of days. I think it will keep more people skiing longer and less likely to seek out a different type of holiday going forward.
I find it all interesting (and it has nothing to do with me getting a dependent pass!! )
I find it all interesting (and it has nothing to do with me getting a dependent pass!! )
Maybe this relates. Maybe it doesn't.
I recall having boot customers sit on the bench at Northstar in the hopes that I could save their vacation which was miserable because of foot pain.
My first question was, "how many days a year do you ski?"
Many of these customers said 6 or 10.
One such customer told me that he'd been saving all year for this 6 day vacation with his family of 4 and it was costing him 8,000.00 for lodging, lift tickets, etc.
This is someone who was driving in from the bay area, so transportation wasn't a big factor.
I asked him if they had season passes. He had no idea that an Epic pass would have been cheaper than buying day tickets for a week (per person)
How many vacationers have no idea that they can save $$ if they just buy a pass?
(don't get me started on the bargain boots he was wearing that were wrecking his 8,000.00 vacation)
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Wow even if the guy isn't a savvy shopper that's some full fare. I thought accomodation generally came with bundled lift tix at a fair discount. He'd be hard pushed to pay more for a fully inclusive package from London to almost anywhere in the Alps. All in with flights, transfers , nice hotel, HB, rentals, pass. But on the other hand the "Northstar experience" - free miniature glass of champagne if you are bang on time
Yeah, but he's in San Francisco... getting his family to London alone could cost $2500 or so, and takes a LOOONNNGGG time. Too far for a trip that short.
What model, and what do you think is wrong? I don't think we have enough details... this person may have paid for an ultimate luxury lodging. I've seen big family slopeside condos that rent for thousands per night. Or they might have included buying boots and skis in that $8000. It could be any number of things.
Of course, the lift tickets themselves, if it was 6 days of skiing, could have been something like $3800 at Northstar walk-up rates (~$160 for adults, unless the kids were 12 or less - then you're talking $3000). That part just seems silly, as I'd think even someone who could easily afford that would ask if there was some multi-day package deal, or wind up getting a deal with their lodging, or something. Tahoe Local passes would have saved something like $1500.
Hmm, all that sounds terribly bean-county. Tell us about free bubbly.
Keep in mind, this is a guy who springs for the condo in the center of the village, in part so that the family members could come and go as they pleased. They are also the people who make a few meals in their condo, but are likely to eat out a lot while on vacation. I doubt they ever packed a sack lunch. He had two teens who loved the freedom to ski all day or ice skate, or....
Not all of these accommodations offer lift tickets with their packages. Irregardless, his vacation was pricy but he and his family were enjoying themselves in spite of the low snow.
This is the "normal" Northstar customer. They travel quite differently than you, or most of us, do.
8000 doesn't go far if you are paying 'walk up' rates for everything, not cooking any food, and demand ski in/out accommodations.
Per day of skiing:
($150 lift ticket + $20 lunch + $60 per day rental skis) x 4 people = $880 per day on the slopes.
Ski in/out lodging - likely $700 per night for condo sleeping 4 with 2 BR/BA within walking distance of the lifts.
Easily $8000 for a 6 night stay. 5 nights if you want to include meal cost as part of the trip for restaurants within walking distance of accommodations.
Per day of skiing:
($150 lift ticket + $20 lunch + $60 per day rental skis) x 4 people = $880 per day on the slopes.
Ski in/out lodging - likely $700 per night for condo sleeping 4 with 2 BR/BA within walking distance of the lifts.
Easily $8000 for a 6 night stay. 5 nights if you want to include meal cost as part of the trip for restaurants within walking distance of accommodations.
Wow, I'm feeling blessed. JPY 59,300/person for airfare Tokyo-Sapporo, bus transfers to/from Niseko, three nights at comfortable (not lux) ski-in/out hotel with breakfast buffet (that generally eliminates any need for lunch) and coupons that cover ski passes for two of my wife's four days (I get senior tix). That's for saturday departures, which are well higher than the monday departures i could do with my previous job.
59300/110.45 (1/16 rate) = USD 536.89
We often do that trip two weeks in a row, storing everything but laundry at the hotel.
59300/110.45 (1/16 rate) = USD 536.89
We often do that trip two weeks in a row, storing everything but laundry at the hotel.
Jim, I’m not sure whether to “like” because that’s great you have that available, or to really resent this unfair situation we have here.
Well, the downside is that's it's a lot of travel (2.5 hour bus each way) and you only get half a day on days one and four. So getting up at 4:30 to catch 6:30 flight, hour wait at airport for bus, check-in, unpack, gear up fast and you can be on the snow about 1pm, ski til about 1:30 on day 4 and get home about 10pm.
Thinking to do a different package this coming January: six nights/seven days at a different ski-in/out hotel (better rooms, onsen not as nice), no lift pass coupons (but can pretty much equal that using an earlier deal offer) for probably less than USD 800/person. only one round trip and we'd get five full days and two half-days on snow.
Perhaps that's the better comparison with Tricia's customer.
Thinking to do a different package this coming January: six nights/seven days at a different ski-in/out hotel (better rooms, onsen not as nice), no lift pass coupons (but can pretty much equal that using an earlier deal offer) for probably less than USD 800/person. only one round trip and we'd get five full days and two half-days on snow.
Perhaps that's the better comparison with Tricia's customer.
Yes, that's a better comparison... but the first part makes me think of something I think I've noticed over the last couple of years. I think that the incremental cost to travel at the most convenient times seems to be getting higher. I.e. you pay a lot more for not having to leave for the airport at 4AM, or get home very late at night, than you used to. (Maybe it's just my flawed perception, or the particular flights I've been taking). I've seen 25%-50% more travel cost for going at easier times. That can definitely factor in too - especially for a family vacation with kids where you don't want to deal with any pain and everything is multiplied by 4.
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Airfare incentives are driven by pretty up-to-date data science
If it gets much better it will start factoring in storms. 
Ain't that the truth.
Spring skiing at Squaw past April. Rode up the funi with a few other skiers. Conversation drifted to favorite ski resorts. Invariably Aspen came up for discussion. Mamie mentioned the down side of Aspen is the lack of affordable lodging. One of the women said she found cheap lodging in town for a bit over $200 per night. I looked at her with a straight face and said, "$200 plus? That is a good number for a week. Sorry, you guys had to ride with low lives like us." That elicited a round of laughter all around. Don't think they realized that ain't far from the truth.
I can tell you are not married with children. The multiplicative factor does not grow in a linear fashion.
I can tell you are not married with children. The multiplicative factor does not grow in a linear fashion.
True, but to be fair, I was just talking about airfare, which is a pretty straight multiplier - at least until the airlines start charging differently by age and trying to compete by confusing us further.
The irony of this is that this individual is probably very savvy and successful about certain other aspects of life or he wouldn't be able to afford such an expensive vacation. It would be interesting to find out what he could "school" us on? Maybe we could set up a barter system: we plan your ski vacation and ski boot purchases, if you advise on our stock market investments
The irony of this is that this individual is probably very savvy and successful about certain other aspects of life or he wouldn't be able to afford such an expensive vacation. It would be interesting to find out what he could "school" us on? Maybe we could set up a barter system: we plan your ski vacation and ski boot purchases, if you advise on our stock market investments
Trust me I have always worked the barter system, from when I was selling car and having my customers take me to golf courses like Merion to having ski customers take me on cat trips.I had a friend that because he could only ski weekends would fly his helicopter to Hunter Mountain, land it in his own spot in the parking lot, get a private lesson so he could cut lines and just do laps on "Hell-Eis-Quad"...Hellgate to Eisenhower to the Quad then fly back to South Jersey.
Some people are smart enough to realize that time is more valuable than money and they have no problem buying time back.