Mid-Atlantic Willard Mountain... taking back incentives for pre season purchases of season passes.

[capecodbeachfront]

Did not directly impact me but I was surprised to see a mountain wait this long to claw back incentives. Especially the 2 free buddy passes. Bringing a buddy pass could easily have been done in advance, thus no slow down in line. Willard is a small mountain in Upstate NY. Has anyone experienced a similar claw back of an incentive offered then taken away? See the memo sent out below:

Season Pass Holders:

Well, It has finally happened. Unfortunately, some things were promised to our loyal customers that is economically unfeasible to grant.

Prior to June 1st, 2023, you may remember certain perks with the purchase of an Early Bird season pass. Two of these perks were free coffee and hot chocolate for the season along with two free complimentary “Buddy Passes”. We will follow through to provide “The Liftie” pass holders, which we have invested in excess of $9,000 as this year’s way to show our appreciation for purchasing Season Passes at Willard.

Unfortunately, this expense prohibits our ability to hand out free hot beverages. In addition, we have determined that keeping tabs on who has and who has not redeemed “Buddy Passes” will cause a delay in customer service times at the ticket counter, therefore we are unable to grant this perk. For this, we sincerely apologize.

With this said, I feel the only way to make this fair, and it pains me to say this, is to offer refunds for passes sold before June of 2023, should these changes not work for you. If you have already received your 2023-24 Season Pass, you will need to return it to us before the refund is given. As this was clearly our mistake, we hope you remain as a valued Season Pass holder.

Military Discounts on Lift Tickets:
There will be a new policy for those who serve and have served our country. Active Military and Veterans can purchase a Tuesday Night (4-9) or Thursday All Day Ticket for just $25. This price includes free rentals if needed! Please note that this offer is not available during holiday weeks. Military discounts will not be offered on other ski days; however, Season Passes will remain discounted 10% for both individual and family plans. A valid Military ID must be presented at the customer service desk at time of purchase.

Once again, I wish to offer my most sincere apologies for any inconvenience these changes may have caused. It is always our hope to give our customers a great winter experience.

Respectfully,
Chic Wilson, Owner/GM Willard Mountain

 

[cantunamunch]

you forgot to put illegal in the title for extra clickbait

 

[Brian Finch]

Willard is awesome! They hand out sundaes & donuts!! Parent tickets are an only $25 for races….. I sincerely hope no one takes em up on a refund!

 

[capecodbeachfront]

Canceling the buddy passes confuses me the most. How many people really bought the early passes? Maybe a couple hundred? I would think getting 'more skiers' to your mountain would have been a plus. Golf courses routinely give out similar 'guest' passes to its members to promote their facility. And the late timing, after other mountains have closed their discount windows does not seem fair.

 

[capecodbeachfront]

you forgot to put illegal in the title for extra clickbait

"clickbait.... "?

 

[cantunamunch]

"clickbait.... "?

Throwaway reference to other current threads, pay no mind.

 

[Brian Finch]

Canceling the buddy passes confuses me the most. How many people really bought the early passes? Maybe a couple hundred? I would think getting 'more skiers' to your mountain would have been a plus. Golf courses routinely give out similar 'guest' passes to its members to promote their facility. And the late timing, after other mountains have closed their discount windows does not seem fair.

Willard is a tiny labor of love place. We were actually asked by our race director last year to go and buy food (no to tailgate) in an effort to help em out.

The free coffee is laughable as an incentive as most of the time you have to wait to find someone to actually make coffee there.

 

[dbostedo]

I think they did the right thing by offering refunds... and if it's a labor-of-love kind of place as stated, I also hope no one takes them up on it.

I do find it funny that they say they're ditching the buddy passes, not because of cost, but because of customer service delays. That sounds like they just don't want the hassle of writing everything down.

 

[Jilly]

Well those are nice perks, but not the reason I would buy a pass for anywhere.

As an idea....Tremblant offers a "privilege package" for a price. You get a better discount on food and purchases at the stores. You get $200 vouchers to use at the stores...$50/voucher. Time sensitive. 20 "free" hot drinks". 1 free tune up. And bring a friend coupons. So discount on lift tickets. And first tracks.

Well worth the money.

Something for Willard to look at. Make the price acceptable and tailor for what they have.

 

[fatbob]

Sounds like they wanted cashflow but hadn't really budgeted what it would cost in man hours to service the perks. I mean they could have just made the buddy passes collect at the end of the day on a few dates but maybe they aren't even barcoded etc.

 

[Brian Finch]

Just to provide some scale…. This place has 10 ppl working total on a Saturday & they all are rough around the edges guys who look like they work in the Alaskan fishing trade in the off season. Everything is hand wrapped in the cafe & last time I was there- they were ‘using up’ tickets that were printed the prior year to save some cash.

If you ski Willard, it’s bc you are one of the faithful.

WE NEED these mtns in our lives. Next time I’m there, I’m going to buy all 3 rice crispy treats they have for sale.

 

[Rudi Riet]

As an idea....Tremblant offers a "privilege package" for a price. You get a better discount on food and purchases at the stores. You get $200 vouchers to use at the stores...$50/voucher. Time sensitive. 20 "free" hot drinks". 1 free tune up. And bring a friend coupons. So discount on lift tickets. And first tracks.

Well worth the money.

Something for Willard to look at. Make the price acceptable and tailor for what they have.

All well and good when you have Alterra-level budgeting for POS and CRM, can invest in RFID or handheld laser scanners, et al. This can all be crunched by computers in an instant at Tremblant or any other mountain owned and run by one of the big-player conglomerates.

That said (emphasis mine):

Just to provide some scale…. This place has 10 ppl working total on a Saturday & they all are rough around the edges guys who look like they work in the Alaskan fishing trade in the off season...

WE NEED these mtns in our lives. Next time I’m there, I’m going to buy all 3 rice crispy treats they have for sale.

Willard is one of a dying breed: the mom-and-pop ski area that runs mostly on willpower, with shoestring budgets, low-tech solutions to everything, etc. So many of these smaller mountains happen to be in New York state (most operating ski areas of any state in the U.S.) and they all cling to existence by not running debts and by bringing the personal touch to things to endear themselves to generations of local families.

As noted above: they help boost local junior ski racing by keeping things affordable - which is a rarity these days, to be honest. This is awesome, it is needed to keep ski racing alive, and it is increasingly rare. So I also hope that people don't take them up on their offer for a refund, that they see that Willard's ownership's aspirations were a bit more than they could realistically offer, and that they've owned up to it.

Let's face it: I doubt the major players would be so transparent in their "we goofed" admission and apology to pass holders.