Passholder loyalty -- and vice versa.

That is very impressive what Snoqualmie pass is doing. The other resorts should follow in thier example.

That is very impressive what Snoqualmie pass is doing. The other resorts should follow in thier example.

<br><br><br>I was very surprised at what the Summit decided to do as well. I was hoping for just a cut in next years ticket (maybe $100 or something) but to make it a freebie is very cool. <br><br>Stevens was open more this year, but they never were at full operation. I don't believe the backside ever opened and from what I hear only a few of the chairs ran on the frontside. I was not there myself, I'm just repeating what I have heard from others.<br><br>I only rode one day on the lifts on the one weekend Alpental ran. It was not that great, but I guess it was something. I had also hiked up at Hyak a couple times in January and actually the conditions on those runs was much better. Guess I'll get my turns in when they open Chinook Pass in a couple weeks. They should have a lot of fresh snow after these few storms that have come through.

<br>I think it is great too, but I am quite sure a team of MBAs crunched alot of numbers and they came out on top doing it this way. Notice also how long they waited, to see what Stevens etc was going to do and win the PR battle. I think the conglomeration of ski areas is bad for skiers, but w/o that kind of leverage, Snoq would be deeply in the red after a season like this....

<br>I think it is great too, but I am quite sure a team of MBAs crunched alot of numbers and they came out on top doing it this way. Notice also how long they waited, to see what Stevens etc was going to do and win the PR battle. I think the conglomeration of ski areas is bad for skiers, but w/o that kind of leverage, Snoq would be deeply in the red after a season like this....

<br><br>Not sure how the conglomeration of ski areas can be a bad thing when it gives them the leverage to allow season pass holders to have an extra season on their ski pass. I used to think the corporate owned ski area was a bad thing too, but after this past season I can see how it can also be a good thing. <br><br>Booth Creek has worked out their layout of ski areas well so that they spread themselves out over the USA so they are not hard hit like a regional area in the PNW would have been this year. I know in years past the Summit has been the money maker when some of their other resorts struggled. Now it is the Tahoe resorts that brought in the $$$ this season. I don't think you'll find many Snoqualmie Pass season pass holders complaining about this corporate owned ski area. At least not for the next 12 months.....

I suppose the MBAs may have crunched numbers, and maybe LL Bean and REI crunched numbers to come up with their generous return policies, but that seems fine to me if what the numbers told them was how to satisfy their customers so well they'll be loyal. At the end of the day, any number crunching had to be based on a projection of the future, a projection based on assuming that building goodwill is important to the business. Yay for number crunching, I say, when these kind of assumptions feed into it.

<br>That is just my point... they are sure they will get more benefit from the consumer PR in the long run (say 5-10 yrs) than the actual $ they are losing on the deal. They are not being "nice" or feeling "bad" about a bad snow year; it is a calulated move to benefit their bottom line in the seasons to come... damn, I sound so cynical!<br><br>That said, I am cheering the move, as I was debating whether or not to buy another one for next season, there couldn't be two garbarge years in a row, right?<br><br>Also, they really were never open- there was never any expert terrain open at all (well Alpental for 16 hrs?), and all the days Central was open and most of the days West was were simply a dismal P-tex-fest!<br><br>When do we start the snow dance?