Ski Hills Gear Up For Early Sales Push Competition For Skiers Heats Up As Summer Season Winds Down
A sure sign of summer’s end: Area ski resorts are gearing up promotions for their preseason ski pass sales.
Silver Mountain Ski and Summer Resort in Kellogg has set the standard for preseason sales with deeply discounted passes and big promotions for its passes in the past two years.
This year’s promotional campaign, just under way, will culminate with an event at Post Falls’ Greyhound Park in late September, said Tim Newhart, sales and marketing director for Silver Mountain.
The idea of selling a $495 season pass for $295 has worked well for the past two years, Newhart said.
Not only are pass prices the same as in 1993 and 1994, but there’s an extra bonus when skiers buy a Silver Mountain pass this winter: free gondola rides up the mountain for the following summer season.
“Silver Mountain is trying to develop yearlong and multiyear relationships with our guests,” Newhart said. “We wanted to add some value to the pass.”
The summer pass would be worth $89 if bought separately, and the resort has sold “quite a few” of the summer-only passes. Now any winter pass sold will include summer privileges.
“We just decided to leave that money we’d get for the summer passes on the table,” he said.
Preseason ski pass sales are important to ski areas because it creates revenue to help start the season, said Doug Campbell of the Pacific Northwest Ski Area Association.
“It’s extremely important for the cash flow of the areas,” he said. “Most ski areas haven’t yet done their mailing to previous pass holders, so it’s a little early yet to tell how sales are going.”
Ski pass sales have been progressing through the summer at Schweitzer Mountain Resort in Sandpoint, said Bill Mullane, communications manager.
Skiers who bought passes there before August 1 got a 15 percent discount. Pass buyers before Sept. 1 get a 10 percent discount.
Season passes usually pay for themselves in fewer than 20 ski visits. Silver Mountain’s pass pays for itself if a skier spends less than 10 days at the Kellogg resort, Newhart points out.
Some regional ski areas sell passes even in the spring. Denny Burmeister, general manager of 49 Degrees North in Chewelah, said his sale this spring netted almost exactly the money the spring 1994 sale did. Now, the fall sale has kicked in and will continue until October 15.
“I’m pretty optimistic about our pass sales this season,” he said. “Of course, it always depends on the snow we get.”
Like many ski resorts, Lookout Pass Ski Area has yet to send a mailing out to its season pass holders of last year, said Dean Cooper of Lookout.
“We’ll get it out soon,” he said. “Once people get the notice in the mail, they usually drop the money for them.”
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Graphic: Summer ski preseason pass sales