Ski resorts are now offering new ticketing methods to make buying and using passes a better experience for customers wanting to hit the slopes. More and more ski resorts are taking advantage of advances in technology to improve the experience, both before and during a visit, and to offer new options to visitors.
Online Ticketing
Resorts are bringing their ticketing sales online, and often offer better pricing if these tickets were purchased online prior to the visit. Most often, the further out from a visit that the tickets are booked, the better the deal.
Online ticketing also adds an additional convenience. It allows for tickets to already be prepared before the visit so that waiting in line can be avoided. This allows for a more lengthy enjoyment of the slopes!
For most resorts, you can now complete the following online before you ever step foot at the resort:
- Injury Waivers
- Equipment Rentals
- Ski School Registration
- Lift Tickets (Providing discounts for purchasing in advance!)
RFID Cards
For many skiers, RFID cards have altered their experience at ski resorts. RFID cards were introduced into the ski resort industry about a decade ago, and have begun to appear more and more frequently in the years since, especially at European and North American resorts.
RFID cards often replace the traditional paper tickets to which most skiers and snowboarders are accustomed. Rather than attach a piece of paper to a zipper on a jacket or ski pants, a pass can be placed in a left side jacket pocket, and remain unobtrusive and secure throughout a day of fun on the slopes. The RFID chip in this pass communicates with lift gates, and tells them to open, allowing access to the chairlifts that will take you to the top of the slope. This speeds up the process of boarding a lift, as the chip communicates automatically with the gate, without having to stop to scan a paper ticket.
At many successful resorts, annual memberships are now being sold as RFID cards that are read from the ski lift gates, with some resorts using their cards for more than just gate access.
Seasonal Ticket Sales
These days, it is commonplace for successful ski resorts to have a variety of engaging activities for visitors to participate in during the summer, as well as simply allowing visitors to enjoy the natural beauty of the resort.
As such, preparing your resort to handle summer traffic is a good plan. This includes items like selling tickets to your resort in summer, similarly to selling tickets for winter visits to the ski resort. This strategy can be maximized by taking the following steps:
- Break annual memberships into summer and winter seasonal memberships
- Add discounts for summer plans with a winter membership plan
- Invest in the resort to make it engaging during the summer months as well as the winter months
What is your ski resort doing differently with ticketing in 2018?
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