Luxury skiing

Today's WSJ had an article about the rise of "first-class" skiing.  http://www.wsj.com/articles/new-ways-to-ski-first-class-1446578066  Unless you have a subscription not sure you can read it.

 A few excerpts below:


This season, Vail Resorts Inc. is opening the White Carpet Club at its Beaver Creek Resort in Colorado. For $150 a day (for up to four guests), the club will offer a private lounge with complimentary nonalcoholic drinks and snacks, personal lockers and help from concierges with things like restaurant reservations. Employees will set up and retrieve ski gear slope-side—so there is no schlepping of equipment back and forth to the car.

Vail Resorts says it is opening the White Carpet Club after hearing from Beaver Creek guests who want the same kinds of services offered at private membership clubs, says Kirsten Lynch, Vail’s chief marketing officer. That is particularly true for guests who rent private homes or condos and don’t have the services of a luxury hotel. Vail operates four private clubs at Vail and three at the Beaver Creek Resort. Several of the private clubs are open only to those who own property in the area. They offer valets, lockers, parking, ski storage and season passes. They require deposits of between $35,000 and $275,000, as well as annual dues.

The ski valets at the Ritz-Carlton, Bachelor Gulch in Beaver Creek, Colo., set guests skis up on the snow and help put on boots.

Skiers have money to spend. About 58% of ski resort visitors during the 2014-2015 season lived in households making more than $100,000 a year. That is up from 45% in that income bracket during the 2006-2007 season, according to a survey of 89 U.S. ski resorts by the National Ski Areas Association. At Vail Resorts’ properties, visitors’ average yearly household income is about $300,000, says Ms. Lynch.

Last winter, visits to ski resorts dropped about 5% to 53.6 million visits, down from 56.5 million in the year earlier, according to NSAA data. The decline was largely due to poor snow conditions in parts of the Western U.S. Also, people are skiing and snowboarding fewer days: Participants in a 2014 survey said they planned to ski 17 days that winter, down from almost 20 days in the 2006-2007 season.

Ski resorts have also built fancy restaurants, upgraded ski lifts and children’s programs and souped up terrain parks where skiers and snowboarders do tricks and jumps. An increasing number of mountains, including Vail’s Beaver Creek Resort, offer First Tracks programs where guests can pay an extra fee to begin skiing before the resort opens to the public. Participants there begin skiing at 7:30 a.m. and get a breakfast for $140 per person on top of the cost of a regular ski lift ticket.

Ski-in, ski-out luxury hotels are known for offering plenty of pampering services. At the St. Regis Deer Valley in Park City, Utah, valets store guests’ skis, set them up on the snow and whisk them away when guests return for the day.

The St. Regis Deer Valley in Park City, Utah has ski valets and six Ambassadors, former Olympians and World Cup champions who will ski with guests and take them on tours of the mountain.  "My favorite question to guests is ‘how many times did you touch your skis [during your vacation],’” says Edward Shapard, the hotel’s general manager. “The answer is typically, ‘none’.”

At the Ritz-Carlton, Bachelor Gulch in Colorado, the ski valets will actually “physically put your boots on you,” says Ritz-Carlton spokesman Steven Holt. St. Regis Deer Valley, new for this year, has six ski ambassadors, typically former Olympians or World Cup champions who are available to give tours and ski with guests. They include Mac Bohonnon and Kris “Fuzz” Feddersen. The Little Nell in Aspen, Colo., is launching a Snowcat Academy, a three-hour program where guests get to drive a snowcat, the hulking vehicles that groom ski trails.

Keith Kocourek skis about 30 days a year and has been vacationing at Beaver Creek for decades. Last season, he tried the new White Glove First Tracks program. “There’s no crowd, no line. You’ve got the whole mountain,” says Mr. Kocourek, an auto dealership owner from Wausau, Wis. “You can ski as much in an hour and a half as you can in a day.” Mr. Kocourek is now planning his ski vacations for this season around Beaver Creek’s First Tracks days.

Not every ski resort is on board with all the swanky new services. Powder Mountain in Utah is known for its skiing but doesn’t have ski valets who will haul visitors’ gear. “I think some people would enjoy [a ski valet],” says Jean-Pierre Goulet, the resort’s marketing coordinator. “But most of the people who ride here would probably laugh at it.”

Petronio

This is precisely why I work at Alta and why I don't want to see lifts coming over from Park City.

Come on T I saw it on Facebook you and your luxurious friends skiing Park City admit it! :-)

Powder Mountain is adding a service that might tempt some of those who like luxury surroundings to make the drive out there.  Cape Productions will be offering drone video films.  For somewhere in the $100-200 range, the drone tracks someone as they take a run or two.  The finished project is an edited video.  If it's like what was offered at a Canadian ski resort last season, you have to take the runs in specified areas.  Can't just wander around anywhere.

http://gearjunkie.com/cape-drone-ski-video

I like to get away from people when I am in the mountains skiing. This, seems to be the antithesis of what I desire and look for when skiing.

I made it to the second sentence where it said, "complimentary nonalcoholic drinks", then stopped reading quickly realizing the place ain't for me.

along these lines I heard that Gore is going to offer "preferred parking" where you can come late and get a good parking stop near the lodge for a small fee.

I think the whole paid first tracks thing is ridiculous.  The best thing for ski areas to do is open up early on weekends, for everyone.  Like Stowe and Windham do.  It's not like there's going to be a huge crowd anyway that early anyway.

I've got no problem with these extra services that one can pay more to get, but only if they don't affect the experience for those who don't pay.  A rich guy paying lots of money for a club membership for free food, and so someone can put their boots on for them does not affect my skiing experience.  A ski bum booting up in the parking lot and brown bagging their lunch also does not affect my skiing experience.  However, a rich guy paying lots of money for an exclusive first tracks experience so he can go up earlier than everyone else and track out all the snow does affect my skiing experience.  

There are plenty of mountains out there that allow season passholders to go up early.  That practice is fine because it adds value to the pass product and will likely encourage more to buy it.  I also understand that benefits like that are only at my home mountain.  Still, if they just opened earlier for everyone, the actual experience would not be much different.

campgottagopee wrote

I made it to the second sentence where it said, "complimentary nonalcoholic drinks", then stopped reading quickly realizing the place ain't for me.

Thats funny....I did exactly the same thing!

There are two ways to drive margins, reduce costs or higher prices. If you have the same product as everyone else and your costs are under control you differentiate to get price. That works in a market where you have customers willing to pay. Aspen proved this decades ago. In a nonessential business, exclusivity is the way to drive price.

Face it, if you were a billionaire you likely would take your private jet to your exclusive resort club where you would be waited on hand and foot (or ski and boot). You would not hesitate to charter that chopper to take you into the BC of that was your pleasure.

Capitalism at its finest.

snoloco wrote

I think the whole paid first tracks thing is ridiculous.

PeeTex wrote

Face it, if you were a billionaire you likely

would become exceedingly reclusive.  

would purchase land to protect ecosystems

would strategically purchase land to thwart resort developments

would implement a multi facet plan to destroy the life of Cliven Bundy

would support education of people on positive impacts of birth control

ScottyJack wrote

would becoming exceedingly reclusive.  

would purchase land to protect ecosystems

would strategically purchase land to thwart resort developments

would implement a multi facet plan to destroy the life of Cliven Bundy

would support education of people on positive impacts of birth control

Hope we get to go skiing this winter, i want to help you spend your billion!

I think they should start a new service. Yeah, not touching the skis all week must be cool (I wonder how many times skis have been switched. Like these people would even know), but let"s step it up and start carrying around the guests so they don't have to clomp around in those awful boots. All you would need is a comfy chair, big enough for the average car dealer"s butt, and two strong young valets, one on each side. Cmon, Vail Inc. I know you can do this.

Beaver is a pretty good mountain, just like Deer Valley, because of this crap. Most of these people can't ski, especially powder. They're inside eating and drinking and shouting on cell phones when it isn't all sunny and groomed. Even then, they're like Mr. Car Dealer dude, out for maybe an hour and a half.

Big Sky / Moonlight are definetly going in this direction. The folks at the Yellowstone Club ski here a lot and they expect fancy services. The best place to eat over at moonlight became a private club. The restuarant at the top of Andesite was owned by Spanish Peaks Club ( which was owned by the owner of the NY Knicks, Dolan ). They went bankrupt ( fucking hundreds of local creditors ) and Big Sky took it back over. They are now catering to the wealthy. As in, a grilled cheese sandwich will set you back $29. The burgers are up in the $30 + range. $7.50 for a low end beer. And the place is packed every day. They replaced my old locker room with luxury lockers. And they take rich folks out for first ( and 2nd and 3rd ) tracks on powder days.
When you look around the entire Big Sky area, nobody is building affordable housing. Not even close. Alll these people who can afford a multimillion dollar second ( or 3rd or 4th ) home expect to be treated well.
About the restaurant at the top of Andesite. Back in the 90's, my buddy got the lease for a little hot dog stand. We went up and built a really nice lodge that served great BBQ and burgers. If you were local they sold them real cheap.
Then it burned down. Cause unknown. A few months later Spanish Peaks is rebuilding a big lodge there. My buddy showed me the blueprints. They were dated before the fire!
We got a wet 14" at the base area Tuesday and they expect more tonight. Hopefully we open on Thanksgiving with more than a WROD.

Benny Profane wrote

I think they should start a new service. Yeah, not touching the skis all week must be cool (I wonder how many times skis have been switched. Like these people would even know), but let"s step it up and start carrying around the guests so they don't have to clomp around in those awful boots. All you would need is a comfy chair, big enough for the average car dealer"s butt, and two strong young valets, one on each side. Cmon, Vail Inc. I know you can do this.

Beaver is a pretty good mountain, just like Deer Valley, because of this crap. Most of these people can't ski, especially powder. They're inside eating and drinking and shouting on cell phones when it isn't all sunny and groomed. Even then, they're like Mr. Car Dealer dude, out for maybe an hour and a half.

umm, what's your beef with car dealers?  I think they are very friendly, honest and hard working folks....  

anyone read about the explosives left in proximity of the pony express lift at steamboat??  

lolkl wrote

We got a wet 14" at the base area Tuesday and they expect more tonight. Hopefully we open on Thanksgiving with more than a WROD.

hoping you have an awesome season bro!  

There is no other industry that illustrates the widening of the rich and poor in this country more than skiing. It's as though they could care less about anybody with an income below six figures, which, you know, may be the best route for them. they aren't dumb, and all invest heavily in marketing research. Look at retail ticket prices. Window prices in Colorado are almost all over 100. Copper was 135 last year. Copper. Ten to twenty years from now, this is going to be a very different country, after most of the Boomers are dead or drooling into cups, and the only people who have anything are maybe 5-10% of the population. You know, the only kids who could afford to go to college and emerge debt free, to start.

Benny Profane wrote

There is no other industry that illustrates the widening of the rich and poor in this country more than skiing. It's as though they could care less about anybody with an income below six figures, which, you know, may be the best route for them. they aren't dumb, and all invest heavily in marketing research. Look at retail ticket prices. Window prices in Colorado are almost all over 100. Copper was 135 last year. Copper. Ten to twenty years from now, this is going to be a very different country, after most of the Boomers are dead or drooling into cups, and the only people who have anything are maybe 5-10% of the population. You know, the only kids who could afford to go to college and emerge debt free, to start.

That too is a fallacy. With current returns you would need to save 40k/yr to be able to retire at a reasonable age and have enough funds to cover considering health care costs. Kids who don't start out earning 6 figures and debt free don't stand a chance.