Saturday, January 12, 2008

Whoa

We knew today (Guest Appreciation Day) would be big but we didn't know it would shatter our previous single-day attendance record!

Over 2,300 people were at Powderhorn today. The previous record was 2,200. If you were here, you probably aren't suprised.




Thank you to everyone who came up today. We hope you had a great time. And congratulations to the two that won season passes for the 08-09 season! In case you were wondering, the treasure chests with the passes were on Whistle Pig and Looky Looky.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

You should do $25 tickets more often, or atleast discounted tickets.

Anonymous said...

Gee, I for one being a season pass holder really can live without the lift lines that 300 people can create, however I have noticed this year that the midweek crowds are very
sparse indeed. What happened to the MIDWEEK price cut for tickets? And why are there not midweek specials like the occasional $25 ticket, or heaven forbid some discounts and specials for regular ski school(not just 1st timers).

Just the fact that 3000 people came out for $25 tickets should show you that Powderhorn's majority of clients are not particularly affluent and need some incentives to get them out.

Anyway,I love Powderhorn and the lack of lines most days. But someone to actually ride the lift with Midweek would be nice.

Oh yeah, $7 off a half day ticket, come on now!

Powderhorn Resort said...

I'll try to answer as many of your questions as possible-

We decided this year that our ticket pricing system was far too complicated so we streamlined it. This puts us more in-line with what the industry is doing as a whole. Same thing goes for the half day lift tickets. You can't find a resort that offers a huge discount for half days.

We introduced a new product this year in the Mid-week season pass. This is a deeply discounted pass that's good for Mon-Fri but still gets the benefits of a normal season pass. That way people that like to ski weekdays can do so at a great deal.

We chose to do the $25 lift tickets on a Saturday purely because that's the day most people can come up. The point of the day was to let everyone know we appreciate them and give people the chance to come up who many not always get to ski. What would a Guest Appreciation Day be if we had it on a day that no one can come?

We do in fact have mid-week specials every once in awhile as we do next week. These go out to those subscribed to our text messages. All you have to do is text the word DEAL to 95495 to get the deal. Remember, we are a business and do need to make some money in order to keep the bullwheel spinning. If we did discounts all the time.....you get the idea.

Thanks for your comments and I hope I answered your questions!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the explanations. However just because the "industry" does something one way doesn't mean Powderhorn has to. Of course a business has to adjust pricing to make a profit, but who would you rather have skiing on a Wednesday, 300 people paying $49 dollars, or 1000 people paying $25. Plus the fact that those 1000 people would be spending alot more for food and other products than the 300! I would assume that once the "bullwheel" starts turning that a majority of your costs are fixed for the day with employees, power, and such. By charging full boat on normally slow days you may be keeping away those extra guests that would help you turn a profit for the day even with a cheaper ticket.

As for the text messaging for deals, I think it is a nifty idea and well worth the acclaim you received for inventing it. What would be interesting to know is the age demographic of the people that actually get those messages, and the advantage it might have over just placing an announcement in the paper where anyone over 20 and a little technically challenged might actually get wind of a good deal also.

Powderhorn after all that is said and done is a great resort, but is basically a local resort for Grand Junction and surrounding areas. Leave the "industry standard" pricing structures for bigger destination resorts like Aspen where they can seemingly charge whatever they please without losing a single customer.

Your midweek season passes and the early discounts back in August are awesome ideas and I applaud them for great marketing, however I'm still riding the lift alone alot on Wednesdays.

Sorry for being so verbose, hope I don't get blocked. I really do love the joint.

Powderhorn Resort said...

Oh course you won't get blocked! You have both valid and thoughtful comments and we appreciate that. It's always good to see someone who is invested in the mountain like you are.
We take all these factors into consideration when making decisions. You should see some of the meetings we have in the summer! Great debates break out from time to time. Your comments will be taken into consideration as all are!