Variable pricing

[ski diva]

This is interesting: Mt. Bachelor is introducing something called "variable pricing," where a single-day, nonholiday ticket price takes into account the amount of available lift-served terrain along with weather factors such as visibility, wind, precipitation and temperature. Prices are on a sliding scale -- either $49, $59, or $69.

I've never heard of this before. I mean, I've heard of early season and late season pricing. And lots of resorts have one day specials, like Ladies Day or discount days for emergency workers. But is this something new, or does anyplace else have it? Seems like a great idea to me.

 

[playoutside]

I haven't heard of exactly this, but have seen stories about the future approach to tickets being based more on demand expected. Sites like Litftopia let areas post discounted tickets based lots of factors...weather being a big one. I noticed last year when there were ominous forcasts that a number of areas would throw some better specials up. This is clearly to draw skiers/riders, but you could also say it's in anticipation of fewer openings of trails and lifts. I think Killington started doing something like Liftopia on their own last year too. They advertised 50 tickets for a day in the near future for well below window price. Seems like its a sign of the times and a reality made possible by the internet.

 

[KarenD]

I can't think of anywhere else that does that. There was a short blurb about it in this week's Fortune magazine, so I'm guessing they thought it stood out, too.

I'm curious to learn more about how they evaluate conditions for this model. I've had some great ski days in what a lot of people might call poor conditions so if this pricing is a success and spreads to other places I might be able to save a few bucks.

 

[sibhusky]

That would drive me a bit nuts, not knowing how much it was going to cost that day. Of course I only buy season passes anyway and rarely ski another resort because I am a total cheapskate.