Season Pass pricing explained

[Killington Resort]

Believe it or not, I make an effort to read most KZone threads and get some insight into what this community feels we as a resort are doing right, and what this group thinks we can improve upon. Typically there is enough discussion and debate for both sides of most issues, and I don’t feel compelled to respond directly with my own two cents.

With regard to changes in our season pass products, though, many of you seem caught off guard, and I want to let the group know that I’m listening. Hopefully I can offer up some of the context for our decision making, and while I don’t expect everyone to agree with me, at least this way everyone (on each side of this existential debate), will have the same background.

This spring, we went into season pass planning with the intent of offering the same product mix as last year, and with incremental price increases similar to increases we’ve made each of the past several years. But as we began to compare our planned offerings to our competitors, there were two main differences. First, other areas had already announced lowered “unlimited” pass prices, and secondly, many other resorts eliminated blackout passes as part of lowering their all-access pass prices.

Much of our competition in Vermont has moved to Unlimited Passes in the $800-900 range, and if we didn’t react our Unlimited Season Pass at over $1100 would have been the price leader in the North East market by far, and our blackout pass at $800 would have been priced higher than many competing resorts’ all-access passes.

This was a scenario which I do not believe would have played out well for our long term success, so we explored other options. Unfortunately, models where we reduced prices on all passes just did not work financially.

So the result is we have a lower-priced Unlimited Pass that is competitive within the marketplace but needed to take the blackout pass out of the mix to make this work. We looked at the data and realized that many blackout pass holders also bought a few K-tickets each year to supplement their blacked-out periods, and in many cases ended up spending more money than is required to jump up to the new lowered Unlimited Pass price.
Many of the pass holders looking at a slight price increase next winter will see significant added value from being able to ski any day of the season, plus additional premium perks and benefits afforded to Unlimited Pass holders. I need not remind you that no other resort is as committed to offering such a long season and making snow whenever we can.

I understand that if you have bought a blackout pass in the past and have zero interest in skiing during holiday periods that you’re probably not excited about the decision to combine the blackout and Unlimited products, but this was the best way for us to reduce prices across the board to keep in line with market conditions while still providing a mix of products that work for the majority of our pass holders.

In looking at sales and skier visit numbers, trends show that our busiest days have changed over the years, and many mid-winter Saturdays are now typically busier than holiday periods that we have historically blacked out. One solution we discussed involved changing the blackout pass days to black out more Saturdays during the winter but we figured that would not be well received by most. We also looked at the floater day usage and determined that those were being used on the busiest of blackout days meaning the pass wasn’t being effective at reducing crowding and many blackout pass holders actually didn’t mind skiing on busy days. Knowing that demand existed for access on those busy days, a less expensive Unlimited Pass made the most sense to bridge the gap.

We intentionally kept the Midweek Pass as an option for folks who ski often but try to avoid the crowds, and K-Tickets, e-Tickets, Express Cards and Spring Passes are all returning to provide a range of supplements should some of our midweekers want additional access without committing to the Unlimited Pass.
The reality is that the majority of our pass holders are receiving a substantial price decrease as our Unlimited Pass has historically outsold the blackout pass.
I want to be very clear that Powdr did not push us to make the changes we made, and that our decisions were made right here in Killington, Vermont. We had to respond to our changing Northeast marketplace – both from competition resorts, but also from trends in how our guests consume our products, that’s just how this business works.

Every time the marketplace changes (think Liftopia, then killington.com/tickets, or the M.A.X. Pass), we adjust what we do. It would be foolish to think we can offer any prices we want and still survive in this competitive industry. An Unlimited Pass cost $999 when I started here 15 years ago and I think it’s pretty cool that we’re able to offer you an even lower rate for winter 2017-18.

With all that said, this winter has been one of my all-time favorites here at Killington, and I want to close by thanking this group for its passion and dedication to Killington. I realize that with your passion comes both vocal criticism and praise, and I always appreciate when a user who believes in what we’re doing chimes in to refute a detractor, or to play advocate for us.

Let’s have a great spring and keep charging toward June.

Mike

[SnoBrdr]

Nice job.

All works for me as the pass price went down.

[daytripper]

Thanks Mike, I appreciate you coming on here and explaining your reasoning behind the change. Can you chime in on when we may be getting some winter improvements? Its been a while now.

[icedtea]

Any promotions regarding Spring if purchasing an unlimited pass for next year?


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[MrsG]

Thanks Mike .... your thoughts always appreciated

[skiadikt]

mike, thanks for the explanation.

[180]

Thank you!

[Mister Moose]

Seems to me there's still a functional place for a pass that blacks out the most busy days (Dec 26-28, MLK, Presidents Saturday Sunday.) Presidents weekdays no big deal. The problem is the lack of room in between the unlimited and the midweek. As long as the 800 dollar gorilla is in town, it's going to be hard to carve out that pass. Halfway between the midweek and unlimited is only a $210 dollar difference. At K-ticket prices that's just 3 days. Ski 3 weekend days more than a midweek and pay for a Blackout. Ski 3 blacked out days and pay for an unlimited. That's cutting it pretty thin.

I think Killington took an interesting tack by going with a slightly higher price point at 900, although I still don't get the lack of a better Copper tie in. Now more than ever Killington needs to put their best foot forward in service quality as they cost more with an older infrastructure.

Crowd levels at Stowe will drive any changes in the market in the next 3 years. I'd be a buyer of Smuggs stock.

[boston_e]

Great explanation! Makes perfect sense to me! Thanks Mike! Looking forward to another fantastic winter in 17/18!!!

[heiusa]

Thank you for the update.

I would like to hear about Killington's capital improvement plan for the next 5 years.

What are the plans for the following projects?:

- South Ridge lift

- Snowdon Quad

- Killington Village

- Interconnect with Pico

- Upgrades to base lodges

Is there a master plan?

Are you at liberty to share the plan with K-Zone?

I feel like that all the profits are removed from Killington and sent to other ski areas, this feeling is not new,
I have been seeing this happen even when ASC was in it's prime.

[tyrolean_skier]

Thank you for the explanation.

[G-smashed]

Works for me! I'll be getting 2 senior fulls for 2 seniors. Anything that makes HS leave would be a bonus.
As for all the whiners on this topic remember Mother Shapiro's!

[da Pimp]

Great explanation, makes good sense for Killington and they cannot please 100% all the time. Mike was willing to be honest in public and that is very hard to do when confronting passionate people on any subject. Let's enjoy the fresh snow and enjoy the lower pass pricing next year.

[SnoBrdr]

Works for me! I'll be getting 2 senior fulls for 2 seniors. Anything that makes HS leave would be a bonus.
As for all the whiners on this topic remember Mother Shapiro's!

You and your lovely wife are "seniors"?

[PinnacleJim]

It's rare when I say this, but Mike, you're wrong. The fact that there were lots of loyal Killington skiers complaining about the lack of a Blackout pass proves it. There was plenty of room in the pricing of the Midweek and full pass to fit a Blackout in. For local Colorado skiers, Vail Resorts has FOUR options- Keystone/A-Basin ($329), Summit Value ($529), Epic Local ($639), and Epic ($859), the first three with different resort and date blackouts. I can't believe there is much cost in offering a Blackout pass.

At this point it looks like Sugarbush and Stowe are offering better pass options than Killington is. For less money than the adult Unlimited Killington pass, the Epic pass gives you Stowe plus free skiing at all the other Vail resorts for your western vacation. The Premium Sugarbush pass is $100 less than Killington's Unlimited and gives you 50% off at all the Mountain Collective resorts. We get 20% off at Copper and Mt. Bachelor. And the Sugarbush senior midweek pass is $129. Killington has no senior version so you have to buy the adult at $479. I think a number of skiers from the Boston area will be choosing Sugarbush or Stowe over Killington next year. Want the long spring season at Killington? Just buy a spring pass.

I suspect this is only the beginning. If Vail Resorts picks up a resort to the south of Killington like Okemo or Stratton, then skiers from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut will be looking at the Epic pass seriously. Killington is going to have to do something different that what I see this year if they want to retain market share.