Killington mismanagement

[skacosta]

As I post this have been sitting on line for 35 minutes at sky ship ticket window because only have one salesperson here. My guests are getting a great first impression. There is another middle aged employee just standing doing nothing other than keeping line in order. Embarrassing. Why is my beloved resort run like a 3rd world country?????!!!!!

[Highway Star]

As I post this have been sitting on line for 35 minutes at sky ship ticket window because only have one salesperson here. My guests are getting a great first impression. There is another middle aged employee just standing doing nothing other than keeping line in order. Embarrassing. Why is my beloved resort run like a 3rd world country?????!!!!!

Why are you starting at skyeship on a holiday with new snow..............?

But yeah that still sucks.

[ski]

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[rogman]

It sucks, obviously. It is apparent that Killington has serious staffing issues this year. No doubt if they had the manpower they would have put more people on at Skyeship Base, scanning, everywhere on the mountain. They knew they were going to get slammed today. I don't know enough about the particulars to understand why manpower is more of an issue this year than in previous years; perhaps low wages, perhaps lower unemployment numbers, perhaps they have higher standards for whom they employ. There may be specifics to Rutland county. Ski areas require a lot of manpower at low wages. When the labor pool dries up, they are stuck.

In the short term, there should be more automated ticket kiosks. You shouldn't need to talk to anyone to buy a lift ticket. They should go to RFID to eliminate some of the scanners. I wonder how much revenue they lost today from people dodging them. Ultimately, It is a question of how you prioritize capital expenditures.

[Bubba]

It sucks, obviously. It is apparent that Killington has serious staffing issues this year. No doubt if they had the manpower they would have put more people on at Skyeship Base, scanning, everywhere on the mountain. They knew they were going to get slammed today. I don't know enough about the particulars to understand why manpower is more of an issue this year than in previous years; perhaps low wages, perhaps lower unemployment numbers, perhaps they have higher standards for whom they employ. There may be specifics to Rutland county. Ski areas require a lot of manpower at low wages. When the labor pool dries up, they are stuck.

In the short term, there should be more automated ticket kiosks. You shouldn't need to talk to anyone to buy a lift ticket. They should go to RFID to eliminate some of the scanners. I wonder how much revenue they lost today from people dodging them. Ultimately, It is a question of how you prioritize capital expenditures.

Take a look in the Mountain Times' job listings and you'll see the need for employees up and down the access road. Take a look on the resort's website for job listings. They still need plenty of help. Killington has even advertised in Seven Days, a weekly paper mostly serving Burlington.

[Big Bob]

In Vt and NH it is called full employment. Impossible to find help in most industries or people that are trained for the task.

[HomeStretchFan]

You only waited for 35 minutes? That's FAST! I was at Loon Friday, used the South Mountain parking area, and waited in line for 1h 15m for a paper ticket, because Loon doesn't have direct to lift access for my MAX Pass (Killington does). They also had only ONE person working. On their first real POW day of the year!?!

By the time I got my first lap, the fresh powder was all skied off -- and it was moguls and ice.

Bash Killington, but you begin to see how much better they are the more you explore New England's other mountains.

[Captain Hafski]

RFID, RFID, RFID - When is Killington going to learn. So many people skiing for free, especially on these busy days.

WTF ??

[brownman]

Day ticket window purchase was the initial gripe.
RF doesn't remove that as an issue.
.. and while day ticket RFID works well, it is not foolproof.

K would need 10+ corral stations with video monitors in order to implement.
The existing connectivity will not properly support it.
Investment on upgrading that infrastructure is non-trivial.
Monitoring the video is labor-skill intensive at a busy corral.
Correlation of patrons to pass pictures is the usual problem.
On a busy day, Stowe's Forerunner is a good example.

BigNess of a resort doesn't necessarily mean GreatNess.
No problem whatsoever at Middlebury Friday.



ps .. South Ridge lift or RFID ? Not even close.

[Bubba]

From Stowe's Facebook page yesterday...

If you have been here, you know. This week we have been experiencing unprecedented holiday week traffic levels. Combined with this week’s snow storm and our two-lane state highway, we have been experiencing delays in both the morning arrivals and afternoon and evening departures. We sincerely apologize for the delays and traffic levels. We have taken several corrective measures working with our parking staff and local authorities to hopefully better manage the crowds for the remainder of the holiday week. As always – we are also praying for more snow. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

[MrsG]

From Stowe's Facebook page yesterday...

If you have been here, you know. This week we have been experiencing unprecedented holiday week traffic levels. Combined with this week’s snow storm and our two-lane state highway, we have been experiencing delays in both the morning arrivals and afternoon and evening departures. We sincerely apologize for the delays and traffic levels. We have taken several corrective measures working with our parking staff and local authorities to hopefully better manage the crowds for the remainder of the holiday week. As always – we are also praying for more snow. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Heard from someone on a lift today, that Okemo was equally crazy - more so on the trails than getting to the mountain .... don't believe this was a Killington-only issue!!!! Today was freakin' awesome

[rogman]

Day ticket window purchase was the initial gripe.
RF doesn't remove that as an issue.
.. and while day ticket RFID works well, it is not foolproof.

K would need 10+ corral stations with video monitors in order to implement.
The existing connectivity will not properly support it.
Investment on upgrading that infrastructure is non-trivial.
Monitoring the video is labor-skill intensive at a busy corral.
Correlation of patrons to pass pictures is the usual problem.
On a busy day, Stowe's Forerunner is a good example.

BigNess of a resort doesn't necessarily mean GreatNess.
No problem whatsoever at Middlebury Friday.



ps .. South Ridge lift or RFID ? Not even close.

Cumming isn't going to sign off on a South Ridge lift as long as he thinks there is lower hanging fruit with a better ROI. Deal with it. RFID could be phased in over many years. There are many direct to lift products that make cheating the resort zero risk. That needs to be fixed.

[ME2VTSkier]

Day tickets can be passed around too. So what's the solution?

[SnoBrdr]

Day tickets can be passed around too. So what's the solution?

Wasn't even a ticker checker at the Skye Ship early on.

Liftie said the other guy didn't show up and it wasn't his job to check tickets.

[RENO]

If you purchased tickets online like K tickets, go to the Killington Grand desk 24/7 and have them printed out. Just bring your receipt. You don't have to be a guest either. You may also be able to purchase tickets there, but not sure. Call them and find out. I'm guessing you can...