Airline Fee Model for Ski Resorts?
Airlines are raking it in with their fees these days…$1.38 Billion (for baggage and reservation changes) in the first three months of this year alone! Now, I don’t agree that airlines pay no taxes on the fees they collect from things such as checked bags, assigned seats, itinerary changes and those lovely ‘snack packs’. In particular, I find a statement from Spirit Airlines’ CEO Ben Baldanza in his testimony before the House Transportation Committee that checked bags are “not essential” to travel. Well Mr Baldanza, for anyone going on a vacation other than to a nudist colony, you might want to pack along a change or two of clothes, and if you’re taking a ski vacation I can think of a few other items to pack along as well.
This did get me to wondering if perhaps the airline fee-based model could work for the ski resort industry. In fact, here are a few ideas for fees that ski resorts could charge as well as a “lift ticket”:
- Parking Fee – how about charging even more for people who don’t pre-pay for their parking?!
- Man-Made Snow Access Fee – this would a great revenue producer in the early season, if you don’t pay, you don’t get to ski on the runs with man-made snow
- Grooming Fee – those fancy grooming machines aren’t cheap and the people who drive them don’t work for free, so why not a fee to ski the groomed runs
- Terrain Park Fee – jibs and jumps need a huge amount of building and maintenance
- Mountain Evacuation Fee – I figure this could apply to any number of things, from toboggan rides to lift evacs
- First Tracks Fee – for those who adhere to the “No friends on a powder day rule” and can afford to buy their fresh tracks
- Front of the Line Fee – lift-line cutting fee for those who hate to wait
- Gear Fee – you can ride the lift, but if you want to bring along a ski, pole or snowboard…pay up
What do you think about this shift to à la carte based pricing in the travel industry? Is it good, bad and what other crazy fees do you think a ski resort could charge for?!
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Great post! The à la carte based pricing is absolutely ridiculous but I can definitely see resorts implementing some of your suggestions to make some extra money. Thanks for the good read!
My pleasure, thanks for reading and commenting Lauren!
While some of these might be tongue in cheek, the front of the life line fee is something I've seen at a few Tahoe resorts. Certain levels of season passes can access the ski school lift line, eliminating the need to wait with the common folk.
Given how the fee model only frustrates airline customers, it might not be in the resort's best interest to start down this road…
Hi Jenn,
Yeah, I was being a bit tongue in cheek on some of the suggestions, I do think that fees are something that are rapidly becoming the norm in the travel industry, look at resort fees, and that ski resorts do need to keep them in mind in a tricky economic environment. Consumer frustration can be fleeting and when people are able to pick their level of service, a company almost has to monetize that because money definitely talks. Thanks for the comment!