Posts tagged business
The Holidays and Ski Resorts
02 years ago
by Eric Hoffman
in article
How is it that the major winter holidays of Christmas and New Years come so darn early in the winter season? Why couldn’t they be in January or February so we could have a bit more time to get things really dialed in before we hit the busiest and most lucrative week of the season? I don’t think that there are many other businesses that have the same crunch to get things ready within such a short amount of time.
It’s even a double edged sword in that we have to fight off weather issues, it would have been a really ‘interesting’ Christmas here in Utah if we hadn’t gotten a 30 inch storm last week, and we also have to wait to get fully staffed up until we can get most of the mountain open, so much of our training is accomplished in a very short time frame.
Thankfully we have a great core group of year round and seasonal employees so that things really do work out for the best, but I can only imagine the difficulties that many of our managers face every year as they bring on staff and almost immediately have to prepare them for dealing with some of the busiest days of the entire season. In any case, it’s just how it goes in the ski resort business, any good stories about getting open during the busiest time of the season?! And, happy holidays everyone!
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So, what's been going on for the past seven months?
03 years ago
by Eric Hoffman
in article
The ski resort business is seasonal. Sure, most resorts offer some summer activities, but the vast majority of our visitors come during the winter months of December through April. So it’s now been about seven months since a paying skier or snowboarder has gotten on a lift, and since then there have been quite a few changes in the world:
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average has dropped nearly 5,000 points, from nearly 13,000 to just above 8,000 – less money in consumer’s stock and retirement accounts.
- The median price of a home in the U.S. has dropped by about 9% – people feel less wealthy with declining home values.
- Average scheduled daily flight departures from the Salt Lake City Airport has dropped 32,852 from December 07 to December 08 – fewer opportunities for consumers to get to Park City.
- Cruise lines have added seven new large ships this year with around three quarter of a million passenger nights to fill between them all – another winter vacation option for consumers.
- Oil has risen to nearly $150 per barrel and then plummeted to about $50 per barrel – if driving is cheap again, will consumer fly?
These ingredients along with the general malaise in the country will almost assuredly cut down on the number of visitors that we see this winter. The Christmas/New Years Holiday, which is a real barometer for ski resorts, is just over a month away, and already some local lodging properties are starting to offer deals for this peak demand time. Yikes – only another month and we will know how what’s been going on for the past seven months will truly affect the ski resort business.
