The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Groups a challenge
Ski resorts are getting their first good looks at winter reservations, and Crested Butte Mountain Resort (CBMR) is no exception. The final early booking deadline came and went on Monday, October 15 and early season pass sales ended September 28. So far, the resort is pleased, sales are pacing slightly ahead of last year.
“Pass sales, right now, are up 11 percent year over year in pass products sold,” said Erica Reiter, CBMR public relations and communications manager. A lot of that increase comes from the mountain card products like the EZ Pass. But Reiter said that Platinum Passes are slightly ahead of last year and Gold Pass sales are up 2.3 percent.
With the Business Pass sale, the Choice Pass sale and the fall push for regional sales, Reiter says that’s a good place to be this time of year. Room nights are also up about 2 percent. And that does put CBMR slightly ahead of trends being reported by the Mountain Travel Research Program.
According to early reports from ski resorts in Colorado, Utah, California and Oregon, the program calculated a .5 percent increase in year-over-year booked occupancy as of September 30, and the booking pace in September was down overall by 3.9 percent.
That’s in keeping with what Reiter has heard out on the marketing trail, where she’s gotten the sense from other ski resorts that CBMR is ahead of the curve. The one area where the resort is seeing some downturn is in corporate groups. A couple of groups from last year have opted not to return, either because they intentionally rotate destinations or have seen changes in leadership.
The availability of airline seats always plays a role in getting groups to Crested Butte, but Reiter doesn’t think there’s a direct correlation between this year’s air program and the slight decline in groups.
“That’s our biggest issue in terms of groups. They say they can’t get here because they want to block out 100 seats, and if that’s all we have coming in on one day, that doesn’t work. That’s a big contributing factor to the reason a lot of groups don’t come here,” Reiter said.
An increase in regular guests has helped counteract that, and Reiter said the air program is performing well so far. At this point in the season, American Airlines service out of Dallas has a load factor of 18 percent compared to 14 percent last year.
United Airlines service from Houston has a load factor of 37 percent compared to 33 percent last year.
There are fewer seats available on the latter, however, making it difficult to say just how much of an increase that is. And load factors for United service from Denver are down—only a 12 percent load factor at this point compared to 15 percent last year.
“We’re up 640 seats overall, sales to date,” Reiter said, and added that American Airlines in particular has been a great marketing partner. The airline matched a lot of the early booking deals with airfare deals, providing extra incentive for travelers.
The next big marketing push will focus on regional sales, with events planned in Boulder and Gene Taylor’s Sporting Goods in Gunnison this weekend. Anyone who missed the deadline for early season pass rates can still take advantage of them—they just have to show up at the event in person.
The resort will also offer the Friends and Family Fly Free, but with a twist—in an effort to promote early bookings, the deal comes with a deadline of December 1 this year. “We continue to notice that when have a deadline, we have a good push in terms of sales,” Reiter said.
And looking ahead to opening day, the resort will open the slopes for free on November 21. It’s just one way to ski free during the beginning of the winter season—between November 21 and December 20, skiers staying at participating lodges both on and off the mountain can get free lift tickets.
And if that’s not enough incentive to get your family here for a visit, the Crested Butte Chamber of Commerce is timing the popular Butte Bucks program to coincide with the ski free with lodging program.
“You can save on lodging and skiing but also spend dollars locally and get the 20 percent Butte Bucks discount,” Reiter said.
So while it’s still early to know exactly how this winter will play out—especially with a little thing called snow—all signs are reported positive on the mountain.
