The fascinating perk offered by Jay with their new lodging packages.

Almost a decade ago during the first few months of SlopeFillers, I made a list of all the 2-for-1s I could find. I stopped at 28, but the list could have gone on and on. Likewise, there are dozens of perks offered by resorts in an effort to push season pass sales through the spring and summer. For example:

• Ski free in the spring
• Free summer bike park access
• Free summer activity access
• Limited quantities before prices go up
• Multiple, date-specific deadlines

All of these have the same, obvious thing in common: they assume you want to buy a season pass and then offer perks on top of that to sweeten the deal.

By the way, this is where you say:

My response to this is two words: Jay Peak.

Free pass, anyone?
What Jay Peak is doing flips this script on this thinking. It starts with the people who are more likely to book lodging and then uses a free pass to get them to bite.

Interesting, no?

I mean, we offer a lot of value for free when they book 2-3 nights, why not offer a boatload of value when they go big on 5+ nights?

Makes Great Sense
We’re well into the destination passholder era of ski. Advanced purchase is a significant effort around both lodging and season passes. And lodging is also looking for ways to sweeten the pot and encourage buying/booking now versus later.

So why not turn those early-bookers into destination passholders? Why not offer that perk for something they’ll spend thousands of dollars on?

Why not take those folks – folks who have enough cash and commitment to book a vacation like that in July – and help them see the light of holding a season pass? Why not give them a reason to make it two trips this year instead of one?

Look, the economics behind the scenes are anyone’s guess and I have no idea if this will get people to act, but man o man, I think there’s a ton of potential is where they’re going on this.