Snow.com season begins in the mountains

The weather’s turning colder in the Colorado Rockies this time of year. The Aspens are almost bare, wood stoves are burning at night, and the days are growing shorter.

Let it Snow.com, let it Snow.com, let it Snow.com.

No, that’s not a typo borne from too many years of writing about interactive travel. Snow.com is the Web site developed by Vail Resorts, which owns Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, and Keystone.

Next month, Brad Appel, Vail’s new media manager, and a team of four technicians will roll out a newer, cooler Snow.com. It will feature an online booking service through WorldRes, an aggressive advertising campaign, and a series of tools and applications designed to keep the traffic there.

“Thirty percent of the visitors to our resorts made their
reservations online last year,” says Appel. “This year, we’re hoping to make it more than 50 percent.”

Ambitious. Then again, so is his strategy.

First, Appel set out to redesign the Web presence. “We put a lot of work into adding functionality. Obviously, as people are becoming more sophisticated, they will want more from a destination site,” he says.

For example, Snow.com will feature more interactive trail maps, which use Shockwave to highlight specific ski trails. With the click of a mouse, a user may identify all desired ski paths and plan a day of alpine activities with the virtual trail maps. The application also points prospective vacationers to lodges and restaurants.

Another upgrade: more “mountaincams”-small cameras that deliver still images of key slopes and public areas to the site. There are six “mountaincams” on the peaks at the moment, and it’s difficult to overstate their popularity, according to Appel. Visitors rely on the images for objective data about snow conditions.

“We’re going to a total of eight cameras on the mountain and upward of 12 in the valley,” he says.

The redesign is more than cosmetic. The WorldRes deal, announced last summer, takes effect Nov. 1. It will allow visitors to browse resort hotel offerings, look at real-time inventory, and book online. The system replaces a primitive online form that users filled out and e-mailed to Vail’s reservations department. Agents would get the message and call the client by phone to finalize the transaction.

What’s more, Snow.com will offer virtual visitors special
SteepSaver packages, which are last-minute lodging deals bundled with airline deals culled from distressed inventories.

Vail resort’s Web initiative is backed by a full-court promotional press. Advertising partners include America Online, the DoubleClick network, and Chicago Tribune Online, and cross-promotions are being done with AltaVista, the Weather Channel, and various radio stations.

“Our goal is to target specific markets with our advertising and promotions,” says Paul Witt, Vail Resorts’ communications director.

The effects of Snow.com’s upgrade may prove to be far greater than its individual components. Already, resources are being reshuffled within Vail Resorts’ reservations department to accommodate a surge in online
bookings. The number of page views is expected to double this year, to 18 million, so the company is sure to hire more agents to handle the volume.

More profound, perhaps, is Snow.com’s influence on destination Web sites in general and the ski industry specifically. Vail Resorts is a leading ski resort owner, with 10,161 skiable acres-more than in the entire state of Vermont. It hosted 4.6 million skiers during the 1997-98 season.

What it does, others will do in 1999 and beyond.

Is this another well marketed Web site or the latest dent in the travel distribution system as we know it? We’ll see.

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

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