On the cost of skiing

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On the cost of skiing

Postby Mr. T » Fri Jan 02, 2004 6:38 am

I don't think that one can say Harald is expensive when compared to the cost of ski schools at good resorts. I said that before.

I don't know how much the Harb carvers should sell for? I guess that the
right price is the one Harb Ski Systems can make the most profit for. Simple economics, I would say. I leave it for Harald to decide. That's his
business.

SCSA, I think that you are right about the free lessons for skiers. But, at the same time I don't know how well the tipping thing would work. I think (and you can dissent with me) that ski schools should work for the resorts themselves and some of the budget from the resort should go to the local ski school to pay the instructors to teach guests to ski for free. Otherwise
you would have just a bunch of youngsters who would teach for little or no money and at most a free season pass. Plus it would become a 8 hour
a day kind of job. A little assembly line at minimum wage which hardly would do anything good for the quality of skiing. That is why I think that you are right in the end, but the entire thing should be run by the resorts
not by the ski schools.

Tipping is generous only when you deal with clients who have money, the one who can hire an instructor in Vail for a day and drop $400 + tip without too many problems. The blue or white collar kind of guy would not drop $50 in tip to any instructor, trust me on that. I do teach and at most I get $5 from this kind of clients even if they are super excited. Around Xmas they tip perhaps $10.

Some seeing my Spyder jacket and pants think that I am probably very wealthy and do not need any tip at all. I probably should put a lot of duct tape on my jacket and pants for them to pity me and open their wallets.
But then, honestly, many people cannot really afford to tip. Ski passes + rentals + lodging expenses + food + car rental is way above the possibilities of too many families and already a big commitment for them.

The truth is that in the US the ski industry, unlike in Europe, decided to be only for an elite of people and they gave up on the common people unless they are locals and live within the resorts.
Mr. T
 
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Postby piggyslayer » Fri Jan 02, 2004 11:59 am

Free ski lesson simply tells the customer:
"You pay for the lift ticket and accomodations, the lesson is included."
So there may be even no tip.
Unless PMTS ends up owning a ski area and pays ski instructors independently of ski lessons, this business model will not fly.

I agree with Mr T.

I do not think it is easy to come up with a great new business solution
that Harald et al have overlooked.

piggyslayer
Piggy Slayer
let the piggy breathe
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Postby -- SCSA » Fri Jan 02, 2004 9:47 pm

Piggy and T,

I pitched the idea to two instructors at Vail today and they really liked it. The modified version of the idea is that each student would get enough free lessons to get to parallel. Vail is doing something similar now. You get 3 lessons, but only pay for 1.

I have a lot of thoughts here but can't talk right now. It's getting late and tomorrow is going to be epic. It dumped all day today and it's dumping all night. It could be really deep, in the morning! Got to get some sleep!

Cheers,
-- SCSA
 


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