Season Pass and Ski School Questions

[spanky]

The Killington Season Pass FAQ lists the following benefit to unlimited pass holders:

Do I receive any other discounts with the purchase of my pass?

Yes! Adult 2009-10 Unlimited season pass holders receive a 30-percent savings off Killington’s popular Max 5 Children’s Ski and Snowboard School Programs for their dependant children only. In addition, we may offer specials throughout the season, please make sure you provide a valid email address at the time of purchase so we may keep you informed.

My questions regarding this are:
(1) Are the 2009-10 ski school/daycare rates what are posted on the Killington website (same as 08/09)? If not, what are the rates? If the rates are not set yet, is there an expected announcement date?
(2) Does the 30% savings apply to the Max 3 programs (and/or Friendly Penguin daycare) as well?
(3) Can an unlimited pass holder use a Frequent Kids Discount Card to pay for a Max 5 ski school program?
(4) Do the ski school/daycare rates include any applicable taxes?
(5) Does the 30% savings apply to the Pico ski school programs as well?
(6) [sarcasm]What is a "dependant" child?[/sarcasm]

We are considering a return to seasonal skiing at Killington. Depending on what I find out regarding my questions, it may make Killington an attractive option for my family.

-spanky

P.S. [more sarcasm]I thought about sending an email to someone at Killington but was afraid they'd contact my employer and try to get me fired.[/more sarcasm]

[Bubba]

Why not just e-mail Tom Horrocks and see what kind of answer you get? Just don't mention "lynch mob" or "wanted dead or alive" in your e-mail.

[skidogg]

I think even he can connected those dots

[shizzle]

I was asking in ski school a couple of the questions you ask, and pricing wasn't determined yet.

Next year there will not be a Frequent Kids Card. The info on the webpage is for this past season.

[spanky]

I was asking in ski school a couple of the questions you ask, and pricing wasn't determined yet.

Next year there will not be a Frequent Kids Card. The info on the webpage is for this past season.

What happens if you have leftover money on an existing card? The site says you can roll it over to the next year.

[shizzle]

Another good question. I'm sure they'll figure this out because it works like a gift card.

[Geoff]

If you don't already have your answer, you're probably not going to get one. The whole place is going to be shuttered on Sunday. Do you really think they're going to have productive staff meetings this week where they chart out a rational pricing strategy that will attract people to the resort? I'd expect that any employees who aren't already laid off are more focused on unemployment checks, COBRA, and what they're going to do with their time while they're laid off.

Look at it from a management point of view. Killington can't hire the competent staff to deal with the demand for a competitively priced daycare and kid ski school product. They treat their employees so poorly that nobody will come work for them. Since they're not going to fix that problem, they're not going to lower their prices to attract more people to use their programs. I'd expect the price to remain near their incredible $180/day number for all the peak periods where they can't get the staff to deal with the existing demand. If you want a kid in a program the week before Xmas or during the dead weeks in January, they might give you a price break since they have the staff.

[spanky]

Why not just e-mail Tom Horrocks and see what kind of answer you get? Just don't mention "lynch mob" or "wanted dead or alive" in your e-mail.

email sent. Hopefully he doesn't try to get me fired

[icedtea]

Hopefully he doesn't try to get me fired

[skiadikt]

Why not just e-mail Tom Horrocks and see what kind of answer you get? Just don't mention "lynch mob" or "wanted dead or alive" in your e-mail.

email sent. Hopefully he doesn't try to get me fired

looks like you're earning turns next year. good luck ...

[DrJeff]

For a comparison (if you get an answer), here are the season pass rates for kids programs (daycare included) for Mount Snow. Just scroll to the bottom past the season pass prices. They posted these on April 12th

http://www.mountsnow.com/seasonpasses.html

[spanky]

Answers from my email...

(1) Are the 2009-10 ski school/daycare rates what are posted on the Killington website (same as 08/09)? If not, what are the rates? If the rates are not set yet, is there an expected announcement date?

A. The rates are not set yet but anticipate they will be similar or lower than this past season. We hope to have them set by August.

(2) Does the 30% savings apply to the Max 3 programs (and/or Friendly Penguin daycare) as well?

Yes, the 30% savings applies to the Max 3 & Friendly Penguin program

(3) Can an unlimited pass holder use a Frequent Kids Discount Card to pay for a Max 5 ski school program?

A. If an unlimited pass holder has dollars left over on their frequent kids card there will be couple of options. We won't be applying the pass holder discount plus using the card as payment as that would be applying a double discount. If the discount level on the card is better than the season pass discount than it would make sense to use the card until the balance is used up. If the discount level on the card is less than the 30% season pass discount than we can discount the product to make up the difference. We would also be happy to convert any balances leftover on the kids card to regular dollars and let guests apply those dollars to any of our products. This one is confusing and we would be happy to work on individual guests with the available options.

(4) Do the ski school/daycare rates include any applicable taxes?

A. No ski school & daycare are not subject to any taxes.

(5) Does the 30% savings apply to the Pico ski school programs as well?

A. No, although I don't think if it has been determined yet or not if some level of discount will be available at Pico.

[boston_e]

I don't like the current kids program pricing structure, but at least you got some straight answers to help you make your decisions.

[tyrolean_skier]

For a comparison (if you get an answer), here are the season pass rates for kids programs (daycare included) for Mount Snow. Just scroll to the bottom past the season pass prices. They posted these on April 12th

http://www.mountsnow.com/seasonpasses.html

Mount Snow's child ski program looks like it's a season pass just like it used to be at K.

[DrJeff]

For a comparison (if you get an answer), here are the season pass rates for kids programs (daycare included) for Mount Snow. Just scroll to the bottom past the season pass prices. They posted these on April 12th

http://www.mountsnow.com/seasonpasses.html

Mount Snow's child ski program looks like it's a season pass just like it used to be at K.

They do have individual day/week rates that become available in the fall, but the rates posted on that link ARE season pass rates for the various programs. I'll have to look back through the credit card receipts from last year, but if I'm not mistaken, the rate for their 4 to 6 year old Snowcamp program, actually went DOWN slightly over last seasons rate(I'll have no complaints if it did indeed drop as for next season, since I'll be buying 2 snowcamp season passes for my crew )