Slopes of Nederland’s Eldora ski resort
As a ski instructor this past winter, I frequently got asked why I didn’t work for our local ski resort here in Nederland, Eldora Mountain Resort instead of my home resort off I-70. The short answer was I just preferred the size and variety of the larger resorts, but the longer answer had to do with my experience both as an employee and a customer of Eldora over the past six years.
The ownership of Eldora long had cultivated a business model that espoused greediness at the expense of building long-term customer loyalty. I only needed to work there one winter to see this business model in action and know it wasn’t for me either as an employee or a skier.
Traditionally, they charged prices for retail, rentals, and food that far outpaced other ski resorts of a similar size such as Loveland or Arapahoe Basin. I personally worked in the retail division and was instructed on day one that there were no exchanges, returns or refunds, period. When I tried to point out that this wasn’t very customer service oriented and would alienate our customer base, those concerns were dismissed without discussion.
This same lack of customer service played out on the slopes as well, where lift services on weekends were curtailed, and a disregard for customers was demonstrated regularly. Perhaps the worst incdient that comes to mind was when a major lift that serves the backside, Corona, broke down for a lengthy period of time, and skiers and snowboarders were forced to hike back up the slope. Rightly, they asked for a credit to get a ticket another day, and once again, the resort’s no refund policy was enforced.
Despite the fact Eldora is a mere 20 minutes from our house in Nederland, and all other resorts require a 1 1/2 hour drive, I eschewed going there, even when I had free tickets this past winter (ski resorts give reciprocal privileges to employees of other resorts). To me, a business has to earn your patronage, and nothing they had one had earned my business.
The general employee culture got so bad two winters ago, that nearly every manager and director quit in the span of four months, because they couldn’t stomach working for the current ownership.
Yet, Eldora has a lot going for it, mainly its convenience for Boulder County skiers, and as a great place for kids and adults to learn to ski. I’d long wished for the day that new ownership would come in, and develop a new business model that would show appreciation for its customers, and manage it in a way that would make me want to ski their again.
So its seems this week, my prayers have been answered. It was announced on June 6, that the resort had been sold to a company Powdr, a company headquartered in Utah that owns other resorts around the country. Perhaps the quote from our local paper, the Mountain-Ear, says it all, where the new General Manager, Brent Tregaskis, said: “It is really time for Bill and Graham to retire and get out of the business.” No truer words were ever spoken, and are so welcome by skiers a like.
