Dynamic Pricing for Ski Lift Passes on the Rise in Europe
3rd December 2024
Ski resorts across Europe are increasingly adopting a dynamic pricing model for their lift passes. While early bird discounts are nothing new, many areas are now going much further. NEW
Dynamic pricing has long been used by airlines and for event tickets.
It’s not always popular with the public – remember the outrage at what many saw as extortionate prices for the Oasis reunion concerts?
First, what is dynamic pricing?
In a nutshell, companies charge customers different prices for the same goods or services, based on changes in the demand for them.
For example, if a lot of ski passes have been sold on a given day, prices for that day will automatically go up.
If sales are low, prices are dropped.
So, what you’ll be charged for a 6-day lift pass for your holiday could depend on when in the season you go as well as how, when and where you buy it.
Smart Pricer, a company that helps ski businesses introduce data-based pricing to boost revenue, says the number of resorts using dynamic pricing rose from 5 in the 2017-18 season to 60 in 2022-23.
It’s thought that as many as half of the major Swiss resorts are using the model this winter.
Verbier, Switzerland. Image © PlanetSKI
One is Verbier, which has had a form of dynamic pricing for several seasons.
It charges more if you buy your pass at the cashdesk than if you book online.
It also gives a 10% discount for purchasing your pass at least 10 days before your arrival.
But it also rewards skiers and snowboarders who are able to hit the slopes out of the peak times.
These are some of the differences in prices we found for a 6-day 4 Vallées pass this winter.
- At the cashdesk CHF 409.00 (£364)
- Christmas week CHF 359.10 (£320)
- January 12 week CHF 333.90 (£297)
- February 16 week CHF 359.90 (£320)
- March 23 week CHF 333.90 (£297)
Zermatt has only recently introduced dynamic pricing where the more demand there is for skiing an any one day will increase the cost of your lift ticket and vice versa.
Zermatt, Switzerland. Image © PlanetSKI
This is the explanation on the Matterhorn Zermatt Bergbahnen website:
- The ski pass prices are divided into three different seasons. In addition, you can see an indication of the demand per day with colour and explanation. If a date in the calendar is marked with a red dot and the word “high”, for example, many tickets have already been sold for this day and there is an upward price trend.
The demand and price trends are listed as low, rather low, normal, rather high or high.
When we looked, the lowest daily price was CHF 88 (£78) and the highest CHF 99 (£88).
If we want to book 6 days from 22 December it will currently cost us CHF 482 (£429), but if we wait until 12 January it’s CHF 436 (£388), a saving of CHF 46 (£41).
Austrian resorts with dynamic pricing include Muttereralm near Innsbruck.
It says: “Ski passes are like flight tickets. The sooner you buy, the better is the price”.
And you definitely want to buy online rather than in resort, with savings of up to €100 (£83) on a 6-day pass.
Despite the rapid rise in dynamic pricing, many ski areas appear happy with the traditional system.
Apart from discounts for very early and very late season skiing – before 21 December and after 25 April – Tignes in France has just one price for a 6-day Tignes/Val d’Isère pass for an adult aged 19 to 64 and that’s €426 (£353). (It’s cheaper for seniors and those 18 or under).
And Saalbach in Austria isn’t a fan of dynamic pricing.
Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria. Image © Graeme Wallace.
“The advantage of fixed prices is that guests know what they are getting and are not surprised,” the Managing Director of Saalbacher Bergbahnen, Isabella Dschulnigg-Geissler, told the Seilbahnen International website earlier this year.
“In turn, we operators can calculate with fixed revenues per guest and are not dependent on fast or early bookers.
“I think that guests are longing for price certainty. We live in turbulent times, so customers are happy when they know what a service will cost.”
There seems little doubt that dynamic pricing is here to stay and that more ski areas will opt for it in future.
What does that mean for us all?
If you can plan and book ahead – and avoid peak times – probably not much.
If you don’t fall into that category, then you should probably expect to pay more to get up the mountain.
What’s your view?
Feel free to comment over on the PlanetSKI Facebook page.
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