A&K owner reinventing ski travel for agents
Travel agents have not traditionally been strong in booking ski vacations, but Daniel Jarvis, CEO of Intrawest Corporation, wants to change that.
“Agents have not been booking ski vacations for several reasons including the fact that there are literally hundreds of different ski areas, and there are so many elements such as renting equipment and getting lessons,” he said.
But Mr Jarvis, whose company recently bought two thirds of Abercrombie & Kent, is looking at new ways for agents to sell his ski resorts.
“There are two words that come to mind to make it easier for agents: speed and ease. We’re going to try to do that,” he said.
Mr Jarvis says he is hoping to do that not only for Abercrombie & Kent, but also for the various ski resorts owned by Intrawest.
The company claims to have “reinvented” the ski industry. Mr Jarvis explained:
“We came to the conclusion almost 15 years ago that ski areas were one dimensional. They didn’t have enough activities for enough people after they came off the ski hill at the end of the day.”
So Intrawest at its various resorts such as Whistler Blackcomb, Copper Mountain and others began to offer visitors village-centered destination resorts with a myriad of activities in addition to skiing.
With a wide variety of resorts, Intrawest can cross-market. For example, a family who books one of their resorts is offered four free lift tickets at another resort.
“That might have a value of $1100. You ask how we can afford to do that? We can do it because people who come to our other resort go shopping and go to the restaurants and they have a bunch of incremental spending that we would otherwise not get.”
Mr Jarvis said he intended to expand offerings at Abercrombie & Kent as well.
“One area we’ll be looking at is more active and adventure travel. That could be going on an African safari, but it could also be taking a bicycle trip in Utah,” he said.
Report by David Wilkening
David
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