A WORRISOME
"NEW NORMAL"
Ski areas are experiencing lower guest satisfaction and loyalty. They should not be complacent about it.
BY SCOTT HANNAH, Guest Research, Inc.
the 2023-24 Kottke End of Season and Guest Experience Report (appropriately renamed to reflect more than guest demograph- ics). That report revised its 2022-23 NPS to 68 but reported the 2023-24 NPS had dipped again to 66, the third consecutive season in the 60s, each well below the 2020-21 peak. Then came July’s release of the 2024-25 Kottke Report , with an NPS stagnant at 66. Now, with four consecutive seasons in the mid-60s, it is clear that the lower levels of guest satisfaction and loyalty are the new normal. Over time, this will likely lead to a lower conversion rate of first-timers into core skiers, fewer lapsed skiers continuing with the sport, reduced BELOW: This chart illustrates a trend in average NPS scores for U.S. ski areas, which have dipped into the 60s the past four years. Source: NSAA Kottke End of Season and Guest Experience Report.
“stagnant NPS should remain a concern of the industry.” For that article, I reached out to industry leaders and found that aware- ness of the declines was low, and that concerns were minimal. Most explained away the declines as transitory and not a new normal. I did not share their lack of con- cern. Based on their input and a deeper study of the Kottke Report and its research tables as well as Guest Research survey data from our clients, I suggested a vari- ety of possible reasons for the declines. These included record skier visits and overcrowding during weekends and hol- idays, reduced services and labor short- ages, window ticket price resistance, higher guest expectations, and reduced emotional engagement of guests. This was just ahead of the release of
For the fourth year in a row, the Net Promoter Score for member ski ar- eas reported by the National Ski Areas Association provided further evidence that sharply lower levels of guest satisfaction and loyalty are the new normal. Data from the 2024-25 Kottke End of Season and Guest Ex- perience Report showed the most re- cent four-year average NPS of 66.25 is more than six points lower than the 72.5 average for the previous six years. The industry’s future is depen- dent on the guest experience, so it’s time to acknowledge that the indus- try does have a problem, to identify the root causes, and refocus efforts on enhancing the guest experience. In the May 2024 issue of SAM , I posed the question in the title of my article, “Is Lower Guest Satisfaction & Loyalty the
New Normal?” The article highlighted the sharp declines that had occurred in NSAA’s national Likelihood to Rec- ommend NPS and various satisfaction ratings during the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons. In its 2022- 23 Kottke End of Sea- son and Demographic Report , NSAA report- ed an NPS of 66, the second consecutive season it was well below the peak of 74 recorded in 2020-21. The report cautioned that the
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