a similar weighting and calculated that the extra-large ski areas accounted for three-quarters of the national NPS decline. OVERALL VISIT SATISFACTION SCORECARD The trend in Overall Visit Satisfaction scores is less clear. NSAA only added the CSAT question to its survey and report- ing two years ago, so trends are not yet emerging. More important, the scores for overall satisfaction and all other satisfac- tion ratings are based on mean (average) scores, which we find difficult to inter- pret. Unlike NPS, which is calculated by subtracting the percentage of Detractors from the percentage of Promoters, the means measuring the satisfaction attri- butes are calculated by totaling the scores and dividing the sum by the number of responding ski areas. The strength of those who like and dislike an experience is camouflaged because of the averaging. While CSAT is a reliable measure of overall satisfaction with the most recent visit, it is generally not considered a reliable predictor of business results because, unlike NPS, it does not measure the guest’s relationship with the ski area. The Kottke Report says that Overall Visit Satisfaction “earned a strong nation- al rating of 8.7 this past season, down slightly from 8.8 the previous year.” The report doesn’t indicate whether the dif- ference is statistically significant or not. However, since loyalty requires satisfac-
between 8 and 8.9. As is typical for the ski industry, the lowest ratings were for Value for Price Paid (8.2) and Overall Food & Beverage (8.0). Similar to the NPS Likelihood to Recommend scores, the Likelihood to Return scores were lower in 2024-25. Longer term, the average for the last four years was 68.75, down from 70 for the previous six years. Comparisons to Guest Research’s clients: For additional perspective, we compared the Kottke Report ’s ratings for NPS and Overall Visit Satisfaction to those of our clients. Our consolidated ratings are for U.S. and Canada ski areas, while NSAA’s are for the U.S. only. Our ratings are simple averages, whereas Kottke ’s are “weighted by resort and by NSAA region.” Our sample consists of a mix of small, medium, and large ski areas with fewer extra-large ski areas and rela- tively more Northeast ski areas than are included in the Kottke Report . For the three years following the U.S. peak NPS of 74 in 2020-21, our cli- ents’ ratings were within one point of the Kottke results. This past season, our clients’ NPS rose 2 points to 68 while the Kottke showed an unchanged 66. Simi- larly, while both the Kottke and our cli- ents’ average Overall Visit Satisfaction in 2023-24 was 8.8, the 2024-25 national average in the Kottke Report went down to 8.7 and our clients’ rose to 8.9. Our clients can view their real-time rat-
ings based on three scoring methods—Net Promoter scoring, means, and “Top Box” (the percentage of 9 and 10, or “Excellent” ratings, the most favorable response). We prefer Net Promoter scoring for all attri- butes. It has numerous advantages, includ- ing identifying the Promoters who support a ski area through higher visit frequency, higher referrals, and higher spend and the Detractors who harm a ski area because of a lower repeat rate, lower visit frequency, lower spend, and a higher cost to service. It’s also easier to encourage staff to increase the number of guests who really like you and to decrease the number of those who do not than it is to ask them to increase a rating from, say, 7.1 to 7.2. This enables a ski area to make real-time service adjustments throughout the sea- son to enhance its year-end scores. Our 2024-25 increases in NPS and Overall Visit Satisfaction reflected the gains in our “other attribute” ratings, many of which realized three- to six-year highs. THE IMPORTANCE OF EMOTIONAL CONNECTION Widespread research over the past 10-15 years has confirmed that consumers base their decisions, including brand selec- tion, on emotion, and then justify those
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BELOW: NPS by ski area size shows all four catego- ries are relatively close in scoring. Source: NSAA Kottke End of Season and Guest Experience Report .
tion and an emo- tional connection, lower satisfaction would be a drag on loyalty. The “other” satisfaction scores: Using means, NSAA tracks seven addi- tional satisfaction attribute ratings and the Likelihood to Return to the same ski area. Each of the seven satis- faction scores was either unchanged from the prior sea- son or +/- 0.1 point. All ratings were
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