Last year's buzz gives jump start to ski industry

A great preceding ski season makes a difference, and not just in the minds of visitors bureau officials and ski resort and hotel executives who anticipate this winter to be as good as last year, if not better.

Early indicators of lodging reservations and sales of ski packages, too, look positive.

Last year's record-breaking snow on the slopes surrounding Lake Tahoe created a buzz nationwide and abroad.And momentum coming from the year before is always the best way to start the new season, observers say.

"We're wishful and hopeful that it will be just as great as last year," says Patrick Kaler, executive director of Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority."But it's really up to Mother Nature."

Some ski resorts such as Heavenly Mountain Resort are going to kick off the season during the Thanksgiving week,when they say they could have 10-12 inches of packed natural snow and the weather that's cold enough to fire up snowmaking machines.

Others, such as the Diamond Peak Ski Resort will open in December.

Reservations throughout the region for lodging and early season ski package sales are on par with where they should be at this time of the year, say several executives.

Group bookings,mostly from the Bay area and other parts of California, are strong, says Milena Regos, marketing director of Diamond Peak.Also the resort has sold more season passes than it had at this time last year, she adds.

"There are no indications that it's going to be slow or particularly fast," says John Wagnon, vice president of marketing and sales at Heavenly.

Forest Suites Resort,which is on the grounds of Heavenly, has more reservations on the book for the first quarter of 2006 than it had at this time last year, says Katrin DeBacker, director of sales and marketing.

"This suggests people are beginning to make their plans earlier than they have been over the past few years.

And that's probably due to the fact that last year when people waited to make their arrangements, they found that most of the places they were interested in visiting were all sold out,"DeBacker says.

Although room occupancy in South Lake Tahoe during the busy ski month of December declined to 29 percent last year from 41 percent as recently as 2001, the average daily rate in the same period has grown to $130 from less than $91.

"We're attracting more affluent travelers who are not budget conscious, are spending more for their vacations and looking for more amenities," says Kaler."That's where our redevelopment in the community comes into play."

Redevelopment at the Stateline, he points out, includes the Gondola, new shopping centers, the Marriott and upgrades of existing properties.

Increased gas prices do not seem to have affected the enthusiasm of travelers.

"That's yet to be seen whether that's going to keep some people at home," says Mike Pierce,marketing director at Mount Rose.

The resort gets a strong percentage of skiers from California and so there is a chance, Pierce says, that it may see a hit on that front.

"But it's hard to say.

Sometimes during leaner times people do tend to recreate actually more.And from our perspective alone, our proximity to Reno helps.We do still anticipate that once people are in Reno they will come up," Pierce says.

A great preceding year, however, does not mean any relaxation in the marketing efforts of ski-area properties.

In fact, in some cases it has meant going in for full throttle marketing, including redesigned Web sites, rebranded images of resort, and participation in ski shows at Chicago, Los Angeles and elsewhere.

Forest Suites, for instance, continued with its move away from print advertising to online.

Diamond Peak has a new brand campaign on its Web site called "Your Tahoe Place" that emphasizes its strengths of customer service.

Executives at Harrah's Lake Tahoe make sure the property is extending the right incentives to reach its significant database.And the property joined LTVA's efforts to build more traffic from Los Angeles.

In addition to its advertising in national ski and snowboard magazines,Heavenly Ski Resort has come up with discount packages and lift ticket promotions for the week of Dec.

12 to celebrate its 50th anniversary.

Both Diamond Peak and Mount Rose continue partnerships with Reno hotels.

"You get a room and lift tickets for 59 bucks," says Pierce of Mount Rose."There are very few destinations that can compete with that."

A California Travel and Tourism campaign aimed at increasing destination skier visits found unanimous favor with the region's officials and hotel and ski resort executives.

Both the North Lake Tahoe Resort Association and the Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority are taking part in the campaign, each contributing $40,000.

Ski resorts also are contributing.

Gov.

Arnold Schwarzenegger's involvement in the promotion will garner a lot of exposure at an international level, says DeBacker.

"People know who Arnold Schwarzenegger is and if he is actively promoting, people will sit up and notice," she says.