Oh yeah, huge windfall driven by such special circumstances. Will be fun for many businesses next year continually having to explain away why they’re declining vs an extraordinary year EVT in total probably not so good given cinema mad hotel impacts
Perisher's Epic Australia Pass seems to be $899. And that has a bunch of overseas Vail-type benefits. If Thredbo sets their season pass at $1,400 - $1,800 they'll lose a bunch of punters. In fact they already have after the delay in releasing details.
Maybe they figure half the passes at twice the price with changed eating and rental patterns is worth it. We will see.
Maybe, although they run most of the on-hill eateries and drinkeries, so lower numbers may impact that facet of their operation. Seems a short-sighted approach. Marketing 101: keep your existing customers happy, so they don't leave.
When season passes did that dramatic drop (from around $1,350 from memory) it was a direct result of Perisher dropping its own season pass to $700. Two days later KT did the same for Thredbo's season pass. That shows they're sensitive to the comparison, or at least they were back then. Now, that doesn't mean their thinking hasn't changed as a result of the scramble to secure last season's day tickets.
Lodges would be down there with locals so far as KT would be concerned. The money is elsewhere, and there is a lot of it. If a Lodge goes bust and has to sell, the market is so hot right now, KT will not lose out.
I did hear, in an anecdotal chat kind of way (here?) that people are fewer, but more expensive meals, owing to having to sit for a booked spot, rather than grab-and-go.
Yeah does not surprise me. Hard to make decisions with the uncertainty of travel, and of the head company.
In restaurants, maybe. However a number of the commercial lodges have bars that are (were) very popular and these bars had to go to the 4 metre rule with no standing up. It was disastrous for them
Not sure if all did, but many club lodges also had reduced accom capacity to allow for things like spacing in shared areas such as kitchen/bathrooms, and to allow more stringent cleaning between stays. Some even cycled rooms to quarantine them between stays.
lift queues are maxed out , eateries are maxed out. classic move is a price rice to get greater yield on season passes. also get good margins on 'discounted' day tickets in june and sept/oct to fill out the place outside peak season. even perisher is adopting this strategy. epic + ski tube is around $1000. so i'd be surprised if thredbo charged $1800 but also surprised if it's under $1000.
As a purely speculative guess I’ll take a punt at $1200 for the winter pass +$200 for a leisure centre add on.
I read that as Espresso Lane onto all lifts, now THAT might be worth paying a bit extra for in the cost of a lift pass
I think if it offered no restrictions I may buy one, accommodation is booked for 5 weeks and was expensive, so would be nice to get some certainty if I can ski or not. Though it’s a bit selfish of me to have 2 passes, so feel free to tell me to stick to the other resort
I too was contemplating the double pass, but after the rather short 2020 season, and with the risk of Covid potentially still derailing plans at anytime, my gut feel is that it would be hard for us to extract enough value from a second pass in 2021. A few day tickets will likely be the compromise for us (Covid allowing)
Yep, I'm the same. Got an Epic pass. However, think the queues will be Epic this year, and if there is a reservation system, might miss out on some dates. So if Thredbo have an unrestricted season pass I'm planning to stump up.
None. It was supposed to be built this Summer, but its been delayed. My guess is that they'll build it next Summer. As for the multi-story carpark they were planning, I reckon it's not coming anytime soon. It would've been great if they could've opened Merritts during this season. This Summer has been ridiculously profitable for them. Not only will it likely be the first Summer they break even, but its also grown their base a lot. Many people here have only come because overseas travel isn't available. I, for example, know two or three families who've come down this Summer because they can't go overseas. They've never been to Thredbo before, and wouldn't have ever come if not for Covid. They're all set on coming back. In the short run, Covid has dropped KT's profits. In the long run, the growth of the base and the sheer numbers of people this summer will definitely make up for it.
Pretty sure I have seen a profit for summer before now. I have watched summer grow in the region over the last 20 years, it has REALLY snowballed(haha) in the last five.
I’m going to be interested to see the p&l. Not sure kt will have dropped. In totality I’m sure the place has, but the accommodation and eateries in the village bore the brunt in white season
They dropped last financial, but only a very small percentage, fires and Covid in that too. Less than 15% from memory. Wonder if they did any lease relief. I know some private operators had any staff on Jobkeeper.
Excerpts from the AGM for EVT. These to year end 30 June. We may have an update in the next 2 months for the half to December which would allow for the ongoing adjustments 1. 2. Annual report 3.
Looks like KT did pretty well for themselves then. The green MTB trail they reference there wasn't built this summer, despite what the report claims. The DA was approved too late so it'll be built next summer. Given that now both Stuart Diver and the report talks about future lift developments, and Thredbo came out of 2020 very strong, its fair to say we'll be seeing another lift DA very soon. Slowgums' days are numbered!
Will surely be assessed with consideration to Event group expenditure though. KT to a certain extent is propping up the rest. Hotels will still be suffering with travel restrictions as well as fewer corporate events. Might still see them stagger the investments over longer periods while certainty builds
Just found the Thredbo Notice Board page on crackbook - whoever runs it sure has an axe to grind with the Thredbo Chamber of Commerce!
Its Hamlet politics! There are some points, many have noted, its been growing (summer season) for years now, with the odd huge jump. When the Flow trail opened, almost everywhere that was open ran out of everything. Woolies in Jindy looked like it had been sacked. All the locals had stunned looks on their faces. And visitors were appalled, I heard some talking about not being able to get a coffee because they had run out of milk, and how they would never come back. But do you open at a loss, in the hopes of a longer term gain? Many do.
Several good points made there. Businesses pay their dues (bed taxes, etc.), invest their money and work hard. They're entitled to expect someone to be working on their behalf. I'm surprised the lifts aren't turning more hours of the day given the daylight hours available.
KT venues are generally open, just saying. Its someone with guest booking, whose guests are disappointed its not a bustling metropolis, with more than two or three options for dinner. Maybe they should buy a restaurant and be open, lead from the front.
