A Peak Into Reservation System/VR SNAFUS

[TDCSPRINGS]

If you saved 1 priority reservation day you can still pull the ripcord and execute the refund option and undo your epicpass purchase as a couple core days in December are now unavailable at a few resortsm
And then you can switch to ikon as that is still on sale, if truly the grass looks greener to you on the other side and you felt vail did you wrong.

This is actually really worth thinking about for us. I hadn't realized this was an option. I don't know that I trust Alterra any more than VR, but the opportunity to actually ski with Ikon this year might be worth it.

We really went back and forth this summer on which pass to get. The main thing that keeps us with Epic are those 18+" powder days in the back bowls of Vaill. Normally we just wait for a storm to dump, take the next day off work and head to the bowls. I don't think that is going to be possible this year so it might be worth jumping over to Ikon until we get through the pandemic.

 

[Tricia]

When we arrived at Mt Rose yesterday we parked next to a guy who said he had reservations to ski Northstar for opening day but decided to hit rose instead.
Phil asked him if he cancellled his reservation for Northstar. He had no idea he needed to do that.

 

[Philpug]

At opening day at Rose, we were talking to a guy that parked next to us and he mentioned that he had a reservation at Northstar but came here instead. At that point he didn't cancel that reservation. I told him he should otherwide he will get dinged from Vail if he didn't use it. he was unaware of that and went on to his phone and released it. One, how many people don't know this and don't use there reservation and it just sits there and second, does it go back into the pool and become available for someone else?

 

[TDCSPRINGS]

I agree they definitely should have a "rolling" system that will allow people to take cancelled reservations up to the day off maybe. I don't know if the guy in question helped himself any by cancelling once you told him he needed ro. According to VR, if you repeatedly cancel a week of reservation or within 2 weeks of making a priority reservation they will ding you and limit your ability to make reservations once you meet some unknown cancellation threshold.

From the Epic FAQ

"We understand plans change, but if you repeatedly miss or cancel a week-of reservations (or Priority Reservation Days booked within two weeks of the reservation date), you may lose the privilege to make reservations in advanced, for a period of time."

 

[raytseng]

My 2cents on the cancelation that's a simple exercise in capacity/yield management and they can just overbook things a little bit to take it into account. Just like how airline flights are overbooked, they can adjust once they get some idea of the no show percentage and how the lines actually look based on slots.
If airlines can overbook to take care of cancelation where they need exact seats to the person, a ski resort with fuzzy capacity can do overbooking even more easily.

It is best they keep it all in the single release so people know what's available and know when sold out. Asking people to recheck over and over randomly without any guidance if and when more slots will come or not come would be a bad policy and will lead to very frustrated guests. Its similar to a weather hold if they can't give accurate info on if a lift is opening or not, the longer its unknown =facebook complaints

Agree if there is a huge number of cancelations that is way off from their prediction they can release another "standby" list or day of batch, but they need to so in a fair and open way where and everyone knows the timing when the batch is released so there is fair access to it (or list lottery).
If I can think of this, I am sure the vail data scientist phds who've studied game theory know these things too but are balancing rolling out a complicated system vs a simple system vs a fair system keeping in mind the customers appetite for complaints of "not fair"
If everyone starts skiing the exact same lift at the exact same time, a skiresort doesn't work, ski ops are all an exercise in fuzzy averages and not exact math

 

[TDCSPRINGS]

The Epic Mix app has really become a good tool that I think they could use, along with a rolling type reservation system, to get the math very accurate. If this pandemic drags out a few more years I am confident they would figure it out. Hopefully this is the last season we have to worry about it.

 

[AmyPJ]

When we arrived at Mt Rose yesterday we parked next to a guy who said he had reservations to ski Northstar for opening day but decided to hit rose instead.
Phil asked him if he cancellled his reservation for Northstar. He had no idea he needed to do that.

At opening day at Rose, we were talking to a guy that parked next to us and he mentioned that he had a reservation at Northstar but came here instead. At that point he didn't cancel that reservation. I told him he should otherwide he will get dinged from Vail if he didn't use it. he was unaware of that and went on to his phone and released it. One, how many people don't know this and don't use there reservation and it just sits there and second, does it go back into the pool and become available for someone else?

Is it groundhog day?

 

[Philpug]

Is it groundhog day?

No, it was 11/20.

 

[Tricia]

Is it groundhog day?

LOL
Okay, campers, rise and shine, and don't forget your booties 'cause it's cooooold out there today.

 

[Prosper]

I was on the VR reservations site about an hour ago and saw the Breck and Keystone has reservations open for skiing today. About 30 minutes later those reservations were no longer available. Last week when I checked the entire Thanksgiving week was completely booked. It looks like some same day reservations are released at some point. Anyone know about when those same day reservations are released?

 

[Wendy]

We are pretty lucky to have some good local mountains here as well. We basically ski the local mountains on holidays and mid-December to mid-January. Loveland and ABasin remain two of my favorite mountains.

I think most people probably know about the Gems Card, but if not, and you want to ski the local CO mountains, look up the Colorado Gems Card. It's $35 and gets you two for one at 8 local "gems" like Loveland, Monarch, A-Basin, etc. We use this card a lot when the Epic mountains are crowded.

I prefer these local places in CO.

 

[TDCSPRINGS]

I agree. These are the mountains I began on as a kid and they are still among my favorites. If I was forced to make a choice, I would probably consider Loveland my favorite mountain.

 

[tball]

I was on the VR reservations site about an hour ago and saw the Breck and Keystone has reservations open for skiing today. About 30 minutes later those reservations were no longer available. Last week when I checked, the entire Thanksgiving week was completely booked. It looks like some same-day reservations are released at some point. Anyone know about when those same day reservations are released?

I suspect those reservations available today were from people that canceled. VR is encouraging people to cancel before midnight on the day of the reservation. Not sure without watching it, but I'd think those would become immediately available. Maybe check late the prior evening or early morning to see if spots become available.

 

[TDCSPRINGS]

I hope that is the case! The last thing we want is people who aren't feeling well going to the mountain just because they are worried over getting penalized for cancelling.

 

[Prosper]

Was just checking for any openings tomorrow for me and my 10 year old at Keystone. Looked like there was availability but when I requested 2 reservations the system said tomorrow was no longer available. Sure enough when I checked again that date was closed. Same thing happened about 5 minutes later. Then after checking a number of times over the next 10 minutes, tomorrow opened up again so I reserved one spot for my 10 year old. I then kept checking every few minutes and after another 15 minutes tomorrow opened up again and I scored a spot for myself. I looked like Breck opened up and closed in a similar fashion. Not sure if they're releasing one spot at a time or if it's single reservations which are being canceled. Either way, if persistent looks like getting a next day reservation is possible.

 

[raytseng]

The above is such poor idea it offends me out of principle. They should just implement a standby list and fill from there or a set time for equal chance 2nd chance drawing rather than based on luck of whomever logs in at the exact right time.
But then again they were expecting no capacity limits except for peak days so it's understandable this the only backup they have. Maybe once terrain opens up and the early season novelty wears off it wont be as competitive

 

[Phelmut]

No, it was 11/20.

Well if it was 4:20 i would cut you some slack.

 

[doc]

Just tried to make "week of" reservations at Vail for a couple of days next week. But, all such days, in fact all days next week, are blocked off as not yet available.
Makes no sense so tried to call Epic Pass, and cannot even get put on hold. Recording simply says call back later. WTF kind of system is this, when you follow all the rules and can't accomplish your goal or even get a simple explanation?
Also tried Beaver Creek, Keystone and Crested Butte, and all show all days through December 7 as not yet available.

 

[SSSdave]

Epic process went well for me. Last week reserved yesterday Tuesday 11/24 at Heavenly with no online waiting. Already had signed and completed waivers online weeks ago. Received email with confirmation. Then yesterday drove to resort and at 10:00am or so from parking lot walked straight to Gunbarrel quad where my 2 year old Epic ID was scanned without issue in the short line and rode up for first day of season.

 

[Seldomski]

I am guessing that Vail is limiting capacity this early in the season due to the number of chairlifts and lodges that are actually open. Once more terrain is open, I *assume* that more spots will be available.

If you really wanted Thanksgiving, you should have reserved it with one of your priority days.

Personally, I am not going to plan travel until I have reservations set for the time I will be at the resort.

I am also not surprised there are lots of complaints on the interwebz and a number of people 'surprised' by the reservation system... you can't fix stupid.