Why am I feeling guilty?

[ThomasH]

When I started this gig so many years ago there was a reasonable connection between the price charged by resorts for lessons and the value customers received from instructors in those lessons. As we all are painfully aware, the costs have since gone into the stratosphere. For the customers who still can afford to plunk down a small ransom at the desk inside the lodge, I represent the key to the "final product" waiting for them when they get out on the snow. I've always felt satisfied that I give more than fair value to every customer in a lesson, but lately it's weird- as the prices have skyrocketed, I feel much more pressure to deliver even more "value." Telling customers that the resort compensates me only a paltry sliver of what they paid isn't satisfactory- it also might look like a pathetic ruse for a tip. I'm just feeling greater pressure to deliver more "value" & if I don't, the customer will see me as failing. Then I feel resentment at the resort for creating this situation in the first place. And I'm also feeling I can't continue to be complicit by enabling the resort anymore. I'm tired of feeling grubby.
I'm not looking for a pep talk here- I'm just wondering if anyone else sees things this way (or not), how it has affected you, and what if anything you plan to do about it.

 

[scott43]

I choose not to take lessons. No offense. If it's unreasonably priced, I'm not paying it. And if people do don't feel guilty! Take the money man.

 

[graham418]

I hear you, and feel your pain. We are not magicians, and there is only so much you can do in a 1 or 2 hour lesson. Its not your fault that the resort charges an ungodly amount. Soldier on, deliver the best you can, and dont feel guilty.

 

[cantunamunch]

I'm just wondering if anyone else sees things this way (or not), how it has affected you, and what if anything you plan to do about it.

Totally normal. They're using you to squeeze the customer. Of course you feel stretched thin and nasty. Just because it's systemic, doesn't mean it's right ... or sustainable.

And if people do don't feel guilty! Take the money man.

In a weird way, I'd rather take a lesson from an instructor who can feel guilty.

 

[GB_Ski]

You basically describe most retail or front desk jobs. At least you still have empathy towards your customers. Personally, protect your own mental health and leave if you can do so financially.

 

[graham418]

I am of a mind that lessons should be something of a loss leader, as part of a growth strategy. Encourage more participation and more people will participate Grow the base. I know some will squawk and say too much overcrowding will happen, but new skiers have to come from somewhere, even just to replace the retiring ones

 

[slowrider]

I'd really like to get a lesson. But at +$100/hr.....

 

[ThomasH]

I'd really like to get a lesson. But at +$100/hr.....

I just noticed that a big resort in NJ now charges $400 for a 2 hr snowboard lesson, not including lift ticket. No other alternative except the complimentary "lesson" for newbies. Can you see all those teens pressuring their folks to cough up the money?

 

[skiki]

A big resort in NJ?

 

[locknload]

I appreciate you being in touch with that. I'd love to take more lessons b/c I'm always interested in improving my skiing but I won't pay resort prices. I'd gladly cut out the middle man and overhead and pay an instructor a fair price for 2 to 4 hours of instruction but I'm not going to add instruction prices on top of all the other cost I absorb as a customer. If less people learn to ski, there will be fewer skiers which is a net negative for the resorts.

 

[ThomasH]

A big resort in NJ?

MC....175 acres, decent size for midlantic

 

[Pequenita]

I just noticed that a big resort in NJ now charges $400 for a 2 hr snowboard lesson, not including lift ticket. No other alternative except the complimentary "lesson" for newbies. Can you see all those teens pressuring their folks to cough up the money?

I grew up there. I had exactly 2 lessons from age 7 until, like, 30.

 

[Johnny V.]

I am of a mind that lessons should be something of a loss leader, as part of a growth strategy. Encourage more participation and more people will participate Grow the base. I know some will squawk and say too much overcrowding will happen, but new skiers have to come from somewhere, even just to replace the retiring ones

Yes, you would think enlightened self interest would be part of the overall long term strategy. Better skiers= happier skiers=long term skiers/customers. Unfortunately, this ain't reality in the ski industry.......

 

[Henry]

Telluride (not owned by one of the huge corporations) 3 hour half-day adult lessons:

Those prices aren't bad at all considering that adult lift tickets for next Saturday & Sunday are....$418!!!

 

[slowrider]

Plus exposure to the skiers code. Safety first.

 

[graham418]

Its almost enough to make you think that skiing is an elitist rich persons sport

 

[Guy in Shorts]

Wife recruited me to teach a just turned 4 year old for a hour lesson on Sunday and Monday. Caleb was a champ and he paid me with a half dozen homemade chocolate chip cookies. Yes I feel guilty since I am not even a certified anything instructor. Habit of teaching other peoples kids to ski is hard to break.

 

[martyg]

I'm with you. I have this love / hate relationship with instructing skiing. As I have said before about instructing skiing, it is like dating someone who treats you like shit, but the sex is great. In WW kayaking I am D-Team level, get invited on cool international trips, and make what I consider a fair wage.

That being said, the new ski school director at our local hill is great. A former French national alpine coach chased a girl to our mtn town, and I have been skiing and learning from him. The combination of those two is a draw for me to give them two days next year, in addition to conducting some staff training. Two days, and the value that this French coach brings, makes this balance out for me.

As far as how the guest feels.... I always try to go above and beyond. But I understand where your head is at.

 

[martyg]

Its almost enough to make you think that skiing is an elitist rich persons sport

Try tracking Porsches.

 

[justplanesteve]

I continue to feel lucky in the ski school that accepted me as a junior instructor this past fall.
Our lesson prices are a pittance compared to "big" areas, especially some of the lesson packages. There are also affiliated (not directly run) programs for disadvantaged, home-schooled, and adaptive among others. There is support for the instructors. We have at least 3, L3's and they can be seen teaching never-evers and beginners on many days. Or clinic-ing to raise the junior staff's teaching and skiing skills levels. There are plenty of days where i easily make my wages on volume. OTOH having been an employer myself in another industry, i recognize that days like today when i had one private, does not cover the cost of paying me for being on site for 5 hours let alone the overhead/labor burden.

I think overall, the business makes a decent profit from my efforts. Yet while i am not at an area that charges exorbitant fees for lessons or lift tickets, i certainly get what you are saying about value for the customer - today i probably over-loaded a good kid in a private because 1.) even at our inexpensive rates, it's not an insignificant sum for many parents to lay out & I wanted to give them "value". 2.) There is often a sense, even reading on this forum, that kids might or might not get more follow-up lessons (if they are not in one of our ongoing package plans) So you want to leave them "all" they need to work with on their own. Which even when they are students who can absorb it, it leaves them feeling a little deflated, rather than elated. Sigh.

It's good for me to hear that people with longer experience at more exalted levels struggle with such questions, too.

AFA solutions to your Q, i've posted in other threads that it will never change until ("qualified" - e.g. insured, & e.g. PSIA certified) instructors can teach on their own at any facility situated on public lands. That is enough big resorts to move the needle, and then eventually force at least nearby private areas to reassess pricing structures. Or until the market causes skier traffic to tank again and lessons have to be offered as loss leaders to get people out, as Graham418 commented:

I am of a mind that lessons should be something of a loss leader, as part of a growth strategy. Encourage more participation and more people will participate Grow the base. I know some will squawk and say too much overcrowding will happen, but new skiers have to come from somewhere, even just to replace the retiring ones

smt