Piste Off: Vail's Websites

Feb 15, 2007  ·  01:48 PM  ·  permalink

About our editorial policies, I like to say “We’re Huggers, not haters.” But this is just too easy:

Don’t get me wrong: we love Vail—there’s no better resort in the U.S. But Vail, why can’t you bring that experience to your online presence? Of course everyone hates particular websites, and Vail Resorts with their big Flash faced sites is an easy target, but name a resort that has a good site.

The odd thing is, resorts are communities and, as such, have tons of potential content—photos, interesting characters, stories from their mountains and towns, incredibly knowledgeable instructors, patrollers, and even lifties. But they almost all lockstep to the marketing and PR drums, ignoring all that valuable information and focusing instead on flashy animations, press releases, and the latest “deals” cooked up by their sales directors.

Among the Colorado resorts, you know whose site I like? Silverton Mountain. Sure, it’s rough around the edges, but it’s easy to find the info you need because it’s all upfront, and the site is all about the skiing. Silverton is a small resort with limited resources, so they use what they’ve got, including an incredible collection of photos and on-the-ground commentary.

I’d like to see a resort build a site around its community and its mountain instead of this year’s sales goals—the two are completely compatible, but one is primary.

Have I missed any really good resort sites? Tell me—I certainly haven’t looked at everything out there.

Photo courtesy of Silverton

We’re found of saying “We’re Huggers, not haters” but every once in a while, even we like a good rant. “Piste Off” is an occasional column in which we rant, complain, and criticize.