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Vail Resorts engages skiers via multichannel mobile strategy

Vail Resorts has rolled out a multichannel strategy that includes two mobile applications and an optimized site in an effort to engage its guests while they are staying there.

The company is using Adobe?s online marketing suite and the multichannel initiative, EpicMix,  is powered by Omniture. In addition to the mobile apps and site, Vail Resorts is also leveraging social media and the Internet.

?EpicMix is a digital application that guests can access online, at their computer or via a free mobile application that can be downloaded for the iPhone, Android or other smartphone,? said Kate Lessman, spokeswoman for Vail Resorts.

?At Vail Resorts we continually provide a world-class experience and we pride ourselves on giving our guests the experience of a lifetime while vacationing at our resorts,? she said. ?EpicMix is just another way that we can enhance the guest experience at our world-class resorts.?

Mobile lift
Vail Resort?s EpicMix automatically captures the activity of guests throughout each of its resorts, by leveraging Vail Resorts? radio frequency scanners that are installed at all of the 89 lifts across Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone and Heavenly Resorts.

The company has a radio frequency-enabled chip that is embedded in its  season passes and lift tickets that automatically track guests? lift rides, calculating vertical feet skied and days on the mountain, and will recognize special achievements and accomplishments by granting guests commemorative, collectible digital pins.

Additionally, Vail Resorts guest can opt-in to share specific achievements such as earning points and pins via Facebook and Twitter.

?Vail Resorts guests have always enjoyed sharing stories about their skiing, snowboarding and travel adventures with friends and family,? Ms. Lessman said. ?With new social media applications, it's getting easier and easier for people to do that and the interest in sharing your experiences in an online community is growing.

?EpicMix allows Vail Resorts guests, at any of our resorts to effortlessly use technology to digitally capture their ski and ride experience and share it with friends and family,? she said.

?EpicMix marries the very real social experience of skiing and riding with the fun and sense of sharing created by location-based social media, making it accessible to everyone.?

Results
After its first season experimenting with EpicMix, Vail Resorts reported that 15 percent of all guests activated EpicMix accounts?representing nearly 100,000 people and included 40,000 mobile app users.

Of all EpicMix users, 45 percent of the accounts were public, creating 275,000 social posts and 35 million social impressions ? based on Facebook?s estimate of 130 friends per user ? that reported over 55 billion vertical feet of skiing and snowboarding. ?

?The mobile sites and apps enable our guests to view their stats in real-time while they are skiing and riding,? Ms. Lessman said. ?Also skiers and snowboarders using the EpicMix mobile application alerts guests when any of their Facebook friends are skiing and where they are on the mountain.

?The application also allows guests to send messages to their private groups of Facebook friends on the mountain and also provides trail and grooming information, snow and weather reports, as well as resort news and traffic updates,? she said.
 
?Vail Resorts has had mobile sites for several years, which are optimized to display snow reports, road conditions, and last minute lodging deals.  EpicMix represents a groundbreaking effort by Vail Resorts to take the mobile experience in a new direction, and to provide our guests with a brand new, unprecedented experience in the ski industry by effortlessly utilizing technology to digitally capture their ski and ride experience and share it with friends and family.?