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FOR THE MAJORITY OF OUR GUESTS, HIGH-SPEED
CONNECTIVITY IS A UTILITY NO LESS CRITICAL TO
MODERN LIVING THAN WATER OR ELECTRICITY
spending levels, so expect that 64 percent penetration level to lengthy phone conversations and an endless stream of email
be significantly higher amongst our clientele. attachments. Real-time content creation and snow reporting
becomes more difficult due to timely upload lengths. You’re
Sierra-at-Tahoe has made it a top priority to upgrade its now trying to beat your competitors to the internet with
internet connectivity for the coming season. For us and many powder day pictures, and if it is taking you more than an
other resorts, the second people step foot on snow, their $600 hour to upload them, you’ve already lost the race.
devices become doorstops—crippled due to the lack of reli-
able cellular and WiFi connectivity. We watch them aimlessly (FIG.1) Sierra-at-Tahoe’s internet speedtest results prior to
wander our parking lots, arms extended to the sky, phones our infrastructure upgrades.
in hand, hoping the wind will blow in the right direction as
to grace them with a single bar of coverage. It detracts from SPEED TEST 03.02.2015 // 8:40PM GMT
the overall guest experience and also reflects poorly on Net
Promoter Scores when the devices they rely on for just about DOWNLOAD UPLOAD PING
everything aren’t working.
2.15MB/S 0.57MB/S 80 MS
Don’t believe me? Here’s an actual guest comment
card from this past season at Sierra-at-Tahoe. “Upgrade the GRADE: F (slower than 89% of the US)
WiFi—It’s USELESS! Or at least put in some cell towers or
repeaters! Service sucks.” This person’s name: “Ex Season Pass
Holder 2013, 14, 15.”
If only it were that easy.
ISP: AT&T SERVER: SAN FRANSISCO, CA (~150mi)
BUSINESS IMPACTS Slow internet also takes its toll on all the mission criti-
OF POOR CONNECTIVITY cal services we rely on for resort operations. Many of us with
It’s not just guests that are frustrated with slow internet and Siriusware or RTP host our web stores internally on serv-
an overall lack of connectivity, your employees and their work ers maintained by our IT staff. Since they’re dependent on
is suffering as well. Our marketing team created 15 videos the resort’s internet connection, the performance of your
this past winter, all of which needed to be uploaded off site electronic stores suffer. People trying to buy lift tickets, les-
due to our lack of bandwidth. sons, and other products encounter long loading times, slow
response, and an online experience reminiscent of the internet
Cloud-based storage systems like Dropbox, Box, and more than a decade ago. You’ve essentially created a virtual
Google Drive are out of the question due to their intensive ticket window line due to your site speed being slow.
syncing, forcing us to use outdated methods like FTP in
order to transfer files to members of the media. Working Your customers may love you and your mountain, but
with modern vendors and independent contractors via it’s only a matter of time until they start buying tickets from
screen-sharing collaboration isn’t possible, leading to your competitor since their online store functions properly.
Hell, companies like Liftopia use this weakness as a selling
point for their lightning-fast product called “Cloud Store,”
which aims to replace your existing online store.
FALL 2015 | NSAA JOURNAL | 43
