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of the new apps has the best opportunity to succeed. reach a relatively captive audience. “One of GoSnow’s main
“It’s really kind of crazy right now,” said Joe Hession, goals is to empower instructors to have more say in their
CEO of SNOW Operating, which is officially launching its schedules and promote achievements in certification and
SnowCloud app (mysnowcloud.com) at the NSAA National experience,” Anfang said.
Convention and Tradeshow May 5–8 in Scottsdale, Ariz. With GoSnow’s platform, consumers can book qual-
“Many different startups are trying to enter the space of ified instructors employed at GoSnow’s partner resorts.
cloud-based snow school software. Cloud-based is making The booking process is seamless from the consumer to the
software much easier to come to market, and I have seen instructor, and is integrated with the resort’s systems so that
some amazing products in the ski school space and all over they have full control of who is being booked, Anfang said.
the resort. With that said, I’ve also seen a lot of startups
that are offering limited experience and understanding of
the business.” From Revenue to Reviews
Hession said SNOW Operating’s existing relationships One final emerging aspect of the new generation of apps is
with many of North America’s leading ski and snowboard that they will also allow students to provide reviews of their
schools is what led him to create SnowCloud. “The recurring teachers and their lessons—the kind of instant feedback that
conversation is that software is needed to manage, schedule, is so important to social media success.
and book private and group lessons. That’s the obvious need, “Allowing your guest to know what they’re getting
but it misses the true opportunity to innovate and run our beforehand, and then to be able to immediately rate that
businesses more efficiently,” he said. experience, provides a level of transparency that can help re-
SnowCloud’s main features is matching likeminded assure their purchase,” said SkiOtto.com’s Peter Ness. One of
students with each other. “That means connecting the best his app’s key features allows users to create a student profile
instructors to the right guests per the guests’ motivations, for snowsports schools to pre-asses each student’s individual
whether that’s skill or fun, as well as giving guests the ability needs. “It also encourages guests to provide the kind of
to communicate pre and post lesson with their actual instruc- feedback instructors can use to improve, and that can be very
tor,” he said. “But all of these innovations are moot if you important to area management,” Ness said.
can’t integrate with the resorts’ current systems, which is why For ASC’s Ertl, the bottom line is that she does think
we are partnering with companies such as Siriusware.” on-demand lessons could create an uptick in business, partic-
Along with the ability to seamlessly interact with existing ularly among guests who aren’t going to pick up the phone to
ski and snowboard school management technology, one of call ahead and talk.
the biggest concerns for ski school managers is if the apps “It could also potentially lower the need for administra-
might encourage underground teaching—in essence, creating tive staff if it allows the pro and the guest to connect auto-
a platform for unqualified and/or unaffiliated lessons to be matically, and allows the guest to purchase directly through
sold right on their own slopes. the app.” Ertl said. “We want to be a part of this. We just
“There are a few systems on the market that encourage have to make sure it meets all of our business requirements.”
pros to sign up without vetting their employment or cre- Once that happens, snowsports can expect to have a
dentials,” said Aspen’s Ballou. “This not only can encourage powerful new tool to put guests and instructors together on
underground teaching, it can also lead to false advertising the slopes. Of course, the individuals will still have to see
and diminish the value of qualifications and expertise. I how that relationship works.
have personally found several instances where non-employed “I see advanced, online booking systems as another
instructors were advertised, and credentials were inaccurate.” booking option for those who wish to take on the process
Hession said that with SnowCloud, the school has 100 for themselves,” said Ballou. “Like many other industries,
percent control of the instructor’s invitations, inventory, and some customers prefer a human touch, while others prefer an
pricing, and all the sales go through the resort accounting online, DYI experience. But we will never replace the human
systems. As well, Michael Mendrick said that every instructor element that is often required to make the perfect match
on Makewintermorefun.com still has to be booked through between a pro and a guest.”
the ski and ride school at their home resort.
Anfang added that GoSnow empowers qualified, Peter Kray is the co-founder of the Gear Institute (gearinstitute.
resort-employed instructors to more easily attract new com), a website developed to professionalize the testing of outdoor
customers to the school where they already work, adding equipment, and the author of the novel The God of Skiing
another layer of promotion for each area’s marketing team to (bit.ly/godofskiing).

28 | NSAA JOURNAL | CONVENTION 2017