For consumers, there’s nothing quite as painful as slogging through a bunch of websites in search of reliable content, especially when they’re planning their next vacation-cum-ski trip. Often, booking is a slow, convoluted process that wastes their time and taxes their patience. Even if their mission to book their trip in under an hour is successful, how can they be sure that they got the best deals and the most accurate information?
Most of the time, they don’t. That’s why SnowPak was founded.
SnowPak is a startup company that serves the global travel market. Snowpak compiles local, on-the-minute snow resort information in one convenient location. The company’s goal is to provide its website’s 1.5 million visitors with up-to-date insider news, advice, tips, deals and booking information. The content is curated for skiing and snowboarding enthusiasts from skiing and snowboarding enthusiasts. Some of the most popular destinations are in Colorado; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Lake Tahoe, which straddles California and Nevada. While the website primarily targets audiences in the US and Australia, its scope extends to around-the-world destinations such as Canada, Austria, France, and Switzerland.
“I was doing research for my first overseas ski trip and the experience was just tedious. Good information was all over the place and even when you find it, it could be outdated and you’re just not sure how reliable the advice is. That’s how the idea of SnowPak came about,” says Adam Dong, Chief Executive Officer of SnowPak.
The company has accomplished its goal in two ways. The first is by relying on well-informed locals who look on a specific spot as their home mountain. These unofficial professionals can provide insider knowledge about when to go, where to stay, and how to avoid long lines and unsatisfactory snow conditions. This eliminates the biased slant of the ski resorts, which promises mountains of snow but when you get there, half the lifts are closed. Next, these informal reviews pass through a team of professional writers who ensure that the information provided by the experts is turned into quality web content. Much of this information has been compiled into comprehensive guides that pinpoint particular points of interest. Some of these include “The 10 Best Ski Resorts in the US,” “The 7 Best Ski Resorts in Utah,” and “Colorado Road Conditions on the I-70”.
“The great thing about teaming with local skiers and snowboarders is that we just end up talking about things we love and are passionate about! There are a lot of people who want to broadcast how great their home mountain is, and we want to do just that,” says David Shi, Communications Director.
Shi continues, “After engaging with local skiers to talk about their home mountain, I’ve just discovered a list of ski resorts that I’ve never heard about before but are now on my bucket list. You know there must be something special there when a member of ski patrol contacts us to promote his mountain.”
By clicking on a location on the website’s interactive map, a new page opens to display all the information pertinent to that location. This includes the pros and cons of skiing or snowboarding in that location from people who’ve actually been there, the location’s overall user rating, average historical snow data, information about lodging and terrain, user reviews, a larger map, and comparative statistics of similar areas. The “Resorts” tab lists similar information in a different format, providing an easy way for viewers to compare each resort’s overall rating, skiable terrain, and trial run breakdown for beginning, intermediate, and advanced skiers. This section is also useful for researching travel and dining options, particularly for those who intend to hit the slopes by day and the town by night.
Thanks to SnowPak’s reliance on the expertise of seasoned skiers and snowboarders to furnish its web content, the company has ensured that the information it provides is accurate and unbiased, the marketing paraphernalia issued by the resorts. This also provides an insider’s guide to areas and points of interest that aren’t typically covered by tourist-oriented content. As the niche, off-Broadway equivalent of the snow sports industry, SnowPak is an especially attractive option for travelers that want to ditch the crowds in favor of a more authentic vacation experience.