As falling temperatures pave way for colder days, a switch flips in every snow lover’s mind. The season—and some would say, the best time of the year—is nearly upon us. Ski resorts will be open before we know it. The winter adventure checklist hits the fridge: are the skis and snowboards waxed? Does my outerwear fit? Is its DWR still solid? Which lift pass should I get?
Then there’s the golden question: where should I go on my ski vacay this year? At least one long weekend or weeklong trip needs to occupy the calendar. And trip planning typically starts at the keyboard.
We were curious about which locations here at home in Colorado are pinged the most by slope folks from across the country. We looked into the highest searched hotels, lift tickets and ski rentals. Here’s what we found.
Hotels in Mountain Towns
When people searched for overnight stays in specific mountain town locations, can you guess which one was the most expensive? Tip: Thrillest named it one of the best mountain towns in America. Ring a bell?
Breckenridge. It’s no surprise then that this town reaped the largest turnout over other destinations with the keyword search, Breckenridge hotels with a suggested bid of just over $5.00 per click. The next most expensive suggested bid was El Dorado hotels ($4.79), followed by, Vail hotels ($3.73).
With most hotels in Breckenridge easily surpassing $200 per night, these properties are still making huge profits, even with $5+ cost per click.
Lift Tickets
One might think that the locations for most searched for lift tickets would align flush with the hotel destinations. Nope. Not the case.
Before folks dive into lift ticket searches connected to specific locations they may first do a broad search for colorado lift tickets. This search term has the highest competition among all ski town lift ticket queries, probably due to comparison sites and ticket engines that sell all. When we get down into the most expensive lift ticket keywords we get:Thereafter, the highest lift ticket search is for Breck:
- Loveland lift tickets $3.92
- Steamboat Springs $3.67
- Telluride lift tickets $2.83
Loveland’s annual ski pass is $389. Steamboat’s season pass is $1439. Telluride’s is $2,100. Lesson: Who ever’s selling Telluride passes for the low cost of 2.83 per click is making some serious dough.
Ski Rentals
The number one keyword search for ski rentals is at Steamboat Springs via the term, steamboat springs ski rentals ($4.56). Adjacent in the search queue is Vail ski rentals ($3.53) and Breckenridge ski rentals ($3.91). The fact that ski rentals (averaging $30 a pop) are bidding for similar prices to hotels is insane.
Another interesting trend is the lack of Aspen search terms in the top most expensive lists. Aspen is typically seen as the creme da la creme of all things ski in Colorado so seeing higher prices in Breckenridge, Vail, and Steamboat Springs is interesting.
There you have it! The aforementioned search terms are the most popular, and thus the most expensive, ski-related keywords. Start your bids!
