THE TEXAS SKI COUNCIL THE TEXAS SKI COUNCIL
Hosted by, JAMES MERSHON, President
GARY BUTLER, V.P. Marketing
Greetings and welcome to Inside 0n line. It's been a grueling month of activities so we have a great deal to report.
The NSCF, National Ski Council Federation, held it's annual meeting the 5th - 8th of September at Big White and Silver Star Ski Resorts. These areas are located about an hour out of a Kelowna, Canada in the Okanagan region of Alberta.
NSCF
On Friday at Big White Resort, Richard Davidson, Managing Director of Ski Europe, spear-headed a presentation on ski industry issues detailing changes in travel distribution, yield/revenue management, air service to ski areas, and buying domestic airfares. Richard was accompanied by Bill Tomcich, the President of Aspen-Snowmass.com, and Allyson Forshaw, the Operations Manager of Ski Can.
Several complex models were detailed to explain the dynamics of the distribution channels for travel from the providers to the end user. Not to over simplify the complexities of the industry's network, the program described the typical booking skier's relationships in accessing travel through a provider, direct web bookings, on-line travel agents, tour operators, wholesalers, and central preservationists. Contributing factors are the consumer's familiarity, ease of making the purchase, accessibility, and type of traveler, (traditional, trendsetter, or group).
A second model was presented detailing the "mix" of seat prices an airline expects on any given flight that will produce the required revenues for that airline to be profitable. The end result was a determination that large groups may not be the best decision. A combination of seat prices may be required to accommodate the entire group resulting in higher fares for everyone. Possible solutions are to split your group on two or more flights, travel midweek instead of weekends, and travel early or later in the day.
The NSCF business meeting was conducted on Saturday at Silver Star Resort. Agenda items included a welcome from President Terry Rowley, reading of the August 25, 2001 meeting minutes, and a recap of the Federation's budget. Other business items included discussions on a Federation logo, proposed ethics guidelines, and a mission statement of the organization's purpose and direction. Further details of these discussions will be forwarded to club TSC representatives as soon as the meeting minutes are delivered.
Of particular interest was the public affairs update provided by Mike Sanford, and is included here.
NSAA, National Ski Area Association, is still working on a solution to problematic federal regulations adopted May '01 under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). As you recall, these federal regulations would allow group health plans to issue policies that deny benefits to those injured while skiing and snowboarding. I am still not aware of any policies issued to date that include these skiing and snowboarding exclusions and have received no such feedback from any council on whether their members are encountering such exclusion clauses. The strategy is to try to stay informed and help stop them if they start appearing. I understand attempts to introduce legislation in Congress to prohibit this kind of exclusion have met with uninterested congressman who are leery of getting into dictating insurance benefits from the beltway. Including disclosure requirements in the Patients Bill of Rights Conference Report currently under congressional consideration is also an NSAA tactic. These disclosures would alert consumers purchasing policies that such exclusions could be in place. There are efforts in OR and WA to seek administrative regulations to address the issue and legislative efforts in CO and ID to prohibit these exclusions. Some states already have regulations in place that prohibit these types of exclusions, including VT and UT. Recently, the Colorado General Assembly sent a bill to the Governor for signature, which would prohibit medical benefit exclusions, based on an individual's "casual or nonprofessional participation in skiing or snowboarding."
White River Development - We are continuing to monitor the White River Development (Colorado)/Sierra Nevada Framework. The website for White River is www.fs.us/r2/whiteriver, for Sierra Nevada Framework it is www.r5.fs.fed.us and to search the Forest Service site and its information go to www.fs.fed.us.
Western Forest Fires - You may visit the website of the USDA Forest Service at www.fs.fed.us for updates on the fires. I have had several inquiries in how clubs/councils might become involved in volunteering to help in some way after the tragic fires out West. Actually, since the fires themselves are so dangerous and the firefighters receive extensive training there isn't really much a new volunteer can do. However, each region has programs and community outreach and communications programs that you can become better educated on by visiting the website and drilling down to the region and/or forest in your area. You can then make contact to inquire about these programs or specific volunteer programs.
Safety - We also need to be aware of and advertise the benefits of club skiing, relative to safety and liability:
Training
Gary Butler conducted the third of four training sessions for trip chairs in Austin, Saturday, September 14. I will let him share the details of the event with you in the marketing section.
TRAINING TIPS AND
OPPORTUNITIES:
Gary Butler and I will be hosting the last of four training sessions for trip chairpersons this October. The training will involve an in-depth look at the bid process and the resort's proposals, as well as the responsibilities of the trip chair and TSC officer. We also intend to offer leadership training at the next bid meeting. We will be happy to coordinate training for your club as well, but we will need a great deal of cooperation from your staff as well.
Training Schedule:
WHAT: TRIP CHAIR PLANNING & RESPONSIBILITIES
WHEN: Saturday, October 12th
WHERE: The Academy, 2603 Esters Road, Irving, Texas
TIME: 1:00PM -4:00PM
FOR: Any club trip chair or other parties interested in a better understanding of the TSC bid process and trip operations
Monthly Training Tip:
Teamwork is required in any situation in which more that one person is required to complete a task. To be effective you should assess your needs by evaluating your strengths and weaknesses, set goals, formulate an action plan, and follow up on the results.
HEAR YE! HEAR YE! If you would like information about your clubs activities posted for others to share. Please send your notices to me, James Mershon, at lamurian@flash.net.
TSC Calendar
September 2002
Sunday the 15th - Club deposits due to Ski Areas and Costa Rica
October 2002
Tuesday the 1st - Participation Fees due for all trips
Monday the 28th - Activity Fees due for Fall Roundup
November 2002
Friday the 8th - TSC Newsletter mail out
Saturday the 9th - Board of Directors Meeting - Houston
Tuesday the 26th - TSC Fall Roundup at Breckenridge
The Texas Ski Council would like to extend an invitation to you to express your ideas, concerns, and most of all your successes. If you would like to initiate an open discussion please feel free to send your comments to me, James Mershon, at lamurian@flash.net. There will also be a member's conversational forum prior to each delegate's meeting. Tell your representatives to pass along any pertinent information. Thank you.
Recently the Houston Chronicle ran some stories about how the airlines are cracking down on the amount of luggage people are taking on flights. The baggage policies for all the airlines have been in place for 30 or more years, most airlines chose to not make an issue of it in the last 10 years or so because they did not want to lose you as a customer. Since events of September 11th the airlines are taking advantage of the situation and are starting to enforce their rules. This is a quick breakdown of the policies of the major airlines we use:
Continental - You are allowed 2 checked bags not to exceed 70 lbs or 62 linear inches. The linear inches are calculated by adding the length and width and height of the bag (this is the same calculation for all airlines). You are allowed one carry on bag not to exceed 40 lbs or 45 linear inches. You may substitute checked one bag for 1 pair of skis, poles, boots and bindings.
American Airlines - Same as Continental
Delta Airlines - Same as Continental except the carry-on must be in the 22" x 14" x 9" range. You are also allowed to carry-on one personal item such as a purse, laptop computer, briefcase, etc.
United Airlines - Same a Delta except the carry-on can weigh up 50 lbs.
Southwest Airlines - You are allowed 3 checked bags not to exceed 70 lbs or 62 linear inches. The carry-on policy is the same as Delta. I could not find anything about ski equipment.
Air Canada - Same as Delta except the dimensions are metric.
Luggage manufacturers have been producing many models that exceed the airline policies for years. I recommend you have your trip leaders contact the airline they are using and get in writing the policy you are under and the exact interpretation of what limitations there are for ski equipment.
For the last 3 months we have been running all over the state of Texas trying to teach trip leaders for the various Texas Ski Council trips what is expected from them and from the trip VP on their trips. When we compare where we started to where we are now it's amazing. The recent training session in Austin was excellent. It was well attended including the President and Vice President for Trips for the Austin Skiers. Everyone had good questions and we covered a lot of ground. The officers in attendance took advantage of the discussions to spread additional information and added to the club's trip leader training. As we do more of these training sessions we are slowly teaching ourselves how to spread the information in a more informative way. I want to encourage club officers as well as trip leaders to attend these sessions to share their experiences and knowledge.
I am pleased to say that the Learn to Ski/Snowboard trip has begun to generate interest in a number of clubs. I want to remind everyone that if you have someone interested in joining this trip to contact our trip leader Ed Cain at (713) 753-7025 or email him at ed.cain@halliburton.com. This trip is a great way to add new members to your club who have not ever experienced the sport of skiing.
