Ski resorts can’t control the weather—but they can offer Sensible’s Weather Guarantee to guests who commit to advance-purchase lift tickets through Liftopia.
Liftopia is the premier online marketplace for buying discounted lift tickets, and works on behalf of ski areas around the world to encourage advance purchases, improve customer experience, and drive incremental revenue throughout the winter. The company provides discounts as an incentive for guests to book non-refundable tickets in advance, while helping ski partners attract new customers.
At participating U.S. resorts, Liftopia customers purchasing lift tickets five or more days in advance can now add a Weather Guarantee to their lift ticket for a nominal fee (typically for less than 10% of the lift ticket cost).
Weather Guarantee coverage is unique to the ski destination and dates of a guest's reservation, and will automatically reimburse users based on two or more hours of forecasted rain on a given day.
More revenue, happier customers, and fewer complaints
For Liftopia’s partner resorts, each Weather Guarantee delivers a new source of revenue, and improves customer satisfaction on days when the weather is less-than-ideal.
Weather Guarantees fill a climate-related gap in traditional insurance offerings—and represent something novel in the ski industry, which is inherently impacted by climate change. This new option allows Liftopia and its partners to mitigate the weather risks that skiers and snowboarders face when reserving lift tickets in advance, and shows extra empathy and dedication to their guests’ experience on the slopes.
A Weather Guarantee is a straightforward and financially-empowering tool to make the most out of every trip to the mountains, especially when planning a trip during winter’s volatile weather cycles.
If there’s rain forecasted for any day that a Liftopia customer holds a Weather Guarantee, Sensible automatically reimburses the cost of their lift ticket(s) on the morning they plan to hit the slopes. This affords skiers the flexibility to potentially enjoy a full morning of turns before the rain arrives—or to spend their day at the spa or lodge instead of on the hill. In the near future, Weather Guarantees will also be able to cover the extreme temperatures, wind, and lack of snow that threaten to negatively impact a guest’s experience in the mountains.
There’s no need for Sensible customers to cancel their plans or file a claim, and they’re still invited to use their ticket, rain or shine. With the cost of a refunded ticket in their pocket, our research shows that Weather Guarantee users feel they have a free day when they’re paid a reimbursement.
No extra work for busy customer service teams
With a Weather Guarantee, there’s zero extra work for Liftopia or their busy partner resorts.
Our proprietary Climate Platform monitors the forecast, and our team manages all weather updates and customer support on behalf of Liftopia and its partners. Then, when rain threatens to dampen a Weather Guaranteed day on the slopes, our embedded fintech delivers automatic, secure reimbursement to customers.
Over the course of a long and stormy winter, our Weather Guarantees help mountain resorts accumulate happier customers and bigger annual revenues—regardless of what kind of weather blows in. And thanks to Sensible’s easy API integration, whenever one of Liftopia’s partner resorts is ready to offer a Weather Guarantee, they can seamlessly turn on the option for their guests.