Bergbahnen Montafon Brandnertal introduce dynamic pricing

Schruns (A). From the 2022/23 winter season, the Montafon Brandnertal mountain railroad association will be introducing "dynamic pricing". This means that the prices for day and multi-day tickets will be dynamically adjusted based on various factors - as is already known from rail and air travel. Families and early bookers in particular will benefit from this. For frequent travelers, season and annual tickets will continue to be the cheapest option.

The Montafon Brandnertal mountain railroad pool (Silvretta Montafon, Golm Silvretta Lünersee Tourismus, Gargellner Bergbahnen, Bergbahnen Brandnertal, Montafoner Kristbergbahn Silbertal) is introducing a new pricing model for day and multi-day tickets from October 10. Dynamic pricing is designed to meet the needs of different guests. Essentially, this means that those who book early will benefit from attractive prices. Compared to a static pricing model, dynamic pricing models take various factors into account. Demand and the time of booking play the biggest role. Prices are recalculated daily with the help of an algorithm. The idea of dynamic pricing is not new in itself: such systems have long been common practice in the area of air travel and hotel bookings and are taken for granted by guests.

Families benefit
Skiing will therefore be cheaper on many days - for example when there is low occupancy during the week. As a general rule, those who book earlier have an advantage in terms of price. If full flexibility is important to you, you can still buy your ski ticket spontaneously at the ticket office, but at higher prices. Families in particular will benefit from the new price model in future. "Our experience shows that ski vacations are planned in advance, especially with the family. In future, ski passes will be booked together with the accommodation. Families can therefore clearly benefit from the best early booking price," says Markus Burtscher, Managing Director of Golm Lünersee Tourismus. Thomas Lerch, Managing Director of Gargellner Bergbahnen adds: "The previous price model was very rigid and not very demand-oriented. We set prices in April and then had to keep them for a year without being able to respond to current factors. By controlling the price based on demand, we can now optimize capacity utilization. This makes skiing in low seasons and during the week much more attractive and the overall mountain experience even more enjoyable." The redesigned web store also makes online ticket purchases even easier and more customer-friendly. This reduces queuing times and takes the pressure off the ticket offices on site.

Nothing changes for season tickets
It is planned that day and multi-day ski tickets for the coming 2022/23 winter season will be priced using dynamic pricing. The familiar discounts for senior citizens and children will remain in place. "Season and annual tickets are excluded from dynamic pricing, as they have fixed prices as usual. Advance sales started at the beginning of October and will continue until December 8. For all Vorarlberg residents who want to ski regularly, the season ticket is still clearly the cheapest option," confirms David Domig, Managing Director of Bergbahnen Brandnertal.

Intensive preparation
The decision to introduce Dynamic Pricing was preceded by a long process: "We have spent the last five years looking very closely at the system, talking to several potential partners and observing the market. At the same time, of course, we also looked at other ski resorts that have successfully introduced dynamic pricing. In the fall of last year, we then started to meet with providers for workshops and negotiations and to work out the new system," explains Peter Marko, Managing Director of Silvretta Montafon. In the end, Pricenow was chosen as the implementation partner. "We can now position ourselves as a modern mountain lift pool. With the flexible price adjustments, we will smooth out peaks in the winter season in future and improve our service quality in the long term," concludes Peter Marko.