Ikon Is Stepping Up Their Plan To Encourage Pass Sales

If you have spent any time on social media the last week, and you follow the @IkonPass, you know they have been under fire. As it turns out there’s some people out there that were not satisfied with last weeks offer of doubling early renewal discounts.

Granted, people are more likely to post comments if they have negative feelings on something. Few people take the time to post positive comments like “You rock!” In general, people like me, that skied as soon as resorts opened and ski every weekend are happy with the offer of a doubling of renewal discounts offered last week.

The debate about whether or not people are entitled to a refund on last season’s pass is a touchy one. I tend to be in the camp that you are responsible if you chose not to go skiing for the first 5 months of the season. But not every one sees it that way. It’s unlikely everyone will agree to a right answer there.

The one nagging question was the big “what if”…What if I buy my pass for 20/21 and resorts do not open because we are still dealing with COVID-19? Well today, the Ikon Pass people did the right thing.

The Adventure Assurance Program

In a nutshell, if you buy your iKon pass for 20/21, and it’s looking like the season isn’t going to fly, you can choose to defer your pass until the 21/22 season. It’s not an automatic thing. You must request the deferral between September 10 and December 10, 2020. Here’s a summary of the rules:

• You can not get a refund, just a deferral to the following season for the same person. It’s not transferable to another person or product.

• You cannot have used your 20/21 pass before requesting the deferral.

• If prices go up for 21/22, you must pay the difference. If prices go down for 21/22, you will not be refunded the difference.

Here’s the full details of the Adventure Assurance Program.

It’s not a perfect program, but it’s a fair offer. One thing that none of us want to see is to see ski areas go under completely. Where would we be then? Even if resorts don’t open for 20/21, they will still have very significant operating costs for maintenance, security and managing snow to prevent damage to lifts and other facilities. This plan ensure that they will have some operating capital to start with.

It’s going to be very tough psychologically if resorts didn’t open for 20/21…but as I said last week, not skiing would likely be the least of our worries by then.

Fortunately, I’m financially solid enough at this time to commit to buying passes for 20/21….or 21/22. I’ll give Ikon a thumbs up when it comes to pass renewals in “these uncertain times.”