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BrightFrogok but take this in context. Boho managers introduce “lifetime” season passes knowing full well boho will not last for 75 years. Also raise minimum wage. Their season passes are cheap for a reason; they bank on you not going because it’s so hard to get to. They also want cash now, and locals and downstaters respond well to the novelty of a multi year pass. Now they’ve frontloaded all the revenue from the die-Hards, and they are upping wage expense. Snow-making will have to be added in the next couple years too and increased as the resort goes into decline. This is a stupid business.
And just as a caveat; I’m not guessing, nor is this political. I worked in Lac la Belle and have lived in upper mi for years. I’m fine with Boho expanding and even building condos and gondolas. But the cash flow doesn’t work. The only rational explanation I have is that owners are trying to pump cash and make it attractive to sell to a vail or alterra, especially with all the press boho has been getting over the last couple years.
Lonnie doesn’t have the best reputation when it comes to not bankrupting businesses. Although I’m not seeing this terrible decline that is going to happen in the next 2 years because of this that you’re talking about.
I’ve been skiing boho for 5 years. Their operating costs are low. Compared to literally any other resort in the country, they are pretty much nothing. They sell an absolutely insane amount of passes given the location, and part of the reason why they are able to is because they are designed for people that could only ski boho 1 or 2 days. Or not at all. A 100$ boho pass gets you like $900 dollars worth of free days at resorts out west. Like mission ridge, targhee, etc. I’ve met people from all over the place that have bought the boho pass but have never skied there.
If lonnie wants to introduce a lifetime pass, and people are stupid enough to buy it, that sounds like smart business. Or would you rather boho raises the price from 100$ to $800 like many other resorts?
They sell an increasing amount of season passes every year, their operating costs are next to nothing, and now as a result they can afford to pay people 20$ an hour in the keweenaw, which would be the equivalent of 30$ an hour in vail given how cheap living expenses are up here. I mean, you can buy a decent 3 bedroom house up here for 50k.
And also, to my knowledge, vail wouldn’t touch boho with a 10ft pole. No infrastructure in the area, more than 6 hours away from any major population center, crazy property lines/ easements/ nearby protected wildlife areas, and while a lot of people go to boho, it’s not even close to any downstate 300ft hill like Boyne or nubs. Unless Lonnie plans on building an airport, boho is extremely unattractive to someplace like vail.
And also, I’m not some boho dickrider. I love the place but you could ask lonnie, look at my articles, or go through most of their insta posts and see how I’m usually nothing but critical of them.
this just seems like a stupid take
**This post was edited on Aug 22nd 2021 at 2:02:59pm