The nicer the weather, the more expensive the ticket: some ski resorts change prices several times a day

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Good weather, holidays and snow: No wonder the ski areas are more crowded these days. But right now, many snow sports enthusiasts will have to dig into their pockets to buy tickets from the ski lift.

More than half of the major ski areas in Switzerland charge dynamic rather than fixed prices. According to research by “Sonntagszeitung”, most adjust their prices on a weekly or daily basis.

For example, in Zermatt, prices change several times a day, every few hours. Concretely, this means that anyone who buys a day ticket today for tomorrow may pay a different price in the morning than they would in the afternoon.

When demand is high, prices increase

If you buy your ticket three or more days before skiing in Belalp’s Valais ski area, prices also vary within a day. The prerequisite for the adjustment is a sharp increase in demand within a few hours, Mario Gertschen, managing director of Belalp-Bahnen, tells “Sonntagszeitung”.

Bern company Pricenow, Engadin-St. Moritz, Laax, Verbier, Adelboden-Lenk, Engelberg-Titlis or Aletsch Arena with software to calculate dynamic prices.

The system uses artificial intelligence. The algorithm calculates expected demand and weather conditions. With this and more pleasing data such as sales for the last few years and bed occupancy at the ski resort, the system creates sales forecasts for each day. If a large number of ski passes are sold in a day, the system increases prices more than if sales stopped.

Starting from Sunday lunch, January 1, the daily pass for an adult in Zermatt is 102 francs. On Monday, January 7, the same ticket is eight francs cheaper.

Consumer protection not satisfied

Most mountain railways advise that it is worth booking early. Prices will tend to increase until the validity day, but will definitely not decrease any further.

The Consumer Protection Foundation has repeatedly criticized dynamic prices for not being transparent. “Such models are not very transparent. Families can no longer accurately budget how much skiing costs per day, and sometimes they have to pay one and a half to two times more,” Sara Stalder, Executive Director of the Consumer Protection Foundation, told Blick last winter. The model also hides price increases. (o)

Source :Blick