<blockquote class=“Quote” rel=“davek”>I’m surprised that more resorts don’t see this for what it really is… an attempt by a third party ticket seller to get a mountain or resort to advertise a ticket outlet other than the resort’s own sales channel, thereby peeling off purchasers who might have otherwise bought directly from the resort.  Call it an “award”, but it’s really an advertisement to grab buyers.It’s funny that Magic buys right into these awards and posts a link on their own site about it… Just what the third party seller is hoping for!Remember, when you buy from a third party, you’re buying from a company that doesn’t have any “skin” in the game – they charge resorts a commission to sell a ticket but don’t have to deliver snow, lift service, an experience, etc.  This, in turn, drives up the overall cost of lift tickets.</blockquote>

Not sure I agree with this in Liftopia’s case – the only tickets that get sold there are the ones the resort chooses to sell, and they control every aspect of quantity and cost.  Furthermore, many resorts online sales channel uses the Liftopia engine (or whatever you call it)   Magic’s included, just look at the code.     Mount Snow also.   I think the relationship between Liftopia and the resorts is pretty solid.  Ultimately they use the numbers to increase sales, knowing that there are different buyers at different levels of pricing and advance purchase risk.   Lots of proprietary algorithms in play!  ;)

Here’s the code from Hunter’s website for example