Rich Carrigan

Review of Eldora Mountain Resort

Operationally, this place is a mess. The mountain ...

Operationally, this place is a mess. The mountain itself -- once you get up there -- isn't bad for the price and it's proximity to Denver. If you have a season pass and your own equipment, I can see why this works. I know they are close, and their slogan is "closer to you". But, given that it takes at least a full hour to actually get on a lift, you'd be better off spending the hour in the car and driving to a full resort like Winter Park or Keystone

Their system to sell lift tickets and rent equipment seems like it was designed by someone who wanted to raise costs, frustrate customers, and lower revenue in the process (opposite of what most businesses want). They have a special ability to take what should be a 2 min transaction and turn it into 10. so, each day we went there it took at least 1 hour to get up on the mountain. And, the staff was friendly and helpful, so it's not on them. It's just terribly managed with stupid business processes.

Once you do rent the skis, they won't let you do a multi-day rental. So, you have to go back the next day and wait in the really long lines again. Same with the lift tickets.
And, they don't let you buy tickets on-line either -- so they want you to again wait in their long lines.

if they just changed these two simple policies -- allowed multi-day passes and rentals, and also pushed some sales on-line, the would improve the customer experience 50% (and save money in the process).

But, as it is, I give the mountain 4 stars, and their management 1 star (average 2).