Examining the Impact of Consolidated Ownership on Ticket Pricing in the Ski Industry: A Hedonic Price Model

This paper examines the impact of recent consolidation within the North American ski industry on day ticket and season pass prices. It utilizes a unique cross-sectional data set consisting of 120 ski areas in the US and Canada for the 2018/19 ski season. Using an OLS hedonic price model, I find that conglomerate owned ski areas price day tickets and season passes well above those of independent ski areas. However, for ski areas that are included on multi-area season passes such as the Epic or Ikon Pass, consumers actually pay a far lower price for their season passes. This is possible because the vertical integration of conglomerate owners enables them to extract additional profits from ancillary revenue streams such as dining and lodging. The results provide evidence that conglomerates possess elevated pricing power but cannot conclusively present a case for antitrust intervention