This excerpted feature – “Frequent Flyers: They Come Again and Again, But How Should Snow Pros Teach Them?” – written by Mark Aiken, appears in the Winter 2025 issue of 32 Degrees. You can read the entire article here.

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Frequent flyers are students who return time after time. They can include private lesson takers who return for subsequent lessons; school groups whose programs include multiple lessons (typically once a week); participants in season-long programs, freestyle teams, and race clubs; kids whose parents sign them up for lesson in kids’ programs – whether several days on a vacation or throughout a season at a local resort; and adults who take multiple lessons.

Everyone loves it when students return for the opportunity to take advantage of familiarity, rapport, and an on-going progression of skill development. Plus, for instructors, frequent flyers could equate to a higher request pay rate and possibly gratuities.

“Having a repeat customer allows the instructor to create a deeper connection with that student,” says Beth Carlson of Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, Intermountain Region children’s division clinic leader, and longtime member of PSIA-AASI’s National Children’s Task Force.

However, working with returners isn’t always just a walk in the park (terrain or otherwise). We’ve all seen and maybe experienced return students who, for a variety of reasons, make life more difficult. “Students who return time after time present some challenges an instructor may not face with a first-time student,” adds Carlson, who holds a master’s in education from Stanford University.

“These students range in age from 3 to 83,” says Carlson. Adults return to take privates with the same pro, or they move from pro to pro to sample teaching styles and approaches. Sometimes adults show up repeatedly at group lesson line-ups. Even ski and ride school trainers and PSIA-AASI examiners and clinicians experience frequent flyers; for example, any trainer at your mountain will confirm that there are pros in your school who rarely miss a training clinic – yes, we instructors can be frequent flyers as well. Even at marquee PSIA-AASI events like the Eastern Region’s early season Eastern Academy (formerly Pro Jam) – the largest gathering of PSIA-AASI pros in the nation – some groups of member pros reunite with the same clinician year after year after year. …

AN EMPHASIS ON RETURN BUSINESS

Much is made in our business about retention. Promotions attract return business. Consultants study retention rates across the industry. Even the final phase of PSIA-AASI’s Teaching/Learning Cycle shines a spotlight on creating return business: Review and Preview. In this phase, pros review progress from a lesson and plan for independent practice, and they preview future learning outcomes and invite students to attend a future lesson.

Some resorts offer lesson season passes or “bundle” multiple lessons at a discount so that guests can purchase several lessons for less than the daily rate. For example, last year Colorado’s Telluride Ski Resort offered single adult group lessons for $330. A three-pack was $880. Vermont’s Middlebury Snowbowl offered a “buy four, get the fifth lesson free” discount.

With all the focus on getting people to return, what should pros do when they do return? PSIA-AASI’s Learning Connection^SM includes people skills and teaching skills fundamentals about developing relationships and establishing goals and objectives with each student. The Learning Connection doesn’t speak specifically to working with return customers, but the people, teaching, and technical skills apply. Returners are slightly different from those you’ve never seen before, and you might therefore alter your approach.

Read the rest of the article here.

PC: K. Keating