A Dartmouth study says ski resorts routinely lied about how much new snow they had on the ground in order to attract customers.
The researchers found that resorts reported a lot more snow on weekends than weekdays. And there was a shock toward the end of the study. When an iPhone app opened comment sections to people with cellphones, the comments held the resorts accountable for the inflated figures. Suddenly, the resorts started reporting more accurate data.
National Public Radio summarized the study by Eric Zitzewitz and Jon Zinman, both associate professors of economics at Dartmouth:
“According to Zinman, resorts with more people living within driving distance inflated their numbers more, as did resorts that don’t offer money-back guarantees.”
NPR went on to quote Michael Berry, president of the National Ski Areas Association:
The U.S. ski industry tallied 57.4 million skier visits during 2008-09, according to the final Kottke End of Season Survey. .
