Tracking customer loyalty to resort towns.

• Author: Romig, Suzie
• Position: STATE of the STATE

STUDIES SHOW ON AVERAGE 70 PERCENT of travel to Colorado resort towns is not for business; it's for fun. That's where discretionary spending and visitor decisions come into play. Where to stay? Where to eat? What are the must-sees?

Resort and tourism managers hope most visitors will have positive, memorable experiences so their word-of-mouth or sharable reviews on TripAdvisor or Yelp draw the next wave of customers.

Tourists may not know the term, but to resort marketers, a high Net Promoter Score is golden.

When nine out of 10 people surveyed would recommend a destination to a friend or colleague, that translates to a 90 NPS. Scores in the 70s and 80s indicate satisfied but unenthusiastic customers, vulnerable to competition.

When Steamboat Ski Resort earned a 90 in January 2014, "We were thrilled," said Loryn Kasten, public relations manager.

"We are usually in the high 80s," she said.

"We do see where we fall compared to other resorts. It's a bit of a competition to increase the Net Promoter Score."

Promoter survey information is gathered from out-of-town visitors via ski area ambassadors, locals hired as surveyors, and tab-8 lets set up at kiosks at special events and high traffic locations. In Steamboat for example, two surveys are managed by market research and data...