VAIL'S WONDROUS DOT.COM TALE.

• Author: DESMOND, PAUL

HOW THE RESORT'S WEBSITE BOOSTS SALES, CUTS COSTS, REACHES NEW CUSTOMERS AND RATCHETS UP REPEAT BUSINESS. AND HOW YOU CAN, TOO.

Vail Resorts Inc. mailed out far fewer marketing brochures this ski season than in years past, but got at least 5,000 more nights booked at its various resorts. The difference? The company's website is taking over where the brochures left off.

Vail is enjoying success beyond its wildest dreams from its Web marketing efforts, using the site to augment or replace print advertising and drive more skiers to its hotels and slopes. On top of that, the site helps the company cut costs -- for example, by enabling customers to check room availability on their own, instead of tying up a customer service representative.

Such results aren't unique to the travel industry, however. Virtually any company that sells to consumers or to other businesses can learn from Vail's experience. Applied right, Vail's work shows how to effectively use the Web to reach new customers and encourage return visits. At the same time, the Web can help reduce costs by enabling customers to help themselves to information about your company or even conduct transactions. Finally, the Web is shaping up as an effective marketing tool for building brand recognition, often at a fraction of the cost of traditional means.

In one way, though, Vail might be the exception, not the example. "We have no choice," said Bruce Mainzer, senior vice president of marketing and sales for Vail Resorts. "We probably have the most Web-enabled customer of any in the travel industry."

On that note, try some tips from vail.com:

Know your customers. Talk to them.

Vail is a company that likes to get to know its customers so it surveys them relentlessly, whether by mail, on the Web or while they're waiting in lift lines. One recent study showed the typical Vail customer to be far more Web-savvy than the average American.

"Right now in the U.S., 44% of all adults have access to the Internet either at home or at work," Mainzer said. "For Vail Resorts, we're at 92% of our guests. It's huge."

It used to be that out-of-state skiers were more likely to have Web access than Front Range and local customers. Not so anymore. "We're finding there's not too much difference across all of our markets," he said.

Track advertising results.

Vail uses unique phone numbers in each of its advertising vehicles to track which ones work best. The toll-free number you see in a brochure, for example, will be different from that in a magazine ad or on the website. Call accounting software tracks the number of calls to each number, enabling the company to determine where customers are getting information about Vail.

Increasingly, the answer is, "the Web." Of the 92% of Vail customers who are Web-enabled, Mainzer said 87% report they use the Internet to plan ski trips. In fact, the Internet has become the single largest source of bookings at Vail Resorts' four locations: Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge and...