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When Art Berry took over Camelback Ski Area and Camelbeach Waterpark in June 2005, he was determined to ramp up the area’s focus on customer service, even though that focus was already considerable. And he knew just the way to accomplish that: a Mystery Shopper program.

Camelbeach Waterpark implemented the Mystery Shopper concept two years ago under the auspices of Amusement Advantage Mystery Shopping Services. Mystery Shopper proved to be so successful that Camelback Ski Area began its own evaluations this past winter, and contracted for several visits, including the ski area, tubing park, evaluation of group sales staff, and ski and snowboarding lessons.

Based on empirical data gleaned from mystery shopper evaluations, Camelback can correct deficiencies as seen through the eyes of guests, faults which may go unnoticed by employees and management. A “can’t see the forest for the trees” scenario, as one employee in the ski rental shop describes it.

“This has been an extremely helpful tool to us both in the summer and the winter,” notes Berry, a 41-year-old Pocono area businessman who purchased the venerable ski resort and burgeoning waterpark in June, 2005. “Many of the suggestions that have been given by the evaluators have been implemented, resulting in more efficient customer service.”

Many of the complaints were process-related, not about employees. For example, as a result of Mystery Shopper evaluations, Camelbeach replaced wrist bands for their waterpark customers with a system that scans tickets directly at the entrance gate. Further improvements suggested by the program include the addition of new lockers in specific areas, and there are plans to install new lockers in the kids’ play area this summer.

The waterpark, which opened in the summer of 1998, has since evolved into one of the state’s largest venues for slipping and sliding. It attracted 366,000 visitors in 2005, surpassing for the first time the number of skier visits. Camelback drew about 364,000 skiers in 2004/05.

“Mystery Shopper has been very valuable in helping us create a better overall experience for our guests,” explains Brian Bossuyt, assistant director of sales and marketing. “It also helps us greatly with group sales, by raising our awareness of becoming more friendly on the phones and more attentive to people’s needs. We strive to treat people as special guests, whether in person or talking with them on the phone.”

Camelback implemented the Mystery Shopper at the ski area this past season, and the program’s effects have rippled across the mountain. One change: employee appearance receives much more scrutiny from supervisors who, among other things, make sure that name tags are visible at all times. Also, more employees have been added to the rental shop, to streamline the process there.

The Mystery Shopper has made the biggest impact on the Tiny Tots ski program, through which little ones who stand 46 inches or less receive a free lift ticket. Prior to Mystery Shopper, parents had to take children to the Welcome Center to be measured, and then get back in line at the ticket window to purchase their own tickets. Now, a wandering Camelback ambassador with measuring stick in hand measures tykes at the ticket window. All tiny tots who meet the height requirement receive a free ticket on the spot. Loudspeakers continually announce the process.

At the snow tubing park, “The evaluations revealed that our tubing employees tended to blend in with the customers, thus the new jackets,” says Bossuyt. Now, all tubing employees don a jacket with the words “Tubing Park Staff” inscribed on the back.

When it comes to customer service, Berry has clearly put his money where his mouth is. “We pay a contract price for this service as well as providing the evaluator with lift tickets and tubing tickets,“ explains Rich Wiseman, vice president and general manager. “Basically, the evaluation is done by groups of people, each with a different demographic, who come through the facility just as if they were guests. A typical ski area evaluation begins with an evaluation of the website, a phone call to the ski area, and their comments.”

As the evaluator comes through each area, there are comments made on parking, ticket booth in general, a ticket booth team member, Welcome Center, a Welcome Center team member, rental shop, rental shop team member, locker rental and locker rental team member. There is a general evaluation of the area grounds and lodges, food service, food service team member, food service cashier and the food itself. Among the other people and places subject to the mystery shopper experience are the lifts, lifties, the retail shop, the trails and the ski patrol. These are all rated on a scale of 1 to 4, with 4 being the best.

At the end of the process, there is an overall evaluation and suggestions for change, the most memorable thing that the evaluator saw, and then naming an outstanding team member. The evaluations are given to all department heads for review, not only for their department, but also for the entire resort. “We always reward the person named the outstanding team member by either a gift certificate to a local restaurant or ski lift tickets to Camelback,” says Wiseman. The staff knows that such a program is in place, but has no idea who the mystery shoppers are or when the evaluations will occur.


Overall Customer Service
Berry himself was something of a mystery shopper at Camelback. Though he is new to the resort industry, he was born and raised in the Pocono Mountains, and learned to ski at Camelback with the school’s ski club. “It was a great five-week program that is still in place today for the students,” he says.

“I learned a great deal about the importance of customer service,” says Berry, who also credits Hunter Mountain in New York with providing him with important lessons in this area. “The people at Hunter were kind enough to share the success they’ve had with customer service.” He adds that Sam Newman, former Camelback president, wanted to keep intact the ski area’s devoted staff in order to preserve the integrity of its customer service.

Berry makes no bones about putting customer service on the top of his priority list. “Attention to detail is crucial in this business, especially if ski areas want to convert first-time skiers into lifelong customers,” he explains. “On average, ski areas retain less than 15 percent of their patrons, so we all have to do a better job of making sure their first trip to the slopes is a fun one.”


Future Plans
According to Berry, perfecting everything from the rental shop experience to the learning center to the food in the cafeteria is important. It also means putting money where your mouth is by investing capital. Camelback recently announced plans to build a 300-room ski-in, ski-out hotel complex. “The demand is there and it will help alleviate some of the congestion from the main lodge,” explains Berry.

Other plans for the upscale hotel include an indoor waterpark, full-service spa, gourmet dining, and a ski lodge lobby. “It’s imperative to provide people with a true ski destination where they can enjoy themselves without having to drive back home the same day,” Berry notes. He expects the project to be completed by 2008.

Aside from the physical infrastructure, listening to what customers prefer is all part of Camelback’s master plan—one that will make this four-season resort one to watch.

The Guest Editor’s Take
I've found mystery shopping programs to be especially valuable tools for monitoring customer service levels, but only when managed carefully. The most successful programs employ frequent visits, have relevancy to individual behavior, and use a metric to track performance trends.

In the call center world, mystery shopping is especially useful because agents can get personalized coaching using recordings of their actual performance. When managed well, call center agents know that they will get “shopped” three times per month and coached once per month. The frequency of feedback and tracking keeps the service standard top of mind and allows for true performance improvement.

This is harder to duplicate in the in-resort departments. The lack of frequency and the subjective nature of the shopper can lead to employees feeling ambushed or picked on, so the feedback has less traction. In this case, the mystery shopper program can be a valuable reality check, but shouldn't replace more immediate feedback tools that may be available.

Mystery shopping has proven to be an excellent way to gauge performance. To be most effective, it is critical that alignment of expectations, standards, training, and frequent feedback are included as part of the program. —Bill Rock