In the age of COVID, ski schools had to shift their focus from offering group lessons to one more centered on private lessons. Although distancing restrictions are (mostly) behind us, the trend toward private lessons remains. While group lessons do have the advantage of better economics (up to 8 students to 1 instructor), private lessons are growing in popularity for many other reasons:

• A better guest experience

• Bespoke instruction tailored to the ability level and continued progress of the guest

• Development of a close relationship between the instructor and the guest

• Establishment of a learning journey for the guest

• Built-in repeat business

• Empowerment of instructors to be their own best sales force (a huge benefit for the ski school)

The difficulty of scheduling lessons 

Guests naturally develop relationships with their favorite instructors and want to book follow-up lessons when those instructors are available. But online booking platforms are limited to allowing guests to book a generic ‘private lesson’. While there may be a field to request their favorite instructor, they have no idea if the instructor is even working that day, let alone whether that time slot is open in their schedule.

Which brings us to the bigger difficulty. An administrator at the ski school has to match all of these lesson requests with available instructors, by hand. It’s a lot of work, it’s stressful, and it requires a full-time staff member to manage the scheduling.

Book by Instructor places the decision in the guest’s hands

These issues were the inspiration OnlySky’s Book By Instructor (BBI) system. We’re shaking things up by allowing guests to book lessons directly with their preferred instructor. With visibility into the instructor’s schedule, guests are able to book directly through the calendars of their favorite instructors! In the instance that their preferred instructor isn’t available for that date, guests can also use BBI to see which other instructors are available and try someone new based on the instructor’s ratings, reviews, and areas of expertise, which are all displayed prominently on their profile.

Benefits of booking private lessons by instructor

BBI puts the guest in control, giving them the ability to book repeat lessons with the instructor of their choice. It also affords guests the opportunity to review their instructor, providing valuable feedback and furnishing future guests with better information about which instructor might be best suited to them.

BBI also vests instructors with greater agency in promoting their own lessons. By engendering an environment for developing great relationships with their guests, it encourages booking repeat visits from them. This is a win for the instructors and the ski school alike.

BBI frees administrators from the busywork of managing scheduling, so they have more time to work directly with guests. In this age when the biggest problem at any ski school is hiring and retaining staff, freeing one more person to work directly with guests is a major victory.

TRADITIONAL VS BOOK BY INSTRUCTOR CAN COEXIST

Schools can still offer traditional group and private lesson products (with administrators assigning bookings to instructors) and Book By Instructor private lessons, all communicating through the same master calendar.

OnlySky’s Book by Instructor system is a scheduling success

Book by Instructor makes scheduling for your ski school a more streamlined process. By enabling guests to select their preferred instructor when that instructor has availability, it creates an incentive for instructors to provide exceptional lessons and develop a direct relationship, ultimately resulting in more repeat customers and better learning. Instructors benefit from more requested lessons and flexibility in their schedule, and ski schools can enjoy the advantages of an expanded customer base and optimization of their workforce through the implementation of an automated scheduling system. The BBI system has been a resounding success at some of our larger ski school partners, and it’s clear that it has the potential to revolutionize other ski school businesses.

If you’re looking to maximize your mountain’s ski school experience, be sure to check out OnlySky’s Book by Instructor system by scheduling a demo! With its innovative features and benefits for ski schools, guests, and instructors, it’s the future of ski school scheduling.