Snow Park diversifies

Robin and Sean Synnott are pushing ahead with  revitalising the Snow Park in preparation for the...
Robin and Sean Synnott are pushing ahead with revitalising the Snow Park in preparation for the school holidays next week. Photo by Matthew Haggart.
New backers behind the Snow Park are wasting no time in implementing family-based initiatives as they prepare for the school holidays next week.

Sean and Robin Synnott, the new Snow Park managers, are pushing to improve and diversify revenue streams alongside the freestyle facility's regular on-piste activities.

One of the first steps the couple are implementing is free wi-fi connections to internet on the mountain in a bid to attract more people up the hill.

Business at the Snow Park has fallen off during the past two years as the Lee family works to combine a succession plan alongside their vision of building a gondola and a new ski resort on the Pisa Range.

Mr and Mrs Synnott are now responsible for the overall strategic direction of the Snow Park, while operations manager Sam Lee remains in charge of the terrain park and its daily on-site field activities.

Mrs Synnott, who comes from a business and marketing background which includes time as the North America marketing director for computer giant Dell, will look after the customer service, accommodation, and food and beverage operations at the Snow Park.

Mr Synnott, a former managing director for Asia Pacific multinational companies Computerland and Vanstar, will assume strategic planning and financial administration responsibilities.

The new partnership between the Synnotts and the Snow Park's founders, the Lee family, has a long-term plan to build another ski resort on the Pisa Range and develop a consented gondola from the Cardrona Valley floor.

However, the Snow Park's immediate business plan is about investing in people and attracting new customers - particularly families - to the resort, Mr Synnott says.

The couple have five children. Mrs Synnott says the Snow Park's facilities provide an ideal backdrop for families.

"You can sit here in the Woolshed and see nearly across the skifield. A lot of parents like that security, rather than having their kids somewhere else away on a mountain," she says.

"Making it easier for people to visit" and "giving them more reasons to do so" is an aspect Mr Synnott wants to improve at the park.

The couple have overhauled the restaurant menu at the Woolshed and have a new chef and front-of-house staff.

"We want to bring the vibe back, to make this place the best freestyle park in the world again," Mr Synnott says.

 

Add a Comment

 

Advertisement

OUTSTREAM