Liftopia launches free iPhone/iPod app for ski tickets

Popular destination to buy advanced lift tickets at a discount more accessible on the iPhone

I

If you're like me, you spend way too much buying "full-price" tickets for lift tickets and lessons at ski resorts, like the $200 I spent for my five-year-old son's one-day ski class this past Saturday. Next time, I should plan in advance and use Liftopia, the largest repository of tickets for ski lift, rental and ski lessons, for those who buy in advance and want a discount! 

And, Liftopia, essentially a marketplace for lift tickets, lessons and rentals, just got easier to use. San Francisco-based Liftopia announced Thursday its new iPhone and iPodtouch app. 

The app allows skiers and snowboarders to search for nearby resorts, get ski conditions, and browse deals from 150 ski resorts in North America. Liftopia is not for same-day ski tickets, but advance tickets only. In 2010, the average savings a consumer got from Liftopia was 32%, said Evan Reece, CEO and co-founder of Liftopia, in an interview. 

Liftopia, which got its start six years ago, has raised about $2.5 million from notable investors, such as First Round Capital. Last year, the company sold 1% of all skiier days in the U.S., said Reece. A skiier day is a metric used by the ski industry to count an "instance" an individual skis on a day. There were 60 million skiier days in North America, with 30 million of those days accounted for by season pass holders. So there are really only 42 million skier days from tickets sold on a daily basis, making Liftopia's percent of tickets sold for resorts a lot higher.   

Reese wouldn't disclose how much revenue the company is generating, but if you assumed that ticket prices on average are $50, one can figure out that Liftopia generated about $21 million in ticket sales for ski resorts. Liftopia gets about a 13% cut, so that's about $2.7 million in revenue. That's pretty good revenue. Reese also sees an opportunity for Liftopia to go beyond just lift tickets. Already, the company is selling other items, like rentals and lessons. Last year, about 10% of their revenue came from non-lift tickets. There's also markets like Europe to go after. 

It's no wonder that investors like First Round, and prolific angel investor Chris Sacca have placed their bets on this company. Erik Blachford, former President of Expedia, is also an angel investor.