Beaver Creek Nordic Sports Center — Attraction in Beaver Creek

On my recent trip to Colorado I stopped by the Beaver Creek Nordic Sports Center to rent some snowshoe gear for the day. I’ve rented gear from this location many times before, and it’s always been a pleasant experience, but I felt like my recent visit was less than enjoyable. Laurie assisted us, and when I opened the door to the shop she told us to wait outside, she was on the telephone at the time, and it appears that she was the only one in the shop. So we waited outside, and a couple minutes later she comes out and asks us what we need, she seemed a bit frazzled at the time. We let her know that we’re here to rent gear for the day. While sitting outside she has us fill out the paperwork and she brings some hiking shoes for us to try on. Once we tried on boots that fit, she asked for our credit cards, and took them back inside the shop to ring us out. It seemed to be taking a little long, so I thought it might be a good idea to check and see what was going on. When I opened the door to the shop she tells me that my credit card is being declined, and I thought that was strange because I just used it to get a cup of coffee within the last 30 mins and it was working fine at that time. I started to approach the counter because I noticed they have a credit card machine with the chip reader and perhaps she needed to insert my card in there for it to work, and once I do that she puts her hand up and tells me “can you just stand over there”. She then walks to the front of the counter and my credit card works when she inserts the chip.

After that she comes outside to give us our receipts and says we’re good to go, and then I ask her to please explain how to put on the snowshoe gear because my mom has never done this before. She did explain the gear and made sure our poles were at the correct height after I asked her to, however as soon as someone else walked up to the shop, she was quickly walking away and I had to raise my voice and say “Wait a second, we would like to use the restroom before we get on the lift can you please give us the code?” The entire interaction with Laurie was very strange. Usually they would give you a map and share their recommendations of where to hike depending on your skills level. I’m not sure if this was stopped due to COVID-19 protocols or if she just forgot to do it. She seemed a bit rushed or perhaps she wants to limit customer interaction as much as possible due to the COVID-19 situation, but whatever the reason I didn’t feel like it was good customer service.

I’ve gone on multiple tours and rented gear in the past, and it’s always been great. I understand that with the COVID-19 situation some changes needed to be made (i.e. trying on gear outside, leaving your shoes in bins outside), but if an employee is so fearful of what’s going on that they come across with an attitude, perhaps they shouldn’t be in a customer facing role, there has to be a happy medium. I wish the best for this shop, but definitely feel like they would benefit from having more of a friendly and warm approach, providing excellent customer service at a distance if they want those customers returning. Without customers there will not be a Nordic Center in Beaver Creek, and that would be a real shame because McCoy Park is such a lovely...

Terrible experience with cross country skiing lessons. We had lessons earlier this month and the trail was in terrible condition. No one said anything to us about these conditions. The trail up on the mountain was closed. Instead we skied at the bottom of the hill on the golf course. kids were sleigh riding, dogs were playing on the track that was not recently groomed. No one at the ski center told us about the terrible conditions. Spent $1000 for the 4 of us to rent equipment and to take lessons. When we returned the equipment spoke to a gentleman at the front desk about the conditions and no response. Like, tough luck. The instructor Nick was awesome! best part of the experience by far. Beware if you book this excursion to ensure the conditions of the track are not filled with sleigh tracks, paw marks and just generally unkept. Again, no one at the Center said the conditions were poor. Very...

We went out snowshoeing twice in two days with Carrie, and had an absolute blast both times. She's knowledgeable, careful, thoughtful, and funny. She always made sure to match her pace to ours, and was judicious with breaks and making sure everyone in the group was handling the pace and exertion comfortably. She's been bumping around these parts a bit and knows the area really well, so you can be assured you're in good hands if you go out with her. I can't recommend this experience enough, and if you're in Beaver Creek and want to give a different experience a try, be sure and book a tour at the Nordic...