Silver Star is looking to survey customers about their satisfaction with the resort. The Director of Marketing, Norman Kreutz would like to focus on surveying families, both children and parents, as he believes this target market to be very important. Families are long-term guests, as they tend to have stays of 7 days or longer including during the less popular days when the mountain is not busy. Families tend to use many of the resort’s facilities including the ski school, Tube Town, various on-hill activities, and restaurants. Not only are families long-term guests, they are also potential investors and purchasers when it comes to real estate. After the 2010 Olympics in Whistler, European and Asian families continued to visit the province visiting other winter resorts. Silver Star believes there may be a market opportunity to attract these families to the resort. Silver Star is looking to obtain feedback from families that are currently visiting or have recently visited. In an effort to prepare for the promotional road trip that will start in July, Kreutz would like to obtain information about how families make vacation decisions including where to go and for how long.

Research Problem
The Director of Marketing is looking to solve the issue of how to attract more families to visit Silver Star. The target market of families is a very influential group, and can be a large source of revenue for the resort. By attracting not only domestic families, but international families as well, the resort will be able to capitalize on this target market.

Research Purpose
The purpose of this research is to obtain feedback from families who are visiting or have recently visited the mountain in order to better understand the specific needs and wants of this target market are. By utilizing families that have actually experienced Silver Star, the feedback will be based on the amenities and services available at the resort and allow for comparison to other vacation destinations. The purpose of this research is to obtain such information, before the promotional roadshow-taking place in July.

SMART Research Objectives
To survey 200 families over a 7 day period during the 2015 Christmas Break.
To obtain survey feedback from a minimum of ten children aged 5-10.
To obtain survey feedback from a minimum of fifteen adolescents aged 12-17.
To obtain survey feedback from a minimum of five European families.
To obtain feedback from a minimum of four families from Asia.