Interesting Bloomberg article about Whistler and Vail Resorts

[Wasatchman]

Vail is likely growing Epic pass sales at a comparable rate to last year - up around 10-12% on a unite basis and up around 14-16% in dollars. They will make it official in late-May or early-June.

Ugh. It makes me nervous that Vail is still growing that fast. I don't want anymore consolidation in the ski industry.

 

[LKLA]

Ugh. It makes me nervous that Vail is still growing that fast. I don't want anymore consolidation in the ski industry.

To be clear, that growth is for Epic pass sales, not for Vail's total revenues/sales. Epic pass sales account for approximately 25% of their total revenue.

Vail's overall sales are growing "organically" at a decent clip largely driven by Epic pass and food and beverage. And, they seem to have opportunities to invest at some of their current resorts, in particular at Whistler. So, they may not feel as much of a need to make further acquisitions. However, I doubt it very much that is the case given the increasing reasons there seem to be to acquire resorts.

I expect them to acquire something soon and/or announce additional joint ventures.

 

[Seldomski]

I think consolidation is inevitable for long term stability. I don't think everything should be put into one company... but it makes sense to cover geographic areas that are large enough that a bad year at some resorts is a good year at others.

 

[New2]

I'm hoping that if Vail's revenue from pass sales does not grow as fast as it has the last few years, they work harder to make the customer happy instead of always being $ first. This can be done by giving customers more options on passes (including not cutting off sales in late Fall and senior versions of all passes not just one in each area), keeping resorts that have snow open longer in Spring and having daily special at some of the on-mountain restaurants that saves a couple of $.

This year with all the construction starting at Blackcomb this Spring, why not run some lifts at Whistler past 4/22? I think they already are running Peak2Peak for sightseers (or you could download on Creekside gondola). And as I have said in other threads, they closed Kirkwood (their US resort with the deepest snowpack) a couple of weeks too early this year and last. Why not cut it back to Fri-Sun instead at least to mid or late April?

Making EpicMix more useful is also mentioned in some of the Whistler Pique articles. I track my vertical and find EpicMix getting worse and worse to where I cannot add enough missed lifts to get it right (and that process is bad from a laptop and impossible? from a mobile device). Even when I made the effort to go slow through the gates before lifts at WB and get a green arrow, EpicMix missed a lot of lifts and usually threw in an odd one like Symphony at 3:30 PM (or Jersey Cream at 4:56 PM MST on my last day) when I was long gone from that area. And how hard would it be to make EpicMix display time that you load the lift in local time instead of Mountain time? When I skied Whistler my first time two years ago, before Vail bought them, I think their tracking missed one lift in three days.

After next season, I am considering getting a Sierra-Tahoe pass that includes Powder Alliance benefits. But it will mean going over Echo Summit and driving 10 times as far to closest skiing from family cabin that is between Heavenly's tram and gondola.

Improving EpicMix seems like it should be pretty low-cost, and should be part of their ongoing priorities regardless. My guess is there have been specific obstacles/delays in recent months, and that they'll get on track with ongoing improvements before too long. But if Vail is really just ignoring EpicMix, then yeah, I'll agree that some sort of jolt might be needed to make a change. Beyond that... I'm not so convinced. I'm sure they'll be watching crowd sizes at Squalpine this spring/summer to try to determine whether it's worth extending the season at one of the Tahoe resorts. But in general, late spring is a money-loser, so it seems like a good place for them to rein in spending... A-Basin and Blackcomb provide good spring options for most of their customers. Personally, I like that more and more businesses are recognizing that seniors control an outsize percentage of US wealth and are restructuring pricing accordingly... but I can see the other side, too, and this isn't the right forum for that discussion Re: daily specials vs. set prices, my understanding of restaurant/food service management is that these are basically two alternate price strategies, but a targeted overall margin is driving specific price decisions either way. And I seriously doubt that they're going to be convinced that restaurant margins or strategy are seriously impacting pass sales.

From what I've seen, it looks like Vail's business over the past decade or so has brought unprecedented re-investment in the skiing experience, while also generating healthy profits for investors/executives. And my (very limited) experience at Sierra-at-Tahoe left be with the impression that they were more nickel-and-dime focused than any other ski area I've visited (certainly moreso than the Vail resorts I've been to).

 

[Tony]

From what I've seen, it looks like Vail's business over the past decade or so has brought unprecedented re-investment in the skiing experience, while also generating healthy profits for investors/executives. And my (very limited) experience at Sierra-at-Tahoe left be with the impression that they were more nickel-and-dime focused than any other ski area I've visited (certainly moreso than the Vail resorts I've been to).

We have not see any improvements at South Tahoe Vail resorts. While Kirkwood is now connected to the power grid, they still have to keep generators ready and it was done by Kirkwood Public Utility District. Both Heavenly (Galaxy) and Kirkwood (Covered Wagon) have removed lifts and have not added or improved any since Olympic at Heavenly was upgraded to a high-speed quad over 10 years ago AFAIK.

 

[New2]

We have not see any improvements at South Tahoe Vail resorts. While Kirkwood is now connected to the power grid, they still have to keep generators ready and it was done by Kirkwood Public Utility District. Both Heavenly (Galaxy) and Kirkwood (Covered Wagon) have removed lifts and have not added or improved any since Olympic at Heavenly was upgraded to a high-speed quad over 10 years ago AFAIK.

Fair enough--South Lake Tahoe has gotten the short end of the stick in recent years. Although Heavenly, at least, still has newer lifts than many other resorts and is getting a Galaxy replacement this summer