Colorado Vail Resorts false advertising

[Ken_R]

Just as I defend a brand when a consumer gets on a soapbox I will also call out a brand when they are off base. I did contact Vail and gave then an opportunity to correct this and they chose not to.

Wow. Ok. They deserve the flogging then. Carry on.

 

[Rich McP]

Wow. Ok. They deserve the flogging then. Carry on.

Wow is right. They have NOT actually done anything yet...except give someone a WARNING that there MIGHT be a problem. That person, to this point, has chosen NOT to avail themselves of the options available to them. You cannot reach the "offer" from the website, therefore it is NOT still advertised. Is it bad that it can still be found in the ways mentioned here? Sure it is. But folks are really stretching to call that "still being offered". Some here have had customer service issues, probably everyone dislikes the faceless corporate monolith, and that is all very fair; that's what you feel and so that is Truth. I know everyone is anxious to get on the snow and unhappy that things might suck, but, wow!

 

[jmeb]

You cannot reach the "offer" from the website, therefore it is NOT still advertised.

You say this, but I literally had a family friend last night tell me they were booking Keystone because of this. It's been on offer for multiple years, and they used it in prior years. A simple google of "Keystone kids ski free" still pulls up the page and many articles linking to it.

The Points Guy is a massively popular website, still links directly to the page that advertises it.

Kids ski free: Save on your family's next ski vacation - The Points Guy

Ski lift tickets can be very expensive, so when skiing with a family, look for places where kids ski free.

thepointsguy.com

 

[crgildart]

Wow is right. The have NOT actually done anything yet...except give someone a WARNING that there MIGHT be a problem. That person, to this point, has chosen NOT to avail themselves of the options available to them. You cannot reach the "offer" from the website, therefore it is NOT still advertised. Is it bad that it can still be found in the ways mentioned here? Sure it is. But folks are really stretching to call that "still being offered". Some here have had customer service issues, probably everyone dislikes the faceless corporate monolith, and that is all very fair; that's what you feel and so that is Truth. I know everyone is anxious to get on the snow and unhappy that things might suck, but, wow!

They've been told it is still visible and they have all the power to end that.

What about the people like OP for whom who it was fully pushed and prominent there when they booked their rooms and bought the adult passes? Making it disappear without any other efforts to make good is total BS..

 

[dovski]

Wow is right. The have NOT actually done anything yet...except give someone a WARNING that there MIGHT be a problem. That person, to this point, has chosen NOT to avail themselves of the options available to them. You cannot reach the "offer" from the website, therefore it is NOT still advertised. Is it bad that it can still be found in the ways mentioned here? Sure it is. But folks are really stretching to call that "still being offered". Some here have had customer service issues, probably everyone dislikes the faceless corporate monolith, and that is all very fair; that's what you feel and so that is Truth. I know everyone is anxious to get on the snow and unhappy that things might suck, but, wow!

Hi Rich,

I agree with you to a point. I think the real issue here is not whether or not they are still advertising this promotion, which technically they are, but how customer service handled the inquiry of a customer who purchased multiple products based on this promotion. Regardless of what Vail decides to do the way they have handled communication with their paying customer is abysmal. So yes they have not decided whether or not to honor the offer and have also not decided how to accommodate customers if they rescind the promotion, but the way their customer service people handled the situation is the real issue. I have a similar concern with my trip to Big Sky later this year, but when I raised that with their team they said the following "We really value you as a customer and will absolutely do something accommodate you". This is a big difference.

There are several large ski corporations that fall into the category of corporate monolith. Personally I feel that some of the others have done a better job instilling a culture and operating model that puts the customer first. Unfortunately I have had multiple bad customer service experiences at Vail resorts that have pushed me to take may $$ elsewhere. I don't think Vail is an evil empire but I do think they fall short when it comes to addressing customer issues and communicating with customers.

 

[pchewn]

This whole thing sounds like a skiing version of the movie USED CARS . Sketchy advertising morals and people trying to trip up the smallest advertising or communication error.

Based on the very limited information I've seen (from the prior posts), I believe that

• The "Kids Ski Free" package is still being offered and will be honored.
• The communication that it "May not be honored" in the future was supposed to be "May not be offered" in the future.
• That mis-communication is causing people to panic and demand refunds or take actions they might not need to.
• Nobody has been denied a kid skiing for free (yet).

 

[Rich McP]

You say this, but I literally had a family friend last night tell me they were booking Keystone because of this. It's been on offer for multiple years, and they used it in prior years. A simple google of "Keystone kids ski free" still pulls up the page and many articles linking to it.

The Points Guy is a massively popular website, still links directly to the page that advertises it.

Kids ski free: Save on your family's next ski vacation - The Points Guy

Ski lift tickets can be very expensive, so when skiing with a family, look for places where kids ski free.

thepointsguy.com

And I agree with everyone who pointed out the the page still exists, so that is a risk and it is bad. The Points Guy isn't VR. That's on The Points Guy too. But yes, this is a huge reason not to allow orphaned pages to exist on your site.

 

[Rich McP]

They've been told it is still visible and they have all the power to end that.

What about the people like OP for whom who it was fully pushed and prominent there when they booked their rooms and bought the adult passes? Making it disappear without any other efforts to make good is total BS..

Again...THEY HAVEN'T YET CANCELED ANYTHING. Unless I missed something? WTH dude?

 

[crgildart]

This whole thing sounds like a skiing version of the movie USED CARS . Sketchy advertising morals and people trying to trip up the smallest advertising or communication error.

Based on the very limited information I've seen (from the prior posts), I believe that

• The "Kids Ski Free" package is still being offered and will be honored.
• The communication that it "May not be honored" in the future was supposed to be "May not be offered" in the future.
• That mis-communication is causing people to panic and demand refunds or take actions they might not need to.
• Nobody has been denied a kid skiing for free (yet).

Kids ski free right?? You killed my dog mister...

 

[crgildart]

Again...THEY HAVEN'T YET CANCELED ANYTHING. Unless I missed something? WTH dude?

You do realize they suggested OP buy passes for the kids when OP asked them to confirm the promotion was still valid..

 

[Rich McP]

I agree with you to a point. I think the real issue here is not whether or not they are still advertising this promotion, which technically they are...

I think we'll have to agree to disagree.

The way I look at the advertising question goes like this: Say a Brick-and-Mortar shop makes up signs advertising a special and hangs them in the front window and around the store. Then, the promotion ends and they take all of the signs down and put them out in the alley with the trash. Then, someone goes searching around the alley and finds the signs and tells all of their friends about the signs. Then, everyone grabs a sign and walks in the door and demands the special. Are they owed the special? I say, "Get the f*&k outta my store with that."

 

[Rich McP]

You do realize they suggested OP buy passes for the kids when OP asked them to confirm the promotion was still valid..

I wasn't there, and I presume you weren't either, and from the tone it wouldn't be off base to guess that the OP might have already been getting steamed and thus might not have been really listening well at that point - though, of course, he might also have heard all of it very clearly - but who are you to say that they weren't simply offering a list of things that the OP had at his disposal to figure out HIS best path forward. I have been in his shoes before; I'm trying to get my vacation lined up, things aren't going well, I'm supposed to be looking forward to this not stressing over how it will work out, I want to get this behind me and go back to focusing on work and other important things...and, oh yeah, someone on the phone was very unhelpful and increased my stress level badly. That all sucks!

People dumping on a company for something that hasn't yet gone sideways is kinda sh!tty. Like @raytseng said, "Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence."

 

[jmeb]

And I agree with everyone who pointed out the the page still exists, so that is a risk and it is bad. The Points Guy isn't VR. That's on The Points Guy too. But yes, this is a huge reason not to allow orphaned pages to exist on your site.

The Points Guy would have no way of knowing that Vail changed their site navigation structure to no longer make it available. If the PG page was pointing to a dead end rather than a page that is still live on Vails site it'd be a different thing.

Malice or incompetence doesn't matter here. Those are intentions and reasons.

What matters here is the impact on the customer. From the evidence we have, the customer was told the contract they entered into wouldn't be honored. Casting doubt on their story without any evidence to the contrary is just gaslighting.

 

[François Pugh]

If you have a page up on your server promoting kids ski free, you are advertising kids ski free. It does not matter whether you have fifty other pages up that link to that advertising page or have no pages linking to it. It's not like you put up a sign on the outside wall of your shop and then took it down and put it in the trash; it's like you put up a sign on the outside wall of your shop and left it there.

They are still advertising kids ski free.

From the information provided, the suggestion that kids ski free might not be honoured (due to reservation system or whatever else) was made. Upon inquiry the OP was told that they could not guarantee that his kids would be able to ski during his booked vacation at all unless he bought season passes for them.

Over-zealous ski pass salesman? Perhaps.
Poor customer service? Duh!

 

[tball]

If Vail Resorts doesn't want to advertise that kids ski free at Keystone Resort with qualifying stays, then clearly they should take down this page: Kids Ski Free at Keystone Resort

Or, they could just say the kids ski free promotion is no longer valid right on that page.

 

[Ron]

Tuesday, Sept 22 at 3:47pm MST. Screen grab. Yep, still up there. Has this been escalated to the highest possible person? Do you hav a family lawyer that you could send a letter to Epic and CC the lawyer?

 

[dbostedo]

...the OP was told that they could not guarantee that his kids would be able to ski during his booked vacation at all unless he bought season passes for them.

I had forgotten in the course of this thread that the OP had NOT been told definitively that it wouldn't be honored yet. I do think there needs to be some patience getting that answer before we draw too many conclusions. Thanks to the folks above for the reminder. Vail still has not burned anyone on this issue yet.

It would be easy for the phone folks to be hedging, and not considering what other effects their "advice" may have. When Vail definitively decides on the "kids ski free" program, they would still have to opportunity to do the right thing in terms of information and refunds.

 

[Alumacraft3]

A couple people have mentioned this but I want to be clear. They have not definitively done away with the kids ski free promotion. I called twice recently and in both instances I was told that there is a possibility they won’t be honoring the promotion and are still working out the details. They both informed me I should buy my kids passes in case they do away with the promotion. I didn’t do that because I don’t want to be stuck with passes I don’t need in case the offer is still valid. Just from talking to both of them it sounded like they got told or coached to say the same thing. When the reservation system was first announced I called inquiring about how the kids ski free promotion would work with reservations. They said the details hadn’t been finalized but they assured me the promotion was still valid they just had to decide how the kids would count toward the daily limit. She told me to call back in a couple weeks and they should have more information. That’s what I did the other day and the only new information I got was they might not honor the promotion.

 

[crgildart]

A couple people have mentioned this but I want to be clear. They have not definitively done away with the kids ski free promotion. I called twice recently and in both instances I was told that there is a possibility they won’t be honoring the promotion and are still working out the details. They both informed me I should buy my kids passes in case they do away with the promotion. I didn’t do that because I don’t want to be stuck with passes I don’t need in case the offer is still valid. Just from talking to both of them it sounded like they got told or coached to say the same thing. When the reservation system was first announced I called inquiring about how the kids ski free promotion would work with reservations. They said the details hadn’t been finalized but they assured me the promotion was still valid they just had to decide how the kids would count toward the daily limit. She told me to call back in a couple weeks and they should have more information. That’s what I did the other day and the only new information I got was they might not honor the promotion.

For that matter, it's entirely possible that everything goes to hell and NOBODY Is allowed to ski regardless of pass or promotion.

It's like you booked an adult vacation with free kids skiing included and the free kid skiing turned out to only be raffle tickets for POTENTIAL free kid skiing

 

[Seldomski]

Kids ski free: Save on your family's next ski vacation - The Points Guy

Ski lift tickets can be very expensive, so when skiing with a family, look for places where kids ski free.

thepointsguy.com

I see now that the website above, dated 9/7/2020 is still linking to the promotion, though you can't get there by exploring within the Keystone website. At the top of the Vail promotion page, there is the green banner talking about the new reservation system for '20-21.

What a confusing mess. Vail really needs to update the promotion website - others' external pages are still pointing to it. The Vail page blurbs about "First tracks" haven't been touched for 20-21. They could just make the promotion reference last season's dates and call it done for now.