Vail Resorts is not having an epic year
Vail’s Epic Pass carved a fresh path for the wider industry — subscription skiing — but demand is showing signs of waning.
Few companies have had quite as tumultuous a start to the year as mountain giant Vail Resorts.
So far this year, Vail has battled a labor dispute, which closed trails at one of its most prominent resorts just before its busiest weekend of the year, and been served a flurry of lawsuits against its resorts, where cars and equipment are frequently adorned with “Vail Sucks” stickers.
And on Thursday the owner of 42 resorts disclosed that it saw 0.3% fewer total skier visits last year, with sales of the company’s all-important subscription product, the Epic Pass, also dropping 2% — a big deal. The company has gone all in on “subscription skiing” since introducing the Epic Pass in 2008, with pass holders accounting for 75% of total visits to Vail resorts last year.
As Vail acquired resort after resort, and added them to the Epic Pass, the company simultaneously raised prices of the traditional lift tickets, which are now around $300 a day in some cases, leaving avid skiers who don’t want to drop over $1,000 on a season-long Epic Pass out in the cold.
Similar products, like Alterra Mountain Co.’s Ikon Pass, have since cropped up, too, with the two biggest winter holiday operators now in control of more than half of America’s ski resorts.
Downhill
Price hikes helped Vail Resorts notch a modest rise in revenue, but investors aren’t enthused about the company’s stock, which is down 21% in the past 12 months, and 52% lower than it was during its pandemic peak.
