Industry News
A class action lawsuit was filed against Copper Mountain and its owner POWDR, alleging that the resort surcharge that is added onto food purchases is illegal, which will now be settled out of court. Gary Chaney and the other plaintiffs claimed that Copper Mountain does not include the resort surcharge in its menu prices, and the surcharge only shows up on a receipt which is not automatically given out, meaning that burger could cost as much as 9% more without you knowing it.
- Related: Skiers Take on Copper Mountain, CO, Over 9% ‘Resort Surcharge’ in Class Action Lawsuit
Colorado passed a law in 2019 forbidding deceptive business practices, which formed the basis for this lawsuit. But, proving that differences between menu prices and receipt prices constituted deception was not going to be straightforward. If a jury agreed with Chaney and the other members of the class, POWDR could potentially have to part with a lot of money. By settling the lawsuit, POWDR likely pays a little bit, and avoids the risk of having to pay a lot more, though the details of the settlement have not been disclosed.
So, will skiers at Copper Mountain see lower food prices this season? It seems unlikely that POWDR would leave in place its policy of including a resort surcharge, whether or not the settlement contains any such agreements. With rising food prices across the country, everything will likely be at least a little more expensive, and POWDR could easily raise the prices just a little bit more to recoup some of the revenue that previously came from the resort surcharge. We’ll never know if the resort surcharge was illegal or not, but unfortunately, high food prices at ski resorts are still perfectly legal.
