Industry News
Eleven years ago, the Epic Pass transformed the ski industry by offering guests unlimited skiing at the best resorts in the world, for a previously unheard of low price, making skiing and riding more accessible and affordable. With this week’s introduction of “Epic for Everyone,” Vail Resorts continues that history of innovation by offering the same incredible flexibility and value to all skiers and riders, whether they want to ski or ride just one day – or every day – of the season.
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As part of Epic for Everyone, Vail Resorts announced today the introduction of the new Epic Day Pass, a customizable pass for those skiers and riders who may not need the unlimited skiing offered by traditional season passes. Guests can create their own pass by selecting the number of days they plan to ski or ride – from one day to seven days – and whether or not to add holiday access. Guests can use their customized Epic Day Pass anytime throughout the season at any of the Company’s North American owned resorts, including Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Whistler Blackcomb, Keystone, Crested Butte, Park City, and more. Those purchasing four or more days will also get access to Telluride, Sun Valley, Snowbasin, and Resorts of the Canadian Rockies.
With the Day Pass, guests can ski world-class resorts for an unmatched price. Offering a discount of up to 50 percent off of lift ticket window prices, the Epic Day Pass starts as low as $106 for one day of skiing at any of the Company’s North American resorts. Guests can also lower their cost per day by adding more days and can lock in the lowest prices by purchasing this spring.
“With Epic for Everyone, we are excited to provide all of our guests with the value, flexibility, and convenience that come with being a pass holder,” said Kirsten Lynch, chief marketing officer of Vail Resorts. “The launch of the Epic Day Pass transforms both season pass and lift ticket pricing and allows our guests to decide where, when and how frequently they want to ski or ride, which is exactly what made our Epic Pass so popular when we first introduced it over a decade ago.”
Because Epic is for everyone, guests who purchase a day lift ticket this season also have the opportunity to apply the value of their ticket toward the price of an eligible 2019-20 pass, including an Epic Day Pass with four or more days. Guests can visit www.epicpass.com for more details on this offer and other incentives.
The Company stated that in Fiscal 2018, 47% of lift revenue came from guests using a season pass; however, those guests using a daily lift ticket skied, on average, an estimated 2.3 days during the season.
“Epic for Everyone provides those skiers and all of our guests the opportunity to participate in season pass discounts, and provides first time and occasional skiers greater access to our resorts, giving us an opportunity to grow the entire industry,” said Lynch.
This is way too complicated. I *might* be interested if I didn’t have to predict exactly how many days I’d be spending at Vail resorts nearly a year in advance to get decent pricing.
Why not just sell a pass that gets you 50% off window price for a fixed upfront cost? Literally the only difference would be that Vail gets to make extra money off of this pass if you don’t actually ski the precise number of days you planned. That’s more than a little customer-hostile (though this is Vail we’re talking about, so I guess that’s par for the course).