Industry News
Vail Resorts today reported certain ski season metrics for the comparative periods from the beginning of the ski season through April 14, 2024, and for the prior year period through April 16, 2023. The reported ski season metrics are for the Company’s North American destination mountain resorts and regional ski areas, excluding the results of the Australian ski areas and Andermatt-Sedrun in both periods. The data mentioned in this release is interim period data and is subject to fiscal quarter end review and adjustments.
- Season-to-date total skier visits were down 7.8% compared to the prior year season-to-date period.
- Season-to-date total lift ticket revenue, including an allocated portion of season pass revenue for each applicable period, was up 3.2% compared to the prior year season-to-date period.
- Season-to-date ski school revenue was up 7.0% and dining revenue was up 2.4% compared to the prior year season-to-date period. Retail/rental revenue for North American resort and ski area store locations was down 7.1% compared to the prior year season-to-date period.
“Given the unfavorable conditions across our North American resorts for a large portion of the season, we are pleased with our overall results as the 2023/2024 North American ski season nears completion, highlighting the stability provided by our season pass program and the investments we have made in our resorts and employees. While visitation declined, our lift revenue increased driven by the growth in pass sales committed ahead of the season, and our ancillary businesses performed well, with particularly strong growth in spending per visit in our ski and ride school, dining, and rental businesses compared to the same period in the prior year. The results throughout the 2023/2024 North American ski season demonstrate the resiliency of our strategic business model and our network of resorts and loyal guests.
“As expected, results in March and April improved compared to the season-to-date period through March 3, 2024, with March and April visitation across our western North American resorts exceeding prior year record levels supported by the improved conditions. Pass product visitation returned as expected to normal historical guest behavior for the spring. However, lift ticket visitation did not return to normal historical guest behavior, primarily at Whistler Blackcomb, which was down significantly relative to the prior year period. As noted in the March earnings release, the challenging early season conditions at Whistler Blackcomb and our Tahoe resorts persisted through early March. When conditions improved, visitation at our Tahoe resorts responded as expected, however visitation at Whistler Blackcomb remained below expectations.”
– Kirsten Lynch, Chief Executive Officer
Regarding the outlook for fiscal 2024, Lynch said, “While late season results improved, we now expect to finish the year at or around the low end of our Resort Reported EBITDA guidance range issued on March 11, 2024, primarily driven by Whistler Blackcomb performance in the March and April period. Our strong season pass sales results, prior to the start of this season, greatly mitigated the impact of the unfavorable conditions that existed across our North American resorts for a large portion of the season, highlighting the stability created by our advance commitment strategy.”
Commenting on spring season pass sales, Lynch continued, “Our attention is already turning to the 2024/2025 season, with spring pass sales underway. To date, through the April deadline, we have seen a modest decline in pass product units and growth in sales dollars. The April sales deadline only impacts a portion of our renewing pass holders that are eligible for buddy ticket benefits, and we will have more to share in our third quarter earnings release in June 2024.”
What Vail doesn’t say in this press release is way more interesting than what they do say.
Blaming the weather for poor results is a massive cop-out. There’s other factors at play that Vail simply doesn’t want to mention because that would create an obligation to fix deep problems of their own making.
Whistler is the perfect example. There’s a resort with massive housing and staffing problems. They charge premium carrier pricing (like Singapore airlines) but the service is South West Airlines standard. Guests continue to go home overcharged and underwhelmed. It’s a ski town which is hopelessly understaffed, and that problem isn’t turning around in the short or medium term. They’d need to do a hell of a lot right over a decade to bring service levels back to an acceptable standard. Meanwhile, Sasquatch Mountain which is near Vancouver is planning a very big expansion. WB isn’t Vail’s only high profile resort with very large staffing / service problems. You can add Vail, Breck, Keystone, Stevens Pass, Perisher, and Hotham to the list.
Hotham in Australia is a classic example of Vail neglect. Crappy lifts and putrid employee housing. The owner of a rival Australian resort is actually building employee housing for Vail resorts. The rival resort will be charging their competitors enormous fees to house staff, eating into Vail’s profitability. Hey Vail, you don’t like the huge rents we are charging you? Well you should have built more employee housing a decade ago.
VR have been banking short term profits at the expense of their long term future for a while now.
But hey, just blame the weather, and pretend their lousy service for a very expensive product doesn’t exist.