According to Derek Thompson story in The Atlantic Vail Mountain’s revenue isn’t down at all this year. While we find that pretty hard to believe Vail Resorts CEO Robert A. Katz says that’s exactly how it is this year and that the reason revenue is not down is because Vail has made their business about much more than snowfall.
Vail and Whistler hedge against bad snow by turning skiers into members. “Just under 40 percent of our lift tickets come from season passes sold before the ski season begins,” Katz told me. For just under $700, skiers can buy the Vail Epic Pass, which offers total access to all six Vail Resort mountains.
In other words, Vail gets people to give them money ahead of time and then when no snow comes the resort doesn’t have to worry about it because they already got paid. Genius. And, since people have already paid they’re more likely to come stay in hotels and eat resort food even though the snow sucks. And that is reportedly good snow farming. . . or something. For the rest of the story, follow the jump.
[Link: The Atlantic]
