The two corporations who own the global snow resort business with their Super-Mega Passes (Alterra Mountain Company and Vail Resorts Inc.) have been sued (again), this time in the U.S. District Court of the District of Colorado, according to a story in KDVR News.
The lawsuit was filed against Vail Resorts, Inc. and Alterra Mountain Company, alleging the companies unfairly increased prices and used bundling tactics with their multi-mountain season passes. . . “For years, skiers have been told that soaring lift‑ticket prices, reduced choice, and overcrowding are simply the new reality. Our complaint alleges that these outcomes are not the result of healthy competition, but of exclusionary conduct by two companies that dominate access to the most desirable destinations,” said Greg Asciolla, Chair of DiCello Levitt’s Antitrust and Competition Litigation Practice.
The suit basically alleges everything that we called out in our old post “The Sinister Plot Behind The Super Mega Pass,” and. . . no duh.
Vail Resorts, of course, disagrees saying in a statement that: “We believe these claims are without merit. We launched the Epic Pass in 2008 to make skiing and riding more accessible, reducing the price of a season pass by 60%. We’re proud that 18 years later, it’s still one of the best values in the industry, especially following our further 20% price reduction in 2021.”
Vail’s math on value, while arguable, is in reality quite wrong. The discounts only appear if you use both inflated daily lift tickets prices and inflated days of use into the equation. If you can’t tell, we hope DeCello Levitt wins this lawsuit, however unlikely that may be, because there should be a cost to ruining the resort experience for everyone worldwide.
[Link: KDVR.com]
