Vail Resorts CEO says company is focused on earning back customer loyalty at country’s largest resort

Vail Resorts CEO Kirsten Lynch told analysts Monday she was pleased with the company’s earnings results for the quarter despite not providing a good experience at one of its major resorts.

In comparing the company’s results to the same period of last season, Vail Resorts reported an 8% increase in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization for the quarter, which ended Jan. 31.

Net income for Vail Resorts was $245.5 million for this year’s second quarter, while last year income was $219.3 million for the same period.

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It was an especially favorable report considering season-to-date total skier visits are down 2.5% from last year, season-to-date retail and rental revenue for the company’s North American resorts is down 2.9%, and lodging revenue is down 4.3%.

While season-to-date ski school revenue is up 3% and dining revenue is up 3.1%, the true driver of the revenue increase is a total lift revenue increase of $41.5 million, or 6.9%, to $644.9 million for the second quarter, which ended Jan. 31. The lift revenue surge came due to increases in both pass revenue and non-pass revenue, the company reported.

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“Non-pass revenue increased 17.5% primarily as a result of an increase in visitation at our Eastern U.S. Resorts (comprising the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, and Northeast), as well as an increase in non-pass Effective Ticket Price (“ETP”) (excluding Crans-Montana) of 4.4%, and incremental non-pass revenue from Crans-Montana of $6.6 million,” Vail Resorts reported in a release issued Monday.

But while things were going well on the East Coast for the company, in the West there were major problems stemming from a ski patrol strike at Park City Mountain which was the result of an ongoing labor dispute.

Park City Ski Patrol is one of five ski patrol unions in the company’s North American portfolio of 37 ski resorts. Two Vail Resorts properties, Crested Butte and Park City, have lift maintenance unions, as well. The resolution of the Park City Ski Patrol contract in January was followed by resolutions of contracts with the ski patrol union in Keystone and the Crested Butte lift maintenance worker’s union.

Lynch, on Monday, told investors in an earnings call that the company was pleased with the resolutions reached in all three agreements and that those agreements will not have a material impact on the company’s earnings potential for 2025-26.

Lynch said that following the resolution of the Park City ski patrol strike, the company knew it had to provide something for its guests affected by the long lines and limited terrain openings Park City Mountain faced during the strike.

“Part of the reason why we immediately took action to provide those guests with a credit is to try to address that while the resort was open and we did not shut down the resort, when patrol went on strike we did not deliver the full experience that we were expected to given the snowpack and conditions that existed at Park city Mountain,” Lynch said. “Our hope is that we are showing the commitment to those passholders, that we heard them, that it was not a good experience and they have credits that they can apply toward a pass next year and that we can earn back their loyalty.”

Guest reaction to the credits has been mixed, Lynch said.

“Of course, there are some guests where they were hoping for more or they were expecting more, and then there’s guests that this exceeded their expectations,” she said.

Lynch said the company will know more as the 2025-26 Epic Pass selling cycle continues regarding the retention of those Park City passholders.

“I think it’s really critical that we earn back their loyalty and we acknowledge that it was not the experience that our team or any one of us would have wanted to provide,” she said.