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In Historic Move, Vail Resorts Reduces All Pass Prices by 20 Percent Toward Goal of "Epic for Everyone"

DanoT

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Maybe the MCP might work for us. We'll have to check the options in more detail.
My home mountain just joined the Mountain Collective so my season pass, while it doesn't get me any free days at MCP resorts, it does get me 50% off lift tickets at those MCP resorts. :thumb:

I am also contemplating getting an Indy Pass, possibly for 2022-23 season.
 

Wilhelmson

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Epic (no disrespect;) doesn't push enough buttons for many of us in the Northeast, but we could just ski Stowe for a year. Are the epic passes good in Europe?
 

crgildart

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I'm sure this will improve customer service across the board.. :rolleyes:
 

Pat AKA mustski

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I am hoping that, overall, things will return to more of a normal vibe at the various resorts. Even weekdays were busier throughout this whole season. I chalk it up to remote work options, online school aka home schooling, and unemployed folks who received a good buffer income that allowed them to ski. I appreciate Epic offering a discount after year from H***! I wish Ikon had done the same.
 

Pat AKA mustski

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I am hoping that, overall, things will return to more of a normal vibe at the various resorts. Even weekdays were busier throughout this whole season. I chalk it up to remote work options, online school aka home schooling, and unemployed folks who received a good buffer income that allowed them to ski. I appreciate Epic offering a discount after year from H***! I wish Ikon had done the same
 

Tricia

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This is seriously devaluing the lifetime pass that some of us longer term employees keep hanging on for. It's a lot less of a big deal to just stop and buy a pass.
At what point do you qualify for a lifetime pass?
 

DanoT

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Probably. But they've been insanely generous with it. The years are retroactive to before Vail bought the resorts. People I know that worked at Okemo or Mt Snow before coming to Stowe were suddenly just handed passes when Mt Snow and Okemo got bought and their years served there were added in.
 

Wasatchman

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This pricing move by Vail really surprises me. Anybody have thoughts on why they did it?

Is it to take share back from Ikon? If most of the profit is on the ancillary products and services then the pricing move makes sense to take skiers away from Ikon even if they have to undercut the pass price. And presumably Ikon can't match Vail on pricing since they have to pay the partner resorts. But if they don't take enough share from Ikon then it presumably doesn't work out as well since I doubt the lower pass price by itself boosts pass sales by over 20 percent to compensate for the lower price.
 

dbostedo

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But if they don't take enough share from Ikon then it presumably doesn't work out as well since I doubt the lower pass price by itself boosts pass sales by over 20 percent to compensate for the lower price.
I don't know if this is more of a market share grab, or if they actually think they will make more money... but...

From a revenue standpoint you have to sell 25% more passes to have the same revenue at the 20% lower price. But that doesn't necessarily mean you'd make the same profit, since we don't really know what the fixed and variable costs are.

But I'm sure they expect that they will also get extra revenue/profit from all the other things skiers spend money on... lessons, food, etc. So even if they don't get 25% more pass sales, there is still a path to make more money with lower-priced passes, by getting those additional skier days.
 

raytseng

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This pricing move by Vail really surprises me. Anybody have thoughts on why they did it?

Is it to take share back from Ikon? If most of the profit is on the ancillary products and services then the pricing move makes sense to take skiers away from Ikon even if they have to undercut the pass price. And presumably Ikon can't match Vail on pricing since they have to pay the partner resorts. But if they don't take enough share from Ikon then it presumably doesn't work out as well since I doubt the lower pass price by itself boosts pass sales by over 20 percent to compensate for the lower price.
I posted my thoughts on this strategy back at the start of the season. Everything is long term, and it's not make or break based on one seasons' worth of numbers, especially coming out of a historic even; money is made out of thin air these days.

Although not exactly the same, how are Hotels/Airlines/transit even existing with crazy stats like 90% reduction in sales volumes; 25% reduced prices (which might get made up for in volume) look cute in comparison.

 
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Pat AKA mustski

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I don't know if this is more of a market share grab, or if they actually think they will make more money... but...

From a revenue standpoint you have to sell 25% more passes to have the same revenue at the 20% lower price. But that doesn't necessarily mean you'd make the same profit, since we don't really know what the fixed and variable costs are.

But I'm sure they expect that they will also get extra revenue/profit from all the other things skiers spend money on... lessons, food, etc. So even if they don't get 25% more pass sales, there is still a path to make more money with lower-priced passes, by getting those additional skier days.
There is also the lodging factor. Vail resorts have on slope lodging at most of their big resorts. They are hoping to grab the one or two week a year skiers. There is a large demographic who view a ski week as a luxury vacation and they want on slope lodging and dinners out. There are big bucks in that demographic. If Epic can tempt them away from Ikon, it’s a big $$$$ win.

I’m not going to lie ... I enjoy that type of vacation more than any other. Vail resorts made a big mistake in ignoring SoCal. They lost a HUGE population to Ikon because they don’t have a local presence.
 

DanoT

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Vail resorts made a big mistake in ignoring SoCal. They lost a HUGE population to Ikon because they don’t have a local presence.
If it came down to choosing to buy resorts in SoCal or Eastern US, then the larger population of the east and all its feeder resorts that Vail now owns for day skiers and Stowe for weekend ski trips and western resorts for ski weeks, makes sense.

Vail even bought Stevens for Seattle day skier visits and Whistler for Seattle weekend and ski week skiers; again, it makes sense.
 

fatbob

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This pricing move by Vail really surprises me. Anybody have thoughts on why they did it?

Is it to take share back from Ikon? If most of the profit is on the ancillary products and services then the pricing move makes sense to take skiers away from Ikon even if they have to undercut the pass price. And presumably Ikon can't match Vail on pricing since they have to pay the partner resorts. But if they don't take enough share from Ikon then it presumably doesn't work out as well since I doubt the lower pass price by itself boosts pass sales by over 20 percent to compensate for the lower price.


It helps not to think of it as a permanent price cut but as a renewal discount/compensation/goodwill for a screwed up season and a bit. Just rather than giving it only to 20/21 passholders they are giving it to everyone. If you think about it as a cost of acquisition then you've achieved something in your efforts to get people thinking of skiing as an annuity upfront cost within you network ( and putting it in the annual household budget rather than in a general vacation pot).

It's clearly a market share play also to get the tills ringing at ski school and F&B and lodging. And maybe because they've been playing the game longer ( and it showed in Alterra's reactiveness re guarantees last year) it's a little bit of a prod to test Alterra's mettle.
 

SkiVt

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The price drop is awesome news! Keep herding the sheep there! It should help keep Killington and others running smoother, please keep passing the word on how great those mega passes are!
 

mulva28

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The price drop is awesome news! Keep herding the sheep there! It should help keep Killington and others running smoother, please keep passing the word on how great those mega passes are!
I'm using the same cope. $783 would be nice.
 

Wasatchman

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It helps not to think of it as a permanent price cut but as a renewal discount/compensation/goodwill for a screwed up season and a bit. Just rather than giving it only to 20/21 passholders they are giving it to everyone. If you think about it as a cost of acquisition then you've achieved something in your efforts to get people thinking of skiing as an annuity upfront cost within you network ( and putting it in the annual household budget rather than in a general vacation pot).

It's clearly a market share play also to get the tills ringing at ski school and F&B and lodging. And maybe because they've been playing the game longer ( and it showed in Alterra's reactiveness re guarantees last year) it's a little bit of a prod to test Alterra's mettle.
My best guess is Vail is thinking more profit is in the ancillary services (F&B, ski school ,lodging) rather than a renewal discount or any compensation for a screwed up season. Ikon presumably can't match Vail on the low pass prices, and Vail may be figuring the extra revenue from the ancillary stuff if they take share from Ikon more than makes up for the lower pass costs. But this presumes they take enough share from Ikon to make up for the lower pass price which isn't a given.

Vail stock was down on the news so the initial reaction from investors is they didn't like Vail's move. It will be interesting to see what happens. I guess Vail can simply hike prices back up the following season if it doesn't work, especially as they are advertising the new pass price as a 20 percent discount.

If Vail's move works and it helps mitigate some of the increased crowds at Ikon resorts in recent years, there will be some happier Ikon customers who would be more than happy to pay a higher comparable price for a better ski experience.
 

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