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This is Scott Becker with the Becker Business and the Becker Private Equity Podcast. Today's discussion is a bit of a different topic is it's is Vail Resorts in trouble? Four or five quick points. So here's the deal. Vail Resorts is the big operator of ski mountains, you know, throughout the United States. They may be in some other countries too, but not just in Vail, Colorado, where they started, but Park City and a huge number of other locations. So they just released their most recent quarterly reports. It was a very tough ski season this year. Visits were down 13%. And they basically attribute that to historically weak winter, historically weak weather out west, not enough snow, not enough cold, not enough everything. A couple fascinating stats on Vail Resorts. Their ultimate Their stock price is down about 50% over the last five years. This year it's holding up okay. It's up about 6%. And actually having a good day today, as it turns out, the results were bad, but not as bad as some people had expected they would be. The other thing that's fascinating about when you go to a ski mountain today, what you find is the single day lift tickets have become obnoxiously expensive. And there's a reason for that. They've become obnoxiously expensive because the big ski chains are trying to move you to towards buying annual passes where the cost per day is a lot less than the daily passes. The daily passes going from when I started skiing, 60, $70 when I was in my late 20s to now, I won't tell you old I am now, but they could be 3, 400 hours a day. Now. The annual passes are much more like you get $2,000 annual pass for the entire ski season. And obviously if you ski enough days, that makes tremendous sense. They have now moved towards 75% of their visits are through annual passholders versus sort of daily passholders or that sort of thing. Really trying to drive pre sales, pre revenues. It's almost like every other business tried to move towards what feels more like recurring revenues than one time revenues, one time sales. And to do that, they've driven up the cost of single day passes so much to really encourage people to go for those annual passes. I find it fascinating. Other news on Vail, there's a local in Park City trying to make a bid to buy out the Vail property. In terms of the historically bad winter weather this year, I know it's historically bad because like most of my investments and so you should know I never give investment advice. I will talk about the investments that went poorly for me But I won't talk about giving investment advice because I don't do that. But one thing I did do is we bought another ski property this past year. And, and of course, as luck would have it, I know I've bought in a ski property when we're on the just, just that the crux of horrendously horrible ski winter season. So, so that is what it is. We did add to our portfolio of ski properties. Of course, it'll probably turn out to be a massive error. It is what it is. Thank you for listening to the Becker Business, the Becker private equity podcast. Again. Is Vail Resorts in trouble? We'll see. Thank you for listening.
Episode Title: Is Vail Resorts in Trouble?
Host: Scott Becker
Date: March 19, 2026
In this episode, Scott Becker explores the challenges facing Vail Resorts, the largest ski mountain operator in the United States. Becker analyzes the company’s recent financial troubles, the impact of a historically poor ski season, and strategic shifts in business model, while also sharing personal anecdotes and insights into larger trends affecting the ski industry.
“Vail Resorts is the big operator of ski mountains, you know, throughout the United States. They may be in some other countries too, but not just in Vail, Colorado, where they started, but Park City and a huge number of other locations.” – Scott Becker [00:14]
“Visits were down 13%. And they basically attribute that to historically weak winter, historically weak weather out west, not enough snow, not enough cold, not enough everything.” – Scott Becker [00:32]
“Their stock price is down about 50% over the last five years. This year it's holding up okay. It's up about 6%. …the results were bad, but not as bad as some people had expected they would be.” – Scott Becker [00:49]
“What you find is the single day lift tickets have become obnoxiously expensive. And there's a reason for that. They've become obnoxiously expensive because the big ski chains are trying to move you to towards buying annual passes where the cost per day is a lot less than the daily passes.” – Scott Becker [01:14]
“They have now moved towards 75% of their visits are through annual passholders versus sort of daily passholders…Really trying to drive pre sales, pre revenues. It's almost like every other business tried to move towards what feels more like recurring revenues than one time revenues, one time sales.” – Scott Becker [02:11]
“Other news on Vail, there's a local in Park City trying to make a bid to buy out the Vail property.” – Scott Becker [02:48]
“I know it's historically bad because like most of my investments and so you should know I never give investment advice. I will talk about the investments that went poorly for me But I won't talk about giving investment advice because I don't do that.” – Scott Becker [03:00]
“Of course, it'll probably turn out to be a massive error. It is what it is.” – Scott Becker [03:21]
Scott Becker’s delivery is candid, conversational, and lightly humorous, blending industry insights with personal reflection. He maintains an informal yet informative tone, making complex business themes accessible and engaging for listeners of all backgrounds.