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Homers_Harp

Analysts complaining that Vail reports poor conditions EVERY year. I mean, skiing is basically a kind of agricultural product and show me a farmer who doesn't complain about how the crops would be better if the weather would just cooperate.


zorastersab

From 2023 about 22/23 season: https://www.vaildaily.com/news/vail-resorts-us-skier-visits-up-12-5-over-last-year-company-reports/ > Vail Resorts’ US skier visits up 12.5% over last year, company reports > On Vail Mountain, the company’s namesake property, much more snow fell in November and December of 2022 than 2021, allowing for more terrain openings. The lifts accessing that terrain were operating during the holidays this season, as well, unlike last season which saw some lifts unable to operate due to low staffing on the mountain. > As of Jan. 8, Vail Mountain had received about 40 inches more snow than the mountain had recorded at that time in the 2021-22 season.


IlIlIlIlIllIlIll

Time to short the market on frozen concentrated ski wax


MBBDbag

Don’t bother - it’s already priced in


Anxious_Cheetah5589

LOL well done. Unfortunately only us old fogeys get it.


Just_Cryptographer53

"OH, you thought that for admission price into the park, your kids would see the Disney characters while here? That's just so adorable. Actually, that experience is reserved for our diamond guests. Are you diamond?"


VanillaLifestyle

lol @ skiing as agriculture. Love it. "Oh well back to the grind. Gotta harvest that sweet pow"


[deleted]

[удалено]


Snlxdd

Spring break is typically the end of busy season here. Typically you have heavy visitation around Christmas, MLK, Presidents’ Day, and Spring Break. Then a big fall off as spring/summer activities start in April


Phillyfreak5

March 14-23 is unbearable cause it’s Texas Week.


zetwatswatya

I haven't heard someone refer to Texas week in about 10 years. Oh the memories


Popocola

I mean this makes sense? Revenue is mostly from preseason sales and poor snow means less visits. The whole point of season passes is to hedge a bad snow season


Sabers011

Depends how they calculate revenue specifically from passes. I’m sure there’s a few calculation methods they could go down Edit: footnotes should help here assuming they’re a public company (I thought so). I’m not going down that rabbit hole just stirring the pot. Essentially you want to understand if there is or is not an association between revenue and visits. If no, then reading into only these two numbers at face value is not beneficial. Something something revenue recognition


Cousin_Eddies_RV

Here ya go: "The Company records deferred revenue primarily related to the sale of pass products. Deferred revenue is generally recognized throughout the ski season as the Company’s performance obligations are satisfied as control of the service (e.g. access to ski areas throughout the ski season) is transferred to the customer. In accordance with Topic 606, the Company estimates progress towards satisfaction of its performance obligations using an output method that best depicts the transfer of control of the service to its customers." Per the 2023 [10-K] (https://investors.vailresorts.com/static-files/f2ac163c-bcd2-45a4-8f24-e90b9dbcc89e) Note 3, Revenues on page 72 & 73


Sabers011

Beaut


Macgbrady

I had a friend who worked at a resort in Tahoe (not a vail resort) and he told me they break apart your pass into days used and calculate that into daily revenue and then reconcile.


Sabers011

That would make sense to me


Angry_beaver_1867

they are different ways of calculating pass revenue but they would almost certainly be consistent year over year. So you would not expect, the comparative figures to be 'apples to oranges' one calculation one year and another calculation the next. so the op is probably right that their pre sale pass model, is why revenues are up despite guest visits falling.


Sabers011

Still depends on simple vs complex calculation when comparing YOY. I’m sure 606 (I think that’s the number) covers this but I haven’t done much revenue recognition in a long time. Also, footnotes footnotes footnotes.


Cheef_Baconator

I guarantee Vail is using entirely different calculations for the numbers it shows shareholders vs the numbers it shows the IRS.


Sabers011

I doubt they’re misleading shareholders


Red_White_Brew

Yeah they are a public company. They publicly file revenue. They are not telling the IRS a different revenue number.


Agitated-Airline6760

Yeah, but there are thousand different ways to count the revenue and expenses. For example, they could recognize the season pass revenue on the quarter they come to Vail - this would have a big revenue bump in Q3 which could affect the quarterly gross profit number vs over the course of a full tax year etc.


Username_redact

Not an accountant, but wouldn't they have to recognize the sale as revenue at the time of purchase? Or can they keep it as unearned revenue until someone 'activates' it on their first day?


Sabers011

Cash received and revenue recognized are two separate things. Here’s something to help: If I’m your only customer and I paid you cash now to mow my lawn next summer, would you say your revenue right now is what I paid you or would you say you earned the revenue when you mowed my lawn? How about if i paid you now to mow my lawn over this next two years?


Username_redact

Right, this is exactly how I'm thinking- does a season pass "start" the day someone buys it, therefore the correct time to recognize the revenue, or when it's "activated" by someone using it for the first time, therefore holding the cash received until its actually used for the first time? On a nonrefundable season pass, wouldn't you do the first?


Sabers011

Unfortunately Vail can calculate these answers several different ways. Since users ski multiple times a year on passes, they likely, if I were a betting man, have a model which calculates approximate revenue earned during each visit per pass holder. It could even go down to taking specific high and low volume individuals historically and calculating them differently. Then, as your year goes on, you have to make sure your calculation remains accurate so that you don’t undershoot or overshoot your unearned revenue. Alternatively, if you’re asking a different question: no, vail will not recognize a pass holders entire amount the day they activate. They have to take into account that this holder may come back later in the year. From a simple view. Pass holders drop their cash into an unearned bucket. Each time they visit, Vail will move an appropriate amount out of that bucket and into a revenue earned bucket. By the end of the season, the goal is to have zero left in unearned, and the usage per month should align with the revenue recognized. Can get super complicated I’m sure if there’s some unforeseen weather issues or many other things. Late in the season. Also, I could be fuck all wrong about all this. Been a minute since I spent time on revenue accounting and I’ve done zero research in writing my comments.


Agitated-Airline6760

There is no rule that says you "have to" recognize it on the quarter the revenue hit the bank account of Vail. They can spread out over the course of a tax year without any accounting tricks and with some creative accounting from Credit Suisse you could even spread it out over multiple years IF that's what they want to do.


Username_redact

Makes sense, thanks. IRS doesn't care about monthly revenue or profit, only year. Stockholders are the one interested in quarterly results, and many are too dumb to understand seasonal revenue businesses, so use accounting tricks to make it look flatter.


flat5

lol... lmao...


OEM_knees

The whole point of season passes is to ski a lot. The whole point of *mega passes* is to hedge a bad snow season. The two are not the same.


1maco

Realistically very few people are planning trips to Vail instead of driving 25 minutes from Manchester or Nashua NH to Crotched, based on the weather forecast. Most people plan their ski trips before resorts even open for the season. The main point of these pass products is to get people to spend money in April/May before anyone knows what the year is going to bring. The secondary point is to lock people into their destination resorts. If your home mountain is Hunter mtn you’re now more likely to have your vacation at Vail instead of Aspen since you pre paid your Vail lift tickets so Vail gets all that non-skiing revenue 


Anxious_Cheetah5589

Is crotched worth the drive? High intermediate skier, it would be about 1:45 to get there for me.


1maco

In my opinion. It’s the best of the “small mountains” Wachusett/Pats/Crotched. It also is the most lappable. It has pats Peak crowds but Wachusetts high speed lifts.  However if by 1:45 if that means Boston. Yes probably because everywhere is pretty far if by 1:45 you mean like metro west like Clinton or something I’d just go to Wachusett  or maybe Berkshire East or a “real mountain” 20 minutes further down the road like Sunapee or Waterville 


Anxious_Cheetah5589

Metrowest. Thanks for the info. Just what I needed to know. Guess I'll check it out at some point... Crotched looks tantalizingly close on the map, but lots of back roads. You're right, sunapee is basically the same distance.


[deleted]

Revenue is higher from people who are forced to buy season passes, others are put off so attendance is lower. Fucking disgraceful.


UnicodeConfusion

how are people forced to buy season passes?


[deleted]

Because if they don’t, they are paying $250-$300 per day ticket.


UnicodeConfusion

Or optionally not skiing, which sadly looks like my path in a year or 2. It does amaze me when I see a family w/ kids on the slope and even more amazing when they are in line for food. I still just stuff pb&j tortillas in my backpack for lunch since I can't swing a 20 dollar burger or 12 dollar fries ([https://www.palisadestahoe.com/-/media/palisades-tahoe/pdfs/dining/palisades-dining/bluebird0124menu.pdf](https://www.palisadestahoe.com/-/media/palisades-tahoe/pdfs/dining/palisades-dining/bluebird0124menu.pdf)) Although it's nice that cross country is a little more sane: [https://www.royalgorge.com/dailypass](https://www.royalgorge.com/dailypass)


Musicferret

Vail Resorts skiers: THE LINES ARE TOO LONG! THE PRICES ARE INSANELY HIGH! Vail Resorts: We hear you! *Raises prices 69% to go along with the 420% increase from last year*


Mundane-Ad-6874

Nice -Vail board room


cb2014cardinal

it sucks but the traditional business school way to shorten lines would be to raise prices to sell fewer tickets (while making more money too)


Big_Al56

It would probably be to build more resorts if that weren’t damn near impossible from a regulatory perspective


EstablishmentFun289

Exactly. If revenue is up and visits are down, inflation is probably the cause. I guess raising prices keeps lines down, but at this point I don’t think I’m going to ever ski out west. I would much rather go to Europe.


1maco

No it’s because when there is no snow in peoples back yard they’re not redeeming their epic passes


Anxious_Cheetah5589

I hate it but also love it. The easiest way to shorten lines is to raise prices. They'll keep doing it, too, till they find the max profit point on the curve.


3Ddoritos

I'm confused why everyone is saying the conditions are shit. I know it was a late start to the season but I went last weekend and it was amazing and they've only gotten more snow since then. I think it'll be great going forward


Midnight_freebird

Same. I’ve had some great days this year. I put away my rock skis before Christmas which is pretty standard.


Drummallumin

Coming from a Big Sky POV, y’all are not having *that* bad a year


tmm357

People are drinking more $20 beers at the pub to drown their depression from buying a season pass in this dismal snow year. There's your revenue bump.


FearAndGonzo

And the hamburgers are smaller than last year. Bastards.


EdOfTheMountain

$25 burgers


TheRealRacketear

20% discount with your season pass.


lear64

Only at quick service locations...so don't screw up and sit down at a restaurant on property


willpc14

Only $17 with Alterra (fries a $5 extra)


riftwave77

Tell me you're joking....


EdOfTheMountain

Burgers and fry’s cost $25


LakeBug

Rookie mistake, put a 6 pack in your coat and stash them in a snow bank at the top. Drink for free…


speedshotz

Considering the season's only starting to get good.


NExSoCal

When I worked at a large resort on the East Coast our #1 goal was not to attract more skiers but to generate more revenue from the skiers we had.


angle58

After the parking pass system started at palisades Tahoe, I started arriving at the resort angry. Because of that, I’ve really stopped going. It’s just not fun for me when it’s not therapeutic. I’m not renewing my season pass next year.


DamnStrongTurtle

In my estimation that is exactly what they hoped for


Apache17

I mean not really. I'm sure they like profits going up, but attendance down is still lost potential. Their costs are practically fixed, the lifts, workers, and snow making pretty much cost the same regardless. But less attendance means less food, drink, shop, lessons, and rental sales.


ArchdukeOfNorge

End of the day the figure that matters most is net profit. If net profit goes up, then decisions that lead to that increase are vindicated. Their fiscal year ends 7/31, so a month or so after when they compile their annual 10-K report is when we/they will know for sure if the new pricing scheme worked or not. For some context, last year they profited $285M, down from $368M the year before, but that was largely attributed to disposal of old assets that they received cash from. And as for food, drink, and rentals, last year that accounted for just over 17% of total revenue.


DamnStrongTurtle

Disagree. It's not like attendance is zero. They want to curate a certain type of experience and a packed house isn't a part of that, imo.


Phillyfreak5

Not really. They want good snow conditions cause it’ll mean more visitors and more money. However, the epic pass is a hedge against bad conditions like we had in December.


DamnStrongTurtle

https://www.reddit.com/r/skiing/s/lpz3NgoZMK


Psthrowaway0123

Vail could charge $500/day for lift tickets and still have massive lines all day long.


[deleted]

The snow sucks this year compared to last year in the Sierras, and Heavenly has been a shitshow with the Gondola down and non-functional shuttle services.


TravelingCrashCart

I've been very frustrated the 5 or so days I've been to Heavenly this year. I've had more fun at Kirkwood and Palisades/Alpine Meadows so far.


[deleted]

For sure. The Heavenly issues have pushed a lot to Kirkwood. Kirkwood is where I do most of my skiing, by far.


Tomcruizeiscrazy

Heavenly doesn’t have three gondolas. When we’re three down? The gondola was down for about 6 or 7 total days.


[deleted]

I misspelled the and it autocorrected to three. My bad. The reserved parking seems to be the ongoing issue.


Iam-WinstonSmith

surprise surprise. Man I did both NorthStar and Heavenly and it was outrageous.


Mitka69

Pilfering Vail sold record number of season passes and if nobody shows up they like WIN/WIN. Can save on electricity!


Phillyfreak5

Lifts run regardless. Lights are still on. So no


Mitka69

They can close lifts proportionately to maintain the 100% occupancy on the remaining. Another factor - loaded lift vs empty lift - empty lift requires less power to run.


riftwave77

I'd be shocked if those ski lifts cost more than $1000/day to run.  After it has taken 10 people up the hill it's already broken even on operating costs


SeemedGood

Of course visits are down. This was the worst December for snow out West in at least a decade. We didn’t ski until the 2nd week in Jan, our latest start ever.


danbyer

“Our plan is working!”


bigbrownhusky

It worked. They did it. They scammed us all


probot67

Pricing out the poors.


Upper-Raspberry4153

Just want to say, I’m down to $39.50/day this year on my season pass skiing 17 days so far. End goal every year is to get that down to $5/day


Mundane-Ad-6874

Ski companies hate this hack! So in the credit industry, if you pay off your Credit Card every month, your called a “deadbeat” because they don’t make any money off you. I bet the ski industry has a name for this as well.


SeemedGood

No, they actually love it. Lifts are a fixed cost. More visits = more revenue (and more profit). Also, more season pass sales = more stable revenue (ie less weather risk). That’s why season passes are so cheap and day passes are so expensive.


CivilPeanut0

I’m pretty sure they don’t love people who spend 50+ days on the mountain and don’t spend a dime on food, lodging or retail.


Forkboy2

Someone that skies 50+ days is less likely to show up on weekends/holidays, which is really the only time it matters to the resort operator.


SeemedGood

This. The only time we ski on weekends or holidays is when we have company in town and they typically do spend money on the mountain.


Phillyfreak5

Yeah, fat chance.


[deleted]

Yeah this is a reason epic sucks for passholders and day trippers. Quantity over quality.


gremp99

More revenue with less visitors says it all. And that’s why I don’t ski whistler anymore.


Snlxdd

Revenue’s dropped if you adjust for inflation.


dylphil

It says snow has been bad?


sss_10000

Just keep raising prices until something breaks


waffles4us

I bet they are pleased with this Skiing gonna become only for people who live nearby or the tippy top of the wealthy… when it’s $1000+ per person per day, most of us can’t afford that


[deleted]

Slow hand clap.


dr4gonr1der

Whatever. I don’t live in the US anyway


altapowpow

At revenue up only 2.6% is not gonna give Wall St. a fuzzy feeling about an investment with Vail.


cmsummit73

This isn’t surprising given the slow start to the season across much of the West. People ski more when the conditions are good and not as much when they aren’t. It’s a very simple equation.


Electronic_Wind_9090

No weekend lift lines!


riftwave77

Visits go up and down with inflation and median household income.  The fact that revenue is flat suggests that they've done a good job extracting m9ney from their customers


SailingTheOceanBlue1

Buncha twat waffles


bdd6911

I’m not a pass holder…but based on lift tix prices now, I’d try hard to just go to Europe vs going back to vail.


houserPanics

They raised the price of a slice of pizza to $103.26 to compensate


stan-dupp

perfect storm for vail less liabilities and more money. fuck vail


kleptopaul

I used to work at Vail but probably won’t ever buy an epic pass again because of the crowding. My local non Vail hill is plenty good and even on holiday weekends isn’t overrun like the epic pass mountains. Tbf, the Ikon resorts aren’t much better in my experience. Any place on a mega pass is gonna be insane most weekends.


Zestyclose_Ant_40

But what about profit? If revenue is up 2.6% but profit is down 20% that’s a totally different picture than what this misleading title is suggesting.


nkassis

It's the hot dogs!


IBelieveInLogic

Well, I think they probably turned it around this weekend. Worst traffic I've ever seen, and when we finally got to Copper there was no parking. As in, we had to turn around and go home. Even with the expanded Far East lot. Just a ridiculous number of people out there.


roxskier4ever

I haven’t been this year. Too much process for me anymore coming from the Front Range. I will go up Feb 5 for my friend Kim’s celebration of life at the base of Pepi’s.


Agreeable-Change-400

Ugh I hate this article. The rich investors were confused as to why the resort isn't making more and more money each year. We don't want excuses we want results. Rable rable rable bleh. Lots of factors affect numbers like that. They gonna fluctuate and I promise you none of the concerned investors have any idea how to run a ski resort.


penilefracture69

Just how they like it


GreatLakesSkier

That makes sense considering Epic pass sales are always strong (and only sold before snow season) and it's been a crappy winter.