Featured Image Credit: Katie Musial on Unsplash
^Vail Resorts CEO Rob Katz
Vail is re-thinking how their 37 ski resorts will operate moving forward.
CEO Rob Katz did an interview with Bloomberg in which he acknowledged the challenges faced by Vail resorts to operate during the pandemic, and how their business will change for the foreseeable future.
To start, Vail has announced that the lift ticket Reservation System implemented this season will not be used next season, and that other aspects of the resort’s business will go digital, like restaurant and ski school reservations.
Katz also stated that Vail is quadrupling their customer service team to improve response time by text message, call, and other platforms. Katz even admitted, “Centralized guest services didn’t go well for us this year,”.
^Vail. Photo by Curt Nichols on Unsplash
Katz says that Vail needs to expand their customer base by attracting more people of color, but doesn’t really mention how they intend to achieve that goal other than by lowering the cost of Epic Passes.
I don’t know what Katz was hoping to achieve in this interview, but it honestly just sounds like a lot of corporate jargon to create a false narrative of Vail’s plans for the future.
Sure, they’re going to improve their customer support team and technical abilities, but that’s clearly just an “oh shit we better do something” response to their short-comings this season.
^Vail. Photo by Curt Nichols on Unsplash
I’m also frustrated that Katz has decided to take a stance on inclusivity at Vail resorts, but doesn’t really provide any examples of how Vail is working towards that goal.
Sure you lowered your $1000 season pass to $750 and that’s great for everybody’s wallets, but can somebody please explain how that’s supposed to encourage more minorities to visit the resorts?
Seems like Vail keeps digging their hole a little bit deeper every time Rob Katz makes some empty statements such as these, but clearly the majority of people don’t really care what Vail says or does.
People will still buy their Epic passes, and Vail will continue to rake in the big bucks. It’s just the current state of our industry.
Oh well.