On Monday, Vail Resorts revealed their 2021 third-quarter results for the fiscal year of 2021. Their third quarter ended on April 30, 2021, which is around the time most of their mountains had already been shut down for the season. Their net income was 274.6 million dollars for the third quarter, while EBITDA related to their resorts 462.2 million dollars, both massive increases over their 2020 third-quarter earnings that were impacted by Covid lockdowns.
Vail Resorts also announced that they will be increasing their minimum wage to $15 at their resorts in Colorado, Washington, California, and Utah. The minimum entry wage will be increased on the East Coast as well.
Pass sales are up 50% in units and 33% in sales dollars compared to 2019, partially due to more offerings and also because of the 20% reduction in pass prices for this upcoming season. Interestingly though, they did not share any data that compares the Epic Pass sales between last year and this year. They claimed the sales from the last year are up significantly. Rob Katz claimed that due to the refund discounts and no deadline date during 2020, these stats are not relevant. More details will be announced in their September 2021 earnings report.
One question from an investor brought up was the rise of paid parking at their resorts. The answer from Vail was coy, but they did say the move was done to increasing carpooling and alternative transportation methods. Vail Resorts did say though that it comes down to the local mountains for these decisions, and that parking fee is not as big of a moneymaker as it seems.
Things To Watch For In Upcoming Quarters:
- Will Vail Acquire Any New Mountains? In the call with investors, Rob Katz said Vail Resorts remained open to mergers and acquisitions(M&A), definitely raised that possibility in the near future.
- How Big Will Vail Spend in the 2022 Offseason? Vail usually announces their infrastructure investments in December, but some projects could be delayed to the heavy cost of resources at the moment.
- How will crowds impact customer satisfaction, 2022 Epic Pass sales? Vail Resorts said near the end of the season that they will be trying new crowd mitigation tactics for this coming season(basically meaning filling the chairs up to full capacity), but with pass sales up massively, crowds will likely continue to be an issue.
Listen to the Vail Resorts earnings call here.
