Skiers and snowboarders with the right connections can score half-price lift tickets from Vail Resorts this coming winter.
The Broomfield-based resort giant is giving Epic Pass holders between six and 10 tickets for 50 percent off to give to their friends. Vail is calling the new benefit “Epic Friend Tickets”.
“If you ski or ride, chances are someone brought you into the sport, and we want to make it easier for you to pay it forward,” Vail CEO Rob Katz said in an emailed statement. “We will always give the best deal to our Pass Holders who commit to skiing with us ahead of the season … That said, we know not everyone can plan ahead, so if you don’t have an Epic Pass, the next best thing is knowing someone who does.”
The deal applies to all 37 of the company's North American properties, including its marquee Colorado properties like Keystone, Breckenridge, Vail Mountain and Beaver Creek. People who bought an Epic Pass before April 14 will receive 10 half-price tickets. People who purchased more recently will get six.
The promotion replaces Vail’s buddy passes, which offered smaller discounts.
Vail is seeking to lure people with deals as Epic Pass sales sputter.
In June, Vail told Wall Street investors that pass sales for the upcoming winter season were down compared to the same time last year. Sales started flatlining the prior winter, reversing years of strong growth.
The company has recently taken hits to its reputation as well as to its bottom line. Complaints about long lift lines and crowded slopes culminated in a PR disaster when ski patrollers in Park City, Utah, went on strike for two weeks over New Year’s, one of the busiest times of the year for ski resorts.
Katz is doing his second stint as Vail’s CEO. He took over from Kristen Lynch after several years away from the role. The company lost billions of dollars in value during Lynch’s tenure, which started in November 2021. She resigned in May.
On top of bad press, Vail is facing a decline in visitation following a pandemic-era boom in travel to outdoor destinations. Visits to its North American resorts were down 7 percent from the prior year during the most recent financial reporting period, which ran from February through April.
