Vail Resorts, Inc. (NYSE: MTN) today announced the appointment of Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Bill Rock as President of the company’s Mountain Division, effective May 1, 2023, and announced that current President James O’Donnell will no longer be with the company, effective March 3, 2023.
Bill Rock to become President of Vail Resorts’ Mountain Division, effective May 1, 2023.
Source: prnewswire BROOMFIELD, Colo., March 2, 2023
“I want to extend my gratitude to James for his leadership and contributions to Vail Resorts during his 22 years at our company,” said Vail Resorts Chief Executive Officer Kirsten Lynch.
VailEpicFail team comment: “Yeah, right. Your “extended gratitude” has zero value. Everyone knows you threw this dude like used condom. So shove your “gratitude”, Lynch.
The new dude (Bill Rock) had assumed the new position the day before (March 1) the PR release (March 2). While the old dude (James O’Donnell) has been given the boot, effective the next day (March 3). So unless the old dude got caught on something very inappropriate, the way how Vail disposes their employees is rather disgusting. We are not surprised.
Vail Resorts will pay $13.1 million to settle five wage and labor lawsuits brought against the company in California for claims of labor law violations.
Preliminary approval of the $13.1 million deal was given in March 2022, and on Friday 19th August, 2022, Judge Michael McLaughlin granted final approval of the settlement offer in court in South Lake Tahoe. The decision will likely put an end to a similar class action lawsuit filed in Colorado.
A Vail Resorts employee at the Park City Mountain Resort in Utah died on Monday after falling from a chairlift, according to resort officials.
According to the resort’s Senior Manager of Communications Sara Huey, a tree fell on the line of the Short Cut chairlift at around 10:45 AM. An on-duty employee that was riding the lift fell from his seat, falling an estimated height of at least 25 feet, Huey said.
..just witnessed the chair directly in front of us fall off the haul rope during a wind hold on the peak 8 superconnect at Breckenridge’s Peak 8 SuperConnect. The chair was close to the top terminal and fell about 20 feet. ski patrol was already there and the guy riding the chair is ok.
I ordered a Stevens Select Pass and just learned that every weekend in January and February are blackout date. When I ordered the pass I knew it did not include Holidays but I specifically recall looking on the website to ensure the pass included weekends. Nowhere did it say the weekends were blacked out (or it was buried in the small print) I work during the week so this is an EPIC waste of $400. Vail thanks for screwing me over, again.
Do not honour season pass refunds. A consistent issue, well known by the ACCC and fair trading. They’ll take your money in a heart beat, but you’ll never hear from them when lodging a refund request (supported by the correct paperwork as dictated by their own T&Cs). No way to contact them aside from email; and as mentioned, good luck getting a response.
Another unhappy RIPPED OFF customer. Sold ski passes under the guise that because of the pandemic they could be refunded. Only to be denied over a year later because “we didn’t have refundable passes” someone needs to take accountability for the THEFT that vail resorts is getting away with.
Vail resorts is the worst company running multiple ski resorts!! Absolutely horrible! They declined my request to cancel my auto renew and basically live to just steal money from people!!! I’m tempted to file a class action lawsuit but debating if it will be worth my time!! The lines are stupid long constantly… can be our skiing or snowboarding for a full day and only get max 2-3 actual runs in… it’s quicker to hike the mountain than actually ride the lifts!!! DONT WASTE YOUR TIME AND MONEY WITH AN EPIC PASS THIS YEAR!!!!
I just compared what I used to pay a few years ago for a specific ski resort before Vail took it over in 2020. Wow – didn’t realize what these guys are doing. The group has great resorts that we like a lot but will definitely be more conscious choosing where we travel to next time.
Michael Livi via Facebook.com
I purchased tickets in advance to Paoli Peaks, to find out the day of that 12 of the 15 slopes were closed (only 3 open). I called over 10 times to speak with someone about canceling my tickets, but no human would answer a phone. I had to drive 2 hrs to speak with someone at the ski lodge. When arriving, even though I pre-purchased tickets that all claimed to “save time– don’t wait in line,” there were no signs explaining where to go; I still had to wait in the ticket line to speak with someone, who then sent me to guest services in a completely different part of the building. I used the restroom on the way to find it disgusting and out-of-date with no paper towels or driers working to dry my hands. The guest services manager said that a machine wasn’t working to blow fresh snow, so they had to close 80% of the slopes, while still charging people full price and not answering the phones because they were too busy. I’ll choose Perfect North from here on out.
Eric Bivens via Facebook.com
Tried vailresorts epicpass this year. Their level of transparency was abysmal. Be sure to read the fine print before buying (if you can find it). No transfers, no refunds. You can upgrade, but it will cost you 200% of what you paid originally. 20% off on food/beverages? Only if it is a non-alcoholic beverage. They overpromise and don’t deliver
Russell Huffman via Facebook.com
Nothing surprising from this company and it’s low rating when they hire lying, purple-haired pigs to work in dispatch. The way your employee treats people coupled with your low rating explains it all.
Olena Pearson via Facebook.com
Bought lift tickets through epic pass. Ski school for my daughter and ski rentals. Had to cancel because of winter storm Elliott and the southwest debacle. No flights out of Texas. 25,000 flights cancelled. Couldn’t make the trip. Spent over 1,200 on the trip. Zero refunds. Nada. Because my house wasn’t inhabitable I couldn’t get a refund. Unbelievable. No compassion. Zero common sense.
Donnie Elliott
Let’s get this straight. Vail Resorts does not care about its customers. All they care about is money. The internet is riddles with people talking about the many deceptive business practices Vail Resorts engages in. These policies are absolutely abhorrent and border on theft, if you and I were to do it. They show absolutely no empathy towards their loyal customers at all and as such do not care about retaining customers. They will simply cycle onto the next sucker and screw them next. That is their bottom line business, please stay clear if you can, there are other friendlier ski resorts to ski or snowboard at that actual care about you as a person.
Todd Chamberlin via Facebook
Worst customer support of all time. If you can actually get someone on the phone, good luck with them being able to resolve any issues or actually help.
This ski season, Vail Resorts’ leadership has failed locals and guests with a subpar and unsafe skiing experience. Here’s the breakdown:
Vail Resorts was extremely slow to comply with the county mandate on masks in indoor spaces on its gondolas. It still isn’t instructing their employees enough to actually enforce this rule. As our community COVID-19 numbers skyrocket, gondolas are one of the best places to catch the virus.
As overworked/underpaid employees are strained or come down sick and resort operations suffer, Vail blames the “global talent shortage.” This is corporate speak for “we don’t want to pay people living wages.” The talent is there; Vail just needs to pay living wages for employees.
Snow is Vail’s business. When other competing resorts can open terrain, but Vail Resorts’ resorts across the country can’t, that’s 100% Vail Resorts’ fault.
The model of “sell as many passes as possible” clearly worked for the bottom line, but is that something we actually want for skiing? I’d gladly take an Epic Pass that’s north of $1,000 next year if it leads to shorter lift lines and fewer crowds on our ski hill. I’m not saying we should make skiing exclusionary. It’s already very expensive, and the more folks who ski, the more will care about combating the climate change that is ruining our winters. But there’s loving something to death, and that’s what Vail has seen this entire winter season with absurd crowds even on weekdays due to cheap Epic Passes.
No heartfelt Instagram post from Beth Howard changes that she’s in charge and responsible for these failures. She needs to step up, fight for a living wage for her employees, open terrain swiftly and safely without excuses, and combat the pandemic.
Skiers arriving at Vail’s namesake Colorado resort over the weekend were shocked to find four-digit prices greeting them at the ticket window. Adult one-day lift tickets were listed at $1,566, a nearly 700 percent increase over the previous peak price of $229. A child’s one-day lift ticket rose to $798.
“This is an outrage,” said Abner Stevens, 92, a retired mining engineer who was walking back to the car with his wife and six grandchildren. “Why I remember when you could barter a little squirrel meat and a shotgun shell for a ride on the chairlift. Now these damn kids will just waste the whole day Faceposting on their Nintendos.”
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