This review is targeted at skiers/snowboarders. While the location of the resort is very picturesque and the main village itself is cozy and nice to relax at, overall Northstar is totally not worth your time. Here’s why. For starters, the runs are not overwhelmingly great. Blacks feel like blues, blues feel like greens, and greens are cakewalks. The runs do not offer much of a challenge for the experienced skier/snowboarder. The only thing the mountain does particularly well is provide good trees to ride through. However, many people don’t stick to doing that the whole time and spend a large portion of their time on main runs—which to say are busy…is an extreme understatement. Every run seems to be filled with everyone from experienced riders to people who take up the entire run performing an s-turn. Secondly, the resort gets more and more crowded each year. Don’t get me wrong, when I first came here I was looking forward to going on many runs and having a great time with the people I was with. Suffice to say, the majority of the memories I have from that trip were sitting in line waiting for lifts. Do NOT expect to come here and not deal with huge lines. It’s simply unavoidable. The resort just doesn’t have the capacity to deal with the crowds it attracts. Third, the customer service of the workers at the resort is awful. I try to have sympathy for them, maybe it’s just the fact that they are being overworked because of the sheer number of people at Northstar each day. But at the end of the day, their service still isn’t good and they consistently seem to have negative attitudes. Finally, and arguably most importantly, everything is so so overpriced. And I mean EVERYTHING. From food to apparel to lift tickets. On top of having to deal with crowds both on lifts and on the runs, poor customer support, and generally underwhelming runs, you’re having to pay up to twice as much for a lift ticket or pass as you would at another resort. Overall, if you can go to another resort, just go. Northstar is overrated and overpriced.
Nick Petersen via Google reviews
Category: Northstar ski resort review
“Expect to be treated as a wallet and not as a customer”
Overall you won’t get what you paid for and it will often be disappointing. Generally this is my least favorite Tahoe destination. This resort is nice in appearance but is overall poorly run. Expect to be treated as a wallet and not as a customer. New and temporary staff generally are not helpful, veterans are generally ambivalent. Staff can also be hostile and aggressive as well which is generally a sign of problems within management. I understand visitors can also be difficult and the staff will certainly make you’re aware as they voice their complaints.
Blaine Schanfeldt via reviews at Google
“Outrageously scandalous”
The winter lift ticket on Sat Dec 23 was sold $256 for having not even half of the slopes open. Outrageously scandalous.
Roger Deballe via Google Reviews
Lift kept stopping every 2 minutes. $200+ for a day lift ticket is outrageous and having to pay for parking also is lame
neglsha n via Google Reviews
Slopes were not well groomed. Too much powder and difficult to ski. Many lifts were not open for the $269 price. Also, this is the first place that did not provide a veteran discount. They said they give military discount for season passes but not daily passes.
Richard L via TripAdvisor
Horrible conditions right now due to lack of snow. Very few runs and even fewer lifts open. Even if you bought an Epic pass, do not throw good money after bad by wasting $$S on lodging and parking. Better off flying to a resort with snow. Will update if conditions improve.
Kevin G. via Yelp
A Racket to put simply. Bought two days, our passes did not work both days. Waited in line several hours. Employees were extremely rude and none of them even tried to speak English. Insane for the price! This place has went downhill so fast
Nolan S. via Yelp
Really subpar experience today with low snow levels, tons of moguls even on blues (blacks are impossible), and shrubbery peeking out everywhere. Trails need to be groomed or at least they could try with some snow machines to make more snow. The resort was extremely crowded and the rentals took almost 2 hours. The rental system of having groups serviced by one personnel makes no sense and groups of 3 or more end up taking extremely long. The gondola experience for new visitors to the resort who have skis is extremely stressful and staff do not care to help. We barely made it into the gondola and it seems unnecessary to be stressed before you even hit the slopes. I had higher expectations for a Tahoe resort after living in LA for many years going to Big Bear. I will be going to other resorts in the future.
Jenny M. via Yelp
Way too crowded to be enjoyable. Too many people going way too fast on greens/blues with no one enforcing slow zones.
E M. via Yelp
Very disappointed in the group lessons. I booked 6 full day group lessons for ages 7-14. Cost about $400 each. Check in was at 8:45. After an hour and half later, and standing in two different lines (we were not even renting gear) the kids were checked in. The instructor was rude and short with the kids. There was a total of 11 in the group with one instructor. When they came back, all said they never wanted to do it again and it was miserable. My 8 year old was crying. They barely skied and mainly stood around. Flat out, was not an enjoyable experience. The instructor was just plain rude.
Shay O. via Yelp
Year after year they raise prices and provide less and less.
Am A. via Yelp
Lunatic Ski Instructor Whacks Snowboarder On Jump With Pole
Epic Failure with Epic Flexpay: A Vail Experience
I’d like to take a moment to share my recent and utterly frustrating experience with Vail Resorts’ payment system, specifically the “epic flexpay” option. While the idea of purchasing Epic pass 6-day tickets sounded appealing, the execution left me more than disappointed. It’s one of those experiences that leaves you questioning whether the service you’re trying to utilize is really worth the hassle.
The Beginning of the Trouble
The system flatly denied my application, citing a freeze on my credit report. As someone with an excellent credit score, this was both baffling and annoying. However, I played by their rules and lifted the freeze with Equifax, only to be met with further disappointment.
Unspecified Failure
After complying with their request and trying to process the application again, I was met with an infuriatingly vague rejection: “Thank you for your application. Unfortunately, we can’t process your application because we need additional information from you.” What additional information? Why was this not specified? These questions were left unanswered.
A Pathetic Experience
I’m left to conclude that Vail’s credit payment system is as pathetic as the rest of the services they offer. The entire process was marred by a lack of transparency and a user experience that feels disconnected from modern practices. I consider myself a patient person, but this episode has worn thin on my nerves.
Conclusion
It is my suspicion that Vail’s “Epic Flexpay” is nothing more than a “click and bait” scheme, a facade to lure customers with the promise of “0% APR, 0 down payment.” What they don’t tell you is that these attractive terms are nearly impossible to access, and you may find yourself having to pay in full or with a far less appealing “15% APR.” This experience has left me feeling deceived and disappointed.
The mountain might be epic, but the payment experience is anything but. Vail, if you happen to come across this, please know that transparent and honest business practices go a long way in building trust with your customers. I hope you take this feedback seriously and make the necessary changes to ensure that future customers don’t fall into the same trap.
“Forced overtime at Vail. No enforcement of safety”
No enforcement of safety or any rules, no working heat, no secure mail room in employee housing. no HR department to contact and lots of screw ups i.e. tax rates being entered wrong, hours missing from paychecks, significant delays in pay, certain departments hired with full-time hour expectations but then REQUIRED to work overtime and not able to request days off. way too big of a company and way overstaffed, and overpromising to guests/staff to not have employee support (HR functions outsourced to virtual company which take weeks to respond to urgent matters, if at all).
Advice to Management: Stop over promising guests and bringing in employees under false pretenses then act.
Unsafe vehicles, drivers forced into overtime, management fails to protect drivers.
Wage is low; don’t care about employees; overtime because they don’t have enough employees.
Vail Resorts Glassdoor reviews
“Vail Senior leadership is extremely toxic.”
Senior leadership (Kirsten, Michael, Rob) are extreme micromanagers who do not tolerate dissent or welcome alternative points of view from those below them. They demand that they make all meaningful decisions for the company – and the only people allowed in the room with them are their VPs. As a Director in the corporate office, this was incredible disempowering because it meant that I had no real ownership. Vail describes itself as “the greatest leadership company on earth” – this is laughable. There is no empowerment to make decisions, no respect for work life balance (at one point the CMO literally asked if we could stop taking Thanksgiving as a company holiday, regularly demands people work on Christmas / New Years, etc.), and effectively zero career progression opportunities at the Director level and above unless your only focus is on pleasing those above you. I really, really wanted to like this company. I loved my co-workers. It broke my heart to see it so thoroughly ruined by senior leadership. There is a reason there is SUPER high turnover (which has been the case for years, by the way). When I joined, the average tenure of my coworkers was less than a year. When I left several years later, the average tenure of my coworkers was less than a year. People come here thinking it will be great (who doesn’t want to work in the ski industry?), realize the reality of the situation, and then leave. I ignored the Glassdoor reviews when I took my job there and I regret doing so.
Advice to Management
Honestly, with Kirsten about to become the new CEO, I would not recommend anyone work at Vail’s corporate office. She surrounds herself with people who reinforce her own viewpoints and systematically weeds out anyone who disagrees with her. She talks in public about the importance of sustainability and then literally hours later, in private meetings, creates crushing workloads for the teams under her – I have seen this happen on many, many occasions. These are hallmarks of terrible leadership and a toxic workplace culture.
Vail Resorts Glassdoor review
What Vail Resorts employees are saying about Vail
Absolute unfair pay, no holidays, no support from management, no benefits unless employee is full time which is very rare.
No work/life balance, they don’t listen to local resort or community feedback, no consideration for local cultures & values, super corporate, no heart. Morale is terrible. Staff have no sense of ownership of their roles or the company. It feels like working for a faceless corporate overlord when skiing is supposed to be about fun. The company is hated by the local community. I was embarrassed to tell people I worked for them.
Really low pay considering how expensive food is in Vail. You will be exposed to the sun pretty much all day in most work areas so you have to bring your own sun screen. A few crappy management members will try to get you to come in on your days off for extra training or work, and will treat you poorly if you won’t, effectively mandatory overtime despite policies that state otherwise. Sick days are highly discouraged but everyone gets sick because they live in dorm-like conditions. Most of your coworkers will probably be nomad potheads with no goals in life (hence the stricter management protocols).
No room to grow in the company, no pay raise in 5 years, and new manager every season. The communication between different departments is nonexistent.
No work/life balance, unrealistic expectations and forced office fun; little to no diversity.
Vail Reviews at Glassdoor.comHorrible management, no work/life balance, no loyalty, horrendous pay.
“Not worth the lift ticket prices”
Rude personnel, extremely strict rules… inconsistent feedback from people working here regarding the resort rules.
Not worth the lift ticket prices and f**k vail resorts altogether
This place is an absolute nightmare! Do not come here unless you want to wait in line for a shuttle for over an hour minimum and wait to park your car for an hour as well. Just parking your car will make you wanna leave it’s so chaotic. Have fun looking at the backside when you arrive, there’s fresh powder everywhere, however they won’t open it and force feed everyone into lines once you hit the front side. It’s honestly the worst resort I’ve ever been to. Just a giant trap to take your money away from you. Oh and when it’s time to leave be prepared to wait in another hour line to get back to your car and then another hour to leave. Avoid at all costs
2 hours to download from village to parking lot. 100+ people line built up from 3:30 to 4 waiting on first bus. Supply trucks were dangerously pulling in and out through the queue of people. Cutting left and right with no direction. Total mess.
No lights in the pitch black parking lot at 6 pm to top it off. This resort needs a total overhaul on customer service and parking functionality. Frankly unacceptable from an upper level management perspective. They have the $$ to do it right.
Don’t come here unless you stay on site. 4x Epic Pass holder. Heavenly and Kirkwood are visitor friendly.
After paying for very EXPENSIVE ticket during Christmas, we were informed by staff that the mountain is closed for the day due to safety reason and extreme weather, after only less than 2 hours of total time spent at the resort. When asking about partial refund or credit, nothing was offered and staff told us that “this situation happens frequently at the resort”.
Source: Google reviews
“Come to this resort if you would prefer to sit in your car rather than skiing”
Come to this resort if you would prefer to sit in your car rather than skiing. If you come on a Saturday-Sunday at least, that is all you will do. 2+ hour bumper to bumper traffic delay over 8 miles backed up from the resort on 1/21 (all entirely resort traffic) – they sell WAY more lift tickets and passes than people they can fit on the mountain or their infrastructure will allow. This was with an original departure time that should have had us to the parking lot over a half hour before opening. And good luck getting any customer service for all your wasted efforts and money – if they already have your money via Epic Pass or prepaid lift ticket, they couldn’t care less what experience you have from there. Many Tahoe resorts suffer capacity issues, but nowhere to the extremes of Northstar. If you do get in (we gave up today at least after 4 hours of trying) the skiing itself is average at best – better snow and better runs elsewhere.
Tyler Knox via Google reviews
NorthStar California Sucks | VailEpicFail 