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.
Director in Broomfield, CO (via Glassdoor)
Category: Vail
“Vail Resorts has contributed more to the destruction of our ski communities and our sport than they have created value”
As Stevens Pass skiers, snowboarders and customers who purchased Vail Resorts “Epic Pass,” we are disgusted with the mismanagement of the ski area, the failure to treat employees well, or pay them a livable wage, and the failure to deliver the product we all paid for and bought with hard-earned money during a pandemic.
Jeremy Rubingh (via TownLift)
Vail: “Unethical company making astronomical profits with slave labor”
You’re slave labor. They give you a free ski pass, but you can go work for Walmart or McDonald and make significantly more and pay for your own ski pass within a month earning the higher wages. They treat you like slave labor and you have zero room for growth, even if you save every penny you can’t afford to have a family or buy real estate. I worked for private clubs and saw Rob Katz a good amount and it was always hard to stomach after working there 5 years and earning 3 promotions that I was still only making $16/hour while him and his Wall Street buddy’s were making millions exploiting the land and their employees. I also had to get multiple surgeries after the ski season and racked up considerable medical debt. Left the company in 2020 and got a job immediately which paid me more in the first year than 7 at VR. I just went back for a wedding to find that my friends in upper management roles couldn’t even get a 5% raise when inflation is 6.3% and they’re paying new employees $16-$20/hr. That’s great for them, but the only reason VR is willing to do that is bc they won’t have workers otherwise with rising rent prices and a huge shortage of rentals due to landlords selling their properties to cash in. This company needs to have media attention like Walmart and Amazon for mistreatment of employees, but they pay millions a bear so that’s never heard of. I made a comment on a Forbes article bashing Walmart and Amazon and said they should take a look at VR and got called into my managers office the next day. They’re a shameful and greedy company that doesn’t care about you or the environment.
Advice to Management:
Hire executives from the ski resort, not Wall Street people like Rob Katz or the new CEO from Kraft Foods. Not like Kraft foods hasn’t been poisoning the country for decades lol. I’d also give this company and the CEO negative rating if I could. They’re ruining entire communities, ski towns and the environment.
Anonymous Employee (via Glassdoor)
Vail Resorts company reviews – Part-I
They get you with the salary, then come the 50+ hour weeks.
You get to work at the base of a terribly run company and mountain. Have fun busting you butt and not being able to enjoy your life.
Low pay, Terrible Communication, Never set up for success, No housing for employees
Advice to Management: Quit
Store Manager in Vail, CO (via Glassdoor)
Cons vastly outweigh the benefits.
Poor pay and benefits. Understaffed. Lack of HR department. Expensive/impossible to afford living near the mountains. Corporate bureaucracy at its finest… constant reorganizations and lack of basic support. No control or decision making power at the local level.
Content Specialist (via Glassdoor)
Poor Compensation
Poor compensation and we have to endure the complaints. Never work here. Terrible compensation for seasonal employees
Lift Operator in Beaver Creek, CO (via Glassdoor)
Grossly Irresponsible
Destroying the planet, ruining towns/communities, Putting lives in danger
Retail (via Glassdoor)
“Vail Resorts stiffs Epic pass holder insurance policy purchasers”
Vail Resorts is a terrible company. I bought an Epic Pass for this 2021 -2022 season, and with the purchase I also purchased their insurance policy to cover several contingencies a 76 year old may encounter, especially medical. Unfortunately I was bitten by a mosquito with West Nile Virus, nearly died, and am slowly recovering my ability to walk. Skiing is out of the question. Vail Reservations referred me to their claims processor, ACM. They flat out stone-walled me for weeks. Vail’s executive management has completely isolated themselves from customers. You cannot contact anyone in Broomfield by phone or email. Their culture will eventually catch up with them.
Charles043 (via Tripadvisor)
“Vail Resorts – EPIC FAIL! THE ABSOLUTE WORST!”
WORST BUYING EXPERIENCE EVER!! BAR NONE!!!
We decided to take a combined family vacation with my sister and her family and go skiing this Christmas. I went online to purchase some epic passes for everyone. Something that should have bee a 15-20 minute exercise. I started in mid-October, today is November 30th – and we still do not have passes. Everything has been paid for, all photos have been upload, all liability releases have been signed – and nothing. In fact, I just received an email from epic pass over the weekend telling me that “action was required” and that I needed to upload photos and sign releases…?! Both of which have been done for at least 3-4 weeks (and I logged into my account to confirm it). So I did what most people would do, I attempted to call and straighten it out – LOL – forget that. You cannot get ANYONE on the phone. NO ONE – ANYWHERE. PERIOD. How can a company operate like that??? So I moved to the chat function on their website – it’s no better than the phone. I was 700th in line with an estimated wait time of 5.5 hours. Now maybe there are people out there that have nothing better to do for 5.5 hours – but I’m not fortunate enough to be one of them. PLEASE – DO NOT BUY FROM EPIC PASS OR VAIL RESORTS. YOU’VE BEEN WARNED.
U1858PBmattb (via Tripadvisor)
Over 25,000 people sign petition accusing Vail Resorts of consumer harm
SKYKOMISH, Wash. — A petition on change.org that accuses Vail Resorts of violating the Washington Consumer Protection Act with its mismanagement of the Stevens Pass ski area has collected over 25,000 signatures.
https://townlift.com/2021/12/over-15000-people-sign-petition-accusing-vail-resorts-of-consumer-harm/amp/
From the editor: The petition has over 31,293 signatures by now and counting.
Both Katz and Lynch should be fired.
Oversold Overpriced tickets
They over sell lift tickets that are already over priced then don’t have enough parking and if you’re lucky enough to get in you can fit in 2-3 runs and buy a $45 dollar hot dogs. The guest services were also rude as when I tried to refund my ticket as we couldn’t park!
Stephanie L. (via Yelp)
From the editor: Kirsten Lynch (who is the CEO of Vail and responsible for day-to-day operations, according to her profile and the article at Aspentimes.com), you are very proud of the increased sales, are you not?
Kirsten and Rob! We think you could shove your “success”. You are complete failure.
Vail Resorts’ Katz to get $2,789,900 salary
The estimated Net Worth of Robert A Katz is at least $180 Million dollars as of 13 December 2021. Mr. Katz owns over 233,354 units of Vail Resorts stock worth over $122,253,371 and over the last 18 years he sold MTN stock worth over $54,843,650. In addition, he makes $2,789,900 as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer at Vail Resorts.
https://wallmine.com/people/44708/robert-a-katz
Funny Fact: Vailsucks.com is registered to Vail Resorts, Inc
They were aware back in 1998 what people might think / thinking about them!
..while VailEpicFail.com was not 🙂 Amazing name!
From the editor: Vail guys, you will look less dumb if you hide your registration info on domains like this one via domain registration confidentiality.
Free tip: vail.sucks is still available at https://www.get.sucks. Go grab’em before it goes! 🙂
NorthStar California Sucks | VailEpicFail 