Tag: tickets

Very disorganized. Horrible customer service

Horrible customer service. Takes 1 hour just to rent your boots and snowboard. I get that it’s Covid but heavenly and Sierra got people’s rentals in under 10 mins. Whoever’s managing the place deserves to get demoted.

Qida Chen

Sucked really bad

The only place worth hanging out. Was club only members. The only place with fire pits but no one could enjoy it.

Carlos Guerrero

Very disorganized mountain. Waited 30 mins in a line of two people to buy gondola tickets. To add insult to injury, they had reached max capacity for hikers. No way to buy tickets or find that out online. No signs. Just excuses. They’re owned by Vail, so I shouldn’t be surprised. Whistler has the same problem.

Ripley MacDonald

Ticketing/refund scam

Heard many good things about the resort but disappointed at the corporate’s ticketing/refund policy. Half-day tickets are not offered, and refunds are only available if within the 1st hour once on the lifts.

We hit a pretty strong winter storm and were not being informed enough by the resort to make a decision because the resort remains open. 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”, which is nonsense because they would have not opened for the day given the early signs of weather condition and if they really care about customer safety.

We spent 10 hours driving to the resort, not to mention the lodging cost and the high ticket price. “Do it at your own risk” shouldn’t be the excuse for providing bad customer experience, especially not for a resort like Northstar.

Overall very disappointed at our first time experience, and it feels like they care more about making money than providing customers with good experience.

Miranda Tao (via Google reviews)

“Over 30 min line to pickup buddy pass”

Over 30 min line to pickup buddy pass at 0900am today. I understand patience during covid but reservations were made to registered pass holders today which tells me this place knew how many would be coming today. The Epic pass is 500$ a pop which isn’t cheap,that should pay for a service . The line was long enough for 50 people thats 25grand. And you got 2 people checking riders in but 5 staff at the entrance welcoming you in? Come on Northstar id expect this at a bargain bin ski park, your supposed to be resort level with property ownership. Didnt even mention the $30 for 2 beers and a small fries (cold).

Ace M. (via Yelp)

“20-30 minute waits on every single lift”

On sSunday there were 20-30 minute waits on every single lift. completely packed with people. limited occupancy is absolutely a lie. i get it, you need to have people buy food to get a beer. to charge be $15 for the cheapest entree (tiny bowl of chili) and another $14 for a beer i feel is just disrespectful. at sierra they have $2 hot dogs which is totally fair. and, on top of all that the snow quality was absolute garbage. which is kind of out of their control. but they do advertise that their snow base is 18″-35″ which from what i can see is also a lie. there’s exposed dirt on almost every run when i was there and exposed rocks all over the place.

so if you’re going to take something away from this.. byob. screw their rules. i would also suggest not even going. at least until it snows again. definitely not worth the full price of a lift ticket.

Darrick F. (via Yelp)

“2-3 hours spent in lines”

I’ll start off by saying today was a miserable experience, and has inspired me to drop my Epic season pass and move to Icon instead. I figured, as a pass holder and with a reservation, Northstar would follow Covid guidelines and limit the amount of people allowed on the mountain. The line on a Sunday for the Gondola wrapped around the entire village, no social distancing, and more were coming at 9:30 when I finally gave up and left without seeing a ski slope. Had I stayed it would have been well over an hour wait just to get on to the mountain, not including the additional lines for ski lifts. Northstar has always had a traffic/people management problem pre pandemic, it seems worse now than ever. My season pass is rendered worthless if I cannot get near a ski slope without 2-3 hours spent in lines. AVOID!!! Other ski resorts in the area that don’t treat you like cattle and create super-spreader events. It’s a shame because I used to really like the runs at NStar.

Jeff C. (via Yelp)

“Enjoy waiting in lines”

This is a great resort if you enjoy waiting in lines. 20 minutes waiting in a line of traffic going to the parking area, 30 minutes waiting for the parking shuttle, 1 1/2 hour waiting for rental skis I reserved ahead of time, 20 minutes waiting for ticket pickup, 20 minutes waiting for your first lift. Got here before 8 and wasn’t skiing until 11:30. Then it was 10 minute waits for the bathroom, 15 minute lift lines. It wasn’t even a particularly crowded weekend. Total waste of time. Go to literally any other Tahoe resort. I’ve been to 5 others this season, including during the true busy weeks around the holidays, and this was my only bad experience.

Jason R. (via Yelp)

With a limited amount of people allowed on the mountain they did a piss poor job on planning for the number of people they sold tickets to.

Jason J. (via Yelp)

Just to get tickets and you have to wait for a long line.

The line to get to the gondola is crazy long too.

They can’t handle the crowds. Skims lifts are over crowded.

Quan D. (via Yelp)
Chronic over crowding

Photo credit: Quan D.

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.

“The service staff were absolutely horrible. Spend your money elsewhere.”

Off season gondola ride is about 5 minute long and only takes you half way to the top. Poor customer service as well.

Michael E. (via Yelp)

Overpriced lift tickets, zero customer service

Mountain safety department penalizes you for going too fast , overpriced food, paid parking.

Spend your money somewhere else and get a higher quality product and better customer service.

Eric D. (via Yelp)

 Just attended a wedding that was supposed to be at the top of the gondola.  Due to the weather it got moved at the last minute to an old meeting room in the old section of the resort.  The service staff were absolutely horrible.  To make it worse, the food was terrible.  The food was served family style and needless to say it was bad.  One of the dishes was risotto and it was crunchy.  The other items were equally bad.  Definitely will never come back here.

L I. (via Yelp)

Northstar pisses off a retired 86yo veteran

I am a retired veteran, 86 years young. Northstar used to be a ski area that cared. They still care, but now it is just for your money. As an avid skier that used to ski the mountain, lived here for 23 years, and has personally experienced the changes brought about by Vail Corporation, I have learned that it all comes down to “that’s just too bad” for you – the skier at this resort.

When I bought my pass, I specifically informed them I wanted to buy insurance because of my age and because of the terrible virus that consumed the world. I was fearful at the time that there was a strong possibility that I would not be able to ski this year. I was promptly told, “don’t worry, we offer this free,” with the implication that they, the great Vail Corporation, were in control and they would take care of me. Once you give them your money, they are in control. Of your money.

Well the short of it all, I couldn’t ski this year because of the mentioned circumstances and medical problems inherent with my age. I called the corporate level and asked for a refund. They informed me that they did not control this, I had to call a third party. Upon calling the third party, I couldn’t understand what they were talking about. Another mistake I made: I told the truth. They, along with the reputable Vail Corporation, couldn’t care less. Well, so long Vail! Time to get back to that other resort, Squaw, that I presume has integrity. I think I will find out if Squaw still cares.

Julius T. (via Yelp)