Vail Resorts Inc. issued its early season update to investors on Thursday showing visits are down slightly, but revenue is up — this on the heels of a messy ski patrollers union strike in Park City, Utah. 

Vail reported season-to-date total skier visits were down 0.3% through Jan. 5 compared to the 2023-24 season through Jan. 7, 2024.

Total lift ticket revenue, including an allocated portion of season pass revenue for each applicable period, grew 4.5% compared to the prior season.

Lynch addressed the resolved Park City Mountain patrol strike 

“In addition to the strong start to the winter season, we are pleased to have reached an agreement with the Park City Mountain patrol union that is consistent with the wage structure across all of our mountain resorts,” Lynch said. “We deeply regret the disruptions caused to our guests during the patrol union strike and are committed to delivering an exceptional and safe experience for our guests, and rebuilding their trust and loyalty.”

Vail also reported ski school revenue was up 1.1% and dining revenue was up 6.6% year-over-year. Retail/rental revenue for North American resort and ski area store locations dropped 5.4% compared to the prior year season-to-date period.

“We are pleased with our season-to-date results, which reflect the stability provided by our season pass program, our investments in the guest experience, and the execution of our mountain operations teams across all of our mountain resorts,” Kirsten Lynch, Chief Executive Officer said in a news release. “Season-to-date results benefited from improved weather conditions, and were impacted by the continued industry demand normalization and the late timing of the Thanksgiving holiday in the current year as expected, along with a shift of destination guest behavior to later in the season.”

The reported ski season metrics are for the Company’s North American destination mountain resorts and regional ski areas including Colorado’s five properties of Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone and Crested Butte.

The report excludes the results of the Australian and European resorts and ski areas in both periods. 

“Early season conditions enabled a strong terrain offering and guest experience, which drove improved local visitation relative to the prior year,” Lynch said. “Through the holiday period, destination guest visitation at our western North American destination mountain resorts was below prior year levels, which we believe was driven by a continued shift in visitation patterns across the ski industry to later in the ski season that increased after challenging early season conditions in the prior year.”

Lynch said for the remainder of the season, Vail expects improved performance compared to the 2023-24 season-to-date period, with a shift in destination guest visitation, based on Vail’s significant base of pre-committed guests, current lodging booking trends, and historical guest behavior patterns, according to the release.

“We expect to achieve full year performance within the Resort Reported EBITDA guidance range we reiterated on Dec. 9,” Lynch said. “Our guidance assumes a continuation of the current economic environment, industry normalization to pre-COVID guest behavior, normal weather conditions for the remainder of the 2024/2025 North American and European ski season and the 2025 Australian ski season, and the foreign currency exchange rates provided in our original Sept. 26, 2024 guidance.”

Vail Resorts has also been dealing with lawsuits being filed against the company.

Pomerantz LLP announced Tuesday it is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Vail Resorts, Inc. (MTN).

The investigation concerns whether Vail Resorts and certain of its officers and/or directors engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices.

Seeking Alpha — a financial research platform — reported that Vail shares “have come under increased selling pressure” … “(and) as the strike by 200 members of the Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association continues without a satisfactory offer from the company”, which “has now garnered support from ski patrols at Vail Resorts’ other locations,” Pomerantz LLP cited on Jan. 2.

Seeking Alpha also reported that “too keep the slopes open during the holiday week, Vail Resorts had reassigned patrollers from its Breckenridge, Crested Butte and Keystone resorts to fill in for striking members at Park City”, but that “by transferring patrol from one resort to another, the company risks damaging workforce morale and creating an unsafe environment for guests.”

Pomerantz also said Tuesday that Vail Resorts’ stock price fell $12.29 per share following the report.