By Nicholas G. Miller
Vail Resorts sold fewer passes heading into the peak ski season, but its chief executive officer said that elements of its turnaround strategy to draw skiers back are beginning to deliver results.
The operator of ski resorts, including Vail Mountain, Whistler Blackcomb and Stowe, on Wednesday said that the number of ski passes it sold for the upcoming season fell 2% through Dec. 5 from a year ago. Overall revenue from pass sales, however, rose 3%, driven by a 7% price increase.
Shares rose 1.1% to $143.18 in after-hours trading.
CEO Rob Katz said that the company is seeing initial signs of a pick-up in demand on its marketing investments and price offerings. Sales, as compared with the prior year, picked up after Labor Day, which Katz attributed partially to shifts in the company's move to increase spending on social media and influencer advertising.
Vail has also rolled out promotions this year to drive single-day ticket sales and has lowered lift ticket prices at some resorts. This week, Vail revealed a new promotion that gives additional discounts to people who purchase their tickets four weeks in advance.
Katz, who first served as CEO of the company for 15 years before stepping down in 2021, returned earlier this year with a charge of bringing skiers back to Vail's resorts. Last winter, visits to Vail's North American resorts declined, despite the number of U.S. skiers overall increasing.
In September, Katz said the company has failed to keep pace with shifting consumer behavior and in particular, has gone too far in neglecting its walk-up ticket strategy in favor of focusing on its season pass. Passholders now make up 75% of visits to the company's resorts. The all-access Epic Pass went off sale in early December.
The Epic Pass, which gives customers unlimited access to all of its resorts, provides the company with a more consistent revenue stream than single-day tickets, which are often dependent on weather. But sales volume of Epic Passes has fallen and more skiers are flocking to smaller mountains or even travelling to mountains abroad.
Katz previously warned investors that the company expects visits to be down slightly this season compared with last year, mainly due to lower Epic Pass sales.
Overall for the quarter ended Oct. 31, Vail reported a loss of $186.8 million, or $5.20 a share, compared with a loss of $173.3 million, or $4.62 a share, in the year prior. Analysts expected a loss of $5.16 a share, according to FactSet.
Net revenue rose to $271 million from $260.3 million the year before. Wall Street expected $277.6 million.
The company reiterated its previous fiscal year net income guidance of $201 million to $276 million. Analysts are expecting $246.4 million.
Write to Nicholas G. Miller at nicholas.miller@wsj.com.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 10, 2025 18:33 ET (23:33 GMT)
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