One investment broker asked how the resort will handle limited ticket sales during peak periods. For example, Vail is not selling lift tickets for Dec. Vail Resorts this week ended sales of its 2021-22 Epic Passes and has begun limiting day lift tickets during peak holiday times. That puts the value of the Pennsylvania ski areas around 8.3-times earnings, which is in line with historic valuations of ski areas. Vail Resorts told investors it expected the new resorts and the hotel to generate about $15 million in earnings a year. “This is very consistent for with our strategy for acquisitions,” Lynch said. is part of the appeal for Vail Resorts, which in 2019 spent $264 million for 17 Peak Resorts ski areas in the East and Midwest. Lynch said the resorts’ proximity to major metropolitan areas like Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Baltimore and Washington D.C. The company’s long term goal is to have 75% of its ticket ticket revenue come from skiers buying passes and tickets long before they arrive at the ski areas. The number of destination skiers - visitors from afar who travel to Vail Resorts ski areas for vacations - buying Epic Passes has nearly doubled in the past two years. “We significantly outperformed our original expectations for pass sales,” Lynch said in her first earning calls with investors as CEO. Vail Resorts’ new chief executive Kirsten Lynch told investors Thursday that while there was strong growth in number of skiers renewing their passes for the season, there was “significantly stronger” growth in the number of new pass buyers, including skiers who previously purchased lift tickets and guests who had never purchased anything from Vail Resorts. Pass sales for 2021-22 are up 76% compared to the 2019-2020 season. The number of season passes the company sold climbed 47% for the 2021-22 season compared to the previous season and revenue from those pass sales climbed 21%. But the first quarter report gives investors a glimpse into the coming season.

Epic ski pass