Makes you wonder if the State is going with Q/S now on any of their "magical mystery tours" to raise money. My money says no.
-
Welcome to AlpineZone, the largest online community of skiers and snowboarders in the Northeast!
You may have to REGISTER before you can post. Registering is FREE, gets rid of the majority of advertisements, and lets you participate in giveaways and other AlpineZone events!
Big Burke announcement
- Thread starter the original trailboss
- Start date
Makes you wonder if the State is going with Q/S now on any of their "magical mystery tours" to raise money. My money says no.
steamboat1
New member
If the Q's just coughed up the $50,000 they received from each EB-5 investor there wouldn't be a problem.
BenedictGomez
Well-known member
Very good post!
But please allow me to slightly alter it for a tighter correlation to Q-Burke with a few bolded additions.
Step 1: Dream big, really big, no.... really, really big
Step 2: Rope in a few politicians, either corrupt or gullible, and PRETEND you'll create jobs, thus tricking rural populace.
Step 3: over-invest FREE MONEY with ZERO cost of capital in a rigged game
Step 4: promise the world, and then some....
Step 5: limp along pretending things are going great (while the world collapses around you)
Step 6: buyout occurs- SELL for a massive profit based on capital improvements that cost you literally nothing
VTKilarney
Well-known member
I wonder how 40% compared to other Vermont resorts. It would be interesting to see if their snowmaking woes added to this percentage.
VTKilarney
Well-known member
The enigma that is Q Burke deepens.
We've heard reports that they have cancelled all weddings for this year and their representative said that the hotel will not be open until November at the earliest. And yet in today's Caledonian Record, Stenger is quoted saying that he will have the complete funds raised by the end of April and that he can have the hotel open 30 days after that.
We've heard reports that they have cancelled all weddings for this year and their representative said that the hotel will not be open until November at the earliest. And yet in today's Caledonian Record, Stenger is quoted saying that he will have the complete funds raised by the end of April and that he can have the hotel open 30 days after that.
Last edited:
MEtoVTSkier
Active member
That passholder meeting tonight?
VTKilarney
Well-known member
Yes, although they neglected into mention it in today's email. They normally do.
Well let's see here.......I'm thinking Stenger might be out of the loop or something......THEY CANCELED RESERVATIONS FOR JUNE AND ARE TELLING PEOPLE THEY "MAY" BE OPEN IN NOVEMBER!!!!
So the whole "I'll have funds in April and we can open 30 days later thing" seems like a day late and $5.5M dollars short.......they punted bookings for rooms, punted all the people that wanted to get married there this year......you can't punt weddings and then have them re-book....and you can't just conjure up more engaged couples in the area you haven't pissed off by running a "Buy one wedding get your second wedding 50% off" special......
People actually wanted to stay there for NEMBAfest but they punted all those bookings as well.
Such a fustercluk......
So the whole "I'll have funds in April and we can open 30 days later thing" seems like a day late and $5.5M dollars short.......they punted bookings for rooms, punted all the people that wanted to get married there this year......you can't punt weddings and then have them re-book....and you can't just conjure up more engaged couples in the area you haven't pissed off by running a "Buy one wedding get your second wedding 50% off" special......
People actually wanted to stay there for NEMBAfest but they punted all those bookings as well.
Such a fustercluk......
VTKilarney
Well-known member
Interesting passholder meeting. I'll post a recap later.
You're killing me.......
well, it seemed to be more of the same. There is Ary's world (with new sidekick Mike) and there is the universe we all live in.
Hotel: He insists that the Q family and the Q operating company have no ability to get the hotel open. It is all the State's fault and they have to sit and hope that "the state allows it to be open" sometime soon. He "hopes for November, but it could be another year. When asked why what Davis says, and what Stenger says, are very different from what he says he shrugged and told us all that they didn't check with him before issuing statements. He says he is not a stakeholderr, but the stake holders are lying to us. One guy called him on the notion that perhaps hope was not a god strategy and he shrugged.
Employees: He has yet to be able to build a good "team". The old ways and the old employees are responsible for the losses that have gone on forever. Was asked why the food and service at the Tami now sucked and he did acknowledge that he does not have a good staff. The good staff "had moved on" to other local places and he is "happy" that they are making other places successful. You really had to be at this meeting to understand just how surreal that exchange was- he says "I was here for the time when the tami was hopping and the food was great. But those people are gone and I have not replaced them with good people." THEY ARE NOT "GONE" you dingbat- you drove them out.
One person called him out for always referring to things as what "I" have done. He said that once he has a good team that is loyal to him, then he can say "we".
No snowmaking investment this summer- No hotel = no profits= no investment. ALSO- staff this summer will be bare, bare bones. They have to be "lean and mean". Read, they have no $.
Summer- may run mtn biking from mid-burke. Bear den is smaller and cheaper to run than Tami- so may do that.
Here swears that there will be no bankruptcy and they will run better and stronger than ever next ski season- even though there is a reasonable chance the hotel will not open. Good news is that he sure hopes it will open.
Nothing, I mean nothing, to see here folks. New GM this month. Same old pile of poo from top level management.
Hotel: He insists that the Q family and the Q operating company have no ability to get the hotel open. It is all the State's fault and they have to sit and hope that "the state allows it to be open" sometime soon. He "hopes for November, but it could be another year. When asked why what Davis says, and what Stenger says, are very different from what he says he shrugged and told us all that they didn't check with him before issuing statements. He says he is not a stakeholderr, but the stake holders are lying to us. One guy called him on the notion that perhaps hope was not a god strategy and he shrugged.
Employees: He has yet to be able to build a good "team". The old ways and the old employees are responsible for the losses that have gone on forever. Was asked why the food and service at the Tami now sucked and he did acknowledge that he does not have a good staff. The good staff "had moved on" to other local places and he is "happy" that they are making other places successful. You really had to be at this meeting to understand just how surreal that exchange was- he says "I was here for the time when the tami was hopping and the food was great. But those people are gone and I have not replaced them with good people." THEY ARE NOT "GONE" you dingbat- you drove them out.
One person called him out for always referring to things as what "I" have done. He said that once he has a good team that is loyal to him, then he can say "we".
No snowmaking investment this summer- No hotel = no profits= no investment. ALSO- staff this summer will be bare, bare bones. They have to be "lean and mean". Read, they have no $.
Summer- may run mtn biking from mid-burke. Bear den is smaller and cheaper to run than Tami- so may do that.
Here swears that there will be no bankruptcy and they will run better and stronger than ever next ski season- even though there is a reasonable chance the hotel will not open. Good news is that he sure hopes it will open.
Nothing, I mean nothing, to see here folks. New GM this month. Same old pile of poo from top level management.
For a military man he sure likes to pass the blame onto others instead of being accountable. And I love the "it's the state's fault" BS.
Sent from my iPhone using AlpineZone
VTKilarney
Well-known member
Oldtimer summed it up well. Here are some notes I took, with my editorial thoughts in parenthesis.
Jessica, the Marketing Director, opened the meeting by excitedly saying, "Cheers to a great season!" You could hear crickets chirping as people scratched their heads.
Assuming they open next weekend, Burke will have been opened for 81 days this winter. That compares to 113 days each of the last two years.
They had 57 snowmaking days and used 57 million gallons of water, which is more than they used last year.
The new general manager is Mike Parpalardo. (I have no idea if I spelled his last name correctly.) He insisted that he had ski area experience. If you read between the lines his experience is being a skier - and that's it. He is an electrician by trade. He has known the Q family for 17 years and spoke very highly of them. He went so far as to say, "Q is quality and you guys are lucky to have him."
Burke has 100 acres of snowmaking coverage out of 178 acres total. That's 56%. Ary called it 60%. Their website calls it 70%.
There will be NO SNOWMAKING IMPROVEMENTS OVER THE SUMMER. The improvements depended on hotel revenue.
Ary insisted that there will be no bankruptcy filing. (I have no reason to doubt him, but what did people expect him to say?)
The plan is to run mountain bike operations out of the Mid Burke Lodge and to have the Bear Den open, even if that means that there will just be portable toilets at the Sherburne base. (The common theme was that staff is going to be VERY lean this summer, and perhaps next winter.)
Annual losses this year "easily doubled."
It was suggested to Ary that he bridge relations with the local community. I wrote down a couple sentences he said in response to that comment: "I don't hate no community." "If I have a failed company I can't support nobody." "I can't do anything with no money." (I kid you not... those three sentences came from one answer. Ary seemed to think that the only way he can better his relationship with the community is to somehow have money. He didn't understand at all what people were saying.)
Ary insisted that Davis from Peak CM and Stenger are incorrect that more money needs to be raised to pay the contractor in full. Ary insisted that the sole reason that the hotel is not open is because the state is holding money. He said that Stenger obviously hadn't spoken with him, even though a couple of questions later he said that he has no managerial role over the hotel whatsoever other than providing Q Burke staff to operate the hotel. (This is where I think that Ary really blew it. He not so subtly called Davis and Stegner liars. People have a lot more trust in Stenger than they do in Ary, and it went over like a lead balloon.)
They have a developed a plan to operate next year without the hotel being open. (This was a major red flag.)
If the state does not release funds for the hotel, there is no plan B. The hotel will just sit empty. Ary says that EB-5 regulations prevent them from obtaining financing, such as a bridge loan, from any other source other than the investors themselves. Someone asked Ary about why the state says that Quiros and Stenger have invested their own money as well. Ary said that this is absolutely not true. There is no private money. Just EB-5 money. (I can confirm that the state has released documentation saying that the owners have invested money ALONG WITH the EB-5 investors. So either the state is wrong or Ary is wrong.)
When the hotel opens, 50% of profit will go to EB-5 investors. The remaining 50% will go to the ski company.
MY THOUGHTS:
I don't have much faith in the new general manager. He seemed like a nice guy, but he clearly does not have the necessary experience. When he was given basic constructive criticism, all he could say was, "I'm new here," and "I've only been here for four weeks." He took a lot of comments as an attack on him personally, when they were anything but. I think that he means well, but I also think that he is in over his head.
Q Burke is clearly going to be slashing their operating expenses - which will impact staffing.
Ary is not being up front about the hotel. I'm not sure what is going on, but he insisted that it is all the state's fault and that he will do nothing because only the state can get the hotel open.
There can be little doubt that Ary has no intention of really trying to mend his relationship with the community. His answers about this were both odd and confused, which I think left people frustrated.
My overall feeling: What scares me the most is that Ary seemed to be hinting that the hotel may not even be open next winter. I've said for a while now that something major might be going wrong. I didn't leave the meeting feeling less confident about this hunch. I got the feeling that they are slashing expenses and circling the wagons in the hope that what ever is wrong can be straightened out, but that they are conceding that it may not get worked out.
Jessica, the Marketing Director, opened the meeting by excitedly saying, "Cheers to a great season!" You could hear crickets chirping as people scratched their heads.
Assuming they open next weekend, Burke will have been opened for 81 days this winter. That compares to 113 days each of the last two years.
They had 57 snowmaking days and used 57 million gallons of water, which is more than they used last year.
The new general manager is Mike Parpalardo. (I have no idea if I spelled his last name correctly.) He insisted that he had ski area experience. If you read between the lines his experience is being a skier - and that's it. He is an electrician by trade. He has known the Q family for 17 years and spoke very highly of them. He went so far as to say, "Q is quality and you guys are lucky to have him."
Burke has 100 acres of snowmaking coverage out of 178 acres total. That's 56%. Ary called it 60%. Their website calls it 70%.
There will be NO SNOWMAKING IMPROVEMENTS OVER THE SUMMER. The improvements depended on hotel revenue.
Ary insisted that there will be no bankruptcy filing. (I have no reason to doubt him, but what did people expect him to say?)
The plan is to run mountain bike operations out of the Mid Burke Lodge and to have the Bear Den open, even if that means that there will just be portable toilets at the Sherburne base. (The common theme was that staff is going to be VERY lean this summer, and perhaps next winter.)
Annual losses this year "easily doubled."
It was suggested to Ary that he bridge relations with the local community. I wrote down a couple sentences he said in response to that comment: "I don't hate no community." "If I have a failed company I can't support nobody." "I can't do anything with no money." (I kid you not... those three sentences came from one answer. Ary seemed to think that the only way he can better his relationship with the community is to somehow have money. He didn't understand at all what people were saying.)
Ary insisted that Davis from Peak CM and Stenger are incorrect that more money needs to be raised to pay the contractor in full. Ary insisted that the sole reason that the hotel is not open is because the state is holding money. He said that Stenger obviously hadn't spoken with him, even though a couple of questions later he said that he has no managerial role over the hotel whatsoever other than providing Q Burke staff to operate the hotel. (This is where I think that Ary really blew it. He not so subtly called Davis and Stegner liars. People have a lot more trust in Stenger than they do in Ary, and it went over like a lead balloon.)
They have a developed a plan to operate next year without the hotel being open. (This was a major red flag.)
If the state does not release funds for the hotel, there is no plan B. The hotel will just sit empty. Ary says that EB-5 regulations prevent them from obtaining financing, such as a bridge loan, from any other source other than the investors themselves. Someone asked Ary about why the state says that Quiros and Stenger have invested their own money as well. Ary said that this is absolutely not true. There is no private money. Just EB-5 money. (I can confirm that the state has released documentation saying that the owners have invested money ALONG WITH the EB-5 investors. So either the state is wrong or Ary is wrong.)
When the hotel opens, 50% of profit will go to EB-5 investors. The remaining 50% will go to the ski company.
MY THOUGHTS:
I don't have much faith in the new general manager. He seemed like a nice guy, but he clearly does not have the necessary experience. When he was given basic constructive criticism, all he could say was, "I'm new here," and "I've only been here for four weeks." He took a lot of comments as an attack on him personally, when they were anything but. I think that he means well, but I also think that he is in over his head.
Q Burke is clearly going to be slashing their operating expenses - which will impact staffing.
Ary is not being up front about the hotel. I'm not sure what is going on, but he insisted that it is all the state's fault and that he will do nothing because only the state can get the hotel open.
There can be little doubt that Ary has no intention of really trying to mend his relationship with the community. His answers about this were both odd and confused, which I think left people frustrated.
My overall feeling: What scares me the most is that Ary seemed to be hinting that the hotel may not even be open next winter. I've said for a while now that something major might be going wrong. I didn't leave the meeting feeling less confident about this hunch. I got the feeling that they are slashing expenses and circling the wagons in the hope that what ever is wrong can be straightened out, but that they are conceding that it may not get worked out.
VTKilarney
Well-known member
I forgot to mention that there was a Masskier sighting at the meeting! I guess he was able to pull himself away from all of the potential customers at the Bear Path open house to attend the meeting.
I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
Sent from my iPhone using AlpineZone
Sent from my iPhone using AlpineZone
xwhaler
Active member
Did you introduce yourself or just hide behind awkward internet anonymity while continuing your reign of Burke bashing?! Honest question.
VTKilarney
Well-known member
I took time to provide a report to give information for those who were interested. No need to make a gratuitous personal swipe.
Last edited:
xwhaler
Active member
I liked the content. Was well written. When u stay on point and don't get too negative u are a valuable member of AZ in my book
Similar threads
