Big Burke announcement

[River19]

VTK -Sorry to hear about the F&B aspect. I'm not too surprised given that something budgetary had to give and I would much rather see them invest in the product on the slopes than having great food but no terrain open.

Any word from the Tammarack? I think I heard a couple friends were going to be working there but I noticed no one has mentioned the 'rack at all. Granted the lower mountain hasn't been open as long as the mid/upper.

How are people viewing the purchase of the new to them groomer? Investment make sense or should they have possibly thrown some coin to F&B? Just looking for an opinion or 12....

I 100% agree it is night and day vibe around town these days.....Mother Nature helped a ton but Goldberg/Leisure have been doing their part as well.

Thanks

 

[VTKilarney]

Here is my take - and it's only a guess.

I think that they are doing whatever they can do to increase revenues this year under the assumption that a multiple of revenue is going to drive the purchase price. With that in mind, I think that they see the hotel as being the biggest opportunity for increasing revenue. And let's face it - a potential purchaser is going to have to believe in the viability of the hotel. The ski area without the hotel is a poor investment to say the least.

My gut feeling is that the F&B missteps are a combination of not having the right management on board, and trying to cut corners hoping that nobody would notice. One real problem with the current setup is that F&B is very schizophrenic. For a small scale operation, you have three cafeterias, three bars/pubs, and a full service restaurant. That is just not efficient.

This is why it's so frustrating to see how dinky the Mid-Burke cafeteria is. It doesn't make it easy to consolidate into that space.

If they want repeat hotel business, they definitely need to up their F&B game. I'm confident that they can get there with different F&B management. Any current manager who allowed a three day old sandwich to be sold just doesn't deserve their job. Harsh, maybe, but true.

As for the new groomer... I really wasn't expecting that. I wonder if there was a need that they haven't mentioned - such as a lease coming to an end or some mechanical problems with existing stock. It is definitely not an expense that most visitors will notice that much. But it definitely shows that they are serious about making this work, and for that I am very thankful and optimistic.

One difference that I hadn't mentioned is snowmaking. It is still an anemic system compared to most ski areas, but they have definitely figured out how to get the system to make more snow than under the Quiros regime. I give them a lot of credit for upping their game in that department. Especially when they have a huge arrears with the electric company. The Caledonian Record said that it was about $400,000. The payments they have promised have not materialized.

My uneducated guess is that they really need to get the resort sold this year. The hotel didn't look that busy this weekend, which suggests that the profitability of the hotel's winter season is going to boil down to the holidays. That is not surprising for a place like Burke. They have LOTS of creditors, and they can only kick that can down the road for so long.

I believe, however, that current management is doing absolutely everything they can do - and that they know what they are doing.

 

[River19]

I believe, however, that current management is doing absolutely everything they can do - and that they know what they are doing.

Something no one would have ever said in the past couple years right? So that is a very good thing.

Hopefully Mother Nature keeps helping....this week's warmup is a bummer......

 

[thetrailboss]

Burke used to have three good grooming machines. My understanding was that one broke and Q refused to fix it.

I would imagine that this machine, with a number on it, is a leased unit or a demo. They had a demo last year too.

 

[Smellytele]

https://www.groupon.com/deals/ga-bk-burke-mountain-hotel-conference-center
10% off with code SALE3

 

[BenedictGomez]

Burke used to have three good grooming machines. My understanding was that one broke and Q refused to fix it.

Did they ever spend money on anything not directly required by more incoming funds (i.e. EB-5)?

 

[skimagic]

I cant make sense of the Groupon deal, it says "[FONT=OpenSans, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Tahoma, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif]One day of access to ski for each night stayed." I assume that means one ski pass per night? or two passes? Or do i have access to ski, but not the pass?[/FONT]

[FONT=OpenSans, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Tahoma, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif]How is the hotel doing? 116 rooms seems pretty tough to fill, even on a holiday. [/FONT]

 

[Smellytele]

I cant make sense of the Groupon deal, it says "One day of access to ski for each night stayed." I assume that means one ski pass per night? or two passes? Or do i have access to ski, but not the pass?

How is the hotel doing? 116 rooms seems pretty tough to fill, even on a holiday.

I asked waiting for response?

 

[thetrailboss]

Did they ever spend money on anything not directly required by more incoming funds (i.e. EB-5)?

So BEFORE Q they ALWAYS invested what little they had in the skiing product.

After Q, it was a shit show.

 

[VTKilarney]

So BEFORE Q they ALWAYS invested what little they had in the skiing product.

After Q, it was a shit show.

That could be misinterpreted, even though I understand your intent. A better way to say it would be, "During Q." Current management is "after Q" and they are doing a much better job.

 

[VTKilarney]

How is the hotel doing? 116 rooms seems pretty tough to fill, even on a holiday. [/FONT]

The fact that they have put up discounted rooms on Groupon is not a great sign. There are still rooms for MLK weekend, even rather heavily discounted Groupon rooms. And with a 15 day cancellation window it's not likely because people cancelled due to weather. Although, I doubt that many late-bookers waiting to see the weather wound up booking.

On the other hand, they seemed to do okay during Christmas. I'm not sure how many nights they were sold out, but there was definitely some decent business.

 

[crank]

We stayed there 12/28 - 12/30. We had reservations for 28th & 29th and booked a third night on the morning of the 29th. So the hotel was not yet full. They eventually did sell out all rooms for the 30th and 31st we heard.

Our stay was at the promotional rate of $229. per night with 2 lift tix.

 

[River19]

MLK weekend is tough.........with most ski areas reaping the benefit of a solid kick in the ass from Mother Nature there are a lot of choices...all with decent skiing conditions. It feels like it is coming down to promotions......everyone will be discounting to get people on the mountains......or am I misreading that?

I've been wrong before.......twice.....

 

[thetrailboss]

Nice story:

http://www.wcax.com/story/34228930/us-ski-team-affiliation-a-boon-for-burke-mountain-community

 

[wtcobb]

Burke was looking preeeetty nice last night. Guns going on Dipper. The woods looked tasty, just not by headlamp.

 

[VTKilarney]

Conditions were fantastic today.

 

[thetrailboss]

For those that will be around on February 25th, this is shaping up to be a nice event. The proceeds are going to the Poma/Race Project, Kingdom Kids, and the Friends of Burke Mountain.

https://www.facebook.com/events/398018890559142

 

[VTKilarney]

From News 7:
At around 5:30 Burke Fire and Rescue responded to a flood on the ground floor at the Burke Mountain Hotel. News 7 was on the scene and the building appeared to be evacuated and no one was allowed to enter the premises. We will have more updates as they come.

UPDATE: The hotel has been shut down for the night and there are crews inside cleaning. It is expected to be operational by morning.

 

[thetrailboss]

From News 7:
At around 5:30 Burke Fire and Rescue responded to a flood on the ground floor at the Burke Mountain Hotel. News 7 was on the scene and the building appeared to be evacuated and no one was allowed to enter the premises. We will have more updates as they come.

UPDATE: The hotel has been shut down for the night and there are crews inside cleaning. It is expected to be operational by morning.

 

[from_the_NEK]

This morning was really good at Burke...

Some random shots of people skiing the lift line on the first couple of chair rides:


Burke Powder day-32 by Tim_NEK, on Flickr


Burke Powder day-34 by Tim_NEK, on Flickr


Burke Powder day-35 by Tim_NEK, on Flickr


Burke Powder day-37 by Tim_NEK, on Flickr


Burke Powder day-40 by Tim_NEK, on Flickr


And a couple more of some friends:


Burke Powder day-53 by Tim_NEK, on Flickr


Burke Powder day-63 by Tim_NEK, on Flickr