VAIL SUCKS

[chuckstah]

I’ll believe it when I read reports from employees or read the hiring ads next fall. Vail was claiming they instituted a $15/hr minimum for this season but they were offering $14 in NH and a reported $12 in PA.

Yep, that was complete bullshit. They only offered $15 at resorts they cared about. Or in their words "destination resorts". Who the fuck made that decision?? Screw New Hampshire....

 

[Edd]

Vail: We thought we were doing fine with HR, but it turns out we should hire another 66 employees to cover HR tasks.

That’s quite a miscalculation.

 

[Kingslug20]

We shall see...its a start..

 

[elks]

I’ll believe it when I read reports from employees or read the hiring ads next fall. Vail was claiming they instituted a $15/hr minimum for this season but they were offering $14 in NH and a reported $12 in PA.

That was clearly communicated to NH employees and compared to what Peaks was paying was more than a 50% increase in pay. Add this new raise and a ski instructor or liftie is now making well over 150% more in starting pay compared to Peaks.

 

[snoseek]

I'm willing to bet this solves 80 percent of the problems in nh. Positions will be filled and they may even get some veterans back. It really is all about the money.

 

[elks]

I'm willing to bet this solves 80 percent of the problems in nh. Positions will be filled and they may even get some veterans back. It really is all about the money.

When you think of the other substantial benefits Vail employees get beyond this new starting pay rate that's going to put stress on other areas to compete for labor. I agree that it will likely help with staffing issues.

 

[Smellytele]

Killwhat is a vail mole.

 

[elks]

Killwhat is a vail mole.

LOL. As I said before I work (happily and more so under Vail than Peaks management) in ski instruction for Crotched.

 

[drjeff]

When you think of the other substantial benefits Vail employees get beyond this new starting pay rate that's going to put stress on other areas to compete for labor. I agree that it will likely help with staffing issues.

The next likely operational challenge that Vail will likely have to address at somepoint, is while for many within the company who have been there for a while and worked their way up a bit, there is a very good set of pathways for those who aspire to make the ski industry their full time career, and that certainly can be a great thing. On the flipside, especially with the acquistion of the Peak properties, and now it seems with the Seven Springs area resorts as well, there certainly is a wealth of area specific institutional knowledge, and often the staff trust and "loyalty" that various managers have/had, that Vail chose to let go, and then replace with someone they (Vail) were looking to step up into their 1st "big" role, and the reality that giving someone the opportunity at their 1st "big" role within the company, where in many cases they had never even been to that resort prior to being given that role, may have been to aggressive a stance on the employee development and promotions side of things, especially in the times of transition that Vail coming in brings.

In hindsight, I would hope that the folks in the boardroom out in Broomfield, may get that putting someone into a position where they both have to "learn" the various nuances of a resort as well as "learn" what being a GM is like at the same time, even if COVID issues weren't in play as well, may of been a bit too much and had a negative effect on the resort experience for both guests and employees.

It will be interesting to see what things are like say a year from now, especially if the '22-'23 season can operate even more "normally" than the '21-'22 season has

 

[snoseek]

LOL. As I said before I work (happily and more so under Vail than Peaks management) in ski instruction for Crotched.

I worked for vail out west for quite a few years and aside from the shit pay I had good bosses until the end and a super good pm schedule. It wasn't a horrible job although the overtime could be a bit much during peak times. I wonder what my time is worth to them now....

 

[KustyTheKlown]

Wow...damn this solves alot of problems. Pair that with a reasonable commitment to operate early and all season and I'm potentially giving them money after a one year break.

lol you're cute.

 

[drjeff]

New GM for Mount Snow announced today.

Sounds like he could be a very good fit for the mountain based on his career experience and the needs of Mount Snow, especially ahead of a big Summer of lift installations that will likely change how traffic flow around the mountain!

"
Brian Suhadolc, currently Vice President of Mountain Operations at Vail Mountain, will be the next General Manager of Mount Snow in Vermont. Brian will succeed Tracy Bartels who was recently appointed as Vice President of Maintenance, Planning & Projects effective April 1. Brian will continue in his role at Vail Mountain until a transition plan unfolds later in the spring.
Brian has had a long history in the ski industry, leading operations for Vail Mountain since 2020 and preceded by a progression through multiple leadership roles over 28 years at Park City Mountain. During his time at Park City, Brian played a critical role in executing the $50 million capital project to connect Park City Mountain Resort and Canyons Resort, High Meadow Park and the Over and Out lift. In his tenure at Vail, Brian was instrumental in leading the optimization of the recent multi-million dollar snowmaking investment to result in the earliest opening in the history of Vail Mountain. Brian is one of the strongest leaders across our mountains having served as the enterprise operations leader of the Mountain Operations Leadership Team (MOLT) and the leader of the Operational Reliability workstream for the Lift Optimization Project to achieve dramatic improvements in lift capacity all across the Company. Brian has been a valued member of Vail Mountain Senior Leadership Team and has helped develop countless new leaders throughout his tenure at Vail, Park City and his enterprise leadership roles.
Brian is a New Jersey native and excited to return to the Northeast with his wife where skiing began for him in his youth."

 

[ThatGuy]

Lets hope it works out for the mountain.
Love or hate Vail if you ski at Mount Snow there will be two new, much needed lifts that we will be riding for a long time to come.

 

[deadheadskier]

I think constantly shuffling the deck on leadership positions with the company is just as bad as line level staffing problems. Consistent leadership matters

 

[jimmywilson69]

yeah it seems like they are constantly moving people around. When vail took over Roundtop the hired a new GM. He was a local guy who previously ran the biggest Snowtime resort Whitetail. He did a great job, but was just recently "promoted" to take over all 3 of the 7 Springs resorts. I suspect/hope he'll have "mountain specific" managers as 7 Springs is a huge resort with a hotel, and numerous resorty amenities, hidden valley not quite as large, but has a bunch of similar amenities. If vail things he's going to efficiently run 3 ski resorts then they are as dumb as the 310 pages of discussion have made them seem. I just don't understand not wanting to keep the folks running these mountains in their position at least for the first year or 2 before "installing" one of their corporate plants.

I'm hopeful the new Roundtop GM will continue to let the mountain manager (who has 25+ years of experience) run the mountain as it needs to be.

 

[drjeff]

Lets hope it works out for the mountain.
Love or hate Vail if you ski at Mount Snow there will be two new, much needed lifts that we will be riding for a long time to come.

Purely biased for my home mountain, but I am excited to be getting a GM who is a big time mtn ops guy, from some BIG resort past jobs and projects at those resorts, coming in at a time when plenty of mtn ops projects will be happening

 

[Wolfman]

Well, I've worked for vail in NH for 2 seasons now and in that time my hourly went from 10 to 16, and I hear from the guys who worked for Peak the money is significantly better now than it was then. I'm pretty sure the 20/hr figure is legit, and I hope it attracts some real staff numbers. That could start to turn things around I'd think.

 

[jimmywilson69]

That is a good perspective Dr J. Again these new Vail folks from the west need to trust the local knowledge, if they haven't run it all off. They need to understand that operating a resort in the east has its own challenges and expectations than a destination resort in the west.

 

[2Planker]

Attitash

Purely biased for my home mountain, but I am excited to be getting a GM who is a big time mtn ops guy, from some BIG resort past jobs and projects at those resorts, coming in at a time when plenty of mtn ops projects will be happening

Good for you guys
meanwhile in the MWV we get Food & Bev Managers who know nothing about Mt. Operations. Not that Lifts, & Snomaking are important

Heard they just lost 50% of their groomers. That would be 1 person OR 1 groomer

 

[ThatGuy]

Heard they just lost 50% of their groomers. That would be 1 person

He sacrificed himself and sent half of his body in a box to Broomfield so they know how bad they messed up. Other half to be converted into Robogroomer.