Tahoe’s 3 biggest ski resorts to give credit-based refunds as coronavirus ends season
Vail Resorts, which operates the Heavenly, Northstar and Kirkwood ski resorts in the Lake Tahoe area, on Monday announced a plan to credit pass holders toward next season’s pass based on the number of days they were able to hit the slopes this past season.
Season pass holders for 2019-20 will be eligible for credits ranging from 20 percent to 80 percent of their value toward the purchase of a 2020-21 season pass of equal or greater value, Vail said in a news release.
All pass holders will get a minimum credit of 20 percent, “based on the resort closures in mid-March impacting about 20 percent of the core season,” the news release said. A maximum credit of 80 percent will be given to those who purchased a season pass but did not use it at all. Those who used their pass less than five days during the season will get somewhere between the two amounts.
Those who had days remaining on their 2019-20 Epic Day Pass will receive credit for each unused day, up to 80 percent of the price paid. The Epic Pass is the company’s premier season pass available at its trio of Tahoe-area resorts.
Vail also says that while it currently anticipates a normal schedule for the 2020-21 season, it will also expand its pass protection benefits, including cash refunds, to all levels via its newly launched “Epic Coverage” system.
The coverage comes free with all season passes and “completely replaces the need to purchase pass insurance, which can cost up to $60 for other passes,” the news release says. It provides refunds for those who suffer an eligible injury, job loss or other personal experience that prevents them from using their pass.
“Epic Coverage also provides a refund for certain resort closures, including for events like COVID-19, giving you a refund for any portion of the season that is lost,” the news release continued.
Vail’s statement added that the resorts “capped our credits at 80 percent because our mountains were open and operating for the majority of the season and our passes could be used during that time.”
“What became clear is that to address last season, a one-sized-fits-all approach would not work,” Kirsten Lynch, Vail Resorts’ chief marketing officer, said in an emailed statement. “That is why we are providing our season pass holders credits based on the number of days they were able to use their pass.”
In early April, Vail CEO Rob Katz in a letter to employees announced company-wide furloughs for at least one to two months, and that he was giving up his own salary for the next six months due to profit losses.
Katz said the early closure will cost the company between $180 million to $200 million in lost profitability in its third quarter ending in April.
Employees are furloughed without pay, but will keep their full health benefits, with the company paying all premiums, Katz said.
Vail Resorts’ subsidiaries operate 12 mountain resorts and three urban ski areas, including facilities in Colorado, Utah, Canada and Australia as well as the three biggest resorts in the Lake Tahoe area.
All of them shut down in mid-March due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has led to closures of countless businesses in a widespread effort to curb the spread of COVID-19, the deadly disease caused by the virus. Tahoe-area resorts started closing a few days before California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a mandatory stay-at-home order that forced all non-essential businesses to close.
More than 200,000 had died worldwide as of Monday morning from COVID-19, about 55,000 of them in the United States.
This story was originally published April 27, 2020 at 9:16 AM with the headline "Tahoe’s 3 biggest ski resorts to give credit-based refunds as coronavirus ends season."
