Vail Resorts Is Not Talisker

Vail Resorts reported their Second Quarter results yesterday earnings rose 32% for the second quarter, compared to the same time last year. Net Income was $115 million for the quarter, representing a 95% increase over the last year. BAM.

Vail is not Talisker. That’s pretty obvious.

Other items to note from their press release:

• Vail CEO Rob Katz said, “We continue to see strong momentum in our resort real estate markets with solid demand for our remaining condominium inventory and increasing interest in ur development parcels.”
• The company reaffirmed it is planning on spending $50 million on its Park City resorts and plans on connecting them (as reported on KPCW).
• CEO Katz said, “Our investment in Utah will be one of the most transformative ever undertaken in the ski industry and we are pleased with the progress of the local approval process for those projects.” Uhh… take that word “transformative” how you will. We’re not sure if that’s good or bad. Didn’t Walt Disney say something like that about Orlando in 1963?
• Total lift revenue across Vail’s 9 resorts (open this season) was up 8%.
• Ski school revenue was up 2.1% at the 9 resorts.
• Total skier visits were down 0.3% at the 9 resorts.

As is usually the case, the question segment of their earnings call sheds light on subjects:

• A person of Bank of America asked about the impact Tahoe was having on their earnings. CEO Katz said that Colorado had done better than expected. Utah was what was expected. California was having issues.
• Credit Suisse asked whether the 5% increase in early season pass price given the weakness in Utah and Tahoe would work. Katz Said, “We have factored in all these things….When you think about Park City and Canyons the investments we are going to make into both of those resorts, obviously connecting them is dramatic improvement in the guest experience.”
• When asked by Barclays Bank about approvals for connecting PCMR to Canyons, Katz complimented the process our local entities are using and says he doesn’t forsee any issues in the approvals required to connect the resorts.