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21-22 Vail/Stevens Pass Monitoring reports
- watsonskipsmith
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- Teleskichica
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4 years 1 month ago - 4 years 1 month ago #235583
by Teleskichica
Replied by Teleskichica on topic 21-22 Vail/Stevens Pass Monitoring reports
Whelp, just going to throw this idea out there about SP and all the other small mountains bought up by VR, partially opened, and flailing:
So I'm beginning to wonder about all these Vail acquisitions.
I wonder if it is similar to hospitals or grocery stores in rural places being bought up, limped along a bit, and then shut down because they aren't profitable to run. The ownership brings equity to their books, there is usually some kind of inflow of cash - like the many, many pass buyers, and the huge increase in stock value, and the equity - and then once eviscerated they are shed. Meanwhile the bigger resorts become more and more inaccessible or cater to a specifically profitable crowd. It's like cutting ICU beds and ERs or rural hospitals while opening elective surgery centers (a tactic that was working brilliantly until Covid)...
Or what about the grocery mergers. Grocery stores aren't big money makers unless they are Whole Foods or New Seasons but the buildings/land are worth something. We have a grocery store here in Tacoma that was bought and then immediately closed for the last decade because it was cheaper to make property payments and wait for the appreciation in value of the property than run the store in a poor neighborhood. It wasn't even "worth it" to the mega parent company to lease the building to another entity so someone else could use it. So it sits (as assets/equity on their books) waiting for the neighborhood to further gentrify or??
Private equity investment is happening all around us. Friends at a gathering this past weekend were talking about hailing an Uber home and then mentioned how Google maps directed their driver onto the most harrowing icy or impassable roads. Not to mention how very, very seemingly arbitrarily expensive an Uber is now and that cost doesn't even go the the driver but to the company (a percentage of tips go to the driver). Once upon a time the (now maligned) taxi driver was a driving, living, breathing Thomas Guide who knew every route through the city. You paid a fixed rate and tipped generously to the driver when they successfully and safely delivered you to your destination. Now we pay for an app that utilizes a human to get the job done. Lift lines and chairs now run by apps... or maybe a ski patroller if you are lucky.
Since Vail (like Uber) is also heavily funded by private equity groups such as Apollo Ski Company this article from 2017 peaked my interest: www.powder.com/stories/deer-valley-meet-...new-corporate-owner/ Kind of a glimpse into the future. I don't think my musings are all that far off.
Vail blames Covid for is current closures and employee issues but Covid is a scapegoat. Low wages, no benefits, no local housing - don't even get free food or powder run on your break anymore. I think they can blame greed for their issues.
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Meanwhile: SOLIDARITY
www.sltrib.com/news/2022/01/11/vail-resorts-park-city/ Passholders and guests are already standing in line; maybe we can team up with the employees and demand more from the private equity firms fleecing us.
No, we will not run(or pay for) your resorts while you run to the bank with your profits and run us into the ground!
This is an opportunistic moment and I hope that the employees of all locations AND THE PATRONS organize/support each other in solidarity. The long-term gain far outweighs the one month of rent IF IF IF you are an employee who can stick it out through April (the terms of the bonus Vail is offering). Even if you think you are that employee who will hold on through April, I still say you are far better off holding a picket sign.
So I'm beginning to wonder about all these Vail acquisitions.
I wonder if it is similar to hospitals or grocery stores in rural places being bought up, limped along a bit, and then shut down because they aren't profitable to run. The ownership brings equity to their books, there is usually some kind of inflow of cash - like the many, many pass buyers, and the huge increase in stock value, and the equity - and then once eviscerated they are shed. Meanwhile the bigger resorts become more and more inaccessible or cater to a specifically profitable crowd. It's like cutting ICU beds and ERs or rural hospitals while opening elective surgery centers (a tactic that was working brilliantly until Covid)...
Or what about the grocery mergers. Grocery stores aren't big money makers unless they are Whole Foods or New Seasons but the buildings/land are worth something. We have a grocery store here in Tacoma that was bought and then immediately closed for the last decade because it was cheaper to make property payments and wait for the appreciation in value of the property than run the store in a poor neighborhood. It wasn't even "worth it" to the mega parent company to lease the building to another entity so someone else could use it. So it sits (as assets/equity on their books) waiting for the neighborhood to further gentrify or??
Private equity investment is happening all around us. Friends at a gathering this past weekend were talking about hailing an Uber home and then mentioned how Google maps directed their driver onto the most harrowing icy or impassable roads. Not to mention how very, very seemingly arbitrarily expensive an Uber is now and that cost doesn't even go the the driver but to the company (a percentage of tips go to the driver). Once upon a time the (now maligned) taxi driver was a driving, living, breathing Thomas Guide who knew every route through the city. You paid a fixed rate and tipped generously to the driver when they successfully and safely delivered you to your destination. Now we pay for an app that utilizes a human to get the job done. Lift lines and chairs now run by apps... or maybe a ski patroller if you are lucky.
Since Vail (like Uber) is also heavily funded by private equity groups such as Apollo Ski Company this article from 2017 peaked my interest: www.powder.com/stories/deer-valley-meet-...new-corporate-owner/ Kind of a glimpse into the future. I don't think my musings are all that far off.
Vail blames Covid for is current closures and employee issues but Covid is a scapegoat. Low wages, no benefits, no local housing - don't even get free food or powder run on your break anymore. I think they can blame greed for their issues.
---
Meanwhile: SOLIDARITY
www.sltrib.com/news/2022/01/11/vail-resorts-park-city/ Passholders and guests are already standing in line; maybe we can team up with the employees and demand more from the private equity firms fleecing us.
No, we will not run(or pay for) your resorts while you run to the bank with your profits and run us into the ground!
This is an opportunistic moment and I hope that the employees of all locations AND THE PATRONS organize/support each other in solidarity. The long-term gain far outweighs the one month of rent IF IF IF you are an employee who can stick it out through April (the terms of the bonus Vail is offering). Even if you think you are that employee who will hold on through April, I still say you are far better off holding a picket sign.
Last edit: 4 years 1 month ago by Teleskichica. Reason: punctuation
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