The Wall St. Journal shares that Vail Resorts relies heavily on its annual ski pass, called the Epic Pass, to steer its success. The pass, which the company launched in 2008 and now costs $982, gives the holder a few benefits, including the ability to ski at any of Vail’s 42  mountains, save 20% off rentals, and more. The company sells about 2.3m passes a year, and about 75% of visitors use the pass. One has to buy the pass before the season.

The resort raises the price of lift tickets and seeks to drive people to the passes. Yet, the passes keep increasing, too. Last year the pass increased by 8%.  

I'd not thought of our software service like a ski pass, but now I do. What if we encouraged customers to buy our software bundles before the 'season' (instead of year round)? What if, like Vail's pass, our bundle pass included a discount on services? 

Due to this Vail article, we updated our software bundle offering.  We now offer our bundles during a  four-week window in November and December (not all year round).  We  added to these bundles a new perk which is a discount on our services.

Article details:

• Vail’s net profit in 2024 was nearly $250m.
• Revenue nearly $3b in 2024.
• Vail acquires resorts and gets more pass holders.  And boxes out competition.
• Author compares the pass to Amazon Prime subscription.
• Vail Resorts went public in 1997.
• The company spent $1.9b in the past decade to buy 33 resorts.
• Park City is its biggest resort in the U.S.
• Vail will spend $254m on upgrading its 42 resorts this year.  
   

Trivia: There is an "Indy Pass," which lets skiers visit mountains from different indie ski resorts.  We ❤️ indie offerings.

We help indie stores hit the slopes and catch the powder! Unlike Vail, our e-commerce season goes all year long. 

Read the full WSJ article: 

https://www.wsj.com/business/vail-resorts-epic-pass-multiresort-ikon-40ae7205?st=xtY8B2&reflink=mobilewebshare_permalink