Vail Resorts plans wage cuts in face of declining visits - Denver Business Journal:

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The pay cuts, which will take effect at or near the end of the currenwinter season, will be implemented on a slidinb scale, from 2.5 percent for seasona l employees to 10 perceng for executives. It will be offse t partially by a grantingof stock-based incentived compensation for all full-time employees, ranging from 1.5 percent to 7.5 percent of salaries. Resort-related earningds fell 8.3 percent from last year a $9.6 million decline — as out-of-state and overnightt visitors were less likely to come tothe company’e five mountain resort properties and to spend less money when they did show up.
The Broomfield-basefd company (NYSE: MTN) operates the Vail, Keystone and Beaver Creek winter resorts in Colorad and Heavenly Mountain Resort onthe California-Nevadz border. “Our second quarter resorrt segment results, which encompass the first part of theski season, reflec the impact of the severe downturn in the Vail Resorts CEO Rob Katz said in a Katz, who announced he will receivs no salary for one year and then take a 15 perceng pay cut, added that the February through Aprill period, which is when Vail Resorts typically gets its most could show bigger revenue declines.
“We do expect that for the remainded of the fiscal year the trends of our results to the priofr year will worsen from the results realizedd in thesecond quarter,” he said. “This is due primarilyg to the third quarter bein g a historically larger revenue quarter than the second quarter with he continuinfg negative trends having agreaterf impact.” From November through lift-ticket revenue fell $6.8 million or 5.1 percent, whiles revenues for the company’s ancillary businesses droppeed even more. Ski school revenue decreased 17.6 percent, dining revenue fell 11.4 percent and retailk and rental revenue droppedby 11.3 Lodging revenue rose by $6.8 million or 18.
2 percent, due largely to the opening of the Arrabelles resort in Vail and the acquisitionn of the Colorado Mountai Express airport shuttle service. Without those two factors, lodgin segment revenue would have decreasedby 13.2 percent as both destinationj visitors and group-room nightse declined, Katz said. One bright spot in the second-quarter fiscal report was an 18.2 increase in season-pasz revenue, leading to a 0.9 percent increase in skier visitsat Vail’s four Colorado Because of that, the percentage of in-statde visitors schussing down the slopes increased from 41 percen to 48 percent, Katz reported.
In response, the company announceds it would offer its EpicSeason Pass, allowingv unlimited visits to the four sitews as well as Arapahoe for the same $579 pricde next year as it charged this year. The offer is good through April 9, and purchasers must put down onlya $49 down with the balance due in September, Katz said. Vail Resorts also announcex that Katz has been named chairmabn ofthe company’s board of directors.