Shame on me for believing that Vail Resorts was doing the ethical thing when it comes to season pass protection for next year. All the Epic Pass advertisements proudly claim that “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.”
However, reading the fine print reveals the greedy truth. The “core season” is defined as Thanksgiving through Easter, which is 160 days. If you ski or ride seven or more days during this time and then the resorts close for pandemic reasons, you will receive zero refund and zero credit.
Many public health experts believe another wave of COVID-19 is likely this coming fall/winter. Destination ski resort communities like Summit and Eagle counties start to see a large influx of visitors beginning around Thanksgiving. It is fairly easy to envision a scenario where our next big outbreak starts a few weeks after the busy Thanksgiving period. For many locals, skiing seven days would take only a week or two. Then the governor shuts down ski areas again in mid-December, only 10% into the “core season.” Sorry, no refund for you! Hope you enjoyed your $140 days skiing a handful of early season groomers!
It would be much more compassionate and ethical for Vail Resorts for provide pandemic refunds based on percentage of the season lost. We buy season passes for the season. As low-income paycheck to paycheck locals, a season pass purchase is only economical once we hit 20-30 or more days on the hill. Given the class-action lawsuit against Vail Resorts for lost 2019-20 season pass value, “Epic Coverage” seems less like protection for their customers’ pass purchases and more like legally binding protection against future lawsuits and lost profits.
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