FRISCO — Vail Resorts has moved its marketing employees from Summit and Eagle counties to Broomfield, where Vail’s headquarters is located.
“As part of Vail Resorts’ marketing transformation, product marketing roles — including those in ski school, hospitality and retail/rental — are being centralized to the company’s Broomfield headquarters so that we can take a best-in-class approach across the organization to better serve our guests, our employees and our unique, individual resorts,” Vail Resorts communications director Liz Biebl wrote in an email.
Biebl said the decision to move marketing employees to the Broomfield headquarters creates a more “centralized approach” as some corporate marketing functions are located in the Broomfield office along with other departments such as customer service, investor relations and corporate communications.
The move has led to the layoffs of local employees, but it is unclear whether the layoffs are related to an unwillingness to relocate, a lack of necessity for current employees or a combination of the two. Vail Resorts would not specify the number of people impacted.
“While we know that a loss of certain roles in our resort communities will be difficult in the near term, we also know that the transformation of our corporate functions is necessary to support our growing company and to continue providing stability for our stakeholders,” Biebl wrote.
Biebl did say that employees whose jobs are being relocated or eliminated are encouraged to apply for the new jobs in Broomfield.
“All impacted staff are eligible to apply for the centralized roles or other open roles within Vail Resorts. Impacted staff have been encouraged to discuss with their manager what options may be the best given their own individual circumstances,” Biebl wrote.
The move appears to be part of a larger pattern at Vail Resorts to centralize as much of its staff as possible.
On Aug. 23, Vail Resorts announced leadership changes that would send current chief operating officers from mountains in Utah, Vermont and Canada to Broomfield to oversee various regions of the resort company’s properties. The news release also announced that Keystone Resort general manager Geoff Buchheister would become the chief operating officer of Whistler Blackcomb.