Do Yourself A Favor - Mountain Operations Vail Resorts Employee Review

1.0
Oct 24, 2018
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

a free/subsidized ski pass to some of the most crowded and closed-minded resorts in the world

Cons

- if you’re ok with working for peanuts...vail resorts won’t even pay you that. expect to immediately search for a service job on the nights because they simply do not pay a living wage for the areas the resorts are based in. across the board. you. will. not. have. enough. money. (employees of my resort accounted for over 80% of local Salvation Army food bank visits) - there are very few opportunities for advancement; promotion seems to be based on placement, brown-nosing and downright nepotism instead of merit - expect to be treated like a replaceable drone; your opinions and views simply don’t mean squat to them and if you express any contradictory views, you’d better be ready for your immediate termination - middle management is absolutely terrified of corporate which means if you think they’re going to stick up for the entry-level workers...forget about it - every department cuts corners and ignores employee satisfaction and safety to an occasionally dangerous degree - VR feels that they deserve the right to terminate an employee at the slightest excuse. for example: a coworker of mine was fired from his job as a lift operator for wearing ski goggles on a windy, white-out day because it made him look “impersonal” to the guests - expect to be promised the world and instead given cheap plastic water bottles and an end-of-year bonus of $142 - “experience of a lifetime” my butt. i will always remember this company as a reminder to myself to not just accept a company’s promises at face value

Explore other reviews about Vail Resorts

5.0
Jun 12, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The managers were really cool and the work was fun. Pretty relaxed environment.

Cons

It was cold sometimes and long hours standing but that was all in the job description and we got jackets.

2.0
May 14, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Most people are smart, passionate, and enjoyable to work with and be around. - Fairly frequent opportunities for development and advancement through the internal job board. - Nice perks if you're into skiing or riding.

Cons

- There's an unspoken expectation to regularly work significantly more hours because the majority of employees are very passionate about the ski and ride industry, which isn't great for work life balance. There's not much down time either; you're either hustling in season or hustling to prepare for the next season. - Climate change poses a significant threat to the future of the company. The season pass model mitigates some of the impacts, but not as much as senior leadership asserts. And, since bonuses are tied to company results, you can end up working super hard all year and still end up getting half of your bonus target due to uncontrollable weather conditions. - The culture has taken a serious hit since enterprise transformation work began. Lots of people are constantly stressed out and the atmosphere in the office is depressing. - Most of the time, it feels like senior leadership makes decisions in a vacuum without consulting any of the people that would be responsible for the downstream work associated with the decision. For example, I've seen senior leaders decide on a savings target multiple times without consulting the experts, who then have to scramble to figure out how to make it work. It creates chaos and negatively impacts morale. - This organization has a wordsmithing problem. I've never worked at a company that spends such an inordinate amount of time on the framing of a message compared to the actual substance of the message.

4
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