Culture is definition of toxic and work is too hard to get done - Director Vail Resorts Employee Review

2.0
Apr 20, 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The People - met some of my most favorite people and friends through the job Pay - while many complain about the pay, Vail has been working over the years to be more competitive in the market (see cons for turnover) The Work - you will be challenged to solve many complex problems that will keep you engaged (see cons for burnout) The Industry - is exciting and if you love the outdoors and skiing no better way to learn Strong vision - the strategy and vision is clear, unfortunately they can't get there quickly because of the bureaucracy and micro management (see cons for micromanagement) Development - there are great tools and courses for you, unfortunately most don't have the time or mental capacity to actually take it all in

Cons

The micromanagement - you will be micro-managed and won't be empowered to make decisions and take action to solve said problems above without layers and layers of "alignment" and "approvals", the leadership team from the Executives to the VPs wants to control every decision Lack of empathy and care for employees - Vail makes decisions for one group only - the shareholders Processes - there are so many systems and the processes are so disjointed that it is impossible to improve and get work done without intricate knowledge of all the bandaided and hacked together work processes making impact and change cumbersome and slow Burnout - you will get burnt out - Vail will ask more of you and not recognize your daily contribution to them. The burnout shows up in the form of lack of engagement in which people are so overwhelmed, they cannot take on any more and all work starts to suffer...people quit, you do their work and the cycle continues Development - Vail leaders will point out your faults/weaknesses and provide little to no support to get better at those things as they don't have time for you

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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