Lots of unrealized potential ruined by executive arrogance - Senior Manager Vail Resorts Employee Review

2.0
Dec 5, 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Frontline people and managers are amazing, people really come to work to try to provide an amazing experience and product Ski perks are great, and allow for easy access when employees can get out to use them Opportunity to work remote has been great for those who are more than 50 miles away from the corporate headquarters Pay is good

Cons

Executive leadership is extremely top-down and communicates poorly to resorts across North America, creating issues between resorts and the service centers trying to help them. The front-line leader perspective from those closest to the work is often overlooked or not taken into consideration. "Data-driven" is an obsession and at times leads corporate leadership down trails that overcomplicate processes and programs, making organizational learning nearly impossible and tracking of the data they ask for extremely difficult Back and forth on policy and programs such as eliminating "New Direction" that allowed all corporate employees to work remotely and investing in people, impacting many who committed to Vail after the COVID pandemic and now have to return to the office or find employment elsewhere. Poor buy-in to employee development and poor handling of internal options for corporate layoffs. Everyone can explore options they find interesting, but no effort to actively help place impacted employees into alternate roles.

Explore other reviews about Vail Resorts

5.0
Jun 4, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Upper management was very helpful

Cons

Seasonal position only, wished it was year round

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.

3
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