Another top 10 holding is ski resort company Vail Resorts, Inc. Vail (NYSE:MTN) has been upgrading its properties to offer new and higher quality services and amenities, which should help attract more visitors and allow it to increase lift ticket prices. It is also starting to offer more recreational summer activities, such as zip lines, mountain coasters, hiking, and biking tours, that should help reduce seasonal losses.
Vail is also focused on increasing season pass sales. Currently, roughly 40% of Vail’s lift ticket revenue is from season passes, which helps immunize it from poor snowfall seasons. It has been aggressively acquiring ski resorts, which helps enhance the attractiveness of its multi-resort season passes. Resorts it has added to its network in the last several years include Park City in Utah (at a distressed sale price), Perisher in Australia, and, most recently, Whistler Blackcomb in Canada, the biggest ski area in North America. Vail is leveraging its expanding network of resorts to increase the number of season passes it sells by offering the option of multi-mountain passes. We believe Vail continues to enjoy exceptional competitive advantages and strong growth prospects because management remains focused on improving the customer experience and investing in the business.
From Baron Funds' fall 2016 newsletter.
