Great college job - not career - Anonymous employee Vail Resorts Employee Review

3.0
23 Apr 2015
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- LOVED THE PEOPLE: everyone I worked with (even the managers) were totally awesome, and some of the best people I have worked with. - Flexible with schedule (I was in college while working here, and management was always willing to work around my schedule) - Free ski pass

Cons

LOW PAY: getting a free ski pass is awesome, but on the other hand unable to afford gas to drive up to the mountains on my time off isn't quite as awesome . NO TRAINING: I was hired during the largest sale of the year and was thrown into the job without any training. HORRIBLE COMMUNICATION: If you're going to give employees a free pass it would be nice to know that there ARE BLACKOUT DATES for employees, so they don't drive up to the mountains just to be told they have to buy a full price ticket. Not all employees live right on the mountain, some have to drive 2 hours, please be considerate and let your employees know when there are blackout dates. COMPUTERS & PHONES SUCK: Phones and computers would crash all of the time. I would have to start every phone conversation with a customer saying "Our phones are acting up today, if you get disconnected I will call you back". Except I would say this every single day. OPPORTUNITY FOR GROWTH: 3 words: There is none. Upper management didn't listen or trust store management on who should grow in the company.

Explore other reviews about Vail Resorts

5.0
12 June 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
14 May 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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