Park City Offering Partial Compensation to Guests Affected By Ski Patrol Strike
The Park City ski patrol strike, which lasted from December 27, 2024 to January 8, 2025, severely disrupted operations to the United States’ largest publicly-accessible ski resort.
In the aftermath of the first major ski patrol strike in over 50 years, Vail Resorts has announced a compensation program for guests affected by the strike at Park City from December 27, 2024, to January 8, 2025.
Ticket and pass holders who skied or snowboarded during this period will receive a 50% per-day credit to be applied toward a 2025-26 pass purchase. Season passholders will receive credits based on an eight-day calculation, while Epic Day Pass holders' credits will be based on the number of days purchased. The minimum credit amount will equal 25% of the 2024-25 pass price.
Park City visitors faced significant terrain closures and extremely long lift lines during the strike.
Our Take
While Vail’s effort to address guest feedback is a step in the right direction, some may find the credits insufficient compared to the full refund some were likely hoping to get. For affected skiers and riders, these credits can only be redeemed on future purchases, meaning immediate compensation is not available.
It’s also worth noting that for those who purchased lift tickets, they may have had to pay as much as $351 per day with taxes and fees. This means that even with a 50% credit, the full amount paid for these days without a credited refund could end up being well over $150. For the substantial terrain closures, lack of notice, and frustrating lift lines, it feels like this is still a whole lot of money to be down the hole.
Finally, by giving visitors credits rather than refunds, Vail Resorts is basically forcing Park City guests to return to their resorts to get any sort of compensation. We imagine that after this experience, many of those affected won’t ever want to go to a Vail-owned mountain again—and if they don’t, this compensation program basically has no value.
A copy of the email a Vail Resorts representative sent to a customer who wrote in about their unfavorable Park City experience.
A Note on the Park City Class Action Lawsuit
We can’t help but think about whether this compensation initiative was offered in the face of a class-action lawsuit, which alleged that Vail Resorts “intentionally and willfully deceived hundreds of thousands of consumers” at the expense of “tens of thousands of dollars per family.” If the text in that lawsuit is any indication, a significant chunk of the customer base will not be happy with only a few hundred bucks of resort credits.
Considering a ski trip to Utah this winter? Check out our comprehensive Utah rankings, as well as our Park City mountain review. You can also check out our analysis on the ski patrol strike and other compounding factors facing the Utah ski scene in our video analysis below.
