Vail ski reservation system debuts with a surprise, offers more day-of slots than previously announced
Reservations went live on Wednesday
Vail Resorts’ full reservation system went live on Wednesday, allowing skiers and snowboarders a total of 10 week-of reservations at the Vail Resorts ski area of their choosing.
That’s between one and three days more than those passholders were expecting, depending on how closely they’ve been following along.
In Vail’s first mention of the reservations system, back in August, the resort issued plans to offer passholders seven week-of reservations and seven priority reservation. By October, the decision had been made to increase the offering to nine week-of reservations.
Vail is set to open on Friday. On Wednesday, the reservations system debuted with 10 week-of reservations offered at Vail, (11 at Breck and Keystone). Seven reservations are able to be booked at one time, the remaining three must be booked in a separate transaction. Wait times of 15 to 45 minutes were reported when the system debuted at 2 p.m.
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John Plack, the senior communications manager for Vail and Beaver Creek, said for this week, the week-of reservations system was expanded in deference of the Thanksgiving holiday.
“We wanted to ensure that our pass holders were able to lock in their Thanksgiving holiday weekend plans, so we extended the range of week-of reservation dates from Nov. 18 through to Sunday, Nov. 29,” Plack said. “The week-of reservation release on Nov. 25 — and all subsequent week-of reservation releases will resume allowing reservations through the following Friday (nine days out).”
Starting Nov. 25, pass holders will receive nine week-of reservations every Wednesday at 2 p.m. Those week-of reservations can be used for the next nine days; Thursday through the following Friday.
Pass holders’ week-of reservations do not count against their priority reservations.While some guests may have as many as 19 days booked currently, starting next week the system is expected to settle into its scheduled rhythm of allowing guests who book on Wednesday a maximum of 16 days, priority reservations included.
“The reservation system (will offer) guests a total of 16 reserved days at any given time, depending on when they book,” Plack said.
Starting next week, guests booking on Wednesdays will be able to reserve the next nine days using week-of reservations, and those guests can also have up to seven more days reserved at any point in the season Dec. 8 to April 4 using priority reservation days.
Once a pass holder uses one of their priority reservation days, they will be able to book another — allowing them to always hold up to seven priority days at a time. Reservations for all of the company’s resorts can be booked at EpicPass.com.
Company officials say pre-purchased passes will be the best way to access the mountain this season, as pandemic restrictions will restrict walk-up lift ticket sales.
No walk-up tickets will be sold in the early season (through Dec. 7) at Vail Resorts’ 34 North American ski resorts.
Vail Resorts pass products will be on sale through Dec. 6.
