Vail Resorts: The Experience of a Lifetime

Recently I was an invited guest to a Cubs game at Wrigleyville Rooftops, hosted by the folks at Vail Resorts. I was really excited to make some connections within this company, because a dear friend of mine works extensively with them and I have heard nothing but good things.

To prepare for my introductions, I cracked open a book did some research online, and I was thrilled that the mission of the company is really in line with my personal beliefs about success in the hospitality industry.

Growing up as the daughter of a hotel manager who has always cared deeply about the customer encounter, I quickly developed strong ideas about how guests should be treated. When people are staying away from home, I believe that it’s not enough to merely make them feel “at home”. Going above and beyond to make sure guests are not only just comfortable, but also that they have a stay that is top-notch and truly memorable, is just good business. Actually, it’s great business. And I’m not just talking about luxury resorts. A budget-rated hotel, in its own way, can still give its guests an above-and-beyond experience, through its cleanliness, its staff, and countless other unique elements.

Vail Resorts (in the luxury category) has a powerful mission: “Experience of a Lifetime”. The company, which has six world-class mountain resorts (in Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone, Heavenly, and Northstar-at-Tahoe) as well as eleven (soon to be more!) RockResort properties in five countries, places high importance on the “wow” element for the guests, but that’s not all. Vail Resorts keeps its guests, employees, communities, natural environment, and stakeholders in mind with everything they do.

Their values (or goals, depending on how you look at it), elaborated upon ever so slightly, are:

1. Provide an Experience of a Lifetime to each of our guests and employees
2. Bring passion, safety and integrity to everything we do
3. Partner with our communities
4. Protect our spectacular natural environment
5. Drive growth in shareholder value

That stuff? Is a perfect fit for me, not only as a consumer but also as a person who really likes to look at things from the business angle. I admired Vail Resorts before I even met one employee in person. As you can imagine, after discovering all of these goodies on the website, I was more and more excited to meet the people.

It was wonderful to “meet Vail Resorts”. Spending the evening with them reinforced everything I had read. They were full of information about the various resorts and really passionate about the company’s mission. I left the evening really, really happy (and not just because the Cubs won, for once) and thrilled to have made these new connections.

Stay tuned: I’ll be giving you more information over the coming months about the ultra-family-friendly elements of Vail Resorts. In the meantime, check out some of the photos from their press kit:

Disclosure: The Cubs game, food, and drinks were covered by Vail Resorts. I did not receive any financial compensation for and was under no obligation to write this post.