Vail Resorts Offers Season Pass Holders Credits Of Up To 80% Toward Next Season

(CBS4) -- Vail Resorts announced Monday it is providing credits of 20-80% to 2019/20 season pass holders because of closures due to the coronavirus pandemic. The percentage is based on the number of days pass holders were able to use their pass and the credit can be applied toward the purchase of a 2020-21 season pass of equal or greater value.

Here's how the percentage will be determined:

• Vail Resorts will offer a minimum credit of 20% for season pass holders, based on the resort closures in mid-March.
• Season pass holders who used their pass less than five days will get a higher percentage.
• A maximum credit of 80% will be offered to season pass holders who did not use it at all.

"This may seem complicated, but something simple would not address all the unique situations of our pass holders.  We will email you personally in the coming weeks to share your specific credit details and your promotion code, which you can use online starting May 13," officials stated in a letter to pass holders.

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Vail Resorts also announced free "Epic Coverage" for the 2020/21 season, which will provide cash refunds to pass holders for certain resort closures, including for events like COVID-19, as well as refunds for job loss, illness and other eligible personal events.  Epic Coverage replaces the need to purchase pass insurance, which can cost up to $60 for other passes.

Additionally, Vail Resorts is extending all spring deadlines to buy next season's pass until Labor Day (Sept. 7, 2020).

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Friday, a Colorado attorney provided CBS4 with a copy of a class action lawsuit filed on behalf of an out-of-state skier whose family vacation was nullified by ski areas' closures in mid-March. The lawsuit accuses Vail Resorts - which owns and operates Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge and Keystone resorts in Colorado - of failing to offer skiers refunds for money spent on Epic ski passes. Those passes were sold to skiers with plans to allow skiers unlimited skiing at those areas through April 15th.

That is, until resorts began shuttering due to concerns of the encroaching coronavirus.

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Monday, attorney Craig Valentine said the lawsuit would go forward despite Vail Resorts' offer for discounts next ski season. He provided this statement to CBS4:

"We appreciate that Vail is beginning to realize that it must do something to compensate the millions of skiers and snowboarders who were not given the opportunity to fully use their Epic passes this season. Vail's plan, however, does nothing for the families who can no longer afford Epic passes, or who no longer desire Epic passes. Future discounts do not make up for the millions of dollars Vail plans to keep from people who were not given what they paid for. And, instead of taking over the insurance business next year, Vail should have worked with its insurance partner to ensure that the people who paid extra for pass insurance receive the benefit of that purchase, and we are still investigating that claim."