Benny Profane
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2020
I know there's a lot of Vail chatter here, but, this deserves its own thread.
Katz Speaks
- Thread starter Benny Profane
- Start date
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2020
Said this in the Vail thread, I just don't have it to listen to a pod. (LOL I did comment tho.)
What did you think Benny?
I heard @Stu saved the tough questions for the end. Dude's a journalist.
What did you think Benny?
I heard @Stu saved the tough questions for the end. Dude's a journalist.
Benny Profane
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2020
Well, where to begin.
First, try it in the car. You have a smartphone and connectivity to the car, right? Just download it off of whatever service and no connection needed. I did my second best, working out at home.
In general, I'm not surprised. He sounds almost exactly how I imagined him. But, first, why was he doing this instead of the present CEO? I mean, I'll get ahead of myself and point to the bizarre racial equality/I hire women thing he did near the end, so, OK, from what it sounds, Kirsten Lynch was his handpicked successor, but he doesn't trust her with this important bit of PR? That screams panic mode to me. He knows things are in the shitter, and this may be one way to paint a smiley face on the obvious issues, but, that's her job.
I'm convinced that he has zero passion for skiing. It almost sounded like something he doesn't do, and I suspect he doesn't much. He went from a few days at Hunter to school to high finance and just fell into this CEO gig, it sounds. There was hardly a word about the joy of skiing.
His comment that one must have patience in this business, "it takes years to educate the consumer" was the first gem. Really. Thanks Rob, for the schooling. Gag.
The whole discussion about high day tickets was sad. He thought it wasn't a problem at all. Just buy our discounted two day ticket before the season! Good lord. An entire working and lower middle class generation is left behind, and he's cool with that, because, of course, in his world, it's the next quarterly report, not a ten year plan.
Then he blew off the serious skier, by saying that early snowmaking and late closings only benefit them. So, why bother? I mean, "only a few ski it". Great. Thanks for the honesty. But, you wouldn't be out there pre Xmas anyway, right, Rob?
His "most important subject" seemed to light him up, the one the handlers prepared him for: lift lines. Just tone deaf. Facebook has been full of long lines at a lot of his mountain, and, he's like, hey, It's always been that way! Don't blame me! Besides, don't we want more people on the hill? Skier days are down, blah, blah. Really. Same guy who defends 200 dollar day tickets wants more people on the hill.
The strangest moment was the reaction to that horribly embarrassing push of his recently after George Floyd (so bizarre - the Vail Ceo talking about racial diversity. I mean, talk about layers of white over white) saying that his reaction was to have white women promoted. The same white woman who wasn't interviewed. Then, then, you have to hear it, when talking about trying to get more people of color in the sport, he said that stuff like Jerry of the Day (I swear to gawd) is something that may discourage them, so, don't do that. Really. Has the man ever watched an urban street pickup basketball game close enough to hear the chatter? Hell, he's rich enough to get court side at NBA games. I'll bet that is some salty banter. Jordan was the King, I have read over and over. So, black kids are going to be intimidated by Jerry of the Day? Good God.
The company has a serious lack of soul. Listen to Stuart's interviews with the eastern region VP Tim Baker and Mt. Snow's President or something, I forgot her name, and it's all corporate babble. That's the culture. And I have a strong feeling that they are looking at some bad numbers, and pretty much regret the purchase of Peak, which was such a blunder. I guess they thought they could sell off parts of that, but, who knows. Now they actually have to produce.
I like the interviews with the Alterra people on his podcast. Real skiers with a history on hills. Real people. real talk. I'll take Ikon for now.
First, try it in the car. You have a smartphone and connectivity to the car, right? Just download it off of whatever service and no connection needed. I did my second best, working out at home.
In general, I'm not surprised. He sounds almost exactly how I imagined him. But, first, why was he doing this instead of the present CEO? I mean, I'll get ahead of myself and point to the bizarre racial equality/I hire women thing he did near the end, so, OK, from what it sounds, Kirsten Lynch was his handpicked successor, but he doesn't trust her with this important bit of PR? That screams panic mode to me. He knows things are in the shitter, and this may be one way to paint a smiley face on the obvious issues, but, that's her job.
I'm convinced that he has zero passion for skiing. It almost sounded like something he doesn't do, and I suspect he doesn't much. He went from a few days at Hunter to school to high finance and just fell into this CEO gig, it sounds. There was hardly a word about the joy of skiing.
His comment that one must have patience in this business, "it takes years to educate the consumer" was the first gem. Really. Thanks Rob, for the schooling. Gag.
The whole discussion about high day tickets was sad. He thought it wasn't a problem at all. Just buy our discounted two day ticket before the season! Good lord. An entire working and lower middle class generation is left behind, and he's cool with that, because, of course, in his world, it's the next quarterly report, not a ten year plan.
Then he blew off the serious skier, by saying that early snowmaking and late closings only benefit them. So, why bother? I mean, "only a few ski it". Great. Thanks for the honesty. But, you wouldn't be out there pre Xmas anyway, right, Rob?
His "most important subject" seemed to light him up, the one the handlers prepared him for: lift lines. Just tone deaf. Facebook has been full of long lines at a lot of his mountain, and, he's like, hey, It's always been that way! Don't blame me! Besides, don't we want more people on the hill? Skier days are down, blah, blah. Really. Same guy who defends 200 dollar day tickets wants more people on the hill.
The strangest moment was the reaction to that horribly embarrassing push of his recently after George Floyd (so bizarre - the Vail Ceo talking about racial diversity. I mean, talk about layers of white over white) saying that his reaction was to have white women promoted. The same white woman who wasn't interviewed. Then, then, you have to hear it, when talking about trying to get more people of color in the sport, he said that stuff like Jerry of the Day (I swear to gawd) is something that may discourage them, so, don't do that. Really. Has the man ever watched an urban street pickup basketball game close enough to hear the chatter? Hell, he's rich enough to get court side at NBA games. I'll bet that is some salty banter. Jordan was the King, I have read over and over. So, black kids are going to be intimidated by Jerry of the Day? Good God.
The company has a serious lack of soul. Listen to Stuart's interviews with the eastern region VP Tim Baker and Mt. Snow's President or something, I forgot her name, and it's all corporate babble. That's the culture. And I have a strong feeling that they are looking at some bad numbers, and pretty much regret the purchase of Peak, which was such a blunder. I guess they thought they could sell off parts of that, but, who knows. Now they actually have to produce.
I like the interviews with the Alterra people on his podcast. Real skiers with a history on hills. Real people. real talk. I'll take Ikon for now.
Brownski
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2020
Yeah, I think you got his number Benny. Jacked up window prices don’t bother him cause if you buy your ticket months ahead of time it’s cheaper. Long lift lines don’t bother him cause they’re not real and, anyway, everybody has long lines. All the resorts they buy are unique and they want to preserve local character but that doesn’t mean they won’t shorten the season, close down a couple days a week and abbreviate hours. And he couches everything in phony environmentalism and a push for diversity. He seems to think he’s the savior of the industry some how. I think we should rename the thread “Fuck Rob Katz”
Benny Profane
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2020
Well, ok. I was trying to be reasonable, but, sure.
He doesn’t deserve one.
Drexel Burnham graduate, so there’s that.
His discussion of Vail Resorts Inc business being sustainable, climate change blah blah blah.
Then
We need to get folks to come to and from Australia and all our other little places to come to our big resorts.
That there is A#1 BS.
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Any votes for Robby of the Day?
not2brite
Well-known member
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2021
Benny thanks for the summary. There's not alot people in this world I have the patience to listen to for an hour, especially this toolbag rambling on about diversity and environmentalism while customers are storming the exits because the entire experience sucks balls. If that is really how he answered some of those questions that company has zero chance of suceeding. If you cannot even identify what the problem is your company is toast. I would think the most important factor, and the one constant across the entire hospitality sector, would be customer satisfaction, and it seems pretty obvious they are not providing nearly enough of it, but have no clue its even a problem. I do give them credit for throwing gobs of money at updating lifts. When they eventually fail at least they will be selling off assets with updated infrastructure.
