Vail Resorts, Inc.

Good day, and welcome to the Vail Resorts Fiscal Year-End 2021 Earnings Call. Today's conference is being recorded. At this time, I'd like to turn the conference over to Rob Katz. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you, operator. Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to our Fiscal 2021 Year-End Earnings Conference Call. I'm excited to have Kirsten Lynch, our current Chief Marketing Officer and incoming Chief Executive Officer, Join Michael Barkin, our Chief Financial Officer, and me on the call today. Before we begin, let me remind you that some information provided during this call may include forward-looking statements that are based on certain assumptions that are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties as described in our SEC filing, and actual future results may vary materially. Forward-looking statements in our press release issued this afternoon, along with our remarks on this call, are made as of today, September 23, 2021. We undertake no duty to update them as actual events unfold. Today's remarks also include certain non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations of these measures are provided in the tables included with our press release and along with our annual report on Form 10-K. We're filed this afternoon with the SEC and are also available on the investor relations section of our website at www.valeresorts.com. So with that said, let's turn to our fiscal 2021 and fourth quarter results. Given the continued challenges associated with COVID-19, we are pleased with our operating results for the year. Our results highlighted our data-driven marketing capabilities, the value of our past products, the resiliency of demand for the experiences we offer throughout our network of world-class resorts, and our disciplined cost controls. Results continued to improve as the 2020-2021 North American ski season progressed, primarily as a result of stronger destination visitation at our Colorado and Utah resorts, excluding peak resorts, Total skier visitation at our U.S. destination mountain resorts and regional ski areas for fiscal 2021 was down only 6% compared to fiscal 2019. Whistler Black Homes performance was disproportionately impacted due to the closure of the Canadian border to international guests, including guests from the U.S., and the resort closing earlier than expected on March 30th, 2021, following a provincial health order issued by the government of British Columbia. Whistler-Blockcomb's total skier visitation for fiscal 2021 declined 51% compared to fiscal 2019. Our ancillary lines of business were more significantly and negatively impacted by COVID-19-related capacity constraints and limitations throughout the 2020-2021 North American ski season. We generated a resort-reported EBITDA margin of 28.5%, driven by our disciplined cost controls, as well as a higher proportion of lift revenue relative to ancillary lines of business compared to prior periods. For the fourth quarter, we are pleased with the strong demand across our North American summer operations, which exceeded our expectations and we believe highlights our guests' continued affinity for outdoor experiences. In Australia, we experienced strong demand trends at the beginning of the 2021 Australian ski season. However, subsequent COVID-19-related stay-at-home orders and temporary resort closures negatively impacted financial results for the fourth quarter by approximately $8 million relative to our guidance expectations issued on June 7, 2021. Fourth quarter results were also negatively impacted relative to our June 7, 2021 guidance by a one-time $13.2 million charge for a contingent obligation with respect to certain litigation matters. Now we'll turn the call over to Kirsten to provide an update on our season pass sales.

Thank you, Rob, and good afternoon, everyone. I am pleased to be joining our earnings call today and look forward to speaking more regularly with our investors and analysts as we move towards the CEO transition on November 1st. We are pleased with the results of our season pass sales to date, which continue to demonstrate the strength of our data-driven marketing initiatives and the compelling value proposition of our past products, driven in part by the 20% reduction in all past prices for the upcoming season. Past product sales through September 17th, 2021 to the upcoming 2021-2022 North American ski season increased approximately 42% in units and approximately 17% in sales dollars as compared to the period in the prior year through September 18th, 2020 without deducting for the value of any redeemed credits provided to certain North American pass holders in the prior period. To provide a comparison to the season pass results released in June, past product sales through September 17th, 2021 for the upcoming North American ski season increased approximately 67% in units and approximately 45% in sales dollars as compared to sales for the 2019-2020 North American ski season through September 20th, 2019, with past product sales adjusted to include peak resort past sales in both periods. Past product sales are adjusted to eliminate the impact of foreign currency by applying an exchange rate of 0.79 between the Canadian dollar and U.S. dollar in all periods for Whistler Black Home past sales. We saw strong unit growth from renewing past holders and significantly stronger unit growth from new past holders, which include gas in our database who previously purchased lift tickets or passes but did not buy a pass or a lift ticket in the previous season, as well as guests who are completely new to our database. Our strongest unit growth was from our destination markets, including the Northeast. And we also had very strong growth across our local markets. The majority of our absolute unit growth came from our core Epic Pass and Epic Local Pass products. And we also saw even higher percentage growth from our Epic Day Pass products. Compared to the period ending September 18, 2020, effective pass price decreased 17% despite the 20% price reduction we implemented this year and the significant growth of our lower priced Epic Day Pass products, which continue to represent an increasing portion of our total advanced commitment product sales. We are very pleased with the performance of our past product sales efforts to date, which exceeded our original expectations for the impact of the 20% price reduction, particularly in the growth of new pass holders and in trade-ups, as we are seeing from pass holders into higher-priced products. As we enter the final period for past product sales, we feel good about the current trends we are seeing. However, it is important to point out that we know a portion of the growth we have seen to date represents certain pass holders purchasing their pass earlier in the selling season and then in the prior year period. And we saw strong growth in the late fall in the prior year period due to concerns about COVID-19, including questions about our resort access as a result of our reservation system. Given these factors and the other changing economic and COVID-related dynamics, it is difficult to provide specific guidance on our final growth rates, which may decline from the rates we reported today. Now, I would like to turn the call over to Michael to further discuss our financial results and fiscal 2022 outlook.