Deer Valley set the bar on guest experience. Now Vail Resorts says Park City Mountain will clear it

Guests share drinks and food around a patio fire table at the base of Whistler Blackcomb in February 2023. Photo: Courtesy of Vail Resorts

Vail Resorts' new Epic Experience plan shifts the company's focus from pass sales to hospitality, setting up a direct challenge to the resort that topped TownLift's reader poll while Park City Mountain finished last.

PARK CITY, Utah — Vail Resorts is coming for the Deer Valley Difference.

Vail Resorts (NYSE:MTN), which owns Park City Mountain, announced Tuesday a multi-year initiative called Epic Experience that shifts its growth strategy away from Epic Pass sales and resort acquisitions toward what it describes as the best and most differentiated guest experience in skiing and riding.

CEO Rob Katz made clear the target sits two miles up the road. “We’re absolutely targeting [going] above Deer Valley and above any of our current resorts,” Katz told The Salt Lake Tribune, saying the company plans to add services that do not exist anywhere in the ski industry today.

Can the worst rated resort in Utah beat the best?

It is an ambitious claim for a resort that currently trails its neighbor by a wide margin in local sentiment. In the 2025 TownLift Readers’ Choice Poll, drawn from more than 5,200 votes, Deer Valley ranked first among Utah ski resorts with a score of 90.87%. Park City Mountain finished last among the nine major resorts that met the poll’s response threshold, at 66.75%. Deer Valley also took first place in both the Vibe and Experience and Customer Service categories, the same territory Vail Resorts now says it intends to own.

The Epic Experience plan centers on five pillars: gear rentals, lessons, food, digital engagement and staffing. Beginning this season, guests booking high-performance demo rentals at 12 participating resorts will get the My Epic Gear concierge experience without a membership fee. This winter, Vail Mountain and Beaver Creek will upgrade all private lessons to a new program called Epic Ascent, which pairs instruction with a dedicated trip concierge, white-glove gear rental and enhanced support. The program expands to more resorts in the 2027-28 season.

The company also plans a significant investment in on-mountain food, upgrading ingredients and presentation for its best-selling items, including chili, burgers and mac and cheese, without raising prices beyond inflation. Epic Pass prices will likewise rise only with inflation, Katz said.

For Park City Mountain, the staffing commitment may matter most. The resort is still rebuilding trust after the January 2025 ski patrol strike left terrain closed and lift lines long during the holiday peak. Katz told the Tribune the company intends to address union contracts early and keep resorts fully staffed. Vail Resorts says it has invested $175 million in wages and benefits over the past four years.

The announcement also lands amid Cloudflare founder Matthew Prince’s ongoing public campaign to buy Park City Mountain, in which he has pledged $500 million in upgrades and pointed to Deer Valley as the model. Katz told the Tribune the customer service strategy predates Prince’s campaign.

Whether Park City Mountain can close a 24-point gap in local perception remains the open question heading into a season when both resorts, and the town between them, have plenty riding on the answer.