Organization and Business

12 Months Ended

Jul. 31, 2016

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

Organization and Business

Organization and Business

Vail Resorts, Inc. (“Vail Resorts”) is organized as a holding company and operates through various subsidiaries. Vail Resorts and its subsidiaries (collectively, the “Company”) operate in three business segments: Mountain, Lodging and Real Estate.

In the Mountain segment, the Company operates nine world-class mountain resort properties including Vail, Breckenridge, Keystone and Beaver Creek mountain resorts in Colorado; Park City mountain resort in Utah (“Park City” comprised of the former Park City Mountain Resort acquired in September 2014 and the former Canyons Resort (“Canyons”) in Park City, Utah); Heavenly, Northstar and Kirkwood mountain resorts in the Lake Tahoe area of California and Nevada; Perisher Ski Resort (“Perisher,” acquired in June 2015) in New South Wales, Australia; and the ski areas of Wilmot Mountain in Wisconsin (“Wilmot,” acquired in January 2016), Afton Alps in Minnesota and Mount Brighton in Michigan (“Urban” ski areas); as well as ancillary services, primarily including ski school, dining and retail/rental operations, and for Perisher including lodging and transportation operations. The resorts located in the United States (“U.S.”), except for Northstar, Park City and the Urban ski areas, operate primarily on federal land under the terms of Special Use Permits granted by the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service (the “Forest Service”). The operations of Perisher are conducted pursuant to a long-term lease and license on land owned by the government of New South Wales, Australia.

In the Lodging segment, the Company owns and/or manages a collection of luxury hotels and condominiums under its RockResorts brand, as well as other strategic lodging properties and a large number of condominiums located in proximity to the Company’s U.S. mountain resorts, National Park Service (“NPS”) concessionaire properties including the Grand Teton Lodge Company (“GTLC”), which operates destination resorts in Grand Teton National Park, Colorado Mountain Express (“CME”), a Colorado resort ground transportation company, and mountain resort golf courses.

Vail Resorts Development Company (“VRDC”), a wholly-owned subsidiary, conducts the operations of the Company’s Real Estate segment, which owns, develops and sells real estate in and around the Company’s resort communities.

The Company’s mountain business and its lodging properties at or around the Company’s mountain resorts are seasonal in nature with peak operating seasons primarily from mid-November through mid-April in the U.S. The Company’s operating season at Perisher, its NPS concessionaire properties and its golf courses generally occur from June to early October. The Company also has non-majority owned investments in various other entities, some of which are consolidated (see Note 8, Variable Interest Entities).