Does this Right the Intrawest Ship or is the Ship Sinking?
Intrawest has plans to sell one of it’s Colorado ski resorts the company announced yesterday. Intrawest has agreed to sell Copper Mountain to Powdr Corp. based in Park City, Utah and one of the larger North American ski resort operators.
Reasons for the sale were not announced by the private company but Intrawest and Fortress, it’s parent company, have taken a beating in the last year with the recession. This puts Intrawest at nine resorts it now operates. Intrawest spokesman Mr. Galbraith on Tuesday would not say whether more assets will be sold. He said the reason Intrawest sold Copper Mountain is because the new company strategy is to focus on nine winter resorts rather than 10.
So, what does this mean for Winter Park Resort? Well, if you take Mr. Galbraith at his word then nine is a pretty special number of resorts to be managing. Why could nine not become eight, or eight then seven and on and on? Intrawest can not sell Winter Park, though, as it is the resort management company for the City of Denver with a 50 year lease.
The tightening of the Intrawest belt can be seen at Winter Park Resort. There are no on mountain improvements this year even though there has been quite a few the last five years. Intrawest also just announced plans to charge guests staying at the base in the three buildings they have lodging operations - Zephyr Mountain Lodge, Fraser Crossing & Founder’s Pointe – will now be charged $14.00 a night to park a car. I guess they must be hurting with trying to charge the Winter Park guest, ie families, $14.00 a night in this economy for a garage that is never full. Well $14.00 a night per car will help that bottom line.
Anywho, it will be interesting what more changes we will see coming from Intrawest and what effect they will have on Winter Park Resort. We will keep you posted.
