Vail Resorts' fiscal 2026 results, released Sept. 28, reveal a 12% decline in pass product units sold for the upcoming North American season through Sept. 18, with pass sales dollars down about 6%. Skier visits for the fiscal year fell 13.4% to 15.3 million, and net income attributable to the company dropped to $147.5 million from $280 million a year earlier. The report arrives amid a proxy contest launched by Hong Kong hedge fund Oasis Management, which has nominated four director candidates and raised its stake to 7.4%, according to regulatory filings and local press coverage.
Daniel Kaufman, founder of Kaufman & Company and an investor in mountain resort and workforce housing development, argues that these numbers reflect a deeper structural problem: the ski business now depends on keeping mountain towns livable for the workers who operate them. "A pass is a promise that the mountain will be open, staffed and worth the drive," Kaufman said. "You can argue about weather and pricing all day, but the thing no corporate office can fix from a distance is whether the lift operator, the patroller and the line cook can afford to live near the base. That is where the value of a resort actually sits, and it does not show up in the pass count until it is too late."
Kaufman's perspective is informed by his firm's focus on permanent capital and housing development. Kaufman & Company invests only its own capital and does not raise outside funds. Its operating company DEK Builds, headquartered in Cheyenne, Wyoming, is an integrated design, build, development, and investment firm working across custom homes, mountain resorts, hotels, and commercial construction. LandBriefing, a land and housing data platform built by Kaufman Real Estate & Consulting, recently added Mountain Watch, which tracks land and housing fundamentals in mountain resort and gateway towns. Oldivai, an aligned and independently led partner, develops workforce housing.
The proxy contest has raised the possibility that individual resorts could eventually change hands, according to local coverage in Park City. Kaufman contends that any owner, current or future, should underwrite housing before lifts or lodges. "If mountains start moving from one owner to another, the buyers who do well will be the ones who treat employee housing as part of the lift system, not as an amenity," he said. "We look at mountain towns the way we look at any housing market, by the data: supply, wages, and how far a worker drives to the job. A resort that gets those right does not need a record-breaking year to make money."
The implications extend beyond Vail. As consolidation and investor pressure reshape the ski industry, the ability to house workers may become a key differentiator for resort operators. Kaufman & Company's platform represents more than $2 billion in project value and more than 10,000 housing units across more than 25 years of building, lending, and investing, suggesting that housing expertise could play a larger role in determining which resorts thrive. For stakeholders, the message is clear: the pass count may be the headline, but housing is the underlying story that will decide the industry's future.
