Vail Resorts, one of Colorado’s largest employers, is bumping its minimum wage for entry-level positions to $10 an hour.
Beginning Sept. 26, the resort operator will raise the minimum wage it pays employees in the eight states in which it operates.
In California, the company will pay $1 more than the state’s minimum wage. In Utah, Wisconsin and Wyoming, it will pay $2.75 over the state’s minimum wage. Vail’s entry-level wage is $1.77 higher than the Colorado minimum of $8.23 per hour.
The company will raise its entry-level pay each year based on inflation. If state legislation raises the minimum wage above $10, the company will align with the state increase.
The company employs about 25,000 workers at the peak of ski season; a vast majority are seasonal employees working at the company’s nine destination ski resorts, including Colorado’s Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge and Keystone ski areas.
The company said the pay hike will impact thousands of employees at its resorts, lodges and stores, including entry-level jobs in housekeeping, lift operation, food preparation and retail sales.
Vail Resorts CEO Rob Katz , in a letter to employees published Thursday, said the pay hike would help the company remain competitive in the hunt for workers.
“We are taking this step because it is incumbent on us to do the right thing for our employees as well as remain competitive as an employer,” Katz wrote.
Vail joins a host of companies that are not waiting for federal or state lawmakers to boost minimum wages. Walmart, McDonald’s, Target, Gap Inc. and Ikea recently announced plans for higher starting pay rates, saying they wanted to be a more appealing option for workers.
While the Obama administration has pushed for a higher national minimum wage, 29 states and Washington, D.C., already have minimum wages above the federal level of $7.25 an hour.
Vail Resorts puts a premium on customer service, advertising high-end resorts and an “experience of a lifetime” to its well-heeled guests.
With Colorado’s unemployment at 4.2 percent and falling, and with rent and home prices soaring, a higher wage could help Vail lure and retain better employees in the state where its employee roster swells to as many as 18,000 at the height of ski season.
“The average wage for Colorado workers has not climbed significantly,” said Broomfield economist Gary Horvath. “This is making a statement. Vail Resorts is taking a leadership role. They are saying, ‘Look at us — we are trying to look out for the workers in Colorado.’ “
Still, Horvath said, any increase in labor costs at Vail’s ski areas will probably be passed along to guests.
“I don’t think this will cut into their profits,” he said.
In his letter, Katz acknowledged that this new wage increase “does not address all of our compensation issues.”
“But it is a big step forward and will not be the last step we take, even for this upcoming season,” he wrote.
Katz told his employees that Vail was not trying to make a political statement with the pay raise.
“We are simply doing what we think is right for our stakeholders — our employees, guests, communities, mountains and shareholders,” he wrote.
Jason Blevins: 303-954-1374, jblevins@denverpost.com or twitter.com/jasonblevins
