Many ski resorts, including Big White near Kelowna, are getting ready for another season as winter approaches.
However, according to Michael J. Ballingall, senior vice president of Big White, there are significant worries regarding employee accommodations.
Ballingall declared, “I believe we are similar to every other resort in the globe, and accommodation-seekers in each resort town, its devastating.
“Since I’ve been here in this location in 1985, this is the worst I’ve ever seen it.
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He claimed that the housing shortage is a result of the ex-rental properties being sold at a breakneck pace over the previous two years.
According to Ballingall, “We’ve probably turned over around 40% of the on-mountain housing,” and several properties that had been rented out to mountain crew members have now been sold.
In the past three years, the resort, according to Ballingall, has built 450 staff beds.
Big White typically employs more than 1,100 individuals, but because to space constraints, according to Ballingall, the resort is unable to do so this year.
“Very few of our employees commute from the city. And with the current fuel prices, travelling beyond town is even less appealing,” he remarked.
We’re considering options like shuttle buses from the city, but they still need to locate lodging in the city.
There is no simple solution in this situation, as we have seen through visiting and speaking with the University of British Columbia Okanagan, who had a difficult time securing accommodations for all of their students.
Ballingall said that comparable instances had occurred in the late 1980s and early 1990s, indicating that this is nothing new for Big White.
We’re going to try to make it through another year while waiting to see how the economy performs. This has happened before at Big White but not in this type of cycle,” said Ballingall.
“We’re just going to do our best to make sure that we can have on-mountain staff in beds as good as possible. ”
The opening day of Big White is scheduled for November 24.
Big White Ski Resort is having trouble finding homes for its employees.
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