A Rockland tour company that caters to Jewish skiers claims that a Vermont resort has turned its Hanukkah ski vacation into a wipeout.
Okemo Mountain Resort canceled a group lodging agreement in September, claiming that the Covid-19 pandemic was disrupting business, according to Kosher Ski Tours Inc., Suffern. But “not only is Okemo operating,” the tour company claims, “it has been actively marketing and booking the same units.”
Kosher Ski Tours is demanding $500,000 from Okemo LLC, the operator of Okemo Mountain Resort, in a complaint moved Nov. 20 from Rockland Supreme Court to U.S. District Court in White Plains.
Okemo is affiliated with Vail Resorts Inc., an $11.4 billion publicly traded company based in Broomfield, Colorado.
The Rockland business markets group ski tours to Orthodox Jews, and it has been booking group ski vacations with Okemo since 2014.
A year ago, Yaakov Biderman of Kosher Ski Tours reserved 159 rooms at Okemo Mountain Resort in Ludlow, Vermont, for Dec. 10-14 this year. The deal was timed for the first days of Hanukkah, the eight-day commemoration of the Maccabee”™s 2nd century B.C. defeat of the Greek army in the Holy Land and the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.
The tour company committed to 492 “room nights” at $107,831 and paid a $300 nonrefundable deposit.
The deal was mutually beneficial, according to the complaint, because the dates do not overlap with the Christmas holiday. Okemo could fill rooms that would otherwise be vacant, and the tour company got rooms at discounted rates.
But on Sept. 18, Okemo notified Kosher Ski Tours by email that the deal was terminated, just as the company was beginning to book reservations. The only explanation, the complaint states, was that Covid-19 has continued to disrupt business.
But the pandemic has actually created demand for the resort, the tour company claims, in that skiers are avoiding air travel and seeking nearby destinations. Okemo is purportedly booking the same rooms for the same dates, even with Kosher Ski Tours clients, but is charging the full price instead of the discounted rates the tour company agreed to pay.
“Okemo is clearly using Covid-19 as a pretext,” the lawsuit states. “Okemo wants to maximize its profit on each lodging unit by selling directly to guests at full price, rather than letting KST rent the rooms at the already agreed-upon discounted rate.”
The tour company accuses Okemo of breach of contract. It claims it has lost more than $500,000 in profits from reservations, ski tickets, equipment rentals and catering kosher meals, as well as long-term enterprise and reputational damages.
Okemo attorneys Jason E. Meade and Charles A. Michael of Steptoe & Johnson in Manhattan did not respond to an email request for comment.
Kosher Ski Tours is represented by Manhattan attorneys Solomon N. Klein and John F. Whelan of Schlam Stone & Dolan.
