January Booking Pace Picks Up Out West

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24 February 2016

Push to The Latest: No

SAM Magazine—Denver, Feb. 16, 2016—January was a strong month for Rocky Mountain and Far West mountain destinations, according to a recent report from DestiMetrics. Local and regional visitors are credited with an uptick in bookings, with aggregated occupancy and reservations from November through April up 3.4 percent, and revenues up 4.7 percent compared to the same time last winter.

The month of January led the turnaround, with a 2.9 percent increase in occupancy for the month and a modest 1.8 percent increase in revenue compared to last year.

“Although the uptick in business marks a turnaround for many of the destination ski resorts, economic volatility and weather shifts still have the potential to influence the remainder of the season,” said Ralf Garrison, director of DestiMetrics.

According to Garrison, the booking pace during the month of January for arrivals in January through the end of April was up 9.9 percent compared to last year. He attributes the shorter booking windows of local and regional visitors—compared to longer windows of international and long-distance domestic travelers—for the large boost, citing currency exchange rates as one of the factors contributing to hesitancy of international travelers.

The report also revealed that as of Jan. 31, 88.5 percent of the total nights booked for the 2014-15 winter season have already either been used or are “on the books” for the 2015-16 winter season. This is slightly ahead of the same time last year. Seasonal revenue is performing even better, as 92.9 percent of the total revenue for the 2014-15 season is now booked.

“The 2015-16 season got off to a strong start with good snowfall throughout the entire West, particularly in the Far West, and little has changed since then,” said Garrison. “Overall lodging business remains positive and, in fact, has enjoyed a measurable turnaround from modest declines that we recorded earlier in the season.”

DestiMetrics' data are drawn from approximately 290 properties in 19 mountain destinations in Colorado, Utah, California, Nevada, Oregon, and Wyoming.