SAM Magazine—Winter Park, Colo., Jan. 16, 2026—
Low snowfall led to a lackluster December for mountain town lodging operations across most of the West, according to the December Market Briefing from Inntopia's DestiMetrics division. But in spite of the challenges, lodging properties managed to mitigate much of the negative impact—at least for December.
DestiMetrics data track lodging performance in 17 Western mountain communities.
Limited open terrain was the story in most locations—with less than 30 percent of terrain available in Colorado and Utah. “While Wyoming and Montana resorts had between 73 and 80 percent of their terrain open as of December 31, that number was much lower for the first half of the month, and conditions continued to be thin in the central Rockies through the holidays and the end of the month,” said Tom Foley, director of business intelligence for Inntopia.
As a result, lodging occupancy on Christmas Day was down 8.3 percent, and the week between Christmas and New Year’s was down an average of 4.8 percent.
Nonetheless, compared to last December, actual occupancy for the full month was down just 2.8 percent, while the average daily rate (ADR) was up 2.5 percent. As a result, revenues were down just 0.4 percent from last December.
“The question is whether, and how, this can be sustained if conditions in the central and southern Rockies don’t improve,” Foley noted.
For the full winter, occupancy in-the-bank and on-the-books for November through April was down 3.7 percent as the new year arrived, with declines in all six months. But ADR was up 3.7 percent, with increases in all months—most notably April, up 10.7 percent. The aggregated result was a scant 0.1 percent decrease in revenues.
However, the booking pace for December through April was down 5.8 percent compared to last year, and booking lead times continued to extend, highlighting consumers' reluctance to commit until, or unless, snow conditions improve.
International winter demand remained a major drag on the overall lodging business, as it was down by 33.4 percent. At the end of December, Canadian bookings remain down significantly, by 41.5 percent, while bookings from Western Europe were off by 7.4 percent. On a positive note, visits from Mexico were up 14.1 percent.
