SAM Magazine—Winter Park, Colo., May 13, 2025—Winter lodging results in the Western U.S. ended largely flat for the season, and summer is continuing the trend.

Aggregated results among 17 destinations spread across Colorado, Utah, California, Nevada, Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho showed a slight dip in occupancy of 0.3 percent, offset by a 1.9 percent rise in the average daily rate (ADR), which delivered a 1.6 percent gain in revenues. That’s according to the latest monthly Market Briefing from Inntopia’s DestiMetrics.

A similar pattern has emerged for the coming summer, as the booking pace dropped for the fifth consecutive month. Even so, occupancy for the summer season from May through October is essentially flat compared to last year at this time, while ADR is up 3.1 percent for the season.

For the winter season, “We had a variety of outcomes—from great results at destinations that had strong and consistent snow, to mediocre at others,” said Tom Foley, senior vice president of business intelligence for Inntopia. He added, “For the industry as a whole to eke out even a small gain in revenues was an impressive accomplishment in this rather challenging season.”

For the coming summer, occupancy for the full season, May through October, had squeaked out a 0.1 percent increase as of April 1. Of the three pricing tiers—economy (up to $250/night), moderate ($251 to $400/night), and luxury ($401+/night)—the two higher tiers were performing well, while the economy sector was faltering.

“It isn’t clear yet whether the weakness in the more affordably priced lodging is because those customers are shifting into a higher-end property or if those customers are staying on the sidelines right now as financial uncertainty persists and confidence continues to shrink,” said Foley.

International travel plans were still constrained by tariff and other shocks. Bookings from Canada and Western Europe continued to drop sharply for the summer. According to Inntopia’s booking data, the declines were deepening on a weekly basis. As of May 6, summer arrivals from Canada were down 45.5 percent compared to this time last year. Travelers from Western Europe are also pulling back, with summer bookings down 30.3 percent. “European visitors typically go to larger, pure destination markets, so declines from this group are more widespread but perhaps less locally concerning than the negative impact of the Canadian downturn,” observed Foley.

In sharp contrast, travel from Mexico is up a dramatic 33.3 percent for the summer, due to a combination of easing trade policy for that country and a weakening of the U.S. dollar, making travel to the U.S. more affordable.

“The economic drama that launched in January and looks to continue for the foreseeable future is definitely impacting summer travel plans,” said Foley. “As Canadians and Europeans step back in a big way, there is an opportunity to capture more domestic visitors, who have indicated they are scaling back international travel plans—but until financial stability returns and consumer confidence rises, it is likely to be an interesting, and potentially challenging summer,” he concluded.