SAM Magazine—Winter Park, Colo., March 16, 2026—Fickle February snowfall led to significant disparities in winter occupancy between two different regions in the West—Colorado and Utah (CO/UT) on the one hand, and the “rest of the West” (RoW), i.e., California, Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana, on the other.

The most recent monthly Market Briefing from DestiMetrics and issued by Inntopia, which aggregates data for 17 destinations across the seven states, revealed that the ongoing drought and atypically warm temperatures continued to dissuade prospective visitors from hitting the slopes in Colorado and Utah, while “the ‘rest of the West’ destinations that had better conditions than Colorado and Utah resorts were able to capitalize on that advantage to slightly improve their occupancy from last month,” said Tom Foley, director of business intelligence for Inntopia. He also noted that improvement in summer bookings made during February suggests some pent-up demand for summer mountain vacations.

While both CO/UT and the RoW saw improvements during February compared to January, the CO/UT region experienced a 19.4 percent year-over-year decline in booking pace as the drought deterred skiers and riders. Meanwhile, the RoW recorded a 22.3 percent year-over-year gain driven by “better than” but not outstanding conditions.

Compared to February 2025, actual occupancy for the entire region fell 4.1 percent while the average daily rate (ADR) rose 1.5 percent. All considered, monthly revenues declined 2.6 percent.

As of Feb. 28, occupancy across the West for the full winter season (November through April), including on-the-books and completed visits, was down 5.1 percent. This is a further decline from the end of January with declines in all six months of the season. ADR for the season was up 1.4 percent, but continued to soften compared to last month, as properties cut rates to boost occupancy; the ADR for bookings made in February for February through April arrivals was down a sharp 20 percent compared to the year-ago period. Revenues were down 3.8 percent compared to last year at this time.

The booking pace in February for arrivals in February through July were down an aggregated 1.9 percent, but four of the six months posted increases. These ranged from a 10.5 percent gain for February arrivals to a robust 23.6 percent increase for June arrivals. 

International visits were still down but improved slightly, boosted by an uptick from Canadians. Overall bookings from international markets were down 29.5 percent year-over-year, which is nonetheless an improvement from last month’s 34 percent decline.

For the four months of summer data that were available—May through August—on-the-books occupancy was up 3.9 percent compared to the same time last year with increases in all four months. The ADR is up a strong 7.9 percent. “These are some of the strongest rates for any season that we’ve seen since the early post-pandemic demand spike in 2022 and 2023,” Foley said. “That combination is currently driving an early revenue gain of 12.1 percent.”

Foley added that this early summer demand is important "considering recent geopolitical events, which are likely to have an impact on consumer behavior in the coming weeks.”

Booking lead-time extended as travelers focused on the summer months. Arrivals for February got a modest boost but most transactions were for May and beyond; average lead time was just shy of 50 days in February, compared to a 37.8-day lead-time last February.

"While snow conditions haven’t delivered what visitors expect and depend on, daily rates have remained fairly resilient and able to mitigate some of the impact of lower occupancy,” Foley said. “And looking ahead, we are seeing a strong and optimistic start for summer bookings—despite continued inflation, job concerns, and geopolitical turmoil around the globe."