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Report: Western resorts having strong summer

Staff Report

In the most recent report from Denver-based DestiMetrics with data through July 31, summer lodging occupancy for the months of May through October is up an aggregated 8 percent and revenue is up 14 percent compared to the summer of 2014.

Data is collected from lodging properties at 19 western mountain destination resorts in six states. For the single month of July, actual occupancy was up 7.9 percent and revenue was up 13.8 percent compared to last July.

“With much of the summer season behind us and kids headed back to school, resorts have already either hosted or booked 89 percent of last summer’s total business, so we are confident that this will be the fourth consecutive record-breaking summer for western mountain destinations,” said Ralf Garrison, director of DestiMetrics. “The robust numbers this month not only illustrate strength in both occupancy and rates but successful and sustained growth in summer business for mountain communities,” he continued.



The Briefing segregates results for the Rocky Mountain region (Colorado, Utah, Wyoming) and the Far West (California, Nevada, Oregon) and this month’s report revealed that both regions are enjoying increases although in slightly different ways. The Rocky Mountain resorts posted a 7 percent increase in occupancy and 5.2 percent increase in revenues for the summer months while the Far West region is reporting a 10.3 percent gain in occupancy but only a modest 0.3 percent gain in revenue.

The Briefing also noted that advanced bookings for the 2015-16 winter season are up compared to last year at this time in both occupancy and revenue but acknowledges that it is still too early for long-range predictions.



“It’s pretty clear that mountain travel, as a whole, is strong and resilient despite weather challenges including everything from drought to excessive rainy patterns that been experienced in different regions this summer,” explained Garrison. “However as summer bookings start winding down and winter reservations start ramping up, we’ll be paying particular attention to econometrics as global and national financial markets have shown increased volatility in recent weeks,” he cautioned.


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