Park City hotels feeling holiday stress

(Park Record) Shorter booking windows have been the trend for over a year now, making it difficult for businesses in the lodging industry to predict vacancy rates even a few weeks in advance.

this time of year, the week after Christmas should be completely sold out and the minimum stay required for a reservation is seven days.

But because travelers are booking later and wanting shorter stays, most hotels still have vacancies. There's optimism the town will fill up, but the slower pace of reservations is making people nervous.

John Duvivier, director of sales and marketing for Park City Lodging, said his company has had to lower the minimum number of nights to five because so many guests were saying they wanted to come, but for less time.

"We've had to bend," he said. "Eventually we said, 'Yeah, we'll take those too.'"

Erin Grady, spokesperson for Deer Valley Resort Lodging and Reservations, said they have no past experience to reference, but do sense that bookings are a bit slow.

Still, reservations for ski school "are looking really packed" and are "close to sold out," she said. Since most of those people are destination skiers, it stands to reason they'll book their lodging soon, but may be looking for the best deals.

Kevin Ellis, regional sales manager for ResortCom International, said the Park Plaza is close to sold out, but two other properties are only at 30 percent for that week.

Original Article