Denver, Colo., July 18, 2019—After nearly seven years of consistent year-over-year growth, aggregated lodging results among 18 mountain communities in six western states is starting to experience small but measurable declines. The DestiMetrics’* monthly Market Briefing released yesterday by Inntopia, revealed that modest declines that started appearing more than a year ago are emerging as a slight, but consistent, negative trend.

For the month of …

DENVER, COLO., June 18, 2019— With four of the six summer months (March through August) already “in the bank” or on-the-books, Southeast destination resorts in five states are on a solid path to surpass last summer’s occupancy, room rate, and revenue figures. All six summer months are pacing ahead of last year according to the most recent DestiMetrics* Market Briefing released yesterday by Inntopia with …

Almost a decade ago during the first few months of SlopeFillers, I made a list of all the 2-for-1s I could find. I stopped at 28, but the list could have gone on and on. Likewise, there are dozens of perks offered by resorts in an effort to push season pass sales through the spring and summer. For example:

• Ski free in the spring
• Free

I want you to imagine two scenarios.

The first is getting invited to speak at a big university in a town you’ve never been to. “Just meet us at the back entrance of the Ray Bowen building at 6:00pm for a quick rehearsal” they say. The second is that same invitation but at your alma mater.

Picture in your mind being a few blocks away …

Guess what? This July 15 – 16, your guests are going to be primed to make a purchase. Yes, it’s a bit corny, but it’s true.

In just over two weeks, there’s an online shopping bonanza coming called Amazon Prime Day. Except this year, it’s actually two days. Your guests and prospects will likely have their wallets out, ready to pounce on a deal on …

Denver, Colo., March 19, 2019—A winter season that began on a downward trend in the wake of last year’s disappointing snow conditions, is now moving towards new records for occupancy and revenue, thanks to a strong economy and generous snowfall across most of North America. Inntopia released their monthly DestiMetrics* Market Briefing for the West yesterday and as of Feb. 28, actual occupancy for the …

Are you losing revenue and booking share to OTAs?

Believe it or not, a full 52% of people who book lodging via OTAs actually visit the property’s website before booking.

Why don’t all those people end up booking directly with the property? Sometimes it’s about wanting to bundle their lodging with other things, sometimes it comes down to ease of use, and sometimes it’s just …

Nothing like a strong wave of mid-November snowfall from the Sierras to the Rockies to give winter bookings a boost for the upcoming ski and snowboard season at western mountain resorts. According to DestiMetrics* monthly Market Briefing released yesterday by Inntopia, as of Nov. 30, aggregated bookings made during the month of November for arrivals from November through April are up 12.8 percent compared to …

A few weeks ago we recapped how marketing during the holidays can be feast or famine when it comes to open and click rates on resort email campaigns.

The piece we didn’t cover then was what happened to bookings during those same days and weeks.

Two Big Holidays

To find our answer, we averaged the last two years of booking volume by day across hundreds …

Daily rates and revenues also post slight seasonal gains

Good weather and a strong economy are being credited with giving participating Southeast destinations a new summer occupancy record—albeit a small one, according to Inntopia in their DestiMetrics Monthly Market Briefing released last week. As of Aug. 31, participating Southeast destinations in five states were up an aggregated 2.2 percent occupancy over last summer for the …