Snowbird Ski Resort offers second hotel sale in two weeks

Snowbird Ski Resort is struggling to occupy its four hotel properties for the month of December.

“Our hotel bookings are some of the lowest we have ever had in the month of December,” said Dave Fields, vice-president of resort operations and the resort’s marketing director. “Last week we offered a 48-hour sale which sold 548 hotel rooms. On Monday we are starting another sale.”

Monday’s sale, called the Snowbird Snow Sale, will feature the resort’s hotel rooms exclusively.

“We are reducing room prices, which normally cost $300-$400 per night, to $99 per night,” Fields said. “The sale will be advertised through newsletters, our website and Facebook. People who book during the sale can take advantage of the sale price and apply it to their stay throughout the winter. The sale isn’t just for the month of December, it’s for the whole winter season.”

The sale will continue through Friday, Dec. 14. Fields estimates the advertisements will cost Snowbird $20,000.

Along with a mild start to the winter, Bob Bonar, the resort’s general manager, attributes the lack of business to other problems within the United States.

“Snowbird gets a lot of business from the East Coast,” Bonar said. “Hurricane Sandy left many families without homes. The last thing those people are thinking about is a ski vacation to Utah. The economy is also a factor. With the uncertainty of the fiscal cliff approaching, people are waiting to see what happens with that before making vacation plans.”

According to the National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center, six percent of the contiguous Unites States is currently snow-covered, while 38.6 percent was covered in 2011 at this time.

“People look in the mountains and it’s brown,” said John Collins, the resort’s director of mountain activities and mountain operations risk manager. “People think there is no way skiing could be any good and they aren’t interested in coming up here to pay $75 for a lift ticket.”

Although the beginning of the 2012-13 winter season has been slow, Snowbird has a 30-inch base and plans to open additional terrain on Monday.

“The skiing is better than people think,” Collins said. “As of Thursday we have 34 runs opened to the public. We have snow here. Many ski areas elsewhere can’t say that right now.”

Snowbird hopes the sale will attract guests to hotels, which would increase business throughout the operation.

“If Snowbird’s hotels are busy, the resort is making money,” Collins said. “If someone wants to see if a business is successful, just look at the trash cans. If the trash cans are full, the place is busy. We don’t want to see empty trash cans around here the weeks around Christmas, which are typically the busiest time of the year.”