Weathering a recession: Resorts hopeful this ski season will be as good as last year's

Utah ski resorts have a problem, and it's not just a slower economy. Last season Alta ski resort received 264 inches of show by New Year's Day. This season only 110 inches have fallen, 44 percent below average.

High snowfall levels typically boost resort reservations, but local resort officials are cautiously optimistic about snowfall so far.

"We don't have empirical data, only anecdotally, but a great snow year, that always translate into good booking the following year," said Coleen Reardon, marketing director for Deer Valley where lodging bookings are already up more than 10 percent. In skier services, like lessons, the resort is looking at single digit increases over last season. And Deer Valley isn't the only resort looking at better than normal initial numbers.

"We fully expect to exceed last season which was the best in Canyons' history," said Mike Goar, managing director at Canyons. "We had a record year for skiers." Last season the resort opened a heated four-person lift, another 300 acres of land and nine restaurants.

Even with low snowfalls, the numbers from last season offer another reason to hope. The best season for individual skier visits happened in the 2007-2008 season when 4.25 million people skied for part of or whole day. Last year was the second-best season with 4.22 million skier visits. In the past two years, local resorts had the fifth and sixth best skier visit numbers in history — and that was the heart of the worst economic conditions.

Passing the economy, lodging rates rise

More snow usually translates into more business, even though other areas of the economy are still struggling to recover. All may not be lost with a smaller base of snow.

One indicator resorts use to gauge expectations is resort and hotel bookings. As of Oct. 31, on-the-books occupancy for the next six months (November through April) was up 10.8 percent, while average daily rates were up 3.5 percent over last season, according MTRiP, which uses data from 265 sample property management companies in 15 mountain destination communities in Colorado, Utah, California and Oregon.

Interestingly, October lodging occupancy was down 3.3 percent and average daily rates were down 11.8 percent. However, the pace of bookings taken was optimistic with reservations for arrivals from October through March up 12.5 percent.

Cooperation from Mother Nature was the most consistently cited reason for an increase in early season bookings over last year.