Why is ski lodging cheaper out west than it is in the east?

[nhskier1969]

I go out west for a ski trip each year and I've noticed lodging is cheaper out west than it is here.

I am not talking about Vail or Aspen but If you look at resorts such as Copper, Winter Park, Keystone, Breck, Steamboat etc.. the lodging seems to be 3x cheaper than places like Stowe, Sugarbush, Stratton etc..

Has anyone else gone out west and noticed the pricing difference?

 

[ss20]

They all had more room to develop lodging with more with relaxed laws and better infrastructure than back East... that's what I always chalked it up to. But all these western resorts are paying the price now as too much space went to lodging, not enough to parking. In the east most resort developments footprints are tiny and geographically challenged. Also you could argue the need for parking back east is a lot higher with more people coming up for the day/weekend as opposed to flying in and being shuttled to a condo for the week like the destination resorts out west.

 

[thetrailboss]

Supply and demand?

 

[BodeMiller1]

Boston + New York city + Montreal + Washington DC and the like.

There is more money east of the Mississippi.

So, yep what above guy said.

And we have less land...

What Mark Twain said about land.

 

[jimk]

I go out west for a ski trip each year and I've noticed lodging is cheaper out west than it is here.

I am not talking about Vail or Aspen but If you look at resorts such as Copper, Winter Park, Keystone, Breck, Steamboat etc.. the lodging seems to be 3x cheaper than places like Stowe, Sugarbush, Stratton etc..

Has anyone else gone out west and noticed the pricing difference?

I have a family place to stay when I drive out west (Utah) for long winter stays and that helps a WHOLE lot. But traveling around North America quite a bit in the last five years, and especially after the pandemic, I've noticed motels/hotels everywhere have gone up about 25-35%. Just in the last 18 months I've driven to places like Nova Scotia, Florida, San Diego, Mammoth Lakes and many places in between and noticed this increase. I used to consider a roadside motel in the $100-125 range to be cheap, now it's more like 165-200 for a cheap place. I guess it's due to this whole inflation thing that the country has been experiencing. A bunch of friends gathered in UT last winter and the prices to stay slopeside at Alta/Bird where through the roof, basically about double what they were 4 or 5 years ago, now about $600 per night for a room in the prime part of the ski season. Fortunately, in UT you can stay down in the Salt Lake Valley for under $200 night, but that's about double from a few years ago too. I understand slopeside lodging at Big Sky, MT is more than UT ski areas.

 

[Ski2LiveLive2Ski]

Seems to me the opposite is true for the places I tend to stay, which are not slope side

 

[Edd]

Supply and demand?

That’s the reason.

There is more money east of the Mississippi.

Not this exactly.

 

[eatskisleep]

They all had more room to develop lodging with more with relaxed laws and better infrastructure than back East... that's what I always chalked it up to. But all these western resorts are paying the price now as too much space went to lodging, not enough to parking. In the east most resort developments footprints are tiny and geographically challenged. Also you could argue the need for parking back east is a lot higher with more people coming up for the day/weekend as opposed to flying in and being shuttled to a condo for the week like the destination resorts out west.

I’m surprised that the parking situation isn’t addressed by underground parking garages.

 

[Smellytele]

I’m surprised that the parking situation isn’t addressed by underground parking garages.

Some areas do have parking garages. But they are still a shuttle or long walk from the lifts

 

[jimk]

Seems to me the opposite is true for the places I tend to stay, which are not slope side

Can you elaborate? Thanks.

 

[BodeMiller1]

That’s the reason.

Not this exactly.

Vermont?

 

[BodeMiller1]

Can you elaborate? Thanks.

Seems to me the opposite is true for the places I tend to stay, which are not slope side

If you're willing to give up luxuries and be off the hill you can still find deals. You have to dig a little harder. The good news is price inflation will end sooner rather than later. The bad news is hyper political.

 

[ss20]

I’m surprised that the parking situation isn’t addressed by underground parking garages.

Cost prohibitive, generally speaking. Curious though if that is the way things will trend now that most resorts have paid parking.

One of the biggest issues with the LCC transit package (bus or gondola) is that local residents don't want the necessary parking structure in their neighborhood, even if it is partially/mostly underground.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

Can you elaborate? Thanks.

Not my comment but I assume he means if you don’t want to stay on resort/slope side you can spend significantly less, and that it’s less out west than the east. Generally true in my experience. I always find a decent enough option for about $100 a night for my big western trips. In New England I have a few random hotels that are still under $125 and they all involve a 30-45 min drive to the hill from Manchester, WRJ, rutland, Gorham, etc

 

[BodeMiller1]

Not my comment but I assume he means if you don’t want to stay on resort/slope side you can spend significantly less, and that it’s less out west than the east. Generally true in my experience. I always find a decent enough option for about $100 a night for my big western trips. In New England I have a few random hotels that are still under $125 and they all involve a 30-45 min drive to the hill from Manchester, WRJ, rutland, Gorham, etc

Yep, and if you have a couple of friends, you can split the tab. This will lower the lodging cost. Until they tear down the walls. This can get expensive; butt can be cost effective if you're willing to pay a bit more for heavy sport.

File under strange butt true

 

[Zand]

Another issue in the east is the resorts buying up some of the cheaper local motels and using them as employee housing. I used to love staying at Snow Lake at Mt Snow...didn't care how much of a dump it was because it was like $40 a night if you bought a 5 pack. Same at Killington, used to stay at Hillside and then Chalet Killington for under $100 a night and now both have been scooped up and most of what's left is more expensive lodging.

As mentioned above, much better access out west to cheaper chain economy motels like Super 8 and Motel 6 in places within 30 minutes of skiing such as SLC suburbs, Jackson, Silverthorne, etc. Obviously there's a few places this doesn't apply like Big Sky. Hard to find anything like that in the east within 30 mins of a ski area except maybe Killington thanks to those places in Rutland which are generally very shitty hotels.

Also, for "close to the resort" type places... when I went to Winter Park I stayed at the decent hotel directly across Rt 40 from the main base for like $130 a night while a similar place in the east like the Sugarloaf Inn will charge $200+.

TLDR: I think the supply of on mountain lodging in the east is simply too low for the demand, and also many eastern ski areas are generally much farther away from cheaper chain places than many resorts in the west.

 

[BodeMiller1]

The motel on the left between Skyship and Access Rd. Owner was a real cool guy. Appreciated someone shoveling his parking lot at 4:00 AM when he pulled in. Paid just over $85 per night for a 4 night stay. Ms. Tilley loved it.


edit: Could hike "The Mountain", butt only went up far enough to visit The Huffingtons. Ms. Tilley was a short haird Blood Hound.

Meow

 

[jimk]

Good discussion. Yes, from my occasional trips to ski in the northeast since the 1970s I've always noticed lodging on and off slopes in VT to be somewhat expensive. NH, ME, NY seemed to be a bit better for low-moderate priced motels off slope than VT.

And I'd agree that there are some good places off slope in the west for low-moderate priced motels, such as SLC, Jackson WY, South Lake Tahoe, town of Taos NM, and Canmore (near Banff). Many of those draw more tourists in summer than winter, so there's a glut of rooms in winter.

CO can be tricky, but in the last two years I've stayed at Quality Inn type places in Silverthorne and Steamboat Springs that were in the $125-135 range. Glenwood Springs and Golden can have some moderate motel pricing too. I'm looking at possibly skiing Monarch for a couple days this January and there's some moderately priced motels in Salida, CO for that.

A fun side-topic would be what are the cheapest places you ever stayed at on a ski trip?
I've done a bunch of hostels in my day, some still around, some long gone. In the '70s I stayed in a motel in the Denver area for $10 per night and day-tripped to Winter Park. As recently as February 2015 on visit to Park City I slept 150 yards from the Payday Express chair in the men’s dorm of the Chateau Après Lodge for $40 a night including a decent continental breakfast. It's an old property and I thought they'd have torn this place down by now, but I just checked and it still operates; dorm beds are $60 now.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

Another issue in the east is the resorts buying up some of the cheaper local motels and using them as employee housing. I used to love staying at Snow Lake at Mt Snow...didn't care how much of a dump it was because it was like $40 a night if you bought a 5 pack. Same at Killington, used to stay at Hillside and then Chalet Killington for under $100 a night and now both have been scooped up and most of what's left is more expensive lodging.

As mentioned above, much better access out west to cheaper chain economy motels like Super 8 and Motel 6 in places within 30 minutes of skiing such as SLC suburbs, Jackson, Silverthorne, etc. Obviously there's a few places this doesn't apply like Big Sky. Hard to find anything like that in the east within 30 mins of a ski area except maybe Killington thanks to those places in Rutland which are generally very shitty hotels.

Also, for "close to the resort" type places... when I went to Winter Park I stayed at the decent hotel directly across Rt 40 from the main base for like $130 a night while a similar place in the east like the Sugarloaf Inn will charge $200+.

TLDR: I think the supply of on mountain lodging in the east is simply too low for the demand, and also many eastern ski areas are generally much farther away from cheaper chain places than many resorts in the west.

damn shame about the hillside inn

 

[KustyTheKlown]

The motel on the left between Skyship and Access Rd. Owner was a real cool guy. Appreciated someone shoveling his parking lot at 4:00 AM when he pulled in. Paid just over $85 per night for a 4 night stay. Ms. Tilley loved it.


edit: Could hike "The Mountain", butt only went up far enough to visit The Huffingtons. Ms. Tilley was a short haird Blood Hound.

Meow

the val-roc. it's not on any of the booking sites.

edit - you're talking about the turn of river lodge actually, i think. very old school. almost hostel.