This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Utah hotels filled many more of their rooms this March than last.
Occupancy rates last month reached 82.5 percent in Salt Lake County, up from 73.8 percent in March of 2016. The increase was not as pronounced elsewhere in the state, but still rose solidly — from 72.1 percent a year ago to 77.1 percent last month.
Besides more nightly visitors, hoteliers also were able to charge more in March. The average daily rate in Salt Lake County was $119, up $7 from March of 2016, while statewide it rose from $131 to $137.
Conditions were mixed in various parts of the state. Business was up in Ogden, Logan and outlying areas such as Moab and Torrey. It was down in Davis County and Cedar City (almost 9 percent) and was basically flat in St. George and Utah County.
Utah's mountain resorts saw modest improvements over the previous ski season.
Lodging establishments there had a 69.8 percent occupancy rate last month, bettering the 68.1 percent mark of a year earlier. Room rates were up more than $12 a night to $326, according to the Denver-based Rocky Mountain Lodging Report.
Across the West, however, political uncertainty and tricky weather combined to bring the ski industry's roller-coaster winter to a less-than-ideal conclusion.
"This winter marked the first time in a decade that we have seen declines in year-over-year occupancy," said Ralf Garrison, director of DestiMetrics, another Denver company that tracks data from 290 property-management companies in 19 mountain communities in Utah, Colorado, California, Nevada, Oregon and Wyoming.
"Yet we saw gains in revenue for both the Rocky Mountains and the Far West," he added, concluding "the increase in rates suggest that demand remains high and that skiers continue to demonstrate their passion for mountain vacations and their tolerance for increased rates."
Through March 31, Garrison said, occupancy rates were down 0.3 percent while revenue was up 6.8 percent.
Looking forward to summer, he said bookings for July, August and September appear strong while May and June are down slightly.