Aspen, Snowmass break September occupancy records

Destimetrics, a firm that analyzes mountain resort economics, released September occupancy data that show record visitation for Aspen and Snowmass.

Bill Tomcich, president of Stay Aspen Snowmass, said in his monthly occupancy report that winter reservations are looking strong.

“Stay Aspen Snowmass is off to by far its strongest start since 2008,” his report said.

September numbers show that Aspen’s overall paid occupancy was 64.1 percent for the month, a 12.3 percent increase over last year’s record of 57.1 percent, the report said. Snowmass’s overall paid occupancy was 47.8 percent, a 4.9 percent increase over last year’s record of 45.5 percent.

“What’s especially noteworthy about this September is the fact that the weekends in both Aspen and Snowmass were as busy as the weekends during any month of the year, winter or summer,” Tomcich wrote. “Snowmass actually had four consecutive weekends in a row in September when occupancies peaked at 85 percent or higher! And to put into perspective how busy Aspen was, there have been a total of 30 nights since mid-June when nightly occupancies reached 90 percent or higher. By comparison, there were a total of 18 nights with 90-plus percent occupancies in Aspen during the summer of 2015.”