In Brief: Lodging trends down; Hall of Fame tickets available; Skico donates $100,000 to local groups
Lodging occupancy trends all down
According to Destimetrics’ most recent Reservations Activity Report Executive Summary for Snowmass and Aspen, February lodging occupancy began the month pacing down 3.5% to last year and ended down 3.6%.
Aspen’s occupancy was 77.1% (-2.2%), while Snowmass achieved 74.3% (-5%). The Saturday of President’s Day weekend was the second highest occupancy day of the year, after Dec. 29. It’s likely that February will be the highest occupancy month of the winter, officials said.
March occupancy began the month behind by 5.5% despite the event buzz. On a positive note, the snow keeps coming, Aspen Snowmass has extended the season, and conditions are exceptional, “so we are all continuing to work on bookings for spring,” said Kristi Kavanaugh, vice president of sales for Aspen Skiing Co.
Winter (November through April) is sitting at 55.5% occupancy vs. 57.1% this time last year, down 2.8%, a slight improvement from last month, when occupancy was trending down 3.2%.
Winter’s pace has become somewhat normalized due to the return of groups, international travel and events, all inventory that books well in advance.
“Our pick up throughout the season didn’t quite keep up to last year’s pace,” Kavanaugh said. “However, the resort is still having a successful winter.”
May through August and is currently pacing down 17%. That deficit appears to be evenly shared between both towns. Many of the peak summer dates are the ones pacing the most behind and those dates have the best chance of filling in short term, official said.
This report is part of a greater collaboration between the Aspen Skiing Co., the Aspen Chamber Resort Association and Snowmass Tourism. For more: http://destimetrics.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/SAS_Executive_Summary_2023_02_28.pdf
Aspen Hall of Fame tickets available
The Aspen Hall of Fame will honor Tom and Jody Cardamone, Georgia Herrick Hanson and
Walt Smith April 15 at the 37th annual banquet and tickets for the event are on sale now.
The Jerome Hotel is hosting the event, though organizers caution seating is limited and they expect the tickets to sell out. Information about buying tickets, available for $150 per person, is available at http://www.aspenhalloffame.org. The deadline to purchase tickets is March 31.
More information about this year’s inductees is available at http://www.aspenhalloffame.org. The induction ceremony at the historic Hotel Jerome will include short video profiles of Smith, Hanson and the Cardamones. The videos will be posted on the Hall of Fame website following the banquet
and ceremony.
The Aspen Hall of Fame is a nonprofit organization, dependent upon donations for its continued existence, organizers said.
Skico donates $100,000 to local groups
Aspen Skiing Co. announced Tuesday it has donated $100,000 to local organizations through the Aspen Skiing Co. Family Fund.
The donations which target mental and physical health, school lunch debt and other social outreach programs, Skico officials said.
The allocations include $9,000 to the Roaring Fork School District to pay off accumulated school lunch debt for families in need; $40,000 to the Aspen Hope Center to address community mental health issues; $20,000 to the Health for All Fund to provide health care for uninsured families through Mountain Family Health (a gift that will be tripled by a match from three local families); and $31,000 to the employee-led Aspen Skiing Co. Caring for Community Fund, to be distributed to organizations that address a range of community issues including providing food aid, legal services, healthcare, and youth development programming for low-income families.
“There are enormous, pressing needs in the Roaring Fork Valley right now,” said Hannah Berman, senior sustainability and philanthropy manager for Aspen Skiing Co. “Aspen Skiing Company hopes that these donations will not only have an immediate impact on our community, but that they will also bring attention to the work of these exceptional organizations and generate further investment in their missions.”
Open houses for public comment on Cottonwood Pass improvements
Public meetings are scheduled in Garfield and Eagle counties for March 22 and 23, to present concept designs aimed at improving safety on county roads that traverse Cottonwood Pass between Gypsum in Eagle County and Colorado Highway 82 in Garfield County.
The Colorado Department of Transportation is supporting Eagle and Garfield counties with initial concepts for safety improvements to the county roads at 14 locations. Eagle County identified six locations to evaluate potential improvements and Garfield County identified eight locations, based on known safety issues.
Cottonwood Pass is a connection for residents who rely on the county road to travel between Gypsum and Highway 82 in the Roaring Fork Valley. It is often used as an undesignated alternate route when Glenwood Canyon is closed.
This project developed options for safety improvements at each of the project sites based on
a review of existing conditions and public input gathered throughout the project, including
during the first set of public meetings last summer. Design concepts include spot
improvements to soften curves, improve sight distance, and increase road width in specific
areas to accommodate two vehicles passing.
Two public open house meetings are planned to gather feedback regarding the concept
options and share the draft evaluation of each option. The same information will be displayed
at each meeting, and project staff will be on hand to answer questions.
One is Wednesday, March 22, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in Glenwood Springs at the Glenwood Springs Community Center.
The other is Thursday, March 23, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Gypsum Town Hall Council Chambers, 50 Lundgren Boulevard.
Comments can be submitted by March 31 via an online comment form. To view the graphics, submit comments, or to join the project mailing list, visit http://www.codot.gov/projects/cottonwood-pass-concept-design.
For more information on the Cottonwood Pass Concept Design project, visit http://www.codot.gov/projects/cottonwood-pass-concept-design.
