With the cold weather, hopefully, behind us, it’s time to look ahead to summer—and who is staying in Park City on summer nights.
Park City Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau CEO Bill Malone says summer business has grown 3-4% per year over the past two decades. But overnight visitation in the summer looks a little different from what might be expected.
“We tend to look at summer from a weekend standpoint, when we're off work, many of us," Malone said. "We look and we see, OK, how many people are at Silly Market or how many people are at the 4th of July parade, but it's very interesting when you kind of break it down in summer,from an overnight standpoint. Our busiest nights of the week in summer are Wednesdays and Thursdays, and our slowest nights of the week are Sundays and Mondays.”
That’s due to the type of guests booking overnight stays. Malone says half of Park City’s overnight bookings are due to corporate group business, particularly at the larger hotels. The Chamber/Bureau does outreach at trade shows with businesses and meeting planners to bring conferences into Park City, booking all the way out to 2022.
“Primarily, what's on the books are those meetings that are being booked one year, two year, even three years out in advance," Malone said. "Those of us traveling on leisure, we pick up the phone on Wednesday and book a room on Friday. So, what we we’re tracking is that long haul business, as opposed to the nightly business that you pick up just on, 'hey, I watched the weather, it's going to be a great weekend in Park City, let's go.'”
Based on survey data, Malone says many of Park City’s guests in town for business are visiting for the first time, and they indicate a desire to come back with their families for vacations. The meetings, Malone says, provide a great introduction to what the area has to offer.
“Meetings in Park City in the summer aren’t usually locking you into a box for the day," Malone said. "They many times include a fly fishing time or bike rides or outdoor activities, and that's really the motivation why the people have selected us.”
Looking ahead to later in the summer, Malone says the lodging numbers are about 9% higher than what they were last year.
