Apr 19, 2024

Celebrating Summer and Excited for Winter!

Believe it or not, in just a few short weeks the towering Wasatch mountains will be blanketed in white and our Cottonwood resorts’ lifts will be turning for 2018-19 ski and snowboard season. We at Visit Salt Lake—and more specifically, Ski City, our winter brand—has been gearing up and promoting the coming winter far and wide, celebrating the fact that only in Ski City can skiers and riders experience “A Different Adventure Every Day.”

And it’s true. Combining the unique nature of each of our world-class resorts with an evening unavailable in any traditional ski town, from NBA basketball to professional ballet or symphony to Broadway theater productions to a seemingly endless lineup of music, and you have the makings of one of the most varied ski trips imaginable, all while checking off true “bucket list” resorts. And Ski City is ideal for families, couples, individuals, groups large and small as well as those wanting to splurge a bit or those on a budget, and everything in between.

I’m personally excited for the ski season, particularly as we collectively celebrate the end of yet another successful convention season, one that is wrapping up and appears to be one of our best ever. For that and all you do, including your continued support of our efforts to market, promote and sell Salt Lake, thank you.

Finally, I’m excited to share and congratulate the Salt Palace Green Team, of which we’re a member, for being presented a 2018 Business of the Year Award for Community Impact by Utah Business Magazine. The Green Team’s efforts are spearheaded by SMG and includes the Salt Palace Convention Center, Mountain America Expo Center, Utah Food Services, PSAV and VSL.

Scott Beck

President/CEO

Upcoming Conventions: The Financial Forecast

Visit Salt Lake has developed occupancy forecasting models by using STR Analytics daily hotel data. STR Analytics produces a ‘Daily Trend Report’ (DTR). The DTR is a report of hotels’ daily percentage occupancy, average daily rate, and resulting RevPAR. Visit Salt Lake has purchased a subscription to DTR for Salt Lake in two sets. One for total Salt Lake County (approx. 19,700 rooms), and the other for the Salt Lake County Convention District (“SLCD,” approx. 6,400 rooms). By simple interpolation, we derive the data set for Salt Lake hotels that are located outside the SLCD (approx. 13,300 rooms).

VSL has DTR information from January 1, 2012, to the present. Hotels in the SLCD are located in the downtown area, and 98% of their hotel reservation systems are directly linked to STR Analytics. This enables STR to produce its DTR with a high degree of accuracy and provides reliable insight into the effects of events in Salt Lake. Approximately 80% of the hotels inside Salt Lake County but outside of the SLCD link their reservation systems to STR Analytics. The other hotels participate in surveys conducted by STR.

The graph above shows hotel occupancy forecasts for January 2019. Occupancy forecasts are estimated by the number of convention attendees, day-of-week, seasonality, and location.

There are two graphs for each forecasted month:

• Hotel occupancy inside the SLCD
• Hotel occupancy outside the SLCD

The graphs also show historic year-over-year occupancy rates, convention dates, and claimed convention attendance.

Why Walk When You Can Scoot?

If you’ve been downtown lately, you’ve probably noticed the latest transportation trend to hit the streets of Salt Lake. Electric scooters have descended upon The Beehive State, and they’re creating quite a buzz.

Two companies, Lime and Bird, have deployed hundreds of ready-to-ride scooters at convenient locations around the city. Since they don’t need to be docked and locked, and there’s always one nearby—an advantage over transit options like bike sharing and TRAX light rail. Simply hop on your smartphone to see a map of available scooters near you and be on your way, at up to 15 mph, in a matter of minutes. Once arriving at your destination, just leave your scooter on the sidewalk for the next person looking for a lift.

Tip of the Month - Seasonal Marketing

Did you know partnership with Visit Salt Lake gives you access to valuable resources to support your business, including past educational tracks? As a partner of VSL we want to provide you with all the tools needed to thrive in our community.

You have access to our Comprehensive Marketing Plan, the Annual Report & Executive Summary through the Members Tab of our website under the “Member Resources” link. 

Don’t forget to use these resources to update your web listing and educate your team. You can always make updates to your listing in the Member Portal. If you are not familiar with how to update your listing or would like a refresher on how partnership can benefit your business, don’t forget to RSVP for one of our Member Trainings to learn more tips and tricks including increased SEO.

If you need to login assistance or have questions on the resources available to your business please do not hesitate to contact Miranda Maisto. 

Featured Member Highlight - Snowpine Lodge

Winter is coming, and so are big changes to the traditional world of Alta thanks to a major renovation from one of our VSL members, Snowpine Lodge. This lodge is the only building in Little Cottonwood Canyon that has literally spanned Alta’s rich history from mining to skiing. Dating back to the 1800s, it was a general store, post office, army barracks and public shelter before officially being established as a hotel in 1938.

Reopening in January 2019 after extensive renovations, it will have transformed itself from a rustic dormitory-type accommodation to a 79-room luxury lodge (still with 11 dorm beds), offering a full-service restaurant/bar, spa, swimming pool, and an indoor-outdoor event space. Snowpine's rebranding to a modern, all-season luxury resort is yet another feather in the cap of iconic Alta.

Meet Our New Members!

• Last Course Dessert Studio
• The Hertz Coporation
• Access Salt Lake

Upcoming Member Events:

• Visit Salt Lake Member Training
  
• 13th Annual Ski Biz Expo
• 4th Quarter Board of Trustees & Membership Meeting - Holiday Breakfast

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This newsletter is an important part of our communications with the Salt Lake County community and Visit Salt Lake's members. The Member News section is part of the benefit of membership.