After busy holiday, CBMR focuses on January bookings

Teo Bowl opened Wednesday

By Alissa Johnson

With the holidays come and gone, Crested Butte Mountain Resort has turned its attention toward opening the extremes—Teo Bowl opened Wednesday—and enticing visitors to book last-minute trips in January. While projections are down this month compared to last year, both February and March are up.

According to Erica Mueller, director of innovations and relations for Crested Butte Mountain Resort, the holidays went well. Yet the subzero temps that ushered in the new year seem to have ushered a few visitors away from the slopes. Skier days were pacing ahead of last year during the first part of the holiday but were slightly down during the second half.

“We think the chilly weather kept people inside more than they would have,” Mueller said.

Overall, December room nights were 7 percent up compared to last year. By contrast, January lodging nights are down 20 percent. Mueller attributes the decline to having less group business.

“Last year, we had a banner January, thanks to a couple of large groups. This year we didn’t have that business, so we are showing to be fairly down,” Mueller said.

February and March room nights, however, are both up over last year: 24 percent in February and 14 percent in March, again primarily due to group bookings.

Mueller said individual and wholesale bookings are up, but not as significantly.

In the meantime, the resort is focused on booking last-minute business, especially with the extremes beginning to open. “We will keep hitting the extremes hard with control work for now and once we get more snow it is going to be really awesome out there,” Mueller said.

Among the promotions are specials for Military Appreciation Month. All active military, retired military, their legal dependents and Department of Defense employees can take advantage of $99 bookings at the Grand Lodge and $35 lift tickets.

For every lift ticket sold as part of the promotion, $2 will be donated to the Adaptive Sports Center’s Operation Rise and Conquer program. There will also be $35 ski and snowboard lessons.

Skiers with kids can also look for some fun activities as part of National Safety Month in January. On weekends, there will be demos with avalanche rescue dogs and the kiddos can see and touch snowcats and fire trucks up close.

So as 2016 is off and running, the hope remains the same as always: snow, more snow, and snow, should El Niño kick it into gear as the experts predict.