Glenwood Springs joined its upvalley tourism neighbors in recording a solid mid-winter and early spring season when it came to occupying local lodges with visitors.
The winter months typically pale in comparison to Glenwood’s summer tourism season. However, Glenwood Springs hotels and motels that are included in the Rocky Mountain Lodging Report saw 60.5% occupancy through the first three months of 2019.
That was up from 56.5% occupancy for the first quarter of 2018, according to the monthly report provided to Glenwood Springs tourism officials.
Overnight stays this winter also brought in more dollars than last year. The report indicated the average daily room rate was $132.76 this season, compared to $128.98 for the first quarter of 2018.
Actual revenue per available room was $80.36 per night, compared to $72.83 for the same period last year.
In March alone, Glenwood Springs had 70.1% of its rooms occupied, which was in the ball park with Vail (74.5%) and even higher than Telluride (63.2%), according to the RML Report.
In April, after the Glenwood area’s only ski resort, Sunlight Mountain, had closed for the season, the occupancy rate fell to 53.7%.
That was still better than all of the more-traditional ski resort markets in the RML Report, including Aspen (45.1%), Vail (33.6%), Steamboat Springs (38.5%), Telluride (34.3%) and Breckenridge (40.9%).
For purposes of reporting, Glenwood Springs is not included along with the resort markets. Rather, it is listed among markets including Grand Junction, Craig, Durango, Estes Park, Longmont, Fort Collins, Loveland and Greeley.