Falling reservations and sales tax revenue aren’t good. But Vail’s doing better than other mountain resorts.
The Vail Economic Advisory Council Tuesday got a load of numbers on sales taxes and lodging so far this season. And while the numbers aren’t great, there are some bright spots — or at least some not-so-dark spots, including:

Last-minute reservations

The Mountain Travel Research Project tracks advance reservations at 15 mountain resorts. Those numbers aren’t good. The better news from Vail on Sale, the Vail Valley Partnership’s Web-based reservation system that lets people book a maximum of three weeks before they travel. Reservations booked through that site nearly doubled in January of this year over 2008 numbers, and last-minute deals are making lodging occupancy numbers look better than they did earlier this season.

For instance, advance reservations for March were down 27 percent from 2008. With the month less than two weeks old, last-minute bookings have filled that hole significantly. February reservations were down 13 percent in January, and finished the month down less than 8 percent.
The “less bad” news extends to sales tax collections, too. The Colorado Association of Ski Towns has surveyed sales and use tax collections from seven area resort towns including Aspen, Glenwood Springs and Breckenridge. All seven started the ski season down from the year before, but Vail was down the least, and by quite a lot.
Research from Vail Resorts indicates that Vail’s share of Front Range skiers has gone up this season, from about 10 percent of the market to about 17 percent.

“Vail led the ski industry in occupancy in October,” Vail Valley Partnership Sales and Marketing Director Chris Romer said. “We were number two in January, and we’re leading the industry by a significant margin in February, March and April.”

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