JoyC

We are just now planning a short ski trip to Park City for mid-March (spring break)2009. It seems we're quite late in our bookings as the only ones available are Marriott Park City (Summit and Mountainside are booked), Lodge at the Mountain Village, Yarrow Resort. The others are too expensive (Silver Queen) or require a minimum of 5 nights stay (we're only staying for 4 nights)Any other suggestions? Prefer hotels between $250-275/night.

PS First time skiing in Utah but not first time skiers-have been to Colorado, Nevada, Wyoming and most of New England ski areas.

Thanks.

ncounty

Another option is a private home or condo rental. You can look at vrbo.com or homeaway.com. My preference of the hotels you listed is not the Yarrow unless it has been recently remodeled. I find it quite dated.

Dayle

JoyC,

Is there something wrong with a condo? So many more choices that way. Lots of price ranges and locations to choose from.

Check out vrbo as recommended by ncounty, or www.parkcityinfo.com for links to many property mgmt companies.

JoyC

Dayle:

No, there's nothing wrong with staying in a condo. We actually prefer it versus staying in a hotel. I was just under the impression that there are minimum nights to stay...from my quick searches, I saw from 5 nights to 7 nights.(Again we are only staying for 4 nights).

PS. There's a possibility we might switch to Snowbird/Alta

ncounty:

Thank you for the websites. I actually found a couple of places (condos) that did not require any minimum and I have contacted the owner(s).

Thanks for your input.

ncounty

Great! I am actually going in two days and got a report from Canyons that they got 20 inches of snow a day or two ago. I might be able to go sledding or skiing this weekend! (I heard Snowbird MAY open early)

Dayle

Joy,

Yes, I guess most condos do ask for minimums during the peak holidays. Of course, depending on how the ski year goes (due to economy) they may change their requirements if bookings are slow.

One of the advantages of vrbo is that owner direct rentals can be more flexible. I have a friend that has been offered several home exchanges for the Christmas holidays and she definitely wasn't interested. Not when she could rent her unit for top dollar during that period.

Snowbird opens tomorrow, 11/7! Woohoo!

ncounty

Yea!!!! thanks for the update, Dayle.

JoyC- even if they state a minimum, it doesn't hurt to ask and ask nicely. I have a second home out there and I have a minimum but a recent guest had asked for a three night stay because it was her 10 year anniversary. I quoted her a rate for it and that I was willing to make an exception and she was ecstatic. She has been so pleasant to deal with.

I think there are times you can work around the minimum if you are dealing directly with the owner, present yourself very nicely and appreciatively and profess the respect you would show for their home. I think many if not most owners would be happy to oblige.

The reason for the minimum is that the rewards (income) to risk (difficult person to work with, risk of damage/exposure to the property) ratio becomes less favorable. If you can substitute for the income reward with supplementary warm fuzzies and make them feel the risk and exposure is negligible, you will be working things in your favor. Just advice from the other side for future reference....