As Park City moves deeper into winter, lodging operators say the market is adjusting to softer demand and uncertainty around early season conditions. Heleena Sideris, general manager of Park City Lodging, said average daily lodging rates rose steadily in the years following the pandemic, but tha t trend has shifted this winter. “Since COVID, we’ve seen our average daily rate increase year over year,” Sideris said. “But for the first time this season, we’re seeing a pretty sharp decline back to kind of pre-COVID rates.” That recalibration has had immediate ripple effects. With low early season occupancy and a slow start to winter this year, Sideris said her team, along with many other local businesses, is operating with reduced staff this month. “Right now, we’re still kind of running on a skeleton staff, whereas typically we would be fully staffed or close to it,” she said. “Low occupancy and a low snow year are affecting when and how we can bring our full seasonal team on.” Sideris also described growing stress among the second homeowners whose properties Park City Lodging manages. Many are eager to stay competitive and increase occupancy, but reluctant to lower nightly rates beyond a certain point to protect the long-term value of their investments. “It feels like the whole market is recalibrating and in a little bit of a frenzy right now. We’re just kind of on our toes,” she said. To respond, Park City Lodging constantly reviews pricing. While pricing is guided by automated revenue tools, Sideris said her team meets weekly to make manual adjustments according to demand, hoping to keep rates competitive without pricing themselves too low. Beyond Park City, Sideris pointed to broader economic forces shaping visitor behavior. She said consumer confidence has dipped to its lowest level since the pandemic, driven by national economic uncertainty, and that even traditionally resilient ski travelers are becoming more price sensitive. “We always say the ski clientele is very resilient, and that’s true,” she said. “But with the larger macroeconomic uncertainty, it is affecting us more long-term.” In response, Park City Lodging has started looking for more stable, repeat business to help smooth out the ups and downs of the season. That includes pursuing group bookings and longer-term contracts that secure more predictable occupancy, like its new partnership with the U.S. bobsled and skeleton team. As the season unfolds, Sideris said softer demand, economic uncertainty and increasingly unpredictable winters are forcing businesses and the broader community to reconsider how Park City plans for tourism and what it can realistically rely on moving forward. What were once temporary responses to weather or booking swings are now leading to longer-term conversations about how the town stays stable and sustainable over time. With weather patterns growing less reliable, she said Park City can no longer depend on snow alone to define its appeal or carry the season. “We’re living the realities of climate change right now,” Sideris said. “Sustainability isn’t a choice anymore when it comes to how we operate.” Sideris said she hopes the recent change in trends pushes the town to reassess its local economy and begin treating sustainability as a core part of doing business rather than an afterthought. “My hope is that this challenges us to re-recognize who we are as a town,” Sideris said. “And how we want to be welcoming people from the world into our community and find the opportunity here. We can no longer just rely on Mother Nature to sell this ‘product’ of Park City for us.” The post Unpredictable winter forces Park City lodging industry to rethink the season appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less