Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — Steamboat is predicted to be at 82 percent occupancy this weekend, but chamber officials expect to see more people here over the weekend because of all the last-minute bookings.

"People are coming in and deciding to stay. There is a very high volume of walk-ins," said Carroll Bastow, administrative assistant of the Steamboat Springs Chamber Resort Association.

"It means they are finding Steamboat attractive and want to stay," she said.

Bastow said the lodging barometer is very conservative and on average there is an 8 percent to 34 percent increase in the lodging percent.

Considering the average increase in people visiting the area without reservations, Bastow said, a 91 percent to 92 percent occupancy is probably closer to the actual number of people expected to visit over the weekend.

Over the past few weeks, she said, the number of people making last-minute plans to stay in the area has increased dramatically.

With the Triple Crown tournaments in Steamboat until Aug. 17, Bastow said the barometer will stay pretty steady over the next couple of weeks.

However, the number of people booked in Steamboat after Aug. 17 drops off.

"We're working on marketing the last two weeks of August," Bastow said.

David Bradshaw, manager of the Super 8 Motel, said the motel is close to full for the end of July and the first two weeks of August. Most of the bookings during this time are Triple Crown families, Bradshaw said. Currently, the bookings for the motel include a variety of different parties, he said.

He said for the weekend he expects the occupancy of the motel to be between 90 percent and 100 percent.

Mountain hotels are predicted to have 84 percent occupancy today, and other lodging opportunities are forecast to have 86 percent occupancy.

Bradshaw said June was a little slower than average but July has been comparable to recent years.