Home

Steamboat Springs — Technological changes that revolutionized the way travelers book hotels have trickled down to the smallest operators, convincing Jay Wetzler that it's time to part ways with the Super 8 flag after three decades.

The Wetzler family has owned the 60-room Super 8 motel on U.S. Highway 40, just south of the stoplight at Walton Creek Road, for 30 years as of this month. However, on Feb. 1, the Super 8 sign will give way to the new Steamboat Hotel sign on the building's recently remodeled façade.

Wetzler said he, his family and key staff have been contemplating the change for several years. Now that global wholesalers such as Expedia and Orbitz have made reservation systems affordable for owners of single properties, they've flipped the switch.

"We're now able to interface with the global distribution system," Wetzler said. "It wasn't until the last couple of years that the technology really became available."

Wetzler owns two distinct lodging properties at his site on the west side of U.S. 40, immediately south of the building occupied by the U.S. Forest Service.

Behind the soon-to-be Steamboat Hotel is the 38-unit Bunkhouse Lodge. Built 10 years ago, it always has operated independently and offers more amenities than its older sibling.

Changing times

It's not unusual for nationally branded motels and hotels to change their affiliation. However, for the Wetzlers, who originally came here from Aberdeen, S.D., there is a long history with Super 8.

Jay's father, Willis, developed more than 100 Super 8's, some for himself and some for others, in the early days of the brand.

Thirty-five years have passed since Dennis Brown opened the first Super 8 Motel in Aberdeen and set the room rate at $8.88. Earlier this week, if you had walked up to the check-in desk at the Steamboat Super 8 without a reservation and asked for a room with a queen-sized bed, you would have been quoted a rate of $98.

"If you had told me 16 years ago we'd be able to charge that much, I would have fallen over in my chair," Wetzler said.

Ninety-eight dollars is substantially more than the $55 you're apt to pay for a night at the Super 8 on Horizon Drive near the airport in Grand Junction. However, it's a reasonable rate for a property two miles from the Steamboat Ski Area via the free city bus.

"Steamboat still needs entry-level properties," Wetzler said.

After so many years with Super 8, Wetzler has reached the conclusion that the Super 8 brand, seldom associated with vacation accommodations, doesn't fit Steamboat so well any longer.

He completed a $350,000-plus remodel of the hotel's façade last summer, but only over the objections of Super 8, which insists on stucco exteriors. Wetzler is pleased with the earth tones of the new siding and the timbered entrance portico.

"We've had a great relationship with Super 8 at the corporate level," Wetzler said, "but it's important to us that we fit in with Steamboat."

Mix of customers crucial

Super 8 manager Michelle Redmond said that previously, the hotel's ability to reach Internet wholesalers was strictly through Super 8, and not all of them were available to the Steamboat property. Super 8 also constrained the local hotel from offering all of the Internet discounts it wanted to.

"We're ranked highly by Expedia because of the discounts and rates we offer," Redmond said. "With the software we have now, I can change our rates from home. I can be in Mexico and change the rates."

Like most independent motels/hotels on U.S. 40, Wetzler's property relies on a mix of resort and business traffic. They hosted many guests last week who were in town to ski while enjoying the MusicFest at Steamboat.

"We work very closely with Dickson Productions and cater to that MusicFest crowd," Wetzler said. "We have a lot of commercial accounts and the business and construction trades are huge in this town."

Super 8, now owned by the giant Wyndham chain, has 2,220 properties. Their Internet reservation system feeds the Steamboat location about 15 percent of its business.

"That number used to be a lot higher," Wetzler said.

Wetzler is confident the two properties can work more closely together when the transition to the Steamboat Hotel is complete.

- To reach Tom Ross, call 871-4205 or e-mail tross@steamboatpilot.com