Last Minute Resort Deals: Hotwire, Meet Your Snowy Twin, “Vail on Sale”
Gregg Blanchard /
Exactly how popular this site actually is, I don’t know but the idea is interesting.
Run by the Vail Valley Partnership, Vail on Sale is a last-minute lodging site specific to Eagle County, including both Vail and Beaver Creek resorts.
Rather than hiding the property’s name like some last-minute sites, it does open the door for a jaded guest or two who booked well in advance but ended up paying hundreds more each night than a last second traveler.
A strange conundrum. We reward early-bookers with discounts but also reward the hold-outs with equal or greater deals.
Granted, these deals come with no guarantees of actually being available, but that worry is mainly on a hotel-by-hotel basis. Every time I’ve checked this site there have always been dozens of rooms available. Not only that but, weekend rates aside, the discount appears to be equally large if I book a room 6 days in advance or 1 day.
Good or Bad
On the one hand, if it gets sufficient traffic, this could be a great tool to fill last-minute vacancies. On the other, if there always seems to be something available at a consistently good discount, it may train skiers to hold out on booking their trip.
A huge number of reservations are made last minute, so providing a place to get these deals might encourage more to look at your resort, but as soon as other resorts catch on the advantage is lost.
Low-price-guarantees could avoid the jaded early-booker, but I’m still not 100% sold on this concept. Ideas?