Report shows lodging occupancy mostly higher in region

Overnight accommodations in Estes Park, Boulder and along the U.S. Highway 36 corridor between Boulder and Denver recorded slight year-over-year declines in overall occupancy in the first third of 2023, compared with the same four-month period last year, according to the  Rocky Mountain Lodging Report for April, issued Friday by the Colorado Hotel and Lodging Association.

However, hotels, inns and other lodging options in Fort Collins, Greeley, Longmont and Loveland posted gains for the period over the first four months of 2022, according to the report.

Hotel rooms along the U.S. 36 corridor were 52.5% full from January through April this year, compared with 55.4% in the same four months of 2022, the report said. For Boulder it was 59.3% this year, down from 60.4% last year.

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Estes Park showed the steepest decline in the region, with 27.2% of rooms occupied so far this year compared with 32.3% in the same period in 2022. Cold, windy and snowy weather held overnight visitation down, offsetting any boost the mountain town saw from the addition of the Frozen Dead Guy Days festival in March.

On the plus side, Fort Collins’ overnight lodgings were 57.2% full for the period, sharply higher than 2022’s 50.6%. Greeley saw 68.8% of its rooms filled, up from 66.6% the previous year. In Longmont it was 58.8%, up from 57.1% in 2022, and Loveland posted 63.7% occupancy for the period, up from 58.1% in the same period in 2022. 

Looking solely at figures for April this year, Greeley led the way in the region with the highest occupancy rate of 74% and the lowest average nightly room rate of $97.73.

Around 66.5% of rooms in Boulder were booked in April at an average rate of $170.85. Loveland saw 66.2% occupancy at an average rate of $123.82. Rooms in Longmont were 62.8% full in April at an average rate of $100.33, and Fort Collins recorded 61.3% occupancy at a $123.26 nightly average.

Hotels along the U.S. 36 corridor recorded 58.1% occupancy at an average nightly rate of $123.97, while Estes Park – still nearly two months away from its normal summer tourist influx – saw 31.6% occupancy at an average nightly rate of $133.02.