Whistler accommodations are seeing a boom in reservations from tourists to Whistler looking to start the winter ski season early in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada.

With snow falling fast and furious in Whistler, translates into fast-and-furious holiday bookings with accommodations in Whistler and ski shopping, making many in the resort hopeful that this will be a boom season.

“Everybody has incredible expectations. [This past weekend] we exceeded the sales we did at the same time last year and the mountain was open. People are hungry. They want to get it on again.”

Coombs said the resort is in recovery after several challenging years of poor weather, a strong Canadian dollar and post-911 concerns over international travel.

Les Pedersen, director of sales and marketing for the Westin Resort and Spa, said reservation lines are ringing off the hook.

“We had our biggest reservation weekend of the year,” he said. “When the snow starts to fly the phones light up.” The Westin, along with others in the resort, have also been marketing value packages regionally and internationally to draw visitors this year.

And Whistler Blackcomb has been doing the same thing.

The Mountains have done more than $22 million worth of upgrades, including opening the Symphony Express with its 400 hectares of new alpine-ski terrain.

It also lowered the price of youth and child passes and will extend the Edge Card deal until Sunday at midnight.

“We had a record single day for web traffic” on Tuesday, said Stuart Rempel, vice-president of marketing and sales for Whistler Blackcomb.

“We are seeing incredible interest and I think Whistler has a momentum going forward that is very exciting and I think it is around the improvements and around value.”

Tourism Whistler’s Arlene Schieven said they are projecting at least a three-per-cent increase in bookings.

“We had a record day on Monday [for bookings], so that is a good indicator that things are looking good,” she said.

Other cities nearby Whistler Blackcomb that may see an increase in travellers seeking to rent vacation rentals include Squamish and Permberton. Squamish accommodations are in high demand these days with the boom in real estate development the town has experienced over the past 2 year.

“To have recovery last winter followed by our best summer ever, I think that is really helping produce a greater feeling of confidence.”

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 19th, 2006 at 4:14 pm and is filed under Whistler, Whistler lodging, Lodges, Whistler Vacation Rentals, Whistler accomodation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.