I could not agree more .In addition to the approximate 35% add on for accomodation,lets not forget the 8.75% City,County and State sales tax. I come to Steamboat from N.H State with neither an income,or sales tax. We do have a property tax that is paid by property owners. Here in Steamboat there is an attitude that the already highly taxed visitors should pay for the care,maintenance and improvements to Steamboat's infrastructure .To my thinking,,if Steamboat residents want something,like renovating the downtown theater,then the residents should pay for it.
At some point the goose that lays the golden egg will just stop laying here.
Personally,I rent a condominium in Steamboat with a monthly rate of $6,000.If I were to Tay for less than 30 days the accommodation would add more than $2,000 to the monthly charge.
Kinda scary.
DMS

Amazingly short sighted and the likes of which,I have never seen at any ski area and I have been at it for over 70 years.Wow,just to think that we had a few days of snowfall and the prices go up!
Our weekend/vacation visitors will really be impressed and I don't mean in a positive way.As a season ticket holder,is the ski company going to give me some refund for the lousy conditions in Dec and January,I kinda doubt it.Steamboat continues to go down in it's ratings from the folks at Ski magazine to the point that Steamboat is no longer considered in the top 10 in the west.I would anticipate a further decline in the ratings when 2013 rolls around.All of this is indeed unfortunate,as most vacation visitors rely on these ratings in planning their future vacation.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out,but I doubt that any of it will result in much additional funds for the ski company,but the poor public relations will likely be felt for some time.

Nationally,July was down 27%.The worst decline in recorded times.Why should Steam Boat think that matters would be looking up and optimistically at that.The Buyer determines the price and not the seller.We are all in for one very long and painful decline.This also holds true for the economy as a whole.
David Stone

Wow!
We have the money,let's spend it.
Kinda like children.
Did they,perhaps forget the part about having to borrow more money to finish the project.Oh,then there is the matter of having to pay it all back.

Wow! A real "local economist",and I wonder just wonder just what planet he is from.Certainly not anyplace near Steamboat.Kinda sounds like the fellow a few years ago who stated that"Steamboat would be immune from any economic downturns".Let's all get a life ,and just understand that Steamboat has been hit and hit real hard.

What is the reason that this is news here in Steamboat? The developement is in El Paso,Texas.
Just wondering.

Right on,Scott,you have indeed done your homework.With a potential 7 year inventory of property on the market and lots more just anxiously awaiting to be put online,it just kinda blows my mind to continue reading from the local "real estate experts", that the market is actually improving.Improving from waht I might ask.If being up 5% from a down base minus 75%,then I guess one might think that the market has turned and that the bigger fools will come along and buy the rest of the 7 year inventory.All wishful thinking on their part,but not at all realistic.
No doubt the recovery will take a long time,but at least Steamboat still has an awful lot to offer.

Not quite as dismal as Part 2,nevertheless,a very dark picture.Much of what has been reported about Steamboat is also true in many other parts of the country as well.The difference is that like many other resort/skitowns,Steamboat is subject to much wider swings od the penendulum.What might be a slight cold elsewhere could very well be a bad flu,or H1N1 in so called "boom/bust towns".No doubt Steamboat will come back strong at some future point,but not to the extent of what was there in 2004-07.So much of the "boom",was based on that proverbial,House of Cards.The Holding a Losing Hand part will improve,but it will take a very long time for this to happen.
All in all,a wonderful series and The Pilot has bravely shown a very realistic picture of what the current Steamboat situation is and not what The Steamboat Resort folks ,et.al.,has and still continues to distort.

Finally an an article that really lays the overall realestate/financial debacle on the line rather than the pap that imminates from the usual sources,i.e. Steamboat Resort marketers.For example,The Pilot reported in March,2007 that a 'noted' Professor of Economics from some Community College in the Denver area said that his "analysis indicated Steamboat realestate would be IMMUNE to any country wide economic malaise, as the typical Steamboat buyer mostly were cash rich and did not rely that much on mortgage finanacing,...etc.,".I almost laughed out loud when I read that as it made about as much sense to me as someone thinking that the could delay the sun,or moon's rising or setting times.
To me,it clearly demonstrates that there is always a "bigger fool out there",but this time when the music slowed to a creep,the bigger fool just didn't come along.
Great series and keep telling it like it is.

Wow!
How could he possibly have been so naive.He indicates that Steamboat is kinda a boom,or bust town,yet he marches straight in with a housing market that had appreciated over 50% during the previous 3 years.He suggests that the house represents him and that he had planned to live there.Yet he seemed to have no idea as to how to decorate the house.Perhaps he was just planning for the bigger fool to come along.When the music did finally slow down,it just seems that he wants to blame Steamboat for his own serious bad judgement.At least,I hope that he did enjoy his own 15 minutes.