2022 Ski & Winter Search Report
Checking in on winter travel trends and guest bookings this season.
What new travel trends will 2022 bring? While we’re in between editions of our summer Vacation Rental Search Report, we wanted to take a look at how this winter’s bookings are shaping up so far, especially in our top ski destinations.
So, we combed through tens of thousands of Vacasa bookings in 15 popular U.S. ski markets—from California to Vermont—as well as Canada (and a few snowbird escapes, too). Here’s a snapshot of our findings and how travelers have been planning their cold-weather vacations.
Search engine traffic to our ski-in/ski-out vacation rentals page started climbing high in October 2021, doubling between September and November. The page saw its highest organic traffic of the year in December—so it looks like most guests waited till winter to start exploring ski trips in earnest.
About half of all traffic to the page in 2021 came between October 1 and December 31. If this winter is anything like the last one, we’ll see strong interest in ski-in/ski-out rentals through January, dropping off once February hits.
Bookings in our ski markets are significantly longer in winter than summer: this year, we’re averaging about twice as many 4- to 7-day trips during ski season.
Overall, condos emerged as the accommodation of choice across the ski markets we examined, representing 55% of bookings this winter (and a jump of 15 percentage points from summer).
Only a few ski destinations show standalone homes and cabins capturing the majority of bookings all year round, namely Lake Tahoe, CA; McCall/Valley County, ID; and Mt. Hood, OR.
The 5 most-searched vacation rental amenities in our ski markets represent a mix of practicality and access to popular winter activities.
It’s no shock that direct access to the slopes is number one, but ski travelers love easy access to a washer/dryer, too—whether to clean clothes after a day on the slopes, or maybe just warm up pajamas on chilly nights.
Winter trips are about more than just skiing, of course—and a number of warm-weather destinations are seeing big jumps in occupancy this season. (It’s worth noting that a few, like Maui and Kauai, Hawaii, are likely seeing extra interest this winter due to last year’s pandemic-related restrictions.)
Destinations whose winter occupancy leapt this year include Maui, HI; Southern Arizona; the Florida Keys; South Padre Island, TX; and Orange County, CA.
California licenses
Vacasa Seasonals Inc.
California DRE #02160171
Vacation Palm Springs Real Estate, Inc.
California DRE #01523013
Vacasa offers property management and other real estate services directly through Vacasa LLC and through Vacasa LLC's licensed subsidiaries. Click here for more information about Vacasa's licensed real estate brokerage/property manager in your state. Vacasa’s licensed real estate brokerages/property managers include: Vacasa Alabama LLC; Vacasa Arizona LLC; Vacasa of Arkansas LLC; Vacasa Colorado LLC (Micah Victory); Vacasa Delaware LLC, 302-541-8999; Vacasa Florida LLC; Vacasa Illinois LLC 481.014072, Micah Victory Managing Broker Lic# 471.021837; Vacasa Louisiana LLC, Dana MacCord, Principal Broker, ph 504.252.0155 (Licensed in LA); Vacasa Michigan LLC, 602-330-9934; Vacasa Missouri LLC, Vicki Lyn Brown, Designated Broker; Vacasa Nevada LLC; Vacasa New Hampshire LLC,45 NH-25, Meredith, NH 03253, Susan Scanlon, Broker of Record; Vacasa Minnesota, Broker: Micah Victory, license #40877637; Vacasa New Mexico LLC, 503-345-9399; Vacasa New York LLC, 888-433-0068, Susan Scanlon, Real Estate Broker; Vacasa North Carolina LLC; Vacasa Oregon LLC; Vacasa Pennsylvania LLC; Vacation Palm Springs Real Estate, Inc., California DRE #01523013, Mark Graham, California DRE #00700720; Vacasa Real Estate LLC (licensed in Texas, Debra Brock, Designated Broker); Vacasa Real Estate LLC (licensed in Washington, Robert Brush, Designated Broker); Vacasa Seasonals Inc., California DRE #02160171, Lisa Renee Stevens, California DRE #01485234; Vacasa South Carolina LLC; Vacasa South Dakota LLC; Vacasa Tennessee LLC; Vacasa Vacation Rentals of Hawaii LLC, 69-201 Waikoloa Beach Dr. Ste. #2F17, Waikoloa, HI 96738; Vacasa Vacation Rentals of Montana LLC, Terah M. Young, Licensed Property Manager; Vacasa Virginia LLC; Vacasa Wisconsin LLC; Vacasa Wyoming LLC. In Canada, this advertisement is provided by Vacasa Canada ULC, CPBC lic. number 75826, 172 Asher Rd. V1X 3H6 Kelowna, BC.
For this report, the winter/ski season is defined as December 1, 2021 through February 28, 2022, and the summer season is defined as June 1, 2021 through August 31, 2021. Booking data reflects all Vacasa reservations from these time periods. Percentages have been rounded to the nearest whole number.
The term “ski markets” used throughout this report encompasses data from the following markets: High Sierras and Lake Tahoe, CA; Aspen/Snowmass, Front Range, Steamboat Springs, Summit County, Vail/Beaver Creek, and Winter Park, CO; McCall, Panhandle, and Sun Valley/Ketchum, ID; Northern Montana; Mt. Hood, OR; Okemo, VT; Wyoming; and British Columbia and Ontario, Canada.
