West Yellowstone businesses committed to keeping winter economy alive

Randy Roberson is busy preparing for the winter tourist season in West Yellowstone, just as he’s done for years.

By NICK GEVOCK Chronicle Staff Writer

http://bozemandailychronicle.com/articles/2004/10/24/news/winter.txt

But unlike past winters, Roberson is closing down two of his three hotels. And he has ordered a fraction of the rental snowmobiles he usually does because he’s booked only about a third the number of reservations for snowmobile-hotel packages as years past.

"I’m looking at our advanced reservations and they’re horrible," Roberson said in a recent interview. "They’re about on par to put us at or below where we were last year."

That’s not a bar to aim for.

Last winter Roberson brought in less than half as much money as the past few years at The Brandin’ Iron Inn, he said.

Roberson was just one of many business owners who took it on the chin last winter.

Next door, Yellowstone National Park was open to snowmobiles last winter, but conflicting court orders and politics left many people so confused they either thought it was closed or weren’t certain enough to book a trip.

Businesses brought in $74,000 less in resort tax from December 2003 through March 2004 than they did for the same period a year earlier. That means tourists spent $2.5 million less on hotels, meals and other services in West Yellowstone last winter than the year before.

But since then, the park service has proposed a temporary plan that allows 720 snowmobiles a day into the park, including 400 through the west gate at West Yellowstone. All of the snowmobilers have to be with guides.

The plan is slated to last three years while the lawsuits work their way through the courts and the park service crafts a permanent plan.

Business owners in West Yellowstone are happy just knowing the park will be open. Despite last winter’s rough go, the vast majority of businesses in West Yellowstone will open up this winter, said Marysue Costello, director of the West Yellowstone Chamber of Commerce.

Tourists still will be able to find a hotel room, get a bite to eat at a number of restaurants and shop at stores.

In short, West Yellowstone won’t be a ghost town, Costello said. If too many businesses did shut down, the town would create a self-fulfilling prophesy that could effectively kill its winter tourism economy.

"Will everything be open, no it will not," she said. "But will all of the services be open and available, you bet they will."

Costello said it’s hard to peg a number on how many businesses that have normally opened up in winter will close this year. But she estimated, based on talking with people around town, that between 10 percent to 15 percent will close.

Others are riding the fence on whether to open. Some business owners who have multiple interests are closing some down, cutting back on staff or scaling back their hours to keep overhead down.

"I’m hearing caution in terms of hiring," Costello said. "There’s still a number of people out there who are making up their minds.

"It’s just going to come down to how much their phones are ringing with people making reservations."

Several business owners contacted by the Chronicle are viewing this winter as a bellwether. The success or failure of this winter will determine whether they make their operations summer-only for good.

"Last winter was our first open for business and it almost put us into bankruptcy," said Eric Tips, owner of the Beartooth Barbecue. "But I’m kind of a fighter… you shouldn’t quit after one bad season."

Tips earns the vast majority of his income in the summer, like most businesses in West Yellowstone. But he opened last winter with the hope of being able to keep his best employees on the payroll year-round.

The loss of cooks, hotel workers and other service people in West Yellowstone was evident this summer, Tips said.

"They bailed, because they couldn’t make a living last winter," he said. "They went looking for a place where they could make a living year-round,

Another reason Tips said he wants to stay open year-round is to keep the numerous tourists who visit in both summer and winter happy.

A big part of the problem last winter was the confusion that surrounded the park’s snowmobile rules, Costello said. Many people thought the park was shut down altogether.

To combat that perception, the chamber launched an advertising camping this summer. It stressed that the town is open all year for business.

But the campaign, which consisted of restaurant place mats and big banners, also sought to separate the town from the park somewhat. It mentions the 200,000 acres of public land outside the park that is open for snowmobiles, cross country skiing and other winter sports.

The town is building a new warming hut at the trailhead for the Rendezvous Ski Trails. In addition, attractions such as the Grizzly/Wolf Discovery Center and the IMAX theater will remain open all year.

Getting away from the heavy reliance on the park is important to West Yellowstone’s future winter economy, Costello said.

"People can obviously come here and have a good time, and that’s what we wanted to get across," she said.

If the town can get that point across, it will move its winter economy to be more like Cooke City.

The gateway town has had a snowmobile winter economy for years that hasn’t felt a dip at all in recent years, said Scherry Dodd, manager of the High Country Motel in Cooke City.

"The controversy in the park didn’t affect us at all," she said.

Cooke City has promoted its trails outside of the park because snowmobilers can’t ride in Yellowstone from the northeast entrance.

However, Costello also said the park always will be part of the economic puzzle for West Yellowstone. Snowmobiliers on a vacation always want to take at least one day to see Yellowstone.

Thus, the chamber tries to strike a balance between stressing that there’s plenty to do outside the park and emphasizing that Yellowstone is still open in winter. The park is too spectacular a sight to miss in winter, whether on a cleaner snowmobile, in a snowcoach or by foot, Costello said.

The handful of park concessionaires who hold a license to operate snowmobiles in Yellowstone are also adapting.

Roberson, who offers room and snowmobile package deals, said he’s closing down two of his three hotels and ordered only 38 rental snowmobiles this year. In past year’s he bought 140 rental snowmobiles.

But he’s also ordered five new snowcoaches to complement the one he already has. Roberson is banking that the guided tour is the future of winter tourism in the West Yellowstone area.

He bases that on last winter’s experience.

"People said, ‘You know I’ve been coming up here for years, and I’ve never taken a guided tour, I’m so embarrassed how much I didn’t know about the park,’" he said. "We have to change folks’ mentality that they don’t want to have a guided tour."

Roberson will offer more specialty tours this year. Some will be geared toward wildlife watching, others will focus on the park’s geology or cater to photographers.

He would also like to start offering trips for schools.

West Yellowstone Town Manager Fred Rice said he’s encouraged by all the business owners determination.

"People are just basically saying we’re going to do it," he said. "That’s the attitude West (Yellowstone) needs to have."