LAKE TAHOE, Calif./Nev. – In part two of a series on how tourism and businesses fared this winter, the Tribune asked businesses about their experience with the ebbs and flows.

Last week’s part one revealed that visitation numbers in Lake Tahoe were more resilient than expected during the warm winter. Depending on the region, lodging levels ranged from an 11% decline to a 4.2% increase compared to the prior winter.

To learn more about visitation markers, read last week’s article, titled How did Tahoe tourism weather the winter? Pt. 1: Visitation numbers show resilience

Shifting the lens to the business side of things, Jerry Bindel, general manager and area managing director of Forest Suites, said, “I think we’ve all become pretty astute at how to manage our businesses and understand that you can do all the planning in the world, and then you’ve got to execute based on what Mother Nature brings.”

Although Mother Nature brought a handful of generous storms this winter, they were often followed by rain, warm temperatures, and dry spells, resulting in a low snowpack and early melt-out.

A double-edged sword

Although cooler temperatures and, at times, more snow would have been ideal, some of the businesses interviewed point out that more snow can be a double-edged sword.

“It goes both ways, right?…”, Erik Rhodes, owner of Bruschetta, said, recalling a winter a few years ago when there was so much snow that no one could get up to Tahoe. “Businesses weren’t doing well either because nobody could get into town.”

While mild winters may deter visitors, big snowstorms can render travel impossible. Often, the timing of a storm can make the difference.

“We all pray for the snowstorm that starts on a Monday and ends on a Wednesday so we can clear the roads by Thursday,” Bindel said, “and then guests come up for a wonderful weekend of snow or stay the entire week.”

A strong local base

A trend that emerged in interviews with businesses is that those with a strong local base showed resilience, while those more reliant on visitors felt the fluctuations more.

“The main thing for us,” Bruschetta owner Rhodes said, “is we have our regulars that come in on a regular basis and they keep it going for us.”

Another establishment with a customer base largely made up of locals is Craft and Logic, a craft-beer taproom and scratch-kitchen restaurant in Truckee. Owner Austin Harrington actually saw a jump in business during the first quarter this year.

Harrington said that although business from visitors can be beneficial, “I think a big part of our success is having a great connection in the local community.”

For Tube Tahoe, a snow tubing park in Meyers with a customer base made up of 95% visitors, this winter was a different experience.

“It was a challenging season,” Mark Budgell, Tube Tahoe owner, said, whose business is also weather dependent, “relative to the four previous seasons, it was definitely a down year by a fairly significant margin.”

But he’s confident the pendulum will swing the other way. “That’s life in Tahoe, right?,” he said. “It’s feast or famine, it seems like. It’s an amazing place to visit, and it’s cyclical. We’ll have some amazing winters in the future and [I’m] still super optimistic about the business, the space, and in the community.”

Group bookings and holidays are more stable

Another pattern in milder winters, as Bindel pointed out, is that lodging operations catering to larger groups are typically more stable. He says that those lodging customers book months in advance and will come anyway, regardless of conditions.

However, those that do more individual or small family-based bookings fluctuate more.

“If you’re more of an individual property, where you’re getting last-minute couples and smaller families traveling, or that style hotel,” he said, “that was definitely an ebb and flow market. When the snows come, as soon as the roads clear, boom, great business, really strong, but then [it] recedes.”

Bookings are also typically more stable on holidays.

“People plan their vacations prior to knowing if we’re going to have snow, and they don’t really change them for big weekends,” Rhodes pointed out.

A summer resurgence

In contrast to winter, summer appears to be doing well with high demand for lodging in mountain destinations.

According to the North Tahoe Community Alliance’s May economic report, which draws on multiple destination reporting outlets, hotel bookings this summer are trending well ahead of last year, with June reservations up 4.4%, July up 5%, and September up 9.2%.