BOZEMAN — If you were planning on staying in Bozeman for Montana State’s Parents Weekend, if you didn't book your hotel early, you were probably out of luck. But is that normal? For every hotel in Bozeman to be fully booked for a weekend?
“Yeah, it’s always kind of been a tradition for my parents to come out. Just because they came to school here and we grew up coming to football games,” says Bailey.
Bailey is a senior at Montana State. Having alumni as parents, they’ve made it a priority to attend parents' weekend every year. Bailey tells me in the past, her parents have stayed in hotels when they visit. But this year? They’ll be staying with her. So, I asked why?
“It’s just expensive and hard to get nowadays. And I have extra room so I’d rather have them stay with me instead of pay like $300, $400 bucks for a hotel room,” says Bailey.
A problem that not only Baily’s parents are running into this weekend.
“I think they’re staying at one of the hotels by Target,” says Rylie. “They booked it like all the way back in the summer."
Rylie is a freshman at Montana State. Her parents are flying up from Dallas, Texas for Parents Weekend and were lucky enough to get a hotel here in Bozeman. And even though they booked it months in advance?
“It was really expensive. My mom was complaining about it,” says Rylie.
But it’s not just this weekend that hotels are fully booked. And prices? Soaring through the roof. I met up with Daryl Schliem, CEO of the Bozeman Area Chamber of Commerce, and asked why we're having these hotel issues.
“I will admit that this fast-paced growth from Gallatin County and Bozeman has been a challenge for all of us. We’re showing the pent-up demand that came out of the pandemic. And if you look at the rise that we had, open spaces and people to come here, you saw travel go through the roof. So, we’re playing some catch-up,” says Schliem.
According to the Chamber, there are currently 2,535 hotel rooms in Bozeman in 31 hotels. 650 of those rooms were created in the last five years, but that hasn’t kept up with the rapid rate of tourism. So why aren't more hotels being built to increase availability and lower costs?
“It’s very hard to build enough capacity, say for the 4.2 million visitors that come from May through September. What do you do the other six months that are out there? We just don’t want to see what I call a fight to the bottom and have it over-saturated. And prices are, for the consumer, very good. But how many places may you lose because of those prices?” says Schliem.
But don’t worry, there are plans for new hotels. In fact, another 994 rooms are under construction in Bozeman, opening soon. And by 2029? Bozeman will have around 6,355 rooms available.
“People move here for the views. We didn't build the mountains and the ranges and the bowl that we’re in. We have a beautiful environment. And being next to Yellowstone National Park? And just a four-hour drive to Glacier National Park? I mean, we’re built for continued growth. We’re built for continued tourism,” says Schliem.
