Snowbasin Set To Get First On-Site Lodging With Ultra-Luxury Club Med Development

Background

As part of a radical base area transformation, Snowbasin is set to get its first on-site lodging option in 2024. An all-inclusive Club Med hotel, the first new experience from the chain in the United States in two decades, will be constructed for opening in December of that year. The luxury hotel will be built at the current site of the original Day Lodge and Wildcat Parking area, and will feature complimentary food, drink, and lift tickets. The new hotel will be paired with a Littlecat lift upgrade to a multi-use lift (likely a chondola). Construction on the hotel is set to begin in 2022.

A few other upgrades are set to be complete for the 2024-25 season as part of Snowbasin’s Village Concept Phase One. The resort will construct a new beginner area called Ridgeline just below the Littlecat Express, and a new chairlift and magic carpet will complement the new slopes.

Additional upgrades will follow as part of Snowbasin’s Village Concept Long Term Vision. A number of other lodging developments are on track for 2025, as are two additional chairlifts from the Ridgeline beginner area; one of these will service a dedicated learning slope while the other will provide a direct link to the main base. An expanded pedestrian village is on track for completion some time around this time.

Keystone’s first phase of its base development, set for completion in December 2024, will include the all-inclusive Club Med hotel, new beginner terrain, and a new chairlift. Figure by Snowbasin

Our Take

Snowbasin’s lack of on-site lodging can be traced back to its roots as a local hill before it was massively expanded for events for the 2002 Olympic games. But now that it’s a full-fledged ski resort that competes effectively with the rest in Utah, it could really use a hotel to attract the destination crowd.

This new all-inclusive Club Med will only attract one type of destination crowd: the ultra-wealthy one. If you have to ask, you probably can’t afford to stay at this new Club Med experience, which will likely mandate at least a two-night stay and command at least a four-figure price tag. However, the resort will be all-inclusive, so if you haven’t bought your tickets yet and plan to ski every day, you’ll make a considerable amount of the cost back. Moreover, it looks like more hotels will be coming in future seasons, and hopefully they will offer considerably more reasonable pricing.

Snowbasin’s existing beginner terrain is limited, and the resort is aiming to address this key weakness with the Ridgeline trail upgrade part of this plan. There are currently only a handful of green trails outside the small Littlecat beginner area, and any additional beginner runs will help the mountain with this demographic. However, at least for the first year, the initial Ridgeline lift will not follow a very intuitive line, ending just short of the top of Littlecat and forcing guests onto a magic carpet to reach the other areas of the resort. It looks like this issue will be resolved once the Ridgeline-to-Village lift is constructed.

The final plan for Snowbasin’s base village will address the logistical issues with the Ridgeline lift setup in Phase One of the project. Figure by Snowbasin

Snowbasin is starting its transformation this season with a high-speed upgrade to its Middle Bowl chairlift, which we’ve written about in detail here, as well as expanded parking. This is an exciting time for Snowbasin, and we’re excited to visit the resort both this year and in future seasons to assess how these improvements materialize.

For more on Snowbasin and the Utah resort landscape, check out our Snowbasin review and Utah rankings.