Monday, July 6, 2009

Mountain Vacation Planning - Park City UT

By Barry Borenski

If you are planning a vacation to the Park City Utah area, you may find yourself overwhelmed with options. While Park City does have a few big name hotel chains, the majority of the lodging options are privately owned homes and condominiums. The question many vacationers ask is "Where do I even begin"?

Privately owned homes and condominiums are rented through property management companies as well as directly through the private owner. The ski resorts operate central reservations booking agencies and there are also some independent booking companies and lodging wholesalers. These booking agencies usually require property managers and private owners to pay them a commission of up to 25% for their services.

Seasoned visitors to Park City often use the Park City Chamber's website www.parkcityinfo.com to search for information on property management companies offering nightly rentals. The Chamber is a great resource for doing research. Their site allows you to find the names of the different management companies as well as their telephone numbers and websites. You'll have to visit each manager's website directly to see what properties they have available for rent.

Since there are so many different rental management companies offering rentals as well as individually managed rentals available, many vacationers to the Park City area end up making reservations through central reservations agencies simply out of frustration. While this undoubtedly saves time, you have to wonder if you are getting the best price since these booking companies have such a high commission built into the price.

I found the website www.localtourist.com while doing research for this article. Local Tourist is a business directory, not a booking service, and they offer the best search that I have seen for locating the perfect rental. Local Tourist allows property managers to list individual properties along with pricing including taxes and fees. Since Local Tourist provides you with the property manager's direct phone number and website you can book direct. Who knows, you might even be able to ask for a discount.

The website also allows you to search restaurants, activity vendors, and do research on the three ski resorts. Local Tourist's restaurant search is very intuitive and it even lets you search by neighborhood, so it's easy to find a great restaurant close to where you are staying.

Restaurant search is quite a handy feature since Park City has over 100 restaurants within such a close proximity. Local Tourist does a great job with their restaurant search feature, but the Park City Chamber may have a larger number of restaurants listed as of the publication of this article. I recommend visiting both websites when planning your vacation to Park City, Utah.

If you are an avid skier or someone looking for a picturesque vacation destination away from it all, Park City is a great choice. In addition to world class skiing and snowboarding, the town is home to the celebrity packed Sundance Film Festival, fine dining, spas, and numerous other activities. This quaint little mountain town is also increasingly popular in the summer with attractions such as food and wine festivals, art festivals, fine dining, mountain biking, hiking, and the clean, clear, mountain air. So whether you visit in the winter or summer you are sure to enjoy your stay in Park City, Utah.

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