After what seemed like a never ending Fall, we finally started seeing snowflakes and I am amazed at how well the season is turning out. Although Park City may not break records this year, we are holding our own. Coleen Reardon, director of marketing at Deer Valley, was quoted in the Park Record as saying that because of the resort's snow making abilities, business is pacing even with last winter. Deer Valley and Park City get well-deserved kudos from recent visitors about the quantity and quality of snow and retail, entertainment and restaurants do an amazing job of providing a quality product. Sundance was once again a huge success with over 70,000 visitors and Utah was again the number one viewer market for the 2018 Olympic Winter Games. I'm sure Park City more than held its own as a small part of the Utah market and it was great to see local winter athletes participate and do well. Salt Lake City/Park City will compete for the 2030 Winter Games and as the only past Winter Olympics location that has maintained facilities and training capability, it is hard to see us not winning that bid. I believe Park City and Salt Lake City's history of welcoming athletes and visitors from around the world will help the media remember that the Olympics are all about the pursuit of excellence in individual/team competition, not about competition among nations. Park City will always be as proud of participants who never make an Olympic podium as it is of Ted, Lindsey, Bode and Stein. This season has also brought us the "battle of the passes". Now Alterra, who recently purchased Deer Valley, is launching the new Ikon Pass to compete with Vail's Epic Pass. The new pass includes Deer Valley, Alta & Snowbird and 23 other North American resorts and goes on sale March 6 at http://www.ikonpass.com . Meanwhile, Vail's 10 year old Epic Pass, which gives its 700,000+ buyers access to four dozen resorts around the world including Park City Mountain Resort, will be tough competition for the Ikon Pass. I expect many of our locals and frequent visitors who are devotees of Deer Valley will continue purchasing Deer Valley season passes since the Ikon Pass includes only 7 days at Deer Valley. The Epic Pass and the new Ikon Pass are having a huge impact on the ski industry. We are seeing more evidence each season that "ski nomads" are becoming the new normal. In the past, "every-year-to-the-same-resort" created a market for larger family gathering ski properties. These homes and condominiums were furnished by the buyer (with the help of top decorators) and managed by professional property managers including nightly rentals when not in owner use. Now we are seeing new projects designed and managed more like luxury hotels and sold furnished with more emphasis on rental returns for owners. Recently Re-Play has launched a full ownership, fully furnished "YOTELPAD" product at Canyons Village with prices starting at $275,000. Sizes of this "first in the world" offering will range from 338 SF - 1,013 SF with services and amenities focused on nightly rental performance. There is a good reason that the company who created YOTEL and YOTELAIR has selected Park City to be its first foray into the resort market. It will be joined by 5 similar projects already confirmed in North America, Europe, and the Middle East. Hubert Viriot, YOTEL CEO was quoted in London as saying " Following the successful roll out of YOTELAIR and YOTEL, we saw a natural opportunity to rethink the traditional extended stay segment in the same fashion we disrupted conventional hotel models." Based on the enthusiastic acceptance so far by the Park City Realtor community, the IPO style offering should be an exciting event. Construction is scheduled to begin July 2018 and estimated completion is early 2020. If all of the above isn't enough real estate related news, last week it was announced that Storied Development, LLC, a Georgia real estate firm has purchased the 450 member Talisker Club in Empire Pass, 533 residential lots in the Tuhaye Golf Community development and 4 Empire Pass sites with development approvals for a combined 75 condominiums. You can expect major news in the near future concerning the rebirth of one of the premier golf/ski communities in the Park City market.