The organization bidding to host a second Winter Olympics in the state since early in the fall has secured lodging contracts with five hotels in the Park City area covering the periods when the Games of 2030 and 2034 would be held in Salt Lake City and the wider Olympic region.
The efforts to reach agreements with lodging properties was briefly addressed during a Monday update to the media. Fraser Bullock, who is the president and CEO of the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games, did not provide details but said 13,000 hotel rooms are under contract throughout the Olympic region for the dates of the Games in 2030 and those of four years later. The committee will eventually attempt to put 24,000 rooms under contract to host an Olympics.
The Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games later provided limited details about the efforts in the Park City area in response to a Park Record inquiry.
The committee said it has approached 10 Park City-area properties, each of them a traditional hotel. The committee and five of the 10 hotels have reached agreements. The contracts involve a combined 636 rooms. The deals cover, in principle, the Olympic periods of 2030 and 2034. The committee said the talks with the lodging properties also involved rates. Details were not made available.
The committee declined to identify the hotels but acknowledged there are few traditional ones in the Park City area. Many local lodging options are individual residences, either freestanding or within multi-unit buildings, rather than traditional hotels.
The rooms would be set aside for the operational needs of conducting the Games, the committee said. Those involved with the operational needs of a Games include a wide range of figures, possibly including members of the International Olympic Committee, the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee and the eventual organizing committee in Salt Lake City that would put on the Games. The rooms would not be made available to spectators.
The efforts to secure lodging commitments are ongoing, and the committee expects it will discuss possibilities with additional hotels in the Park City area.
The Park City area offers a range of traditional hotels of various quality across the city itself and into the Snyderville Basin and Wasatch County. Some are exclusive, internationally known brand names while others cater to those with more modest means.
The early efforts to secure lodging in the Park City area had not been widely publicized before the information was released by the committee on Monday. The work, though, is another indication there are behind-the-scenes talks underway in the Park City area more than eight years before the Olympics of 2030 would open.
The Park City area is envisioned as playing a critical role in a future Olympics, as was the case during the Games of 2002. The concept venue map for a second Games again identifies Park City Mountain Resort, Deer Valley Resort and the Utah Olympic Park as major competition venues. Park City would be expected to be the location of large celebrations during the Games as well.
The information regarding the work on lodging commitments followed just days after the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games indicated it has started discussions with the locations where competitions would be expected to be staged in a Games. Bullock in the earlier update said the committee is crafting documents called venue-use agreements, which will be negotiated with the leadership at the various competition locations and essentially outline roles and responsibilities of the committee and the venues. They will also address which competitions could potentially be held at the individual locations.
It remains unclear whether Salt Lake City will pursue the Games of 2030 or those of 2034. Bullock said on Monday a decision is possible sometime during the first half of 2022. Much of the attention of the International Olympic Committee earlier in the year was focused on staging the Summer Olympics in Tokyo amid the coronavirus pandemic while the current workload is centered on the upcoming Winter Olympics in Beijing. There is anticipation the Lausanne, Switzerland-based organization will address the selection of a city for the Games of 2030 after the close of the Games in Beijing.