Cheap place to stay in Salt lake City

There are a ton of cheap chain hotels in downtown Salt Lake. I stayed at the Super 8 a couple of years ago, kind of a basic dump, but it was cheap. I also think there's a Days Inn, Quality Inn and other cheap options. Just do a search for "SLC hotels" and you'll get a bunch. The Cottonwoods are actually south of SLC, so you might also consider staying in Sandy or Midvale, both have a few cheap hotel options.

If you're really serious about saving money, there are one or two hostels in downtown SLC. Never stayed there, so I can't comment on what they're like, but they start at like $15 or $20 per night for a bunk, and also have cheap private rooms. Here's a link to one: http://www.saltlakehostel.com/. It's within walking distance of Temple Square and restaurants and also public transportation. They also sell discount lift tickets.

As for where to ski, go to the Cottonwoods. Park City is great if you're looking for a full resort experience, but since you're staying in SLC, I don't see any reason to venture there. Cottonwoods are easier to get to, closer, more snow and better skiing. There's four resorts there, so really no reason to go anywhere else. Snowbird's great if you're an advanced/expert looking for steep terrain, otherwise stick to Alta/Solitude/Brighton.

Hotels with a bus nearby - Super 8, Discovery Inn, Motel 6 and La Quinta all in Midvale.  Orbitz.com. Super 8 and La Quinta are nice.  The bus could take up to an hour, at least 45 minutes.  Esp with a group, you are much better off with a car, even the cheapest.  Or rent the cheapest 4WD and if no snow in the forecast, downgrade to a regular cheap car when you arrive.  The bus is no fun, you also may have to line up and wait on the way back down, it's a long enough ride back and forth everyday w/o busing it.  Also, you have much better dinner options plus a get around for errands.  You are going to be spending 2 hrs traveling everyday with the bus, you are already skiing in the cheapest place there is, spend a few extra bucks.  Ski half day going in and half day going out, cut down on expenses that way.  Also, car is worth it to get out to Snowbasin for the day.

Another problem, if it snows, the bus isn't going up the canyon either, or you could be sitting with delayed opening in big lineup, so with a car, you could go to Park City or Snowbasin.

How about the Snowpine Lodge in Alta. Current prices look to be $90-110 per night for a night in a shared room.The prices make more sense if you're alone. Bring ear plugs in case I'm there too lol. It includes breakfast and dinner and is ski in/ski out sort of. It's been a while but I remember a private rope tow up and you ski down to the lifts. I loved it there. I stayed there a couple of nights until my gf arrived, then moved down to the cliff lodge which is really nice but expensive. We didn't rent a car and used Canyon transportation from and back to the airport.

I'm thinking of staying at the Snowpine this spring and I want to find out how the shuttle service to Snowbird is. Especially on a powder morning.

Depending on when you go and if you have a vehicle, you can take advantage of the quick start program and ski free on the day of arrival at any of the PC resorts.  http://www.parkcityinfo.com/quickstart/

Any of the hotels listed by SD in the Sandy/Midvale are clean and decent cheap rooms.  Some of them have a limited breakfast available such as make your own waffles, yogurt, cereal, fruit, and coffee.  A car is nice to have and other than 4wd you can get them reasonable.  If you've never been to Utah before you're in for a treat.  Have a great trip. 

I plan on skiing Utah for the first time in late Jan. I will have a pop-up truck camper to stay in ski area parking lots. Is there any overnight parking allowed at Snowbird, Alta or Snow basin?

BTW the daughter of a friend of mine is going to a college in Utah on a ski scholarship. She is home for the holidays so I asked her which was her favorite Utah ski area. Her answer was Snow Basin which I had never heard of, but after checking out the Snow Basin web site I am impressed with the almost 3000 vertical and lots of black diamond runs. I am hoping it will also be less busy than the other Utah resorts.

For skiing the Salt Lake area resorts via centralized hotel location I almost always use Priceline.

For example, both last January and March I stayed in downtown Salt Lake City, once at the Radisson for $39 per night and a Marriott near the university for $45 a night.

I almost never ski the same area two days in a row and from anywhere in SLC you can anywhere else pretty quick.

My advice is to go for a 3 Star or higher if you bid on a downtown hotel and 2.5 Star or higher for the suburbs or airport areas.

My wife and I just got back from a 4 day ski package trip  in Midvale at the Super 8. We loved it.The staff was very friendly and we felt at home. the UTA busses which were part of a Super Pass package were not hard at all to use and the buses came right near the hotel. There were excellent restaurants around and  4 resorts,  Alta, Solitude, Brighton, and Snowbird are all included in the lift passes . All you had to do was choose which one you wanted to go to. We already plan on making a return trip and when we do it will be at the Super 8.

I happen to be in SLC for a couple weeks.

I opted for an 'Extended stay' hotel in Midvale, it came out to $38 a night for two weeks. I drive to a UTA (Utah Transit Authority) 'park and ride' every morning. (The one on 6200 Wasatch Blvd). From there buses go to four resorts.I bought the 'Salt Lake City Superpass' which are discounted and also gets you free rides on the UTA ski buses, to Alta, Brighton, Solitude and Snowbird. The bus rides are as fast as driving, about 20-25 minutes each way. Buses leave about every thirty minutes.

Definitely an excellent deal. (Also the snow the last week has been phenomenal).

Dave

I have to knuckle down and book some accommodation in SLC. Heading over there 20 January, for 19 days.  I'm looking at places with kitchens, and the Extended Stay at Midvale mentioned above is on my shortlist (I'll have a car). 

Also on the list is Candlewood Suites Fort Union, Intown Suites Midvale, and Studio 6 Fort Union (a Motel 6 with kitchens).  These all were the cheapest in the area, with kitchens, at $38 - $55 per night range. 

Intown Suites was actually cheaper, you book and pay by the week. Anyone with experience of Intown, is it nice or a bit, um, you know?

There were others, like Homewood Suites, but the prices were a lot higher.

Priceline's list rates were not great, but I'm thinking about trying the bidding thing. I haven't used Priceline in 10 years... when you put in a bid, can you stipulate rooms with kitchens?

I had a look at vacation rentals on Craig's List but the prices were pretty high. A nice little condo or apartment would be tons nicer, but I can't find any that are temptingly cheap.

Try utahskilodging.com.  I don't know their rates, but have skied with Tom Kronthaler, who is a great instructor.

Mike

Quote:

Originally Posted by habacomike 

Try utahskilodging.com.  I don't know their rates, but have skied with Tom Kronthaler, who is a great instructor.

Doh! I forgot about them. Nancy K had the locker next to me at Snowbird and they always have a notice about that website and service in the Intermountain PSIA newsletter.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ant 

 

I haven't used Priceline in 10 years... when you put in a bid, can you stipulate rooms with kitchens?

 

 

I am a big fan of Priceline, but I've never seen that option.  Usually the biggest savings are on 3-4 star properties, bringing them in line with what you would pay for an economy place.  I'm just getting too old to stay in a dump anymore?

I poked around Priceline and yep, no option to say kitchens. Actually most of the accommodation sites don't have that as a search option either. All kinds of weird stipulations but none for kitchens.   That said, the more you poke around the 'net, the more options pop up, especially non-chain establishments.    It looks like Sundance is affecting SLC properties for late January too, which is a darn nuisence.   Thank heavans for Trip Advisor, I crossed a couple of the long-stay places off my list after reading the reviews... the reviewers' photos were particularly compelling (Intown Suites, for instance, oh my god).

Try Hotwire.com.  The deals aren't usually as good as priceline, but they're close.  You'll see the features, including which have kitchens.  I just did a search for you and found the place below... I'm not sure what hotel this is as it's a Hotwire deal, but that looks like a pretty good deal.  

Ref No. 6500336279

$46

per room per night

That seems to have all the boxes ticked, doesn't it?!  Darn thing's expired so I'm off to Hotwire to poke around there. I haven't used Hotwire before but it looks like it might be throwing up some other properties. THANKS!

Hi Dave (Dwoof2)

Similar to Ant, I'm Looking for a place Midvale area preferably, or maybe downtown - hitting town 17 Jan.  Wondering which Extended stay you stayed at?  How was yours - would you recommend it?  Any info would be appreciated.

Some of the reviews of these extended stay places (Intown, Super6 etc) are pretty poor - sounds like some of the extended stay places have some pretty dodgy characters around.  Smelly and smokey rooms seems a common theme.

Looking for room with a kitchen preferably, not fussed about luxury, but would like it to be reasonably clean, quietish and have a decent bed.

How's catching the buses by the way - any probs with crowds on snowy days?  Wondering if I need to hire a 4WD or if the buses are ok.

I always stay on 7200 south in Midvale. There are several choices that most skiers would find acceptable. i like to be near the trax station in case we dont rent four wheel drive. we use the super pass which comes with bus and light rail. this makes it uber convenient to go up canyon or downtown.

best western. a few dollars more but clean, modern, well run, closet to the trax lot. Ask them for a ski week rate and they get really competitive. downside...breakfast is so so,small hot tub

la quinta. cheap, rooms are very standard and dated but clean. you can get a fridge and micro, great breakfast, huge hot tub, i usually stay here

motel 6....................i used to but not any more. really bare bones and out of date.........cheapest, farthest from trax

the intown extended stay .......bad on every level........avoid

there's a new super 8 up closer to the canyons by 900 s... i checked them out last year new, clean, competitive ski rate. hot tub smallish, its kind of in a dead spot if your on foot but all in all a good place.

I find in the area by the trax station i can eat out for about the same price as cooking in.... don't laugh but we do chuckarama at least twice in a week......its a skiers dream for 11 dollars. Also midvale mining company has  a good meal at a fair price

i hope this helps, I'm heading out the last week in january ...............................there will be powder.

After extensive research, I plumped for Candlewood Suites on Fort Union at 1300 east. I lived in the area when I worked at Snowbird, caught the bus or staff van there every day, the reviews on Trip Advisor seem OK, and it has the all-important kitchen.

I was a bit nervous that the Hotwire deal might be Intown or Extended Stay or Studio 6, all of which have horrendous reviews.

For others doing the same research, there was an excellent looking place called Chase Suite Hotel up in the Downtown area of SLC, but I really wanted to be down around Fort Union.

For people looking for the kitchen option at half the price, Value Place West Valley was a pretty good deal. Just a tad spartan.

Quote:

Originally Posted by thebostonguy 

. i like to be near the trax station in case we dont rent four wheel drive. we use the super pass which comes with bus and light rail. this makes it uber convenient to go up canyon or downtown.

(snip)

I find in the area by the trax station i can eat out for about the same price as cooking in.... don't laugh but we do chuckarama at least twice in a week......its a skiers dream for 11 dollars. Also midvale mining company has  a good meal at a fair price

Being near Trax means you will be first onto the ski bus as it starts its run there. It can fill up as it goes up Fort Union so that's a good move. Some of the first runs have Snowbird Housekeeping staff getting on at Trax, and they half fill the bus.   It usually gets crowded from President's onwards, late Jan should be OK.

I didn't really try the eateries along there... went out to the good old Lone Star Steakhouse around 1300 east/900 east/Fort Union once, and of course I ate at the wonderful Lone Star Mexican place up near the library (cannot fathom why they called it lone star but it's the real deal, real mexican) many times.  Hard to get a table there though!  You have to lurk, waiting.

Certainly plenty of eateries, but I prefer my own cooking most of the time and there's two handy supermarkets in that area (Smiths and Albertsons), there's a Target too that sells food, and an interesting non-chain place a bit further up.

For people looking for a gourmet grocer, there's a wonderful one called, I think, The Store on (I think) Highland Drive, in Holladay. Used to go there a lot, friend was addicted to the artichoke dip.
 

Stayed at the Candlewood Suites on Fort Union last year for the same reasons, close to LCC, inexpensive, kitchen, etc.We found it clean and convenient but basic. Stores and restaurants within walking distance. Bus line close by if needed. Going again in Feb,

Cancellation call received yesterday, on 2/1/11 Chase Suite Hotel is no longer, it's going apartments.

We've been there for the past 4 yrs

BTW, JoeSchmoe's post regarding the Hotwire deal refers to:

Springhill Suites - Taylorsville (NOT Marriott)
5601 South Redwood Road
Taylorsville, UT, 84123

(801) 262-8678
(866) 539-0036

I'm at Candlewood now, and it's OK.   Walls and ceiling are thin, so hope your neighbours are quiet.  Air con/heating are loud, ditto fridge, so last night I turned them both off!  do NOT attempt to fry steak in room, phwoar, pong.  Tonight I grilled steak out on BBQs and that worked better. Fake exhaust fans do not work for cooking. Bed = good. TV = good. Internet = good. Kitchen.... almost good but mostly fail. Damn that fridge is loud and how hard is it to make a proper exhaust fan?