Glacier National Park’s two chalets saw a record number of booking requests for the upcoming 2020 season after online reservation portals opened early last week.

According to Kevin Warrington, chalet coordinator for the park, the historic hotels received over 3,000 reservation requests within the first 24 hours after the booking website went live last Monday.

Granite Chalet saw 25% more requests during that time-frame than the previous record set in 2018. And the recently rebuilt Sperry Chalet, which was destroyed by the Sprague Fire in 2017, saw an impressive 112% bump in requests than the previous record set in 2017.

This upcoming summer marks the first year the remodeled Sperry Chalet will be available for park-goers.

Warrington said after handling all the requests, both chalets were booked with 100% occupancy and a large number of people had to be declined.

“It breaks my heart to do so because I know these are all good people trying to plan a fun Glacier vacation,” Warrington said. “The chalets are the smallest hotels in Glacier National Park with less occupancy than many of the campgrounds. It is unfortunate that we cannot host everyone that wants to join us.”

However, one week later, Warrington said the reservation office is starting to see its first few cancellations as guests work out their travel plans. He said any openings are available on a first-come, first-served basis and it is not unusual to see openings from cancellation throughout the spring.

“A diligent person checking for availability on our websites may yet find an opportunity to stay with us,” Warrington said.

Reporter Kianna Gardner may be reached at 758-4407 or [email protected]