Social media’s increasing influence has been a game-changer for Flathead Valley and Glacier National Park hospitality businesses over the last five years.  

“Everyone’s looking for that Instagram-able moment. We’re trying to create those moments and experiences to share,” said Rob Spence, general manager of Glacier Park Collection by Pursuit, at Explore Whitefish’s annual meeting Dec. 4. 

Spence said that besides a focus on social media, other changes have included live entertainment, partnerships with local distilleries and adding lobby service back at the over 111-year-old Old Glacier Park Lodge. 

"I can certainly expect to do a few things differently, but at the end of the day we're always going to be focused on service execution and excellence,” Spence said.  

Social media remains a primary focus for Explore Whitefish and the Whitefish Convention and Visitor Bureau into the new year. They have been working on cooperative social media efforts that feature multiple businesses. 

“We can be more effective if we all speak the same message as a destination. We introduce campaigns and responsible tourism messaging, but we don’t want to be the only voice,” said Julie Mullins, executive director of Explore Whitefish.  

Media collaborations allow businesses to pool funds to get better deals on production, said Matt Gebo, director of sales, marketing and guest services at Whitefish Mountain Resort.  

The Explore Whitefish meeting also snapped a more realistic picture of recent changes in the local hospitality industry.  

"We had to make staffing changes to react to the Covid boom and now we're on the downslope,” Gebo said. “We're still trying to figure our way through that because we want to keep as many people staffed year-round and with benefits, but it's becoming more challenging every year."

About five years ago, the resort lost about half a million dollars in the summer. In the 2024 summer season, the loss was a little less than two million dollars.  

However, a lot of work done in the summer is preparing for winter, Gebo said. The resort’s success is based on the year as a whole, Gebo said. 

“We try to maintain our value by not raising prices to an extreme when our costs continue to rise,” Gebo said, citing higher staff and product costs in the last few years.  

The resort’s current number of 2024-25 season passholders is well over 16,000, on par with last year. 

In the 2014-15 season, the resort had about 8,500 passholders. The incremental growth over the years has been parallel to the valley’s growth, Gebo said.  

"About 60% of passholders are here in the valley, and 80% are in Montana,” Gebo said. “About 20% live from states all over the country and from nine Canadian provinces. And we have one guy from Australia every year.” 

The resort also saw an all-time holiday visitation record last month.  

About 62,400 skier visits were tallied at the resort on Big Mountain between Christmas Day and News Year's Day. The busiest day over the week was Monday, Dec. 30 with nearly 9,500 skier visits counted. 

The previous record was from the 2022-23 season with 54,300 skier visits during the holiday week. 

Beyond the resort, staff turnover continues to be a challenge for local businesses as well.  

Lauren Oscilowski, owner of Spotted Bear Spirits, said that they have had about triple the amount of turnover in the last five years than in the first five years of being in business.  

"That's hard because you invest in employees and their growth and contributions to the company. A lot of the shifts have been rooted in housing issues," Oscilowski said at the Explore Whitefish annual meeting on Dec. 4.  

Oscilowski said that it's hard to consider applicants that haven't lived in the valley for over a year. 

"We don't know if they will be able to find retained housing or stay here year-round,” Oscilowski said.  

Supply chain issues have driven up prices, Oscilowski said.  

"There's a lot of sentiment that price-gouging coincides with Covid or high visitors, but our cost of goods have gone up like crazy. Supply-chain issues ripple through. 

"It's a reflection of our costs going up and paying our staff more because it costs more to live in this community now,” Oscilowski said. 

Daniel Sidder, executive director of Housing Whitefish, also spoke at the Explore Whitefish meeting on Dec. 4.  

“We’re working on preventing displacement and keeping the folks that work at our businesses here,” Sidder said.  

In its second year, Housing Whitefish’s Workforce Rental Assistance program serves about 55 households, 100 individuals and 50 kids.  

“We estimate that that is about 12% of the eligible households that could use rental assistance,” Sidder said.  

“Who are we working with? It’s the single mom at your doctor’s office, your bank teller trying to pay for childcare, those who serve you at a restaurant, or your neighbor working part-time through health issues,” Sidder said.  

Those assisted have lived here on average nine years and moved about two times in the last three years.