On my recent day trips to Wintergreen and Snowshoe, I spent the night in Bartow WV, at the intersection of routes 250, 28, and 92. Bartow is about 2 hours from Wintergreen and 40 minutes from Snowshoe, making it an ideal place to spend the night between the two resorts.

I know myself and others have griped about the lack of affordable lodging at Snowshoe, especially for solo skiers and one-night stays (Snowshoe doesn't offer packages for either). From now on, I will stay in Bartow in those situations. I got a room at the Hermitage Red Carpet Inn for $54/night. Though the hotel dates to the 60s, my room was fairly modern, clean, and in great shape. While in Bartow (which appears to be a small lumber/timber town), I had a great burger and fries at "Lyin' Bills" (the sign out front says Becky's, adding to the "Northern Exposure" TV series feel of the town). With an ice tea, it only cost $4, which was a steal. On the way back home, I phoned in an order for a pizza and picked it up en-route. The pizza was only $7, but also great. This is a real neat small-town joint in a regular looking house, and a fun place to eat.

For those of you who travel to Snowshoe along route 250 or 28/92, definitely consider Bartow for a stop. Even if you're lodging at Snowshoe, I think this would be ideal as inexpensive "night before" or "night after" lodging to allow you to take advantage of the first day's (before check-in) or last day's (after check-out) lift tickets. Or as an affordable place to hole up the night before a powder day.

For more info:

Hermitage Red Carpet Inn:
http://www.hermitagemotel.com/

Lyin' Bill's Pizza & Subs
RR 250
Bartow, WV 24920
Tel: 304-456-4900

Thats a great Idea...I think I am going to put an efficiency apt in the basement of the house I just had built up near Canaan. That way I can rent it out for a low rate to singles & couples....+ I will make it Pet Friendly! Me & my Lady always had a hard time finding cheap accomodations let alone places that accepted our "Precious puddin pie'!

Wish there was a way to meet people here live....like a DCski Happy Hour somewhere. I have a 3-bdrm/2-bath fully decorated (and maxed my Kohl's card) at Snowshoe (the Summit) and I let it sit empty. Steven King couldn't write horror stories like I hear from landlords there...trashed units, broken windows, fights, doors torn off. You can tell a "rental" from an "owner/occupied" just by opening the front door. If you rent, you need to outfit it with crap you won't mind seeing in the dumpster - half of your income goes to repairs and maintenance. True, in the Platinum units (maybe $500+ a night) there is a better clientele...but the larger 3-bdrms bring in groups. Oh - trust me - they have a widely held reputation = Church Youth Groups ARE THE WORST !!! I'd love to rent mine for next to nothing to someone I knew - but no strangers allowed. Anyone (from Charles Manson to a dozen 16 yo's) with a credit card can rent your place if you are in the Snowshoe Rental Program.

I remember years ago, there was a club that held a "mixer" pre-season to match up owners to renters...had name tags like "I need a place" and "I have a place". Wish DCski could do that sometime. Till then, mine stays locked & empty.

I did the exact same thing. Bought a 1BR in Canaan two years ago with plans to rent it out. It's nicely furnished. After talking to several owners in the development, I quickly decided not to rent, since the expenses (mortgage, utilities, condo fees) aren't much more than a car payment anyway. A lot of owners did rent, but said most of their rental income went to 'untrashing' their units, so they just took them off the market.

I like to go up there every 2-3 weeks to enjoy Canaan and get away from Baltimore, and wouldn't sell my condo for anything. But...I wouldn't mind renting at a reasonable rate to people that I know wouldn't trash it.

My wife and I bought our unit @ t-line 12 years ago and decided then we would not rent it. We also found out that it saves money, not only for the wear and tear factors, but with insurance and taxes. In Tucker County, you pay twice as much tax if your unit/house is an income procucing source. Go figure!

Here here ... looks like the "public" is it's own worst enemy! I like to open the door and find it the way I left it! We're doing a $1.5 million renno on The Summit @Snowshoe, new siding, windows/doors, walkways, landscaping, security cameras monitored 24 hr. and trying to mobilize the Owner/Occupants to oust the landlords and the "element" they bring in. I'm there every week and can attest to the fact that numerous times renters have indeed been evicted in the middle of the night. The Police escort them off the mountain and if they ever come back up will be spending the weekend all-expenses-paid in Marlinton if-U-know-what-I-mean!!! The new owners I've heard from agree - no renting to the Public.

Rich,
It's a sad state of affairs when people have a total lack of respect for other people's property.
When I rent, I treat the unit like it was my own house.

-Warren-

Hey, My A-list is growing: warren , kwillg6 , RyanC , fishnski, skier219 .

We've just GOT to get some sort of Meet & Greet next Season. Anyone be down for Beach Ball this weekend? Maybe the 15 degree skiing got to me this weekend (slightly sore throat and cough this morning), but I'm gonna try - getting delivery of my new thin LCD flat panel (landscape shaped screen) I'm mounting on the wall there like another picture. Wonder what a bunch of drunken Renters could do to that --- throw darts at the test pattern. LOL ... Hey, wait, I'm not laughing!

I think the comment that says it all here is 'the high end units' but even then you have problems.

On one of our Snowshoe trips this year we struck up a conversation on the Silver Creek bus with a homeowner. That conversation continued into dinner and was an eye-opener. The owner in question had purchased his one bedroom Rimfire unit as income property 2 years ago. Needless to say he was shocked at how little income the unit actually produced vis a vis the goldplated promises when he bought it. He also mentioned vandalism along with the great sucking sound heard from Intrawest as it took its 'service, housekeeping, any-way-we can-charge-you' fees. He practically begged us to rent his place at 25% under list and outside of the Intrawest rental program. I really felt sorry for the guy.

On the other hand; my sister's place in Park City was a one bedroom high end unit and she never had a problem with vandals. Her management company takes a reasonable amount and the mortage was 75% paid off (in 3 years!) when they sold the place last month.

I'm thinking maybe the problems at Snowshoe are because of Intrawest's lodging quality classification system. If you are renting a 'bronze' unit rather that a 'gold' unit, that might have something to do with it psychologically. I think just list the prices and amenities and leave it at that. If Rich wants to charge a 'gold' price for his unit, well that should be up to him, not Intrawest. I wonder, does anyone know if Seven Springs owners have similar problems?

I Have a unit in Mountain Lodge that I have been renting through Snowshoe's rental program for 3 years and overall have been satisfied. The rental income has been better than expected and more than covers my expenses. I am also allowed to use it for personal use for 22 days. As far as damages from renters, my experience has not been bad. A few small items have been confiscated, however damage has been minimal (Mountain Lodge is rated silver on the rental program). Snowshoe is responsible for any damages; of course this is provided that housekeeping does a thorough job of evaluation during each cleaning. Routine upgrading is required in the off season (paint touch up, furninshing upgrades, etc.). This is of course accelerated since the unit is constantly rented. The upside is the tax break.
I will continue to use Snowshoe's rental program as long as the rent income outweighs the negatives. This year looks to be very good for rental income.

One interesting this is, I know a few people who have place at the MD and DE beaches, and while they've had the standard wear and tear issues over the years, they've NEVER had any of the problems that us Canaan & Snowshoe owners have had re: renters. And to think, rental agencies in Ocean City, MD for example, charge under 15% commission, at Canaan it's over 30%!

There are three kinds of renters that I see in my development:

1) Loud, obnoxious, dirty trailer trash.
2) Large families with noisy, uncontrolled kids.
3) Drunk college kids.

At least we don't get many of the church groups since we're not right on the slopes.

And, no, I'm not a snob, but many owners (including me) in the development volunteer our time quite often to keep things looking good, and would rather not habe to deal with people that don't show respect for our property.

I wonder what it would take to get the rental agencies to enforce the rental agreements on their renters so we could just make a phone call and have them evicted?

I am a little surprised by somewhat emotional comments I have seen in this topic re rental units at the Shoe. Through the years I have rented at the Shoe and never had a negative experience...whether it was at Allegheny, Rimfire, Vantage, Mountain Lodge, etc. And a good friend of mine has a unit at the Summit, and while there has been some minor damage from renters, he makes enough income from the property that it was pretty much paying for itself (at least until the recent enormous increase in Summit homeowners fees due to the renovations). This year it appears that some of the damage to his unit has come from the workers doing the renovations. Personally I want to leave a hotel room or other resort accommodation that I rent in the same condition I find it, less linens and other obvious housekeeping items. When I stayed at the Vantage Inn (units that formerly were a part of Whistle Punk) I was surprised to find a completely renovated unit with large plasma wall TV.
I found it interesting to learn that not all units in a complex are coded the same...for example, some Summit units are gold, some silver and some bronze. The ranking depends on the way the unit is furnished and its general condition. Want to upgrade to a higher level...then upgrade the items that the Intrawest inspection team deems necessary. Interestingly, according to my friend, just because your unit is rated higher does not change the rental rate at the complex, only the priority for deciding which units rent first. For what it is worth, I stayed with my friend at his Summit unit last weekend, and while there were a few surprises such as a broken fan/light globe, etc. By and large the unit was in the same shape it was prior to the winter season. As for a Summit homeowners revolt...the pace and quality workmanship of the new deck and siding renovation is incredibly awful, an apparently typical situation with renovations at many of the other complexes at Snowshoe. Unfortunate!!
But think what would happen if no one rented out their unit! No place to stay means virtually no skiers, especially midweek. So it seems to me that the various homeowners associations should gang up on the Intrawest folks demanding better inspection of units after each rental. Hopefully this would result in more and timely repairs to any damaged units.
Enjoy the great skiing to be had this weekend at Beach Party at the Shoe. Skiing was really sweet last weekend, especially on Cup.
The Colonel

The wife and I love going to Canaan for a week during ski season, or even a weekend at other times. But, the cost is absolutely prohibitive for us. The only time we can really afford it is at the very end of ski season after rates drop. We are in our 60's so we are not going to trash a place. We just want a reasonable rate that we can afford. I think a get together off season would be a great idea to get to know each other.

Cheers,

Bill