Looking for a resort hotel ski lodge business plan? You're in the right place.
A lodge that fills in February and sits half empty in May has to answer questions a year-round hotel never faces. What occupancy and room rate does each season earn? How much cash does the owner need to carry the quiet months? And what happens if the snow is thin in a year the lender is counting on?
In this article we'll walk through a complete sample plan for a 24-room ski lodge in Bear Valley, California, section by section, ending with the financials. The lodge is fictional, and every figure in it is built to agree with every other.
Here's what you'll take away:
- The executive summary: see how to put a purchase, a refresh and a seasonal business on one page, so a lender can see the ask and the repayment source quickly
- The seasonality table: learn how to show occupancy, room rate and revenue per available room (RevPAR) month by month, and why a banker looks at that table first
- The marketing budget: work out what a lodge can spend per booking and how much of the load direct bookings need to carry
- The staffing plan: see how a lodge handles ski-season peaks with seasonal hours instead of full-year payroll
- The year-one cash trough: spot the month the balance is lowest before you borrow, and size the reserve to it
- The five-year profit, cash flow and balance sheet: follow how rate rises, a hire and a building loan show up in the numbers, including a low return on the owners' equity
- The thin-snow case: see how the owners answer a lender who asks what happens when a fifth of the revenue never arrives, and what debt cover looks like when it does
Writing a plan for an inn, lodge or small hotel? Borrow the order of the tables, then replace every figure with your own.
In this plan
To turn this example into your own resort hotel ski lodge business plan, use the resort hotel ski lodge business plan template.
The Lodge in Brief
Cedar Vale Lodge buys an existing 24-room ski lodge in Bear Valley, Alpine County, California, on 1 January 2027 and trades through the rest of that ski season. Co-owner Luke Roth runs it full time as general manager and lives on the lot. Co-owner Marty Snyderman, a remodelling contractor, holds 40% and looks after the building. The lodge sells rooms by the night, a paid breakfast and a small store, and it earns most of its money from December to April.
The purchase and refresh need $1,772,500. The owners put in $1,052,500 of equity ($631,500 from Luke, $421,000 from Marty). A bank loan secured on the building supplies $720,000. Of the total, $1,200,000 buys the building and land, $360,000 refreshes the rooms and lobby, $58,000 buys systems and equipment, $54,500 pays for legal and lender fees, licences and the relaunch, and $100,000 stays in the bank as a reserve.
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $720,339 | $827,331 | $906,658 |
| Net income after start-up costs | ($76,724) | $40,535 | $68,393 |
| Closing cash | $123,706 | $205,330 | $274,249 |
Six of the twelve months in Year 1 lose money at the operating line: April, May, June, September, October and November. January, February, March, July, August and December more than cover them, and 56% of Year 1 revenue comes from December to April rooms. Year 1 ends with a loss after depreciation, interest and start-up costs. Year 2 is the first profitable year. Debt cover is 1.6x in Year 1 on an interest-only loan and 2.4x or better from Year 2.
The lodge sets its sights on occupancy of 41.9% in Year 1 and 47.8% in Year 3, at an average rate of $178 and then $196 a night. That moves revenue per available room (RevPAR) from about $75 to about $94. The returns are modest: the owners' cash yield on $1,052,500 is under 4% when distributions begin in Year 3, and the case for the purchase rests partly on owning the building. The model also tests a winter with 20% less revenue. In that case operations do not cover debt service in Year 1, and cash stays positive only because of the reserve and the owners' response.
Cedar Vale does not try to be the resort's premium address. It sells a clean, mid-priced room with parking and a hot tub, half a mile from the base lifts, priced by the night and by the season, and it works the midweek and summer nights that a weekend-only lodge leaves empty.
About Cedar Vale
Legal name: Cedar Vale Lodge, LLC, a California limited liability company. Owners: Luke Roth (60%) and Marty Snyderman (40%). Property: a two-storey, 24-room lodge on its own lot in Bear Valley village, about half a mile from the base lifts, bought from its retiring owners. A one-bedroom manager's apartment on the lot is included. Closing date: 1 January 2027, with the ski season running and guests already booked. Stage: pre-closing. The loan is modelled on the terms in the funding note, and the refresh is scheduled for the quiet months.
What the owners are buying
An operating lodge: the building and land, the guest list, the booking-site listings, the furniture and the staff willing to stay. Buying a working lodge means Cedar Vale takes bookings from the first week instead of waiting for a build, but it also inherits tired rooms. $360,000 of the funding, about $15,000 a room, goes to beds, bathrooms, flooring, fixtures, paint and the lobby.
The model pays $50,000 a room for the property ($1,200,000 for 24 rooms). Year 1 EBITDA of $83,800 is 7.0% of the price and Year 3 EBITDA of $199,747 is 16.6%, but those are the buyers' own forecasts, so they cannot justify the price. A lender relies on the seller's trailing three years of net operating income and on an independent appraisal, and the price stands or falls on those. Neither is available for a fictional lodge, which is the main reason to treat the price as the least certain input.
The 24 rooms
| Room type | Rooms | Sleeps |
|---|---|---|
| King room | 10 | 2, or 4 with a sofa bed |
| Two-queen room | 10 | 4 |
| Family room (queen and bunks) | 4 | 6 |
Shared spaces are a breakfast room, a guest lounge with a fireplace, a ski and boot room, a hot tub and parking. Two rooms are reworked for accessibility in the refresh.
Where the numbers should be by Year 3
- Occupancy of 47.8% and RevPAR of about $94, up from 41.9% and $75 in Year 1.
- A direct-booking share of 55% of stays, up from 45%.
- Revenue of $906,658, about $37,800 per room.
- Owner distributions of $40,000 in Year 3, shared 60/40.
Permits, tax and the county
Chapter 3.16 of the Alpine County Code imposes an occupancy tax on room rent, and the lodge registers to collect and remit it before it takes a booking. The county's environmental health office is asked about the breakfast kitchen and the hot tub, and the fire authority about life-safety checks, before closing. A California LLC pays an $800 annual tax plus a gross-receipts fee, budgeted together at $3,300. The lodge sells no alcohol in this plan, which keeps a state liquor licence out of scope. The owners confirm each of these with the county and the state and do not rely on this page for them.
The Bear Valley Market
The mountain and the road
Bear Valley Mountain Resort is in Alpine County on Highway 207, off Highway 4, in the central Sierra Nevada, about three hours' drive southeast of Sacramento. Wikipedia lists it at about 1,680 skiable acres, a 6,600-foot base and nine lifts; sources disagree on average snowfall, so this plan does not use a snowfall figure. The resort publishes its own figures and the owners rely on those. A lodge here draws on weekend drivers from the Central Valley and Bay Area and on summer visitors who come for the trails and the quiet.
Pay in the trade
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median of $69,250 for lodging managers in May 2025 and projects employment growth of 4% from 2025 to 2035. Luke's $64,000 salary sits a little below that median. The California Department of Industrial Relations sets the 2026 minimum wage at $16.90 an hour and adjusts it each year for inflation, capped at 3.5%. Cedar Vale pays housekeepers about $20.67 and desk agents about $19.23 an hour at full-time equivalents, because staff are hard to find in a remote county and local housing is short. The budget also carries an $18,000 housing allowance for seasonal staff.
A year of occupancy and rates
RevPAR is occupancy multiplied by average daily rate: the room revenue earned on every room the lodge has, sold or not. A seasonal lodge reads it by month, because the annual figure hides the months that carry the year.
| Month (2027) | Occupancy | Average rate | RevPAR |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 62% | $205 | $127 |
| February | 68% | $225 | $153 |
| March | 58% | $195 | $113 |
| April | 33% | $150 | $50 |
| May | 15% | $125 | $19 |
| June | 34% | $140 | $48 |
| July | 52% | $168 | $87 |
| August | 48% | $162 | $78 |
| September | 33% | $142 | $47 |
| October | 27% | $132 | $36 |
| November | 16% | $120 | $19 |
| December | 58% | $212 | $123 |
These figures are set so the lodge opens strongly on bookings it inherits and then settles into a pattern. The five ski-season months average 55.7% occupancy at $202. The other seven average 32.2% at $148. February alone earns about $153 per room and May about $19. Weak snow lowers the winter months, and the downside case in the financial section prices that. Summer demand is exposed to wildfire smoke and road closures, which the model does not price separately; the same 20% shortfall would fit a smoky July.
What else a guest could book
| Alternative | What it offers | Why a guest picks it | How Cedar Vale differs by design |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nightly rentals of private homes and condos | Kitchens, space for groups | Better value for a big party staying a week | A staffed front desk, daily housekeeping and a breakfast room |
| Lodging inside the resort village | Walking distance to the lifts, a fuller service menu | Convenience | A lower rate, and a short drive or walk of about half a mile to the base lifts |
| Motels and cabins on the roads approaching the mountain | Low rates, more miles to the lifts | Price | Rooms close to the mountain and recently refreshed |
| Camping and day trips from valley towns | Cheapest option | Budget and flexibility | A bed and a hot tub at the end of a cold day |
The table describes categories and how Cedar Vale positions itself against them. It is not a ranking, and no provider's prices are quoted because they change with the calendar.
SWOT
| Strengths | Weaknesses |
|---|---|
| Operating lodge with a booking history and guest list | A single building and a single mountain |
| Fresh rooms at a mid-range rate | The owners carry a mortgage through the May to November lull |
| General manager with twelve years in hotels | Strong dependence on winter weekends and holiday weeks |
| A co-owner who can fix the building | Direct-booking share is only 45% in Year 1 |
| Opportunities | Threats |
|---|---|
| Midweek and summer nights, where rooms sit empty | A low-snow winter |
| Groups: reunions, small weddings and club trips | Wildfire, smoke and storm closures of the road |
| Rising share of direct bookings, which carry no commission | Insurance cost or availability for a forest-edge building |
Guests by Season
The weekend skier. Couples and friends from the Central Valley and the Bay Area, driving up Friday and leaving Sunday. They take two nights, book a few weeks ahead and compare price and distance to the lifts.
The holiday-week family. Christmas to New Year, Martin Luther King weekend and Presidents' week. Families need a room with space for four to six, a place to dry boots and a hot tub. They book months ahead and are the least price-sensitive guests the lodge has.
The summer hiker and the group. A summer guest comes for the trails and the quiet, stays two nights, and books late. Groups of 10 to 20 rooms (a wedding party, a family reunion, a club retreat) take most of the lodge for a weekend in June or September and pay a $2,500 event fee on top of the rooms.
What they pay
| Ski-season night | Share of nights | Rate range | Midpoint |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weekday | 45% | $140 to $165 | $152.50 |
| Weekend | 40% | $210 to $240 | $225 |
| Holiday week | 15% | $280 to $310 | $295 |
Weighted by those shares the ski-season rate is about $203, in line with the $202 the model uses. In summer weekdays run $120 to $135 and weekends $160 to $185, about 55% and 45% of nights, which gives $148.
How long they stay
The model uses a stay of 2.4 nights in the ski season and 2.0 in summer. Year 1 has 2,019 ski-season room-nights and 1,654 summer ones, which is about 1,670 gross stays.
Selling the Nights
Channel mix
| Channel | Share of Year 1 stays | Stays |
|---|---|---|
| Direct: website, phone, returning guests | 45% | 751 |
| Booking sites | 40% | 667 |
| Groups, clubs and partners | 15% | 250 |
Booking sites charge commission, averaging 15%, so each stay moved to the direct channel keeps that cost. The plan wants direct bookings to reach 55% by Year 3. The model leaves room direct costs at 14% of room revenue throughout and does not bank the saving.
Rate rules
Holiday weeks and Presidents' week carry a three-night minimum. Weekdays are discounted and summer weekends priced above summer weekdays. A first night is charged at booking, the balance is due seven days before arrival, and cancellations up to seven days ahead are refunded in full. The booking system adjusts rates daily within a floor and a ceiling that Luke sets each season.
Revenue per room, year by year
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Room-nights sold | 3,673 | 3,961 | 4,188 | 4,301 | 4,389 |
| Occupancy | 41.9% | 45.2% | 47.8% | 49.1% | 50.1% |
| Average daily rate | $178 | $189 | $196 | $202 | $208 |
| RevPAR | $75 | $86 | $94 | $99 | $104 |
| Breakfast and store per occupied night | $13.94 | $14.30 | $14.66 | $15.07 | $15.51 |
Breakfast and the store
About 62% of ski-season room-nights buy a $17 breakfast and the store adds $6 a night, so winter attach is $16.50 an occupied night. From June to October attach is $11.75, and in May and November, when the breakfast room is shut for the refresh, the store alone earns $5. The lodge sells no alcohol. Breakfast and the store earn 7% of Year 1 revenue and cost 36% in food and goods.
Where the Marketing Money Goes
Budget by channel
Year 1 marketing is $44,000: $18,000 of relaunch spend paid from the start-up funding and $26,000 of running costs. With the relaunch that is 6.1% of Year 1 revenue. The running costs alone are 3.6% of Year 1 revenue and 3.1% of Year 5. Spread over about 1,670 gross stays the total costs roughly $26 a stay. Booking-site commission sits in direct costs and is not part of this budget.
| Item | Year 1 spend | What it is expected to do |
|---|---|---|
| New website and booking engine (relaunch) | $9,000 | Take direct bookings with a clear calendar and rate rules |
| Photography and video (relaunch) | $4,500 | Model rooms shot in January, then a full reshoot in December once all 24 rooms are done |
| Direct-booking offer and email list build (relaunch) | $4,500 | Move past guests off the booking sites to the lodge's own site |
| Paid search and map listings | $9,500 | Searches such as "Bear Valley lodging" and map listings that lead to the lodge's own booking page |
| Email to past guests and a returning-guest offer | $3,000 | Winter rebooking in the preceding spring |
| Social and content | $4,000 | Trail and snow reports that bring summer guests |
| Group and club outreach | $4,500 | Reunions, clubs and wedding planners |
| Mountain and destination listings | $5,000 | Appearing where visitors plan their trip |
Targets by month
- January 2027: reservation system and new listings live, with photographs of the finished model rooms. Occupancy of 62%.
- March 2027: first direct-booking offer reaches the past-guest list.
- July 2027: summer occupancy of 52% and three group enquiries on hand.
- December 2027: all 24 rooms refreshed and reshot, occupancy of 58%, with a direct share close to 50% of new bookings.
Day to Day at Cedar Vale
The building and the refresh
Rooms are refreshed in four batches of six, two batches in May and two in November. The lodge never closes, and rooms out of service in those months cost little because occupancy is around 15%. The refresh includes the two accessible rooms, a new lobby floor and new beds throughout. The $58,000 equipment line buys a booking and channel system, keyless door locks, on-site laundry machines, breakfast kitchen equipment and a refurbished hot tub.
Hours of work
Housekeeping takes about 0.55 hours per occupied room, so Year 1 needs about 2,020 hours and Year 5 about 2,410. The lodge pays for 2,773 hours: one full-time housekeeper and a second for four winter months. The extra hours cover Friday, Saturday and holiday turnovers, when 15 to 22 rooms change on the same day. On group weekends, when most of the lodge turns over at once, two on-call hourly cleaners are paid from the $2,500 event fee. The front desk opens 7am to 10pm in winter, about 105 hours a week, covered by the desk lead, the seasonal agent and Luke. In summer it opens 8am to 4pm with a keypad check-in. After hours, calls ring Luke, who lives in the manager's apartment on the lot, and the desk lead takes the phone on alternate weeks.
Maintenance and the snow
A seasonal contract clears the lot and walkways, and the same line pays for defensible-space clearing around the building ($17,000 in Year 1). Marty's firm does repairs and the refresh work at an agreed hourly rate, billed through the $36,000 repairs line, and outside trades handle roofing, heating and electrical work. Heating and utilities cost $54,000, the largest operating cost after payroll.
Housing for seasonal staff
The seasonal housekeeper, desk agent and attendant mostly live outside the county. The budget carries an $18,000 allowance a year toward shared housing for two of them, and the offer is part of every winter job advertisement.
Booking system and locks
A property management and channel system links the lodge's website to the booking sites, so a room sold on one is closed on all. Software costs $10,500 in Year 1. The point of sale is used for breakfast and the store.
Insurance and safeguards
Property, liability and umbrella cover is set at $40,000 in Year 1. The figure is above a typical lodge's because the building sits at the forest edge and wildfire exposure raises both the price and the risk that cover is hard to place. The owners would get quotes before closing. Workers' compensation is inside the 27% payroll load. A written plan covers road closures, power cuts, wildfire smoke and a burst pipe in winter, with a list of guests to call and a list of nearby lodges that take overflow. The $100,000 reserve is about three months of operating costs.
The Owners and Staff
Luke Roth, co-owner and general manager
Luke has twelve years in hotel operations in the Sierra and on Lake Tahoe's shores, the last five as assistant general manager of a 90-room hotel, where he ran front office, housekeeping and revenue management. He holds 60% of Cedar Vale and invests $631,500, most of it from the sale of his house. He draws a $64,000 salary.
Marty Snyderman, co-owner and building lead
Marty has twenty years in residential remodelling and runs a remodelling firm in Calaveras County. He holds 40%, invests $421,000 and is not on payroll. His firm invoices the lodge for repairs at an agreed rate, and a clause in the operating agreement lets either owner ask for a quote from another contractor.
Gaps in the owners' experience
Neither owner has run group sales or a food operation of this size. The plan covers sales with a coordinator from month 40 and a standing group-enquiry process in the meantime. Breakfast is limited to a short menu made by a part-time attendant, in a kitchen the county has approved.
Cover for the general manager
Luke runs the day. The desk lead has covered shifts in each of the last two years under the sellers and can run the lodge for a week. A manager-on-call arrangement with a neighbouring lodge is a fallback. The owners hold key-person cover on Luke.
Advisers and the lender
An accountant in Angels Camp prepares the monthly accounts and the occupancy-tax returns. A hospitality consultant reviews rates and the budget each autumn, and the lender receives quarterly accounts. A buy-sell clause governs what happens if either owner wants out.
Ownership and the bank
Luke and Marty own Cedar Vale Lodge, LLC in a 60/40 split. Both give the bank personal guarantees on the loan, and the loan carries a covenant to deliver quarterly accounts and to hold a minimum debt service cover. The owners expect to negotiate an interest-only first year and an easier cover test for Years 1 and 2.
The Numbers Behind the Rooms
Cedar Vale buys a working lodge on 1 January 2027, so the model opens in the middle of a ski season. January to December 2027 is shown month by month. Years 2 to 5 are annual totals, so seasonal swings are not claimed beyond the first year.
Buying the lodge: uses and sources
| Use of funds | Amount |
|---|---|
| Purchase of the 24-room lodge, land and building | $1,200,000 |
| Legal, title, survey, inspections and lender fees | $34,000 |
| Room and lobby refresh (about $15,000 a room: beds, bathrooms, flooring, paint, fixtures) | $360,000 |
| Booking system, door locks, laundry, breakfast kitchen, hot tub | $58,000 |
| Relaunch: website, photography, direct-booking campaign | $18,000 |
| Business licence, occupancy-tax registration, food permit | $2,500 |
| Cash reserve sized to the weak-snow case | $100,000 |
| Total uses | $1,772,500 |
| Source of funds | Amount |
|---|---|
| Luke Roth's equity (60%) | $631,500 |
| Marty Snyderman's equity (40%) | $421,000 |
| Bank loan secured on the building | $720,000 |
| Total sources | $1,772,500 |
The owners put in $1,052,500 between them, 59% of the $1,772,500 total: $631,500 from Luke and $421,000 from Marty. The other $720,000 is a bank loan secured on the building, 60% of the purchase price. The loan runs at 7.25% over 25 years with the first 12 months interest-only. An interest-only year is a term the owners would have to negotiate, and a lender may insist on full payments from month one ($65,053 a year). The $100,000 reserve is sized to the weak-snow case set out at the end of this section, where the lowest month-end balance in Year 1 is about $38,500. The base case needs less, with its own November low at about $94,000.
Operating figures behind the forecast
- The lodge has 24 rooms, so 8,760 room-nights are available in a year. The model treats the ski season as December to April, 151 nights a room, and everything from May to November as summer and shoulder, 214 nights. Actual opening dates follow the snow.
- Year 1 occupancy is 55.7% in the ski season and 32.2% across summer and shoulder, 41.9% over the year, or 3,673 room-nights sold. Average daily rate is $202 in the ski season and $148 in the other seven months, $178 blended, which gives revenue per available room (RevPAR) of about $75. Ski-season rates blend weekdays at $140 to $165, weekends at $210 to $240 and holiday weeks at $280 to $310.
- From Year 2 rates rise by about 7%, then 4%, 3% and 3%. The first step reflects the refreshed rooms and a larger share of direct bookings. Occupancy reaches 63% in the ski season and 41% in summer by Year 5, 50.1% for the year, and blended RevPAR reaches about $104.
- About 62% of ski-season room-nights buy a $17 breakfast, and the lodge store adds about $6 a night, so each occupied winter night brings $16.50 on top of the room. In June to October the attach rate is lower, 45% at $15 plus $5 of store sales, or $11.75. The breakfast room is closed in May and November while rooms are refreshed, and only the store trades at $5 a night. Food and store sales carry a 36% cost of goods.
- Event fees are $2,500 for each group stay, four in Year 1 (June, August, September and October) and rising to nine by Year 5. Pet fees add $1.45 per occupied night, about 130 stays at $40 in Year 1. Revenue is stated before occupancy tax, which the lodge collects from guests and passes on.
- Room direct costs of 14% of room revenue cover booking-site commissions (40% of room revenue at an average of 15%), card fees of about 3%, and laundry and guest supplies of about 5%. The 14% is held flat although the plan expects the direct share to grow, which leaves some margin in hand.
- Payroll adds 27% to wages for payroll taxes, health cover, workers' compensation and paid leave (15% for the part-time attendant). Housekeepers are paid $43,000 (about $20.67 an hour over 2,080 hours) and the ski-season desk agent $40,000 (about $19.23), above the $16.90 California minimum for 2026 because staff are scarce in a remote county. An $18,000 staff housing allowance is a separate line. Pay raises of 3% a year are another separate line from Year 2.
- Luke is paid $64,000 as general manager, a little under the $69,250 median BLS reports for lodging managers, and lives in the manager's apartment on the lot. Marty is not on the payroll. His remodelling firm bills the lodge for repairs inside the maintenance line, and the same line carries outside trades for anything larger.
- The land is set at 30% of the purchase price, $360,000, which is not depreciated. The building ($840,000, 39 years), the refresh ($360,000, about $15,000 a room, 15 years) and the equipment ($58,000, 7 years) produce $53,824 of depreciation a year. An appraisal at closing would set the real split.
- Property tax and county charges are $14,500 in Year 1, about 1.2% of the purchase price. Utilities are $54,000 because the lodge heats 24 rooms through the winter. Insurance of $40,000 covers the building, liability and umbrella cover. The figure is set above a typical lodge because forest-edge Sierra properties face wildfire exposure and a quote may be higher or hard to obtain. Defensible-space clearing sits in the grounds line. Replacement of linen, furniture and fittings is budgeted at about 4% of revenue, a common lender allowance used here as a planning figure rather than a sourced one.
- California charges an LLC an $800 annual tax plus a gross-receipts fee, which is $2,500 for receipts between $500,000 and $999,999: $3,300 a year. The figure comes from secondary sources, because the Franchise Tax Board pages could not be read. Income tax is charged at the 21% federal corporate rate and the 8.84% California rate, with the Year 1 loss carried forward. An LLC taxed as a partnership would pass this tax to its owners, so it is a cautious placeholder.
- Distributions of $40,000, $60,000 and $75,000 start in Year 3 and are shared 60/40. The loan stays in place and is repaid on schedule.
Room, breakfast and fee revenue
| Revenue stream | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rooms, ski season (Dec to Apr) | $408,646 | $461,843 | $497,394 | $521,276 | $545,666 |
| Rooms, summer and shoulder (May to Nov) | $245,150 | $288,078 | $324,287 | $347,194 | $366,402 |
| Breakfast and lodge store | $51,215 | $56,666 | $61,404 | $64,811 | $68,054 |
| Event and pet fees | $15,328 | $20,744 | $23,573 | $26,237 | $28,864 |
| Total revenue | $720,339 | $827,331 | $906,658 | $959,518 | $1,008,986 |
| Growth on prior year | – | 15% | 10% | 6% | 5% |
Ski-season rooms bring in 56% of Year 1 revenue, and summer and shoulder rooms another 34%. Breakfast and the store add 7%, and event and pet fees 2%. Growth slows from 15% in Year 2 to 5% in Year 5. Winter weekends and holiday weeks fill first and leave little room to add, so most of the later growth has to come from midweek and summer nights.
A year of snow and shoulder seasons, month by month
| Month | Rooms, ski season (Dec to Apr) | Rooms, summer and shoulder (May to Nov) | Breakfast and lodge store | Event and pet fees | Total revenue | EBITDA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 2027 | $94,562 | $0 | $7,611 | $669 | $102,842 | $43,216 |
| Feb 2027 | $102,816 | $0 | $7,540 | $663 | $111,019 | $50,135 |
| Mar 2027 | $84,146 | $0 | $7,120 | $626 | $91,892 | $33,949 |
| Apr 2027 | $35,640 | $0 | $3,920 | $345 | $39,905 | ($10,046) |
| May 2027 | $0 | $13,950 | $558 | $162 | $14,670 | ($31,402) |
| Jun 2027 | $0 | $34,272 | $2,876 | $2,855 | $40,003 | ($9,963) |
| Jul 2027 | $0 | $64,996 | $4,546 | $561 | $70,103 | $15,509 |
| Aug 2027 | $0 | $57,853 | $4,196 | $3,018 | $65,067 | $11,248 |
| Sep 2027 | $0 | $33,739 | $2,792 | $2,845 | $39,376 | ($10,494) |
| Oct 2027 | $0 | $26,516 | $2,360 | $2,791 | $31,667 | ($17,018) |
| Nov 2027 | $0 | $13,824 | $576 | $167 | $14,567 | ($31,489) |
| Dec 2027 | $91,482 | $0 | $7,120 | $626 | $99,228 | $40,157 |
Six months lose money at the EBITDA line: April, May, June, September, October and November. January, February, March, July, August and December pay for them. The weakest month-end cash balance falls in November, at about $94,000 once the four days that card and booking-site payments take to arrive are allowed for. It comes just before the next ski season starts to pay in December.
Staffing across the seasons
| Role | Annual wage | Starts | Year 1 end | Year 2 end | Year 3 end | Year 4 end | Year 5 end |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Co-owner and general manager | $64,000 | Month 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Front desk and reservations lead | $48,000 | Month 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Housekeeper (year-round) | $43,000 | Month 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Housekeeper (ski season, December to March) | $43,000 | Month 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Front desk agent (ski season, December to April) | $40,000 | Month 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Breakfast and store attendant (part time, winter and July to August) | $28,000 | Month 1 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| Guest services and sales coordinator | $48,000 | Month 40 | – | – | – | 1 | 1 |
| Total payroll incl. on-costs | $255,003 | $255,003 | $255,003 | $300,723 | $315,963 |
Staff numbers follow the calendar. One general manager, one desk lead and one housekeeper work all year. A second housekeeper works December to March, a second desk agent December to April, and a part-time attendant runs breakfast and the store in winter and in July and August. In June, September and October the desk lead sells a grab-and-go breakfast from the store, and in May and November the breakfast room is shut. The ski-season housekeeper and desk agent are shown at annual-equivalent rates and paid for four and five months. The guest services and sales coordinator joins in month 40, when group, midweek and shoulder-season business needs someone whose job is to sell it. Group weekends use two on-call hourly cleaners, paid from the $2,500 event fee. Overnight cover comes from Luke living on the lot, with calls after 10pm routed to him and the desk lead on alternate weeks. Marty and the snow contractor are paid from expense lines, not from payroll. The year-end headcount reads one for each seasonal role because December is a ski-season month.
Profit and loss
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $720,339 | $827,331 | $906,658 | $959,518 | $1,008,986 |
| Direct costs (booking commissions, card fees, laundry and guest supplies, food cost) | ($110,735) | ($127,183) | ($139,377) | ($147,503) | ($155,108) |
| Gross profit | $609,604 | $700,148 | $767,281 | $812,015 | $853,878 |
| Payroll incl. on-costs | ($255,003) | ($255,003) | ($255,003) | ($300,723) | ($315,963) |
| Rent | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Utilities | ($54,000) | ($55,500) | ($57,000) | ($58,500) | ($60,000) |
| Marketing | ($26,000) | ($28,000) | ($29,000) | ($30,000) | ($31,000) |
| Insurance | ($40,000) | ($42,000) | ($44,000) | ($46,000) | ($48,000) |
| Professional fees | ($12,000) | ($12,500) | ($13,000) | ($13,500) | ($14,000) |
| Software subscriptions | ($10,500) | ($11,000) | ($11,500) | ($12,000) | ($12,500) |
| Property tax and county charges | ($14,500) | ($14,800) | ($15,100) | ($15,400) | ($15,700) |
| Snow removal, grounds and defensible-space clearing | ($17,000) | ($17,500) | ($18,000) | ($18,500) | ($19,000) |
| Repairs and maintenance (including co-owner contract work) | ($36,000) | ($37,000) | ($38,500) | ($40,000) | ($41,500) |
| Linen, towels and furniture replacement | ($29,000) | ($33,000) | ($37,000) | ($39,000) | ($41,000) |
| Phones, supplies, licences and occupancy-tax admin | ($9,000) | ($9,300) | ($9,600) | ($9,900) | ($10,200) |
| Seasonal staff housing allowance | ($18,000) | ($18,500) | ($19,000) | ($19,500) | ($20,000) |
| California LLC annual tax and gross-receipts fee | ($3,300) | ($3,300) | ($3,300) | ($3,300) | ($3,300) |
| Chargebacks and bad debt | ($1,500) | ($1,800) | ($2,000) | ($2,200) | ($2,400) |
| Annual pay raises (3% a year) | $0 | ($7,650) | ($15,530) | ($27,885) | ($39,656) |
| EBITDA | $83,800 | $153,295 | $199,747 | $175,606 | $179,659 |
| Depreciation | ($53,824) | ($53,824) | ($53,824) | ($53,824) | ($53,824) |
| Interest | ($52,200) | ($51,821) | ($50,954) | ($50,022) | ($49,021) |
| Income tax | $0 | ($7,115) | ($26,576) | ($20,081) | ($21,495) |
| Net income before start-up costs | ($22,224) | $40,535 | $68,393 | $51,679 | $55,318 |
| Start-up costs expensed at opening (legal and lender fees, licences, relaunch marketing) | ($54,500) | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Net income after start-up costs | ($76,724) | $40,535 | $68,393 | $51,679 | $55,318 |
Year 1 loses $22,224 before start-up costs and $76,724 after the $54,500 of legal, lender, licence and relaunch costs. Year 2 is the first profitable year. EBITDA margin rises from 11.6% in Year 1 to 22.0% in Year 3, then falls to 18.3% in Year 4 and 17.8% in Year 5 as the coordinator and accumulated pay raises outrun rate growth. Year 1 tax is zero and the loss is carried forward, which trims Year 2 tax. Returns to the owners are modest. Net income peaks at $68,393 in Year 3, 6.5% of the $1,052,500 invested. The distributions of $40,000, $60,000 and $75,000 are a cash yield of 3.8%, 5.7% and 7.1% of that equity, and Marty's 40% share of the first distribution, $16,000 on $421,000, is also 3.8%. Luke is paid a salary and Marty earns repair fees, but for both of them the return is largely the value of the building they own.
Cash through the year-ends
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cash from operations | ($30,794) | $93,186 | $121,348 | $104,924 | $108,601 |
| Property, refresh and equipment | ($1,618,000) | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Funding received | $1,772,500 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Building loan principal repaid | $0 | ($11,563) | ($12,429) | ($13,361) | ($14,363) |
| Owner distributions | $0 | $0 | ($40,000) | ($60,000) | ($75,000) |
| Net change in cash | $123,706 | $81,624 | $68,919 | $31,563 | $19,238 |
| Closing cash | $123,706 | $205,330 | $274,249 | $305,811 | $325,049 |
Closing cash is $123,706 at the end of Year 1 and grows every year after. The year-end figure hides the trough: the lowest month-end balance falls in November, as the monthly table shows. Distributions begin in Year 3, when cash and profit both cover them.
Balance sheet
| At year end | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cash | $123,706 | $205,330 | $274,249 | $305,811 | $325,049 |
| Accounts receivable | $7,894 | $9,067 | $9,936 | $10,515 | $11,057 |
| Property, refresh and equipment (net) | $1,564,176 | $1,510,352 | $1,456,527 | $1,402,703 | $1,348,879 |
| Total assets | $1,695,776 | $1,724,748 | $1,740,712 | $1,719,030 | $1,684,986 |
| Building loan | $720,000 | $708,437 | $696,008 | $682,647 | $668,284 |
| Paid-in capital | $1,052,500 | $1,052,500 | $1,052,500 | $1,052,500 | $1,052,500 |
| Retained earnings | ($76,724) | ($36,189) | ($7,796) | ($16,117) | ($35,799) |
| Total liabilities and equity | $1,695,776 | $1,724,748 | $1,740,712 | $1,719,030 | $1,684,986 |
Break-even occupancy and debt cover
| Measure | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EBITDA margin | 11.6% | 18.5% | 22.0% | 18.3% | 17.8% |
| Net margin (before start-up costs) | -3.1% | 4.9% | 7.5% | 5.4% | 5.5% |
| Payroll incl. pay raises as share of revenue | 35% | 32% | 30% | 34% | 35% |
| Revenue per full-time equivalent at year end | $130,971 | $150,424 | $164,847 | $147,618 | $155,229 |
| Average monthly revenue | $60,028 | $68,944 | $75,555 | $79,960 | $84,082 |
| Monthly revenue needed to cover operating costs | $51,776 | $53,849 | $55,886 | $62,668 | $66,391 |
| Debt service cover (EBITDA / interest + principal) | 1.6x | 2.4x | 3.2x | 2.8x | 2.8x |
The last three rows show the margin for error. Year 1 averages $60,028 a month against $51,776 needed to cover operating costs, which at Year 1 revenue per occupied night is about 36.2% occupancy against the 41.9% planned. That test leaves out the loan. Adding the $52,200 of Year 1 interest lifts break-even occupancy to 39.8%, and adding amortising payments of $65,053 lifts it to 40.6%, a cushion of only 1.3 points. Debt cover is 1.6x in Year 1 because the loan is interest-only. On an amortising payment from month one it would be 1.29x. From Year 2 it is 2.4x or better. Five points less occupancy over a year is 438 room-nights, about $86,000 of revenue at Year 1 prices and about $73,000 after direct costs, against Year 1 EBITDA of $83,800.
When the snow is thin: a 20% revenue shortfall
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $576,271 | $661,865 | $725,326 | $767,614 | $807,189 |
| Net income before start-up costs | ($90,278) | ($35,422) | $1,464 | $21,483 | $39,061 |
| Net income after start-up costs | ($144,778) | ($35,422) | $1,464 | $21,483 | $39,061 |
| Closing cash | $57,231 | $63,132 | $105,295 | $166,778 | $244,867 |
A low-snow winter is the most likely way to lose 20% of revenue, so this case cuts every revenue line by 20% in every year. The response: no coordinator is hired, seasonal and part-time hours are cut by a fifth, utilities fall 7%, linen and furniture replacement is deferred by 40% and repairs trimmed by 15%, marketing is cut by 20%, Luke takes a 20% pay cut and no distributions are paid. On those terms year-end cash is never below $57,231, and Year 1 equity falls to $907,722. The Year 1 monthly low is about $38,500 in November, lower than the year-end figure. The lodge loses money in Years 1 and 2 and roughly breaks even in Year 3. Debt cover tells the plainer story: EBITDA is $15,746 in Year 1 against $52,200 of interest, a cover of 0.30x, and 1.11x in Year 2, then 1.68x in Year 3 and 1.98x in Year 4. Operations do not cover debt service in Year 1, and only just cover it in Year 2, so the reserve pays the difference. The owners would ask the lender before closing for a debt-cover covenant of 1.0x or lower for Years 1 and 2, and they would put in a further $50,000 of equity if the lender refused. Without the cost trims on seasonal hours, utilities, replacements and repairs, year-end cash would be $24,820 in Year 1 and slightly below zero (-$3,892) in Year 2.
Sources
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Lodging managers, Occupational Outlook Handbook: median pay May 2025 and employment projection 2025 to 2035.
- California Department of Industrial Relations, Minimum wage frequently asked questions: $16.90 an hour from 1 January 2026.
- Federal corporate rate of 21%: 26 U.S. Code section 11.
- California corporate rate of 8.84%: Tax Foundation, California, a secondary source. The Franchise Tax Board page could not be read, so confirm the rate there before relying on it.
- California LLC annual tax ($800) and gross-receipts fee ($2,500 for receipts of $500,000 to $999,999): Reed Corp guide, a secondary source that has not been checked against the Franchise Tax Board.
- Alpine County, County Code Chapter 3.16, transient occupancy tax. The current rate is not quoted here and must be confirmed with the county.
- Wikipedia, Bear Valley Mountain Resort, a secondary source for acreage, base elevation, lift count and location.
- Wildfire and smoke exposure and insurance cost are not sourced or quantified in this plan; they are stated as risks and as planning figures.
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