Central Oregon hotels booked for big weekend

It is close to impossible to find a hotel room in Bend because of two major events. This weekend is the Deschutes County Fair and the Bend Premier Soccer Cup.

With many tourists heading to the area, resort and hotel phones have been ringing off the hook.

“There first question is, do you have any availability,” Wendy Puller, director of sales at Mt. Bachelor Village Resort, said Tuesday. “So we’ll look for them and tell them what we have left available.”

What they have available is nothing. Due to the Bend Premier Cup, the Mt. Bachelor Village Resort has been fully booked for a while.

The Deschutes County Fair also has many anticipating this weekend on the High Desert.

“From what I’ve seen on the calendar, we have been sold out quite a bit in advance,” said Ellisse Dickey, Eagle Crest Resort concierge. “Probably at least a month in advance for this weekend, in particular.”

It’s not just this weekend though. Tourism has been booming all summer for hotels and resorts.

Puller said people come to Central Oregon for a specific reason.

“Every weekend, there’s some sort of event in Central Oregon that drives people to come to this area,” Puller said.

Some of those events include…

“Last weekend it was the Deschutes Dash, so there were a lot of people coming in for the weekend that were attending that multi-sport event,” Puller said. “This weekend it’s soccer, next weekend it’s the Flashback Cruz here in town.”

Whether tourists are trying to find a place in Redmond or Bend, chances are they’ll be out of luck.

“Tonight we are sold out, and it’s kind of just the rest of the week we’re just sold out with these tournaments and the fair,” Dickey said.

At Eagle Crest Resort they have 27 people on a waiting list for a room, while Mt. Bachelor Village Resort says it’s so busy that they’re keeping a full staff until mid-September.