About That Great Wolf Lodge

The poobahs at Great Wolf got hornswoggled into opening one of their hotel water parks in El Paso.

Have you looked at them? The cheapest one seems to be in Sandusky, Ohio. The Sandusky Micropolitan Statistical Area has a Median Family Income of $52,053. El Paso’s Median Family Income is $45,300, according to the City. That’s 15 percent less.

Fifteen percent is a lot.

But Great Wolf doesn’t sell day passes, so maybe El Paso’s not their market. Maybe they’re counting on an overflow of out-of-town visitors to that new community they’re building in TIRZ 12. You know, the one they’re decimating the Lost Dog Trail for.

For a family of four, with two children aged 2 and 6, a one night stay in a suite at the Sandusky Great Wolf Lodge costs $230, if you book through Expedia. If they charge the same amount in El Paso, and add El Paso’s 17% Hotel Occupancy Tax, we’re talking big bucks.

By contrast, a suite at the Lucerna in Juarez costs about $83 a night, and they’ve got a nice pool.

Or you could stay in a suite at the Wyndham at the airport for $155 a night. They’ve got a water slide.

And since Great Wolf doesn’t sell day passes, don’t think you, a resident of El Paso, can derive any benefit from a Great Wolf Lodge in El Paso, unless you need a place to stay while you’re getting the house fumigated.

The rumor is that the City of El Paso is entering into some kind of agreement to buy the land on which the Great Wolf Lodge will be situated, so forget about them contributing to our tax base.

I bet someone at Great Wolf Lodge will lose their job over their choice to move to El Paso. Too bad we can’t extend the same courtesy to the folks at City Hall.

9 comments

  1. This is a city that cries about water shortages and waste. Is there a shortage except for those that can afford to pay any price? Is the plan to add a tax on water so we pay for it and Wolfe uses the water for free ?

    Btw, it might be cheaper to stay in a Juarez hotel but is it worth it to be awarded some military recognition for being in combat ?

    Another btw, Great Wolfe, city council is slipping in a wolf in sheeps wool.

  2. You seem quite pessimistic. Maybe you should take a deep breath and get out of the way of progress. El Paso is moving forward with or without naysayers like you.

    How much is the vaunted, beloved, cherished “Lost Dog Trail” contributing to our tax base again? LOL

    1. How, exactly, is El Paso moving forward? Are you measuring progress by municipal debt, or taxes?

      How much will the Great Wolf Lodge contribute to our tax base? TIRZ 10 is a hundred percent TIRZ, is it not? So any increase in property values there will yield no ad valorem tax increase for the city.

      Y’all keep bringing in these entertainment venues, luring them in with tax incentives, and all they do is provide a limited number of service industry jobs while competing with local establishments for our disposable incomes. Then those carpetbagging businesses take their profits out of town, sucking cash out of the local economy.

      Thanks for visiting the website. Look around. Kick some tires. Don’t get your knickers in a knot. I’m happy to answer your questions, or respond to your comments.

    2. I really want great wolf lodge to come to El Paso Texas please I have been dying for one there through out the years

      1. It would be better for El Pasoans to pass the hat and send you to the Great Wolf in Scottsdale for the rest of your life.

  3. And the great wolf lodge people are being really excessive to these considerations of the lodge’s this needs to stop

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