The winter lottery

Starting this year, we'll be opening reservations for each season (winter and summer) with a lottery. The mad first come, first served scramble at 7am was getting to be too hectic. And if you missed your first choice, by the time you'd selected a second choice, your chances of getting it were slim.

Under the new system, you can submit lottery interest at your leisure the whole week leading up to the lottery, which will run the evening of Aug 1st. We are taking submissions from Jul 27th at 7:00am until Aug 1st at 5:00pm. It doesn't matter when during that period you submit, as long as it's in by 5:00pm.

You submit up to several ranked trip requests — with dates, room selections, and meals, just like a normal reservation — and save a card that is only charged if you win.

Your number of lottery entries is weighted by the average size of your requested trips (people × nights), so a group asking for the whole hut for three nights gets proportionally more chances than a single spot for one night. I think this is fair, because each of those people could have instead submitted their own lottery interest.

Groups with special circumstances last winter — where your trip was canceled due to conditions — will receive a lottery entry multiplier on your submission. Returning guests will, as well, receive a small bump in weight. You don't need to do anything to make this work, we've already implemented it on our side and you should see it on your lottery submission.

When your name is drawn, your highest-ranked trip that still fits the calendar is booked and your card is charged for exactly the price you saw when entering. Unfilled requests roll to the waitlist, and open winter booking follows on August 3rd.

If there is any trouble charging your card, or anything else after the lottery happens, you'll have 24 hours to fix any problems, otherwise the space will be released back into the reservations pool.

Once all the lottery spaces have been booked, normal bookings will open on August 3rd for all the remaining space.

This is a brand-new feature for us, so if you have any problems, please reach out to info@opushut.com.