Old West experiences, modern-day adventures and spectacular natural beauty are magnets for groups considering Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.
Some arrive for contemporary outdoor pursuits like geo-caching on horseback and alpine skiing or modern cultural draws ranging from art galleries to performing arts.
Others want the myths and legends of the Old West, when Native Americans and cowboys struggled to coexist and tame the Northern Plains.
Whatever attendees desire in a true Western locale, Wyoming, Montana and Idaho fill the bill with myriad experiences and facilities that run the gamut from luxury mountain hideaways and guest ranches to golf resorts and historic urban hotels.
Wyoming
National parks, wide-open spaces and Western heritage come to most minds when Wyoming is mentioned, and the images are justified. Wyoming joins its neighboring states in harboring some of America’s most spectacular scenery, along with colorful history and an outdoor mindset.
As the gateway to both Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, the sophisticated resort community of Jackson Hole offers plenty of Old West fun and modern amenities.
Jackson’s at its tourism peak in summer, and winter comes in at a close second for bringing in visitors—namely skiers—from around the world.
Some ranches in the region come with a century of history under their spurs, and provisions for contemporary group guest ranch experiences.
“Jackson is still the place to get an Old West experience,” says Wendy Straight, membership manager for the Jackson Hole COC. “Our sidewalks are still made of wood, and we still have a town square where you can see the shootout gang perform every night but Sunday in summertime. People enjoy rowdy Western entertainment at our historic playhouse theater.
“There’s the sophisticated side, too,” Straight adds, “like our fall arts festival.”
Top meetings-friendly properties include Four Seasons Resort Jackson Hole, Grand Targhee Resort, Snake River Lodge & Spa, Jackson Lake Lodge, Teton Mountain Lodge, Snow King Resort, and Spring Creek Resort. Jackson area ranches, such as Mill Iron Ranch, accommodate groups for meetings and Western-style meals complete with mountain views.
Just east of Yellowstone is the town of Cody, home to the Buffalo Bill Historical Center and meeting venues such as the Riley Arena and Community Events Center.
In the northeastern part of the state, the cities of Gillette and Sheridan are also equipped for meetings.
Wyoming’s capital of Cheyenne, located on the southeastern edge of the state, is now only about a 90-minute drive from Denver International Airport along a new toll road, according to Darren Rudloff, president of the Cheyenne Area CVB.
“Many drive here from the airport, and we also have many flights into here from Denver year-round,” Rudloff says. “With our Little America Hotel and Resort expansion and renovation that will be completed early next year, we will have 26,000 square feet of meeting space, which will allow us to host meetings we were never able to accommodate.”
Downtown Cheyenne now has more than shadows from its 1880s Old West heyday. A CVB-inspired project to mount a downtown working livery stable with an 1880s design has merged into reality. The working area for horse-drawn carriages, parade riders and the local mounted police brings horses back to the city’s core.
More heritage can be found in the Nelson Museum of the West and the Cheyenne Depot, where interactive exhibits provide a peek into the past when some famous and notorious characters rode through Cheyenne.
North of Cheyenne, the Oregon, California, Mormon, and Pony Express trails converged in the spot now called Casper. Wagon wheel ruts are all over the area—lingering tracks from the days when pioneers, cattlemen and cowboys stopped in Casper for respite.
The Casper Events Center is the city’s multipurpose event facility, and it’s in the shape of a horseshoe. With retractable seating that allows for generous floor space, the site can accommodate general sessions and other large meetings, banquets for up to 2,000 people and exhibits on 28,200 square feet of floor space.
Additional meeting space and guest rooms are available at the Parkway Plaza Hotel & Convention Centre, Best Western Ramkota Hotel and Holiday Inn on the River Hotel & Convention Center.
Montana
Beneath the big blue skies over Yellowstone and Glacier national parks, the land seems to be wider and wilder than just about anywhere. The panorama covers what the locals call the “Montana Mystique,” which draws visitors to the state’s millions of wilderness acres and two of the world’s most popular natural preserves. Fly-fishing remains a top draw for business groups, especially executive retreaters.
Montana’s culture isn’t all outdoors, however. The state’s cities feature art galleries and symphony, opera and ballet companies, along with other performing arts options.
Accessibility to all Montana offers is easy, says Racene Friede, executive director of Glacier Country Regional Tourism Commission, a marketing arm for eight western Montana counties.
“People think we are hard to reach, but we have great access via air, rail and road,” Friede says. “There are lots of direct flights into the airports at Kalispell and Missoula, as well as great train service into Whitefish from Chicago and Seattle.”
Among Glacier Country’s newest meeting facilities are Hilton Garden Inn properties in Kalispell and Missoula. The Missoula hotel offers 22,000 square feet of function space. The Kalispell property is located in Flathead Valley just 30 miles from Glacier National Park and features 14,000 square feet of meeting space.
Additionally, Kalispell’s Outlaw Inn was recently acquired by Kalispell Hospitality Company, which is planning a major renovation of the hotel and its 14,000-square-foot conference center. The property was renamed the New Outlaw Inn Hotel.
Other area options include the Lodge at Whitefish Lake, Grouse Mountain Lodge, Flathead Lake Lodge and Whitefish Mountain Resort, formerly named Big Mountain ski and summer resort.
About 40 minutes outside Missoula, The Resort at Paws Up is a 10-acre upscale property inside a working ranch set on 37,000 acres.
“We specialize in corporate retreats with outdoor components of all that Montana offers,” says Julie Francis, the property’s director of group sales and marketing. “The sky is truly the limit on activities like fly-fishing, hunting, clay shooting, hiking, biking, and spa massages.
The property’s team-building repertoire is extensive year-round, according to Francis.
“One example would be our Geo-cashing Extravaganza, a high-tech version of orienteering,” she says. “It’s a treasure hunt people take with GPS units. In winter, we organize skills and games exercises, like building a snow cave. It requires some winter survival skills and ends up with a human dogsled race and other winter fun.”
Montana’s largest meeting facility portfolio is in Billings. It includes the Holiday Inn Grand Montana and Billings Hotel and Convention Center, with over 73,000 square feet of function space.
Visitors like to tap Billings’ local history associated with the Lewis and Clark “Corps of Discovery” and the Custer Battlefield and Museum. Rodeos provide entertainment throughout the year. Native American dancers and drummers who perform on two Indian reservations just outside the city enchant their audiences. For something offbeat, there is a 90-minute ghost tour of Billings replete with tales and characters from the days when lynchings were the mode of justice, and opium dens and ladies of the night populated the town.
“Billings is the best of both worlds,” says Nancy O’Leary, director of destination marketing for the Billings COC. “We are uniquely situated in the Yellowstone River Valley at the edge of the Great Plains. Seven mountain ranges are visible from the city. Ours is the largest city in Montana, and it’s the medical, retail and entertainment hub for the entire state.”
Bozeman is situated west of Billings near Yellowstone. It is home to the all-season Big Sky Resort, one of the state’s biggest resort sites. There are 300 guest rooms adjoining Yellowstone Conference Center and its 46,000 square feet of meeting space.
The Big Sky area also has several upscale guest ranches with dedicated function rooms for up to 200 attendees. Options include 320 Guest Ranch, Lone Mountain Ranch and Mountain Sky Guest Ranch.
Besides all the outdoor fun, there’s also a full calendar of year-round cultural events in the Bozeman area, from outdoor concerts to cowboy poetry readings.
The state capital of Helena as well as Great Falls provide additional options for Montana-bound groups.
Idaho
Boise may have been a fort for the Hudson Bay Company and then the U.S. military, but look at ’er now. The city’s business and leisure sophistication garnered awards in 2006 from two major magazines: National Geographic Adventure named Boise a top adventure city, and Forbes ranked the city of 250,000 people No. 4 among the best places for business and careers.
Terry Kopp, director of sales for the Boise CVB, says her city has several lures for business groups, not the least of which is accessibility and affordability.
“Our average group room rate is about $90, and we have one-plane accessibility from most anywhere in the West,” Kopp says. “People in the East can get to us easily in just two connecting flights.”
Groups that book Boise find plenty of ways to experience Western culture. Receptions at the Idaho Historical Museum, for example, often utilize one of the site’s centerpieces, an authentic Western saloon bar. Throughout the museum, attendees learn about the early days of fur trading, gold rushes and pioneer settlement in the region. Groups that want a more contemporary Western adventure may arrange outfitter-organized trail rides by horseback or covered wagon, plus a barbecue with live Western music in the re-created town of Cool Water, located about 20 minutes from Boise.
Boise Centre on the Grove is the city’s principal group facility, with 50,000 square feet of meeting space. The venue is located downtown within walking distance of 800 hotel rooms and near restaurants, shops and attractions.
Also within walking distance of the city center are lots of green lures, such as the Boise River Greenbelt, a 25-mile-long route that winds through shaded parks, quiet neighborhoods and a wild bird refuge sometimes favored by bald eagles.
A couple of hours north of Boise are two excellent options for groups desiring a retreat complemented by spectacular natural surroundings: Whitetail Club and Resort, set along the shores of Payette Lake in the quaint community of McCall, and Tamarack Resort, Idaho’s newest ski and summer mountain destination. Aside from 1,100 acres of downhill ski terrain and a full lineup of other year-round outdoor adventures, Tamarack boasts upscale lodging, meeting facilities and an event center.
East of Boise is Sun Valley, Idaho’s signature resort region. Since it was founded in 1936 by an industrialist who wanted to bring the magic of European ski resorts to America, Sun Valley has built a global reputation for its splendid scenery and sophistication. A plethora of recreation options in any season draw just about everyone into the high-altitude outdoors once business is done.
The Sun Valley Village Resort sleeps 1,200 people in 503 rooms between the Sun Valley Lodge and Sun Valley Inn. Its convention center has 12,000 square feet of meeting space.
Planners can also book groups in destinations such as Twin Falls, Pocatello and Idaho Falls, which enjoys proximity to Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks.
Meanwhile, northern Idaho is a picturesque choice for group retreats, with options such as the Coeur d’Alene Resort, set along one of the West’s most beautiful lakes and featuring 338 guest rooms, many with lake views, in addition to 25,000 square feet of meeting space.
For More Info
IDAHO
Boise CVB 208.344.7777
www.boise.org
Coeur d’Alene Visitor Bureau 208.664.3194
www.coeurdalene.org
Idaho Falls CVB 208.523.1010
www.visitidahofalls.com
Pocatello CVB 208.233.7333
www.pocatellocvb.com
Sun Valley/Ketchum Chamber and Visitors Bureau 208.726.3423
www.visitsunvalley.com
Twin Falls Area COC 208.733.3974
www.twinfallschamber.com
MONTANA
Big Sky COC 406.995.3000
www.bigskychamber.com
Billings COC/CVB 406.245.4111
www.billingschamber.com
Bozeman CVB 406.922.0450
www.bozemancvb.visitmt.com
Flathead CVB 406.756.9091
www.fcvb.org
Glacier Country Regional Tourism Commission 406.837.6211
www.glaciermt.com
Great Falls CVB 406.761.4434
www.greatfallscvb.visitmt.com
Helena CVB 406.447.1530
www.helenacvb.visitmt.com
Missoula CVB 406.532.3250
www.missoulacvb.org
Whitefish COC 406.862.3501
www.whitefishchamber.com
WYOMING
Albany County Tourism Board (Laramie) 307.745.4195
www.laramie-tourism.org
Campbell County COC 307.682.3673
www.gillettechamber.com
Casper Area CVB 307.234.5362
www.casperwyoming.info
Cheyenne Area CVB 307.778.3133
www.cheyenne.org
Cody/Yellowstone Country/Park County Travel Council 307.587.2297
www.yellowstonecountry.org
Jackson Hole COC 307.733.3316
www.jacksonholechamber.com
Sheridan Travel and Tourism 307.673.7120
www.sheridanwyoming.org
