As the mercury rises, groups seeking respite from the summer heat can forego oversold and crowded beach resorts for an equally cooling setting. Mountain resorts, known for their downhill skiing and snowcapped peaks, offer a gamut of outdoor options in summer, from white-water rafting to bear viewing.
In the West, there is no shortage of choices, as mountain getaways tempt outdoor buffs all the way from Canada’s Whistler Blackcomb
down to California’s Mammoth Mountain and myriad locations in between. Most of these resort areas are seeing a jump in summertime group traffic.
California/Nevada
A summer meeting is no stranger to Lake Tahoe, despite hosting two Winter Olympics and world-class ski resorts.
“People think of Tahoe as a ski destination, but summertime is the biggest meetings season, with the largest number of groups,” says Jason Neary, director of conference sales for the North Lake Tahoe Visitors & Convention Bureau. “Everybody loves to enjoy 80 degrees and no humidity.”
According to Neary, several DMCs, including Tahoe Reno Experience and Sierra Event Company, can coordinate soup-to-nuts summer activities on Tahoe’s North Shore that include hiking, biking, tennis, golf, and hot-air ballooning. On the lake, parasailing and sunset paddleboat cruises are just two options.
Expansions and new projects are changing the face of Tahoe.
“There’s a big buzz with what’s going on in Tahoe,” Neary says, noting recent renovations at the Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe Resort, Spa and Casino and the Resort at Squaw Creek. The Village at Squaw Valley USA recently added Mountain Stream, a new 2,000-square-foot meeting space.
A 172-room Ritz-Carlton Highlands is in the works for a 2009 opening at the new Village at Northstar, located at Northstar-at-Tahoe. The five-star property will offer extensive meeting space and conference facilities.
More change is taking place in the Crystal Bay casino corridor. Last year, development company Boulder Bay purchased the Tahoe Biltmore and the Crystal Bay Hotel along with a large portion of land in the Crystal Bay region for $37 million. Plans include introducing a boutique casino hotel surrounded by a pedestrian village of shops and restaurants.
In addition, the Cal Neva Resort, Spa and Casino in Crystal Bay, which was once owned by Frank Sinatra and recently celebrated its 80th anniversary, is currently undergoing a $60 million to $70 million restoration, including the addition of a new 10,000-square-foot spa. Cabins once frequented by stars like Marilyn Monroe as well as the Frank Sinatra Celebrity Showroom will be preserved.
Heading to Lake Tahoe’s South Shore, the summer is also peak season, making it more difficult for groups to book space. For midweek meetings, groups can book six months to a year in advance, according to Paul Swanston, director of sales for the Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority.
Group options will radically change when RockResorts debuts its Chateau at Heavenly Village, which when it opens in winter 2009 will feature luxury condominium-hotels with 477 rooms, a 50,000-square-foot convention center with an additional 21,000-square-foot prefunction area, a 16,000-square-foot spa, a 1.5-acre park, and a collection of shops and restaurants. The convention center will be the area’s largest, accommodating up to 1,600 people for conferences or banquets and 4,400 for events.
Heavenly Mountain Resort now offers thrills with the Heavenly Sky Flyer at Adventure Peak. This elevated zip line takes guests on a 50-mile-an-hour ride from the top of Tamarack Express back to the top of the gondola, a vertical drop of 525 feet.
“It’s a huge activity for groups and a fun team-building one to do,” Swanston says.
When the ride is over groups can cap it off with a barbecue at Adventure Peak Grill at the top of the gondola. On the shoreline, Zephyr Cove Resort can host barbecues and team-building activities such as three-legged races and volleyball tournaments.
Although summer is traditionally slow at Southern California’s Mammoth Mountain, the new Westin Monache is pushing for summer meetings, according to Rebecca Broz, director of sales and marketing.
“We’re working to get good incentives going,” Broz says.
Group activities include fishing and following the trails in Mammoth’s mountain bike park. Mammoth Mountain also offers group geocaching, golfing at Sierra Star Golf Course, rock climbing at a climbing wall, biking in the bike park, and taking gondola rides to the Sierra Interpretive Center on top.
Colorado
A weak dollar and international cachet are two factors helping draw overseas groups to exclusive resort towns in the Colorado Rockies, including Aspen.
“We’re busy with groups in summertime,” says Mark Elias, formerly national sales manager at the Aspen Chamber of Commerce and currently sales manager at the 92-room Little Nell in Aspen. “There are a lot of retreats and think-tank groups.”
Last year, Aspen augmented its appeal with the debut of the Doerr-Hosier Conference Center at Aspen Meadows Resort, with over 22,000 square feet of meeting space. The center’s LEED certification has also been a selling point.
“We’ve been getting a lot of groups that are choosing Aspen because it’s an environmentally friendly location,” Elias says. “It’s always a selling point in terms of generating group business, but we’ve recently seen the trend materialize into becoming a critical deciding factor.”
As much as it’s known as a ski destination, Aspen has come into its own as a summer getaway with its myriad festivals and cultural events. Outdoor activities also abound, including Jeep tours, wildflower tours, gondola rides, hiking, biking, and people watching at the pool at the Sky Hotel.
Elias advises groups to choose Sunday through Thursday for meetings as opposed to the bustling weekends.
A new $1 billion Base Village in Snowmass Village is being developed. The new Base Village will include more than 300 condominiums, over 60,000 square feet of shops, cafes, pubs, and restaurants, 15,000 square feet of conference space, and an aquatic center. Slated to open in November 2009, the Viceroy Resort Residences at Snowmass is currently approved to have 236 guest rooms, and will be the signature hotel in Base Village. The Little Nell Residences at Snowmass will add to the inventory. Aspen Skiing Company is also completing $80 million in improvements to Snowmass Mountain.
Eagle County, home to Vail Valley, is no slouch when it comes to summer fun. The county offers more than 166 miles of hiking trails and over 343 miles of mountain biking trails. Vail Valley also features 13 golf courses, including the Vail Golf Club, where guests play at over 8,200 feet in elevation. Other options include kayaking and rafting at Whitewater Park.
Vail debuted earlier this year the Arrabelle at Vail Square, with 36 rooms, 50 condos, a spa, and meeting space. The RockResorts property anchors Vail Square, a European-style village with retail. Another new development, the Vail Plaza Hotel and Club, is located on the former site of the Vail Village Inn.
Vail Cascade Resort and Spa is also in the middle of a $30 million upgrade slated for completion this December. It is opening a 4,000-square-foot executive conference area to take its total to 40,000 square feet of meeting space. A Four Seasons property is slated for a 2009 debut and a Ritz-Carlton for 2010.
While the Vail Cascade and Vail Plaza properties are group mainstays, high-end boutique properties like the Arrabelle are expected to draw more incentive travel, according to Monica McCafferty, spokeswoman for Vail Valley Partnership. “The incentive market is a huge market and huge opportunity,” McCafferty says.
For summer off-sites, dude ranches are becoming en vogue, according to McCafferty. Locales like 4 Eagle Ranch offers horseback riding, chili cook-offs, and team-building activities like building a horse.
In Colorado Springs, the Pikes Peak area is open to horseback riding through the Garden of the Gods, fly-fishing, hot-air ballooning, jeep tours, white-water rafting on the Arkansas River, and rides on the Pikes Peak Cog Railway, which ascends 14,110 feet to the top of America’s Mountain. The Crowne Plaza Hotel Colorado Springs will be completing a $12 million renovation by the end of June.
Corporate retreats in summer are also popular at Snowbasin, where the most requested activity is riding the gondola to 8,700 feet and dining on top of the mountain. There is also a nine-hole disc golf course up top and another nine holes at the bottom of the mountain.
Colorado’s Copper Conference Center at Copper Mountain Resort offers a nearby Outward Bound ropes course. Groups can also arrange scavenger hunts or use third-party organizers like Colorado Bike and Ski to create summer programs. The center offers 68,000 square feet of meeting space in summer.
Telluride and Mountain Village, known for summer festivals and events, will see four new properties, including Lumiere Telluride, Capella Telluride, Element 52, and Rosewood Telluride Hotel and Resort. Capella Telluride, when it opens this winter, will offer more than 5,000 square feet of event space.
Idaho/Montana
At Idaho’s Sun Valley, summer surpasses winter for popularity, with groups taking advantage of easy access to hiking, biking, fly-fishing, horseback riding, tennis, and golf. Organized white-water rafting on the Salmon River can also be arranged on full-day and even overnight trips. The new Sun Valley Music pavilion, a 1,500-seat venue, hosts the annual Sun Valley Summer Symphony. Groups can take advantage of the facility when it’s not in use.
Central Idaho’s Tamarack Resort features the 15,000-square-foot Arling Center conference facility. In summer, the resort offers championship golf on Osprey Meadows, world-class mountain bike trails, boating on Lake Cascade, and white-water rafting through the Payette River Mountains.
Whitefish Mountain Resort, formerly Big Mountain in Montana, recently invested $20 million in upgrades along with a name change last year. At the center of the upgrades is the $11 million, 35,000-square-foot Base Lodge that includes group meeting space.
“The resort makes a good home base in summer,” says Donnie Clapp, public relations manager for the resort.
At Whitefish Mountain, a gondola runs year-round to the top, where the U.S. Forest Service offers interpretive hikes. The mountain also offers cross-country and downhill biking trails as well as a dining facility with views of Glacier National Park, the Canadian Rockies and the Flathead Valley. Adventure seekers can take it a step further and try Mountain Bungee, a more than 20-foot-high jump. Summer also brings a food and wine festival and annual Brewfest, featuring local brewers.
Pacific Northwest
In Washington, Suncadia Village, when it’s complete this spring, will be the largest, most expensive resort development in the Pacific Northwest, spanning 6,400 acres, half the size of Manhattan.
“The scope is awesome,” says Jack Schmidt vice president, regional director of sales and marketing for the all-season resort. The 223-room Lodge at Suncadia will lend views of the Cle Elum River and valley below. The Lodge will feature a 20,000-square-foot conference center, including two ballrooms, multiple meeting and banquet rooms, a boardroom, breakout rooms, and large mountain meadows for outdoor gatherings.
The 18-room Inn at Suncadia will offer 5,000 square feet of meeting space and outdoor space in an event tent and front lawn areas. Also at Suncadia will be an 18,000-square-foot swim and fitness center and amphitheater. Opening in April will be the Glade Spring spa with 14 indoor treatment rooms and four outdoor areas.
In summer, groups can take advantage of more than six miles of river flowing through the property, whether kayaking, tubing or fly-fishing.
On a smaller scale, Sun Mountain Lodge, gateway to the North Cascade National Park, sits nine miles from the closest town, Winthrop, Wash. The 112-room property can host groups of up to 150, with an emphasis on incentive meetings.
“There are no condos, no houses, no real estate development here,” says Rob Thorlakson, director of sales and marketing. “Sun Mountain is unique in that it’s at the end of a road on top of a mountain with 3,000 acres, surrounded by national forest.”
May through October is the main season for groups. Team-building activities include scavenger hunts, fly-fishing, river rafting, and Olympic games. Cowboy camp dinners are also popular, as are casino nights.
Summer is fast becoming a busier season at British Columbia’s Whistler Blackcomb resort.
“Years ago it was quiet from late April to mid December,” says Steve Donohoe, manager of group sales for Whistler Blackcomb. “May and June now are two of the busiest months because of conference groups, and summer is busy, too.”
Groups can go glacier skiing until late July, mountain bike in the world’s largest bike park, as well as go golfing, river rafting and jet boating. One unique option is a 4x4 bear viewing tour with a local black bear researcher. According to Donohoe, it is not uncommon to see 20 or more bears. Another possibility is a Via Ferrata outing, similar to rock climbing, using ladder rungs and harnesses. Four-hour tours also include glacier hiking.
Most requested by groups is a private gondola ride and plated dinner at the Roundhouse Lodge on top of Mt. Whistler, which can host up to 1,600 for a reception or 250 for dinner.
Utah
Park City, Utah’s summer season is also booming.
“A lot of groups come here as an incentive getaway in winter,” says Ashley Andersen, meeting and convention sales and marketing manager for the Park City Chamber and Visitors Bureau. “More and more, that is growing in summer as well.”
Activities include bike riding, hiking, horseback riding, and white-water rafting down the Weber River. Utah Olympic Park can also be used in summer, including lightning speed runs down the bobsled track on wheels. Summer is also outdoor concert season.
“Groups can meet all day and relax with a glass of wine listening to the Utah Symphony,” Andersen says.
Concerts are held at Deer Valley and The Canyons, as well as along Park City’s Main Street.
Park City’s inventory is growing. The chamber works with nearly 30 properties that offer meeting space, including the Newpark Hotel at Newpark Resort, which opened in January and features 135 rentable condo units and 6,000 square feet of meeting space, including a conference center. It can host functions in its Sky Bridge Lounge, with 1,695 square feet of space.
Also recently opened is the 33-room boutique hotel Sky Lodge on lower Main Street with meeting space and a Japanese spa.
Slope-side in Deer Valley, the St. Regis Resort & Residences, Deer Crest is currently under construction, slated for a 2009 opening. Features will include a 3,000-square-foot ballroom, exhibition kitchen and 3,000-bottle glass-enclosed wine cellar.
Sundance buzzes in summer with on-site activities such as mountain biking, horseback riding and fly-fishing on the Provo River. Wasatch Adventure Consultants offers a variety of teambuilding options, including tipi building, and the A9 Challenge, a driving adventure similar to Amazing Race.
“It ties in the mountain setting and the benefit of team building,” says Christopher Lavoie, director of sales at Sundance Resort.
Groups can also take art classes in the Sundance Art Shack, including photography classes, silversmithing and outdoor painting workshops.
Wyoming
Finding space during summer is a challenge for groups in Jackson Hole. Shoulder seasons are easier, according to Heather Falk, marketing and events manager for the Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce.
“The first two weeks of June are good; the summer crowd has not kicked in full speed,” Falk says.
Aside from outdoor challenges, such as white-water rafting, kayaking, rock climbing, and mountain biking, groups can relax in the evenings at Bar-T-Five, which provides covered wagon rides to an outdoor dinner and show. The Grand Teton Lodge arranges dinner cookouts in summer as well. The property also organizes community projects for groups with Habitat for Humanity.
“Most activities tie something in with community or environment,” says Grand Teton Lodge representative Brooks Morrison. “It reiterates the commitment the company has,” she adds, referring to the lodge’s green initiatives.
Eco-conscious Terra Resorts will also be coming on-line this spring in Jackson Hole with Hotel Terra, featuring a banquet room, boardroom and 2,000 square feet of meeting space, as well as its Solitude Spa.
