Having experienced an encouraging year, mountain resort areas throughout the West are gearing up for what is likely to be a robust winter season.
Ski business rebounded last winter, according to figures from the National Ski Areas Association (NSAA). Rocky Mountain skier days were up 3.4 percent, once again exceeding 20 million, after dropping 7.2 percent in the 2008-2009 season. NSAA also reports that other Western regions showed growth as well.
According to Ralf Garrison, who heads MTRiP, a Denver-based mountain travel research firm, advance reservations in the Western states have been showing a slow but consistent rebound since January.
"We’re seeing it in occupancy and, to a lesser extent, in rate, which was solidifying in summer, and we see it continuing through the 2010-2011 winter season," he says.
As expected, growth is led by leisure business, followed by social business such as weddings and reunions attracted by value and aggressive pricing.
"Leisure has shown a faster recovery. Conference business has begun to pick up but it is not consistent yet," Garrison says. "The deals are still out there for groups. They haven’t dried up. There are still unique opportunities but they have got to be the right fit."
Colorado
Upscale hotel brands continue to open in the Vail Valley, located two hours from Denver, where Vail Resorts operates Vail and Beaver Creek ski resorts.
Almost $2 billion in infrastructure and development has been pumped into the town of Vail alone in the past six years, renewing over half of Vail Village and LionsHead.
"Lodging occupancies are up over last year," says Chris Romer, Vail Valley Partnership executive director. "Leisure and group business is rebounding. We have seen strong demand from regional groups and are getting more retreat and smaller programs of 50 to 80 people."
He adds that load factors at Vail/Eagle County Regional Airport, where seven carriers serve 13 markets during winter, continue to pace ahead.
Several final major projects are nearing completion, including the 121-room Four Seasons Resort Vail, located at Vail Village’s main entryway and offering 8,510 square feet of meeting space, which is slated for a December opening.
Others include a 71-unit Ritz-Carlton Residences, which will open in Lionshead later this fall. And the first retail components of Solaris, a Vail Village mixed-use project that includes a movie theater and bowling alley, began rolling out in July.
The 138-room former Vail Plaza Hotel & Club, with 7,000 square feet of conference space, is undergoing a rebranding. Vail Village’s first new hotel in over 40 years when it opened in December 2007, Vail Plaza was renamed The Sebastian in June after Timbers Resorts took over management. Pool renovations were recently completed, and other enhancements, including dining upgrades and a spa expansion, will be completed in December.
In addition to Vail and Beaver Creek, Vail Resorts also operates Colorado’s Keystone and Breckenridge ski resorts. All together their skier visits were up 3.7 percent for the three months ended April 30 over the same period last year, according to the company. Vail Resorts also reports that its Heavenly Ski Resort in South Lake Tahoe saw a 9.8 percent visitor increase during those months.
Billed as the Colorado Rockies’ largest conference site, Keystone is also one of the closest ski resorts to Denver. Its Keystone Conference Center provides 100,000 square feet of meeting and exhibit space. There are 1,400 guest rooms in five villages and two championship golf courses.
The AAA Four Diamond, 152-room Keystone Lodge & Spa, connected to the center by walkway, is expected to complete a guest room renovation before the start of ski season. Event space was added in July when Warren Station, a 7,200-square-foot multipurpose community performing arts venue, debuted.
In Breckenridge, 100 miles from Denver, Vail Resorts recently unveiled the new ski-in/ski-out One Ski Hill Place, with units ranging from studios to four-bedroom condos, a two-lane bowling alley, meeting space and a 20,000-square-foot restaurant.
Telluride, a town in southwest Colorado’s San Juan Mountains that is designated a National Historic Landmark District, is connected by a free gondola system to the Mountain Village ski area. Mountain Village’s Telluride Conference Center offers 22,000 square feet of indoor meeting space and an additional 55,000 square feet of outdoor space.
"Business has been good," says Emily Picarazzi, Telluride Tourism Board group sales manager. "We’re definitely on an upward projection. We get lots of continuing medical education business, and incentive and corporate business is clearly coming back. But the deals are still out there."
Telluride’s newest properties, both boutique hotels close to the conference center, are the 168-unit Capella Hotel, with 5,000 square feet of meeting space, which opened in February 2009, and lumière Telluride, with 30 residences, which opened in late 2008.
Delta will expand its winter seasonal non-stop service from Atlanta to Telluride from weekly to daily Dec. 18.
"The new Atlanta service opens up the Southeast market for us and the upgrading of our hotel inventory is huge," Picarazzi says.
Aspen Skiing Co. operates four ski locations: Aspen Mountain, Aspen Highlands, Buttermilk and Snowmass, which together saw a 4.3 percent increase in skier visits last season.
In Aspen, The Little Nell reopened last December after being closed for almost three months for an $18 million renovation of its 82 rooms and public areas. The Forbes/Mobil Five Star, AAA Five Diamond property has 10 meeting spaces.
Snowmass, located seven miles from Aspen, offers more than 2,000 accommodations units and the Snowmass Conference Center, which can handle events for 2,000 and will host the 2010 annual Governor’s Colorado Tourism Conference Sept. 29-Oct. 1.
Snowmass’s new 80-acre base village began opening three years ago. Components include the 25,000-square-foot Treehouse Kids’ Adventure Center, condo developments, shopping and restaurants and the Capitol Peak Conference Center, which has 8,620 square feet of meeting space.
The 173-room ski-in/ski-out Viceroy Snowmass, with 9,000 square feet of meeting space, opened in the village last November.
"The reaction to the new Snowmass has been beyond expectation," says Kristi Kavanaugh-Bradley, Snowmass Tourism sales director. "Clients are thrilled with the changes and now the Viceroy is getting the word out. Summer has been holding its own, but we’d love to grow more group business then. Winter is peak with higher occupancies and rates."
Crested Butte Mountain Resort in Gunnison National Forest, three miles from historic Crested Butte town, provides 25,000 square feet of meeting space.
Within the last three years, the resort has opened the Lodge and Conference Center at Mountaineer Square, with 9,000 square feet of meeting space, and the 240-room Elevation Hotel (a former Club Med), which has 11,000 square feet. Last year it launched the "Snowcat Driving Experience," an activity available for groups.
Served by four major carriers, Gunnison/Crested Butte Airport will see the launch of new Continental service from Houston this winter.
"The snowcat driving has been a big hit and the Houston flight is also huge for us," says resort spokeswoman Emily McCormack. "Crested Butte is perfect for groups and we’ll be offering some great winter packages. While we are down from last summer, business for next winter is looking more and more positive."
Utah
Of Utah’s eight four-season ski resorts, the Park City area boasts three: The Canyons, Park City and Deer Valley. They include 25 meetings properties and 4,000 guest rooms.
"We have an Olympic heritage, unparalleled recreational activities, year-round events that include the Sundance Film Festival, a quaint historic main street and more than 100 restaurants and bars," says Vicki Gaebe, Park City CVB meeting and convention marketing manager. "We’ve seen a slight decline in meetings business over the past year, but are encouraged by a trend in last minute group planning."
She adds that there has been a trend toward shorter meetings, which are easy to execute because of Park City’s convenient access to Salt Lake City International Airport, only 35 minutes away.
"We are always looking for opportunities to fill our soft periods during winter and we continue to market our ‘hot deals’ to planners year round. Value season rates are April through November," she says.
Park City gained exposure in July last year when it hosted an evening event during MPI’s World Education Conference held in Salt Lake City. It has launched a new program to attract planner visits that reimburses airline costs when a meeting is booked at one of the properties.
New upscale resorts are opening. Unveiled in July last year as the Dakota Mountain Lodge & Golden Door Spa, the new resort was rebranded in April. It is now the Waldorf-Astoria Park City. Located at the base of The Canyons, the ski-in/ski-out property includes 175 rooms and residences, a 16,000-square-foot spa and meetings rooms.
In Deer Valley, the 181-room St. Regis Deer Crest Resort & Residences debuted last November with ski-in/ski-out access, a Remede spa and six meeting areas, including a 2,814-square-foot ballroom.
Slated for a December opening is the 173-room luxury Montage Deer Valley, which will have ski-in/ski-out access, a 35,000-square-foot spa and 17,000 square feet of meeting space, including a 4,300-square-foot ballroom.
Idaho
Sun Valley Resort has its flagship Sun Valley Lodge, 540 rooms and lodging units in total, and a convention center accommodating groups of up to 1,200. Meeting and conventions account for 35 percent of business in winter; 65 percent in summer.
The resort, which celebrates its 75th anniversary this winter, has been expanding. In summer 2008 it added nine holes of golf, bringing the total to 27; a new golf clubhouse/Nordic ski center; and the 1,500-seat Sun Valley Music Pavilion located near the lodge and conference center.
For the 2009-2010 winter season, it opened the Roundhouse Gondola, connecting River Run Plaza near downtown Sun Valley to the Roundhouse restaurant on Bald Mountain. It accommodates 1,800 passengers per hour, making an ascent of 2,000 vertical feet in eight minutes.
According to Jack Sibbach, the resort’s director of marketing, the Roundhouse’s lunch business has doubled, with residents taking a break from work and non-skiing families taking the ride.
"Our business has been exceeding expectations," he says. "Winter was up 30 percent over the previous ski season.We are seeing groups come back that took a hiatus for a year or two and went to a city, although there is still a perception about coming to a fun resort. We are the perfect place where groups can bring families."
Montana
Located in the Gallatin National Forest 48 miles north of Yellowstone National Park’s west entrance is Big Sky Resort, which has 5,512 acres of skiing terrain and a dozen lodging property choices. Over 55,000 square feet of meeting space are provided by the Yellowstone Conference Center and other venues.
"Last winter we were down in some group bookings but made up for that gap with increased local traffic and good snow," says resort spokesman Dax Schieffer. "Summer meeting business is still behind our peak years. However, looking ahead to 2011 and 2012, we’re seeing a rebound."
Twelve miles from Big Sky, the 320 Guest Ranch along the Gallatin River, has 87 guest rooms and meeting space that includes a 2,400-square-foot ballroom. Summer is peak season; winter activities range from sleigh rides to snowmobiling and cross-country skiing. In July last year, the property completed a renovation and technology upgrade.
"Business is up from last year—leisure, weddings, family reunions and corporate events—but it is value [seekers] and last-minute travel," says John Richardson, general manager.
Western Canada
For Whistler, British Columbia, the 2009-2010 winter season was an epic one. Not only did it draw global attention with February’s Winter Olympic Games followed by the Paralympic Winter Games in March, but Whistler Blackcomb Ski Resort also had the second-snowiest winter on record.
"The resort’s role as host mountain resort has led to significant gains in international awareness, and further cemented Whistler’s reputation as one of the world’s must-visit resort destinations," says Breton Murphy, Tourism Whistler’s senior manager-destination media relations.
According to Murphy, group business accounts for about 30 percent of Whistler’s annual room nights. Whistler has 3,200 hotel rooms, more than 5,000 other accommodation units and more than 20 hotels with meeting space.
"With our unmatched outdoor activities we are working hard to promote Whistler as a winter meeting destination, and we now have the opportunity to provide Olympic-themed programming for groups where medals were hard-fought," Murphy says.
Venues include Whistler Olympic Park, which opened in 2008 with stadiums and cross-country and snowshoe trails that are available for winter Nordic sports.
Another Olympics legacy will be the Whistler Olympic Plaza in the heart of Whistler Village, formerly the Whistler Medals Plaza where victory ceremonies took place. To be completed next spring, the site is being transformed into a public gathering and event space with a grass lawn, a performance pavilion, a playground and public art and memorabilia celebrating the games.
The site is a five-minute walk from the Whistler Conference Centre, the primary meetings venue, with 40,000 square feet of available space. Just steps from the conference center is the renovated former 193-room Coast Whistler Hotel, which reopened last November as the Aava Whistler, with group space for up to 120.
Four other village properties—the Fairmont, Hilton, Four Seasons and Westin—offer a combined total of almost 70,000 square feet of meeting space.
The Banff, Lake Louise, and Jasper areas of the Canadian Rockies in Alberta attract groups year-round. The Fairmont Banff Springs boasts 76,000 square feet of meeting space. Among other meetings-ready properties are the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louse, Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge and Banff’s Rimrock Resort Hotel.
A cultural and meetings standout is the 414-room Banff Centre offering more than 60 meeting spaces, including an IACC-certified conference center.
In July, the center opened the new Kinnear Centre for Creativity & Innovation. It has 19 meeting rooms totaling 21,000 square feet, plus atrium spaces, a bistro and a two-story library. An outdoor amphitheatre, holding 1,200 and offering permanent seating for 500, will open next year.
According to Deborah Whittle, Banff Centre’s marketing officer-hospitality and conferences, the new center replaces an existing building so there is no change in overall meetings space.
"But it is enhanced meeting space, great for trade shows, and flexible, with views and built-in technology," she says.
California/Nevada
The Lake Tahoe area has seven major ski resorts; four in North Lake Tahoe and three in South Lake Tahoe. North Lake Tahoe provides more than 7,000 guest rooms and 200,000 square feet of meeting space at more than 30 sites.
The newest major resort, the 170-room Ritz-Carlton Highlands, debuted last December at Northstar-at-Tahoe ski resort. The $300 million ski-in/ski-out hotel features a 17,000-square-foot spa and 15,000 square feet of indoor meeting space, including a 6,600-square-foot ballroom.
"Our debut winter season was an overwhelming success—the snow was phenomenal, business was strong and guests were able to enjoy a luxury resort experience in Tahoe for the first time," says hotel spokesman Steven Holt.
"For the upcoming winter season, meeting planners will see additional value for Sunday-through-Wednesday meetings and incentives," says Kristin Starmer, Northstar’s director of groups sales, who adds that the resort has created new group pricing to attract winter meeting programs.
A gondola connects guests to the Village-at-Northstar, which has meeting facilities for groups of up to 200.
North Tahoe also has Squaw Valley USA, site of the 1960 Winter Olympics, where meeting venues include Olympic Valley Lodge, with a capacity for 900 people, and the 504-room Resort at Squaw Creek, with 33,000 square feet of indoor meeting space.
Tahoe’s South Shore has the 4,800-acre Heavenly Ski Resort, where Vail Resorts is planning to open a new 14,750-square-foot restaurant at the top of the Heavenly Gondola for the winter season.
The area has 4,000 hotel rooms. Four casino resorts in Stateline, Nevada—MontBleu, Harveys, Harrah’s, and Horizon—together account for 70 percent of its 100,000 square feet of meeting space..
In the Sierra Nevada range, 30 miles south of Yosemite National Park’s eastern entrance, lies the Mammoth Mountain Ski Area.
"Summer has been going great after one of the longest and snowiest winters on record," says spokesman Daniel Hansen.
It was the 11th time in its 31 years that the ski area was open for skiing on July 4. Horizon Air has extended its winter service from Los Angeles to Mammoth Yosemite Airport to year-round.
The ski area has the 211-room Mammoth Mountain Inn, with 2,365 square feet meeting space, a short walk from the Mountainside Conference Center, which offers 6,600 square feet of space. The resort also operates two other meetings-equipped properties: Village Lodge and Juniper Springs Resort.
Wyoming
Jackson Hole has three ski resorts: Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, Grand Targhee Resort and Snow King Resort. In addition to skiing, snowshoeing, and dinner sleigh rides, wildlife tours of Grand Teton National Park are popular.
"Jackson Hole stands out from other mountain destinations due to its close proximity to two National Parks, Grand Teton and Yellowstone, and easy access and direct flights," says Heather Falk, Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce tourism manager. "It has something for everyone.
"A polling of our membership shows that our numbers are up across the board over 2009, and reservations are coming in a touch earlier," she continues. "Folks are optimistic that fall business will be good."
Major meetings properties include the Snow King Resort with more than 40,000 square feet of meeting space; Jackson Lake Lodge, which can take groups of up to 700; and the Four Seasons Jackson Hole, with 8,000 square feet of meeting space.
Pacific Northwest
At the western base of Mt. Hood in Welches, Ore., The Resort at the Mountain completed a $14 million renovation and expansion in August last year. Work included the renovation of its golf course, dining areas, 157 rooms and 18,000 square feet of meeting space as well as the addition of a 3,500-square-foot spa. Peak season is May through October and off-season is December through March.
Nearby are Mt. Hood’s five ski areas offering such winter sports as downhill and cross-country skiing, snowmobiling, snowboarding, snowshoeing and snow biking.
On the slopes of the Cascades in Washington, 90 miles from Seattle, Suncadia is a 6,400-acre, year-round mountain resort overlooking the Cle River Valley. This fall it opens a third 18-hole golf course, the Rope Rider Golf Course.
Operated by Destination Hotels & Resorts, the resort opened its 254-room Lodge at Suncadia in 2008. The property includes a spa and a 17,000-square-foot conference center,
Summer activities include horseback riding, fly-fishing, white-water rafting, kayaking and rock climbing; in winter, the nearby Wenatchee National Forest offers downhill skiing, snowboarding and snowmobiling.
Tony Bartlett has been writing for travel trade publications for over 20 years.
