With more than their share of spectacular settings, wide-open spaces and ancient Native American sacred sites, Arizona and New Mexico are ideal choices for meetings where the focus is on renewal and creative inspiration. Whether as iconic as Arizona’s Grand Canyon and Monument Valley or as secluded as New Mexico’s Sacramento Mountains, the Southwest is uncommonly rich in destinations for retreats, small incentive programs and other special gatherings.
While some take a bit of time to get to, these destinations are surprisingly accessible from gateways that include Las Vegas, Phoenix, Albuquerque, Las Cruces, N.M., and El Paso, Texas. Within a few hours, attendees are transported to timeless places that are a world away from the 24-hour connectivity and stressful demands of urban life.
Companies such as Detours provide customized transportation for groups from Phoenix and Las Vegas to destinations such as the Grand Canyon, Lake Powell and the Navajo and Hopi reservations. For those seeking soup-to-nuts service, Detours recently launched a new division called Platinum Detours, which offers guided, multiday itineraries designed for meeting and incentive groups of up to 50 people.
Arizona
Grand Canyon/Williams
While everyone associates Grand Canyon National Park with family vacations, few realize the possibilities it also holds for meetings. Groups can be based within the park itself or experience it as an easy outing by rail when based in Williams, a charming time warp of a town located on a historic stretch of Route 66 about three hours north of Phoenix.
Xanterra Parks & Resorts operates all the lodges at the Grand Canyon as well as the Grand Canyon Railway and the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel in Williams. Of the several lodges located at the South Rim in the Grand Canyon Village historic district, Thunderbird Lodge is the one most frequently used for conferences, usually for between 20 and 50 people, says Bruce Brossman, director of sales for Xanterra’s operations in the Grand Canyon and Williams.
"Small meetings work best at the Grand Canyon—it really makes a nice location for retreats," he says, adding that National Park Service regulations limit the meetings season to between Nov. 1 and March 1.
"The lodge has the Thunderbird Room, which overlooks the canyon and has a deck where people can go out on during breaks," Brossman says. "It’s a nice venue for up to 50 people."
While the season for meetings is limited within the park, no such restrictions apply in Williams, where the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel handles groups of up to 100 at any time of year. Groups can easily visit the Grand Canyon from Williams on a day trip, including taking a two-hour ride through mountain forests to the South Rim on the Grand Canyon Railway, which offers daily round-trip train service with three hours at the Canyon.
"There’s entertainment onboard the train, plus we can have catered food," Brossman says. "Or there are several venues at the South Rim where groups can have lunch. We can also arrange for various activities, including a guided hike up at the rim."
While based in Williams, groups can enjoy activities such as rodeos, horseback riding, golf and Jeep tours as well as a quaint downtown filled with shops selling Route 66 memorabilia, antiques, Native American crafts and Western wear. Mayor John Moore is often on hand to escort groups through town while dressed as an Old West marshal—his everyday attire.
Lake Powell Houseboats
Straddling the Arizona-Utah border and encompassing over 266 square miles, Lake Powell, with its sparkling blue waters surrounded by haunting red rock formations, is a scenic wonder perhaps rivaled only by the Grand Canyon. A great way for groups to get the full measure of the lake experience is by chartering houseboats from Forever Resorts (www.foreverhouseboats.com), which arranges programs for meeting and incentive groups of 50 or less.
Forever Resort operates a fleet of luxury houseboats that include gourmet kitchens, spacious staterooms, satellite TVs and roof decks with hot tubs and lounging areas. During the day groups can tour the lake in sleek powerboats that traverse far up into its many arms and narrow canyons, stopping to hike and explore places such as Rainbow Bridge, an arched rock formation sacred to Native Americans for over 2,000 years.
In the late afternoon, groups return to the houseboats docked at a secluded beach, where they can enjoy an elegant dinner served under the stars, followed by entertainment. The beach can also be the scene of team-building activities, including beach Olympics, grilling competitions, sand volleyball and scavenger hunts.
"There’s almost no limit to what we arrange in terms of team building and entertainment options," says Steve Carothers, manager of Forever Resorts and Antelope Point Marina, which offers dockside function space. "We’ve brought in Navajo entertainers, photography and cooking experts to conduct workshops and people from the Flagstaff-Lowell Observatory for stargazing experiences."
While summer is a busy time for family vacations on Lake Powell, the spring and fall are the best time for groups, offering both privacy and balmy weather, he adds.
"The group can enjoy a beach all to themselves, as well as an atmosphere of no interruptions from cell phones and laptops," he says. "That can be a minus for some, but many love the chance to focus their whole attention on the meeting objectives—and have a lot of fun, too."
To get to Lake Powell, groups are normally transported by ground handlers such as Detours from Phoenix or Las Vegas, both about five hours away.
"The drivers know the destination and start talking about it on the way," Carothers says. "There is also the option of combining Lake Powell with the Grand Canyon."
Hopi Reservation/Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park
East of Lake Powell and the Grand Canyon, the neighboring Navajo and Hopi reservations offer some of the most spellbinding scenery and culturally significant sites in the West. While the much smaller Hopi reservation is completely surrounded by Navajo lands, the vast Navajo nation, roughly the size of West Virginia, sprawls across northeastern Arizona into Utah and New Mexico.
In recent times, the reservations have become more accessible to the meetings and incentive market, with contemporary hotels providing function space and comfortable accommodations right on the Hopi and Navajo lands. Unlike most other group-friendly hotels on Native American land, they do not offer gaming.
Last April, the Moenkopi Legacy Inn & Suites, located near Tuba City, Ariz., became the first hotel to open on Hopi land in over 50 years.
Featuring traditional Hopi architecture and artwork throughout the public spaces, the 100-room property offers 3,096 square feet of meeting space opening onto a garden with a kiva fireplace; a serenity lounge overlooking the San Francisco Peaks; an outdoor salt water pool; and a fitness center.
"The Hopi are slow to change, and tourism is a new direction for us," says Randy Wolff, general manager of the hotel. "The hotel was designed with input from the Hopi elders, as we wanted to give people a sense of the Hopi culture, which has a long tradition of hospitality."
Along with traditional Hopi arts and entertainment, groups based at the hotel can experience guided tours of the Hopi reservation, exploring petroglyph sites and centuries-old villages atop desert mesas and having a traditional lunch of fry bread tacos or green chili stew at the visitors center. The tours offer the chance to visit Hopi homes and buy kachina carvings, pottery and other items from local artists.
On the Navajo reservation, the star attraction is Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, familiar to anyone who’s ever seen a Western movie directed by John Ford, who used the valley as a backdrop for The Searchers, Stagecoach, Fort Apache and others. Guided tours of the magnificent valley with its sandstone mesas, spires and buttes rising from the desert floor are arranged for groups by Navajo-owned companies such as Trailhandler Tours.
Along with customized Jeep or van tours, Trailhandler Tours offers guided hikes through Monument Valley that can be just for a few hours or include overnight camping and a cookout on the top of a mesa. The company can also arrange for groups to visit or spend the night in a hogan, a traditional dome-shaped Navajo dwelling made of
juniper logs, a cultural experience that includes a Navajo dinner, history presentations and entertainment.
Opened in December 2008, the View Hotel is the only hotel within Monument Valley. Built on a plateau, the aptly named hotel offers 96 guest rooms with floor-to-ceiling windows offering panoramic views of the mesas and buttes; a two-story lobby with a stone fireplace; a fitness center; and a restaurant with a private dining room featuring traditional dishes such as red chili posole, a savory stew of pork and hominy.
Groups visiting Monument Valley can also be based at the Moenkopi Legacy Inn or other meetings-equipped properties just outside the park, including the Hampton Inn Kayenta-Monument Valley and the Quality Inn Tuba City. Adjacent to the Quality Inn Tuba City, the Explore Navajo Interactive Museum, with exhibits that include a hogan, offers a further glimpse into Navajo culture.
NEW MEXICO
The Lodge Resort
In the quiet southeastern corner of New Mexico, The Lodge Resort in Cloudcroft sits in the Sacramento Mountains surrounded by the 215,000-acre Lincoln National Forest. Originally opened in 1899, the lodge has welcomed luminaries ranging from Poncho Villa to Judy Garland and hosted retreats for military leaders and astronauts visiting the White Sands Missile Range and Fort Bliss.
With 59 rooms, the Lodge most often welcomes groups in the range of 20 to 60 people, although its wide range of indoor and outdoor meeting and event space can host up to 200. Choices include the Marcia Room, with a fireplace and views of White Sands National Monument; the Red Dog Saloon, a former speakeasy with a hand-carved bar and dance floor that opens onto a garden deck; the Eagle Deck overlooking the golf course; and Pavilion Hall, a pine-paneled room accommodating large receptions.
"Our star attraction is the outdoors, including 40 miles of nearby hiking trails," says Mandi Smaga, director of sales. "We’re a year-round destination with a nearby ski area and many places for cross-country skiing. We’re also accessible, about a 90-minute drive from Las Cruces and two hours from El Paso."
She adds that groups can find plenty of team-building activities and customized entertainment at the lodge.
"We can arrange for everything from teepee building to events on our golf course that even non-golfers can enjoy," Smaga says. "We bring in historians who can entertain groups with local history. We even have a local acting company called CLOC (Cloudcroft Light Opera Company) that performs melodramas in the Pavilion, and we can do speakeasy-themed parties in our Red Dog Saloon."
Sunrise Springs Resort Spa
When she founded Sunrise Springs Resort Spa, a secluded retreat property on the outskirts of Santa Fe, owner Megan Hill says her purpose was "to create a tranquil, aesthetic and inspirational space for guests within this already beautiful mountain setting. The magic of the spring waters and of the land has spoken to me to create a nurturing oasis."
Sunrise Springs is set on 70 acres dotted with spring-fed ponds and gardens, offering 58 rooms and casitas with balconies or patios. Amenities include a full-service spa and Sages Art Center, which offers an art gallery and workshops in yoga, tai chi, Chinese brushwork and pottery making.
Sunrise Springs offers 7,500 square feet of meeting space, much of it overlooking the gardens and including areas for yoga and other movement instruction. The Atrium, which can seat up to 210 for a meeting and also provides a dance floor and sound system, is the largest meeting room, while Moon House, The Aspen and The Willows accommodate smaller groups and offer adjoining patio space.
The outdoor Ceremony Circle, surrounded by cottonwood trees and offering views of the entire property, has four tiers of seating and is often used for events with live entertainment. The area can also be tented to use for ceremonies and special brunches and dinners.
The property’s Blue Heron Restaurant is also available for private events, including cooking workshops with Chef David Salazar, who specializes in regional, organic New Mexico cuisine.
