SUCCESSFUL MEETINGS MAY 2007 The ski resorts of Vermont and New Hampshire may be among the most established holiday areas in the U.S., but lately, their slopes and valleys are fresh with new builds, expansions, and renovations that make sense for many meetings.
In Vermont, Stowe (45 minutes from Burlington International Airport and home to a number of upscale resorts) is quietly emerging as a player in the incentive market. "The corporate incentive market is definitely growing," says Erin Kennedy Knox, senior sales manager for Stowe's Topnotch Resort and Spa. "It's a niche that is a perfect fit for Stowe because a lot of incentive groups want to come to a place with superior service, accommodations, and food, but they also want to have a lot of fun."
Both Kennedy Knox and Chuck Baraw, president of Stoweflake Mountain Resort & Spa, say that incentive business is fairly evenly distributed throughout the year. With fly-fishing, canoeing, hiking, and mountain biking, it is a four-season destination, but Stowe opened an inter-mountain lift last November connecting Mount Mansfield and Spruce Peak, in a welcome addition for area skiers. "There are no 500-room hotels coming into town," says Baraw. "Stowe has been preserved as an idyllic mountain village."
As part of its development and among other initiatives, the 139-room Stowe Mountain Lodge, which opens this fall with 12,000 square feet of meeting space, a 21,000-square-foot spa, and an 18-hole, Bob Cupp-designed golf course, donated 2,000 surrounding acres to the state of Vermont for permanent protection and created a 110-million-gallon pond at the golf course that stores storm water for irrigation and snowmaking. The Lodge sits in the heart of the new Spruce Peak at Stowe alpine village development, which will also house boutiques, restaurants, and an arts center. "What we're creating in Stowe is like nothing on the East Coast," says Jennifer Thorn, director of sales and marketing for Stowe Mountain Lodge, who equates the development with Western resort towns like Vail and Aspen.
The recent sales of Vermont's Killington/Pico Resort and Mount Snow, and New Hampshire's Attitash Ski Resort by American Skiing Company, has left many wondering whether there will be significant changes in those properties. David Hirasawa, investor-relations manager at ASC, says that the company sold Killington/Pico, Mount Snow, and Attitash to SP Land Company UT-based Powdr Corporation (which will operate the resorts jointly), because of favorable market conditions. According to buyer Steve Selbo, president of SP Land Company, "We saw value in Killington. We were in talks with Powdr about how to manage the area at the base of the mountain and, when we saw an opportunity, we jumped on it." Selbo says that his firm will "incorporate the ski village that has been in production since last year." (Peaks Resorts president Tim Boyd could not be reached for comment in regards to any changes at Mount Snow and Attitash.)
There are changes afoot in New Hampshire: The historic 202-room Balsams in Dix Notch opened for the first time last year as a year-round resort (except for April, which is "mud season"). As part of the Delaware North Company, the
Balsams-which can accommodate 275 for meetings-participates in an environmental initiative called "Greenpath." In Lincoln, the Rivergreen Resort now features a great room that can accommodate up to 120 people for a cocktail party or 80 for a sit-down dinner; an indoor pool, whirlpool, and fitness room have been added as well. In March, the 183-room Equinox Resort, in Manchester, became independent of the RockResort brand. (The Equinox is now part of Leading Hotels of the World, and lists "cow-milking" under team-building activities.)
Meanwhile, following its sale to Celebration Associates and CNL Income Properties, Inc. in June 2006, the 200-room Mount Washington Resort at Bretton Woods began a multimillion-dollar renovation that included refurbishment of the hotel's exterior and its 900-foot wrap-around veranda and grand lobby. The resort recently broke ground on a 10,000-square-foot convention space (to accommodate up to 1,000) and a new spa. Both additions, as well as that of the 18-hole Mount Pleasant Course, are slated for completion in 2008.