This past weekend, my daughter graduated from college (GO BEARS!).
We had 10 family members from all over the US convene in Berkeley, California. In my role as the 'professional' travel arranger, I was the family nominee to organize the trip. I selected our hotel based on location and where I could get the best industry discount, of course, ha! And there we landed at the
Marriott Renaissance ClubSport in Walnut Creek; not the closest location, but the price was right and it had the right bed configurations. These are comparable priorities I use when I organize snow destination vacations for clients.
Here's the 'typical' preliminary conversation and questions discussed when I help a client narrow their
snow vacation lodging search:
- How many people? Is the group couples, singles, kids, group of friends, family, etc.?
- How many bedrooms (or hotel rooms)?
- What is your minimum quality requirement? This relates to budget.
- How far from the lifts, skier village will you stay? Ski in ski out, walk to lifts, shuttle route, or perhaps you'll use a car each morning?
- Do you have any specific special requests? Hot tub, pool, fitness facility, childcare services etc.
Anyhow, we got to the hotel and quickly learned that we had inadvertently arrived to a mini-resort and that the hotel offered amenities well beyond our expectations. I had seen the written bullets about the facilities, but really didn't pay much attention. Our trip included a lot of people, was taking place over a short period of time and a seemingly had a very full agenda. We thought the accommodation was 'just a place to sleep'.
Well, within the first 24 hours we found that our dinner plans needed to be modified cause the Friday commuter traffic heading to our destination was going to be intolerable. The hotel had a great poolside bistro, a reasonably priced menu and delicious food. Problem solved!
Next, we needed a place to 'chill' between the commencement ceremony and our celebration dinner and there were many, many choices of gathering lounges in the hotel.
And finally, this property offered one of the largest and most luxurious fitness facilities I had ever seen and included 10-20 daily options in exercise classes at no additional charge. Our whole gang enjoyed a Sunday morning of side-by-side treadmills, spin bikes, weight training et al.
And we never even got to the spa...
In hindsight, our accommodation became our focal point. We didn't have to commute to visit together, and we didn't have to worry about weather, traffic, entertainment, or any other logistics. The commencement was thrilling, and we had no other worries...
- It's cold and it might snow.
- It gets dark EARLY in winter.
- You will be tired at altitude.
- Skiing and riding often make for sore feet, knees, backs, and everything else.
- You might have a hangover. After all, you are on VACATION!
Very often clients tell me "It's just a room. I won't spend anytime there." Perhaps, but based on parameters noted above, wouldn't it be nice if you could?? I'm not saying you need to spend more $, but certainly evaluate your needs and priorities with a better assessment of the actual. Your accommodation is IMPORTANT and
I / we (our team) have the experience, exposure and relationships to make the best match for you... AND, we don't cost any more than if you would have done it yourself. So, there's a great deal all around...
One last plug, summer is magical in the mountains...
Let us show you NOW!
Joyce
joyce@snowsportvacations.com
