An impressive new array of year-round activities at Yellowstone Club is helping this prestigious property bounce back in full stride.
Even for members and prospects who pretty much have it all, you can always find a lot more for them to have.
That should be takeaway number one for managers at every club and resort property from the latest chapter in the eventful 10-year-history of the Yellowstone Club (YC)—even if your operating budget might be less than the initiation fee ($300,000) of the 325-member, elite private ski and golf community in Big Sky, Mont. The creative energy now being displayed by the YC staff to encourage its well-heeled and well-traveled members to make maximum use of the property on a year-round basis is something that merits close study by any club or course that’s serious about establishing a family-oriented offer, no matter what its demographic profile.
Recreation & Fitness Profile
Club Name & Location: Yellowstone Club, Big Sky, Mont. |
Takeaway 1A for all properties in the industry that have been struggling through the recession is the comforting fact that there is indeed a new chapter for the Yellowstone Club. Less than two years ago, Chapter 11 threatened to signal the end of its story for good. A place that had quickly put itself on the map after it opened in 2000 as one of the most exciting new spots for great powder skiing and scenic mountain golf then just as quickly became a poster property for the perils of overleveraging club assets in a cratering real estate market.
Those troubles did indeed lead to a bankruptcy filing for the club in November 2008, when it was still owned by its founder, timber entrepreneur Tim Blixseth. By July 2009, however, the saga of the Yellowstone Club was ready to resume in a positive direction, after being acquired by a new ownership group headed by CrossHarbor Capital Partners LLC.
CrossHarbor is a Boston-based firm specializing in distressed debt that was founded by Sam Byrne, a former competitive skier who had become a YC member. Byrne was so enamored of the powder skiing at Yellowstone in particular, and the appeal of the property in general, that he spearheaded an effort to assemble an investment partnership that eventually included many other YC members as well as Discovery Land Company, LLC, the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based developer and operator of exclusive private-club communities, including The Madison Club in La Quinta, Calif.; Kuki’o Golf and Beach Club in Hawaii; Gozzer Ranch Golf & Lake Club in Idaho; Vaquero and Spanish Oaks golf clubs in Texas; and Mirabel Golf Club and The Estancia Club in the Scottsdale area.
The club’s 140,000-sq. ft. Warren Miller Lodge, named for the legendary skier and filmmaker who is Yellowstone Club’s honorary Director of Skiing, is now the hub of an active, full-season property. |
Labors of Love
After the reorganization and ownership transition cleaned up existing liabilities and built up $200 million in equity (half of which was designated for working capital and development), Discovery Land turned its attention to the management and operational aspects of its involvement with Yellowstone Club. The tasks at hand were made much easier by the fact that many valuable management staff members had hung in there through even the most trying times, tethered by affection for the special nature of the property and its membership.
In particular, YC’s most treasured assets—its 2,200 acres of skiable terrain, 15 lifts, and picturesque, Tom Weiskopf-designed golf course—had been kept in top shape through the unwavering care and attention of experienced staffs directed by Mountain Manager Luke Stratford and Golf Course Superintendent Bob Clarkson, both of whom had been on the scene from the club’s earliest days. Most of the other facilities on the property had also emerged from the financial crisis not only unscathed but still fully functional, thanks to resourceful management directed by Mike DuCuennois (formerly Director of Infrastructure and now Vice President of Development) and Director of Facilities Roger Nelson.
That allowed Discovery Land’s new YC executive team—led by Vice President of Sales & Marketing Charlie Callendar, Vice President of Operations Mike Finnell, and Vice President and General Manager Hans Williamson—to focus on the property’s most pressing needs: 1) completing the centerpiece 140,000-sq. ft. lodge/clubhouse that had sputtered through various stages of development in the club’s first decade, and 2) rounding out the staff with a particular emphasis on upgrading F&B, which led to the hiring of Director of Food and Beverage Ryan Tawwater and a new Executive Chef, Jim Tripi, brought in from Discovery’s Spanish Oaks resort in Texas.
Vivid Visions
While these final pieces were being assembled, Discovery Land also wasted little time setting things in motion to take Yellowstone Club’s development to new levels. This was jumpstarted through an “envisioning session,” a technique that has been used successfully at other Discovery Land properties.
For Discovery Land, these sessions involve more than just a few department heads going offsite for a quick retreat that’s really not conducive to effective long-range brainstorming. The Yellowstone Club think tank was held over two days, on site, in September 2009, and included over 50 people representing ownership, members, staff, architects and planning experts, as well as local residents from outside the gates. The simple charge to everyone in attendance, as laid out by Discovery Land partner Steve Adelson, was to pile up new ideas like commodities, without initial concern about their cost or feasibility. “We have an amazing place for us to renew,” Adelson told the group. “How can we move forward, think what no one else has thought, and make this the greatest place on earth?”
Having built its reputation and brand through great skiing, Yellowstone Club is now giving special emphasis to all there is to do and enjoy even when the property’s not covered in “private powder.” |
After the session, the ideas that had been generated didn’t get summarized in a mundane memo that was then filed and forgotten. Rather, they were collected into a well-designed four-color booklet, filled with photographs and sketches of the property, that is now included with the club’s marketing materials. Four pages of the brochure are devoted to “Missing Elements,” broken down into specifics about what could still be added to the property in three areas: Facilities/Infrastructure, Activities, and Services. The brochure also devotes two pages each to a list of nearly 100 specific ideas, generated by breakout groups, for both an “Imagineer Winter” and an “Imagineer Summer” at Yellowstone Club.
The fact that summer earned equal time in the envisioning process reflects a strong theme of new emphasis since Yellowstone Club has emerged from bankruptcy. “Our commitment to world-class skiing and winter activities has always been clear,” says Callendar. “But as we continue to emphasize family moments and experiences, we want members to know that this is the perfect place for their summer plans, too.”
To support that objective, many of the ideas to emerge from the envisioning session that have already become reality a year later at YC are clearly intended to enhance the property’s all-season appeal. In fact, the “Missing Element” listed first and most prominently under the Facilities/Infrastructure heading was “summer gathering spots for members”—and to help fill that void, the club unveiled its new “Camphouse” fitness and pool facility this year. A short walk from the Camphouse, a new Challenge Course has been erected that has quickly become an appealing activity for individual members of all ages, and has also proved popular as an opportunity for team-building (with members bringing business colleagues to the club) or family bonding exercises.
These new facilities have helped to continue to expand the list of outdoor pursuits available at YC, to the point where a new department was created last year. Dan Lakatos, who had worked at the club for eight years, primarily as a ski school instructor, was promoted to the newly created position of Director of Outdoor Pursuits. His responsibilities include skiing and other winter sports—”everything that touches the membership activities-wise, except golf”—leaving Stratford to focus on operational issues through his duties as Mountain Manager. But the real advantage of the restructuring, Lakatos confirms, has been to help position Yellowstone Club as truly a place for all seasons.
A new “Camphouse” pool and fitness facility (right) and Challenge Course (above) were opened this summer as the first direct outgrowths of an “envisioning” process set in motion by new ownership and management, to help to continue to expand YC’s base for non-winter outdoor activities. |
“Everything has been better coordinated; the OP department has created synergies and aligned activities better with other departments,” he says. “Along with the new facilities, it’s a big reason why this was the best summer [for member participation in non-winter activities] we’ve ever had.”
Those synergies have also sparked a new burst of inspiration to create combined-activity events like “Paddle, Peak and Pedal” (kayaking, hiking and biking) and “Ski & Tee” (weather permitting, golf balls are hit from the peak of 9,860-ft. Pioneer Mountain, after which participants ski a few shoulder laps before having lunch and playing nine holes). With Director of Member Services Sara Phelps, also known as the “Idea Queen,” in the middle of all planning, the YC staff has also added new activities around regular events like member-guest golf; a live professional rodeo was part of this year’s tournament.
And the kids certainly aren’t getting overlooked, either. “Camp YC,” billed as “a Summer Signature, Must-Do Event,” features a full slate of team competitions like tug-o-wars or water balloon tosses over a three-day period. For indoor fun, younger YC members now have their own 15,000-sq. ft. enclave, “20 Below,” in the lower level of the lodge, featuring a full basketball court, two climbing walls, video-game arcade, 40-seat movie theater, and a 1940s-style diner.
New opportunities to expand winter activities aren’t being neglected, either; last year, a skating rink was created outside the lodge when a backyard rink was bought from a Minnesota firm and filled with water; Clarkson then rigged up a bunker rake to double as a resurfacing machine.
“Now that we’re out of bankruptcy, there are tons of ideas in the incubator,” says Phelps. “All we’re focused on now is making things more enjoyable here all year round. And as we keep adding [new activities and facilities], we’ll keep thinking of new events to have with them.”
The Tom Weiskopf-designed golf course has a short season and sees only 3,500 rounds a year, but still gets year-round care (including constant snow removal on cart paths) to stay in pristine shape. |
Tell Us What You Think!
You must be logged in to post a comment.