Now, after these many years as a two-season resort, the three-year-old Sun Valley Company under Earl Holding, owner and operator of the resort, has made a committment to build the year-round business<. To make it an attractive destination for groups and individuals, during four seasons the company maintains luxurious lodge and condominium accommodations, extensive meeting room facilities, restaurants and bars—all of which are located in compact, pedestrain Sun Valley Village. The company also owns and operates many of the recreational amenities—summer and winter—most of which are within walking distance of the guests' accommodations.
The Product
Where else but at Sun Valley could one expect to see an outdoor ice show in the middle of the summer while enjoying a buffet dinner on the terrace of The Lodge? The ice show is one use of the two ice arenas (one indoors), where figure-skating and hockey instruction are alternatives to just skating. Other year-round activities include bowling, creative arts workshops, horseback riding and instruction, movies, helicopter rides, hiking, backpacking and camping, playschool programs for infants and toddlers, soaring, swimming and trap and skeet shooting. In the summer and fall the list of activities expands to include archery, bicycling, fishing, float trips on the Salmon River, golf (two 18-hole Robert Trent Jones golf courses, counting the one at nearby Elkhorn Village resort), trail rides, hunting, theater and dance performances at the Opera House, sailing, tennis, volleyball and daily young and teen summer programs.
Located on the Village Mall, The Snug ski and sports shop handles the fishing, hiking, backpacking, hunting and camping programs. The float trips, soaring and helicopter rides are contracted through local outfitters and services, and the skeet and trap shooting range is operated on the resort property by a leasee. The creative arts programs are organized and supervised by the non-profit Sun Valley Center for the Arts and Humanities and include workshops in ceramics, drawing, dance, art and music history and photography. The Center also schedules live music and theater performances and seminars throughout the summer months.
All other activities on the resort property are owned by the Sun Valley Company and operated by its employees. The company maintains a Sports Center on the Mall where information and reservations for all the activities is available, and publishes a Summer Recreation Guide which lists prices, schedules and phone numbers—the latter often extensions on the Lodge switchboard.
According to Chuck Webb, assistant manager of the Sun Valley Company, some of the activities are not profitable, due to a low level of participation. An example is archery. Still, the demand for Sun Valley’s tennis courts, golf courses and other profitable activities compensates and makes it possible to offer a wide range of activities, some of which cost money. The availability of “something for just about anyone” is a strong selling point, he says.
Sun Valley Village maintains its full range of services year-round including free shuttle bus transportation, medical, dental and pharmaceutical aid, grocery and liquor stores, babysitting, beauty salons, churches, laundromats, post office, travel agency and airline reservations desks, and the steno/copy/printing facilities often needed during conventions and business meetings. All this adds up to full employment for some 300 to 400 people at Sun Valley and profitable business and work opportunities in the nearby communities of Elkhorn Village and Ketchum.
“Like most resorts, our business reflected a lot of peaks and valleys, based on seasonal activity,” says Webb. “However, Earl Holding feels that the future of Sun Valley lies not in expanding existing facilities to meet added peak season demand, but in building up our “down periods.” Therefore, he is committed to emphasizing our efforts to solicit business for off-peak periods. In fact, we hired a person a year ago whose sole responsibility is to concentrate on selling those periods.”
Sun Valley actively seeks conventions and business meetings, which is the predominant factor in their summer business, especially since the past summer, when concerns about fuel availability cut down on individual drive-in traffic. The resort advertises in national group sales publications such as Meetings and Conventions< but has changed its consumer advertising focus to media in the western region of the U.S., due to the gasoline situation. Webb says the resort works closely with travel agents all over the country and also sends personnel on the road year-round to attend travel shows and solicit business.
The resort’s determination to stay open year-round is demonstrated in extensive, up-front expenditures to maintain and remodel existing facilities, to keep staff on and doors open 365 days a year and to sell and promote the product. Success doesn’t come overnight, but the S.V. management is committed for a number of years and dollars.
