VTKilarney
Well-known member
Some things never change. They just posted another one of their famous iPhone videos on their Facebook page. 
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Stenger and Quiros Ousted from Management of Jay Peak and Burke
- Thread starter thetrailboss
- Start date
from_the_NEK
Active member
VTKilarney
Well-known member
Which is PLENTY for the NEK. But there is soon to be even more. The Academy is constructing conference space on Main Street in St. Johnsbury. The Lincoln Inn is also used from time to time, but that space has seen better days.
The bottom line is that the conference business can't survive on NEK business alone - which is why I mentioned the competition.
from_the_NEK
Active member
The Comfort Inn has a small conference space (up to 100 people).
I am not talking about one conference room. I am talking about a location with multiple places. And yes, the NEK itself does not have a demand, but there is a demand from outside the area.
very good!!!!!!
abc
Well-known member
Even for wedding, the competition is still the same. In fact, maybe worse.
Why does anyone do a wedding several hours away from home? Perhaps because the family had been skiing at that mountain a lot? Burke doesn't have the skier traffic of Stowe or even Jay.
One thing I found missing from the discussion is, Stowe ran a very successful ski mountain for years before they pour the money into a high end hotel. Even Jay Peak, had been for years regarded as an awesome mountain by a fairly large number of skiers. So the hotel may be justified.
Burke hotel is really the cart before the horse!
As a mountain biker myself, I find the NEK area lacking in clean motels, not upscale hotels.
VTKilarney
Well-known member
VTKilarney
Well-known member
Then I think that we are saying the same thing. Specifically, that the conference business at Q Burke will have to compete with Stowe, Mount Washington, Jay Peak, Lake Morey, etc. That's just the reality. Is the demand there for another space? I sincerely hope so, but I don't think it's a simple as "build it and they will come."
The cart-before-the-horse argument has been raised by a lot of folks. There was a school of thought that they needed to improve the skiing a little bit more before the Hotel. But EB-5 money makes one do different, or stupid, things. Ary's arrogance was quite telling--he felt that the Hotel would solve all the problems. Well, I still doubt that.
VTKilarney
Well-known member
The difference in my mind with the wedding business is that Caledonia County has shockingly little in the way of wedding venues. I know several Caledonia County couples who have gone to Jay Peak for that reason. There is local demand, for sure.
VTKilarney
Well-known member
Agreed. The hotel needed to be a piece of a larger puzzle. The problem is that Ary took the puzzle box and dumped the pieces on the floor before shitting all over them.
Some of the weddings will be local, but as one who was a Vermonter and briefly considered getting married in Vermont, I can tell you that the Vermont Wedding Industry is NOT aimed for the blue collar locals. Sure, they will do a few here and there, but the primary market is out-of-state.
VTKilarney
Well-known member
Definitely true.
from_the_NEK
Active member
I've been wondering how the Porsche Club of America's National Parade (gathering of Porsche drivers and their car from all over the country) was going to react to the situation at Jay. Needless to say, Porsche owners are fairly likely to be upper class and well connected. If this event would have been scrapped, it would have looked VERY bad for the NEK and Vermont in general.
http://2016parade.pca.org/
I'm glad it is still going off as planned.
http://2016parade.pca.org/
I'm glad it is still going off as planned.
VTKilarney
Well-known member
It's great to see the new management team being proactive about these things. Porsche owners are definitely a clientele that you don't want to turn away.
from_the_NEK
Active member
All rooms at Jay are already sold out for the Porsche event. Too bad the Mid*-Burke Hotel wasn't open to potentially handle some of the overflow.
*Notice that I've started dropping the "Q" from the name of the hotel and replacing it with "Mid". I wonder what name the hotel will ultimately end up having. Right now it is pretty much a blank slate since the hotel never opened under the current name and therefore has no brand recognition (and whatever brand it does have is severely tainted). A new owner could come in and rename it whatever it wants.
"Omni Hotel at Burke Mountain"?
*Notice that I've started dropping the "Q" from the name of the hotel and replacing it with "Mid". I wonder what name the hotel will ultimately end up having. Right now it is pretty much a blank slate since the hotel never opened under the current name and therefore has no brand recognition (and whatever brand it does have is severely tainted). A new owner could come in and rename it whatever it wants.
"Omni Hotel at Burke Mountain"?
The best news of the day and the past several pages today.......the Q is gone.....now I think there are at least 180 people that would love to personally take part in a sign demolition party......could be cathartic.
And here is a wild question......what if......just what if, Porsche owners were also mountain bikers? Holy shit.....dogs and cats living together.....mass hysteria.....
And here is a wild question......what if......just what if, Porsche owners were also mountain bikers? Holy shit.....dogs and cats living together.....mass hysteria.....
Not necessarily. I'll post one article that talks a little about how Stowe was losing market share in the 90s as other areas developed slopeside amenities.
When i lived in town in the late 90s, Stowe wasn't doing well financially. If Spruce hadn't been approved, there was talk of vastly decreasing services at Stowe. Less snowmaking, shorter season, reduced ski school, no summer activities; overall a much more bare bones operation. AIG was there to prop the mountain up and they brought in Hanke Lunde to turn the place around.
http://m.stowetoday.com/stowereport...c95-ef04-5a4b-9eb1-8491b4164998.html?mode=jqm
