Specializing in the operation of upscale resorts, luxury inns and quality business hotels, Coastal Hotel Group is in the business of making money. The ski business is tricky. Nonetheless Horn said Sun Valley has a tremendous cross-marketing appeal to his clientele specifically because of its isolation. That's a recent trend in travel, he said. We get stressed properties, and get them back to where they were before they were stressed.
Mountain resorts are sensitive to stress.
There is a short window of opportunity where you have to make your money. Business history in mountain resorts also indicates that you have to make a big effort to sell in the shoulder seasons, Horn said. Six weeks of shoulder business is when you have to attract meetings that will produce. You pamper them with good food and the environment and make them want to come back. Coastal Hotel has an equity interest in Elkhorn, along with principal owner Blackacre Capital.