For the Group Leader
You have a huge job, one many only do once in a life time, the rest end up medicated after a few rounds; we
want to make the accommodation and utility part of your job easier so we built this page to give you a detailed outline of
what we offer as far as amenities, a heads-up on some pitfalls and areas to consider. We host over 800 guests a year
and the majority of those guests are our reunioin groups. "Reunion Season" for us is May 15 to Sept
31, however you are welcome anytime. Our average group size during this time is 20, so our rates are based on a 20 person
headcount. This comes from our experience withour own groups and with guest feedback.
Prioritize:
You may have already decided on us, maybe not,
here are some ideas to help you in making the best decision for your group:
There are a few things to think about and know as you search for a cabin;
What is most important to your group? Some top priorities are:
Location: How far from an airport, city,
small town, ski resort, or how remote and secluded?We are 60 min to the airport, 15 to town and stores, year round access
but 4x4 in the winter.
Price: Do you want the best deal, the best value, the best priced great
experience or the nicest place? We are not cheap, we are a best value. We have yet to find a comparable cabin with
more amenities for a better price point.
Accessibility: Do you want to be able to have red carpet
to the door or more 'roughing it'? Wheelchair? Seniors main floor bed and bath? Wear boots in the woods, leave your
Stilettos home. Main floor master and bath for seniors, though we do have 4 steps to enter. NOT wheelchair friendly.
Accommodations: Does
everybody require a separate room? a bed? a good nights sleep?4bed and loft. LOTS of beds, but how many of you are there?
Entertainment: Will you be spending most of your time inside,
out playing, exploring or just being together? We excel in both. Lots of woods, outdoor play and LOTS of indoor to-dos.
Predictability: Do
you want things to flow easily or just take them as an adventure and see what happens? We are professional; everything
is labeled; this is not a rented out family cabin with Uncle Johns pants hanging in the closet.
RED FLAGS: Watch
out for places with poor photos, vague descriptions and no guest book. Owners will more often than not exaggerate how
close they are to popular spots. We challenge our neighbors to make it to Park City in 20 minutes in anything other than a
helicopter. Be careful of cabins with no bookings on the calendar, some just don't use it, many have no business due to being
overpriced once you spend 3 hours digging for details. Ask the owners what percentage of their business is return bookings,
see how many people want to come back. No guest book means they usually have some poor feedback. Ask how
much money they sped annually in upkeep and improvements. Low quality rentals have old worn out furnishings or equipment
that has taken a beating and low replacement rate. If the ad has poor photos and you are considering it, ask for a larger
album to be sent. Ask about what is being left out of the photos and why.
If you find a place you love plan at the reunion to return while everyone is together.
It may save you 100 emails and hours on the phone.
Duration: Most of the trips we have taken involve
half a day packing, travel time, a couple hours getting settled and then the reverse on the other end. If we are only
staying two nights we find it not really worth all of the hassle; adding a few extra days has always paid great dividends.
Acuracy: Come listings have truth stretching going on; speak to the owner or someone who KNOWS
the cabin concering the sticking points for your group. Get the real scoop. Recently we booked a place in Hawaii and
we traveled with a newborn... we specifically needed to be able to walk with the baby to the beach and back while the other
kids played. The listing said it was 300 feet to the beach, it was over half a mile. The owner's apology for his 'oversight' did
not change the fact that we spent a week in the wrong place.
Top priority: What is most important
to your group? price, dates, amenities, proximity to your group members, setting... getting what you want will be remembered.
Rate the above list, your parameters and then prioritize... then be wise. -you may find
a super deal and get there and realized you got a cheap nightmare. DO YOUR RESEARCH!
Headcount:
We count all people, even kiddos; everyone has their own for of impact... adults use utilities, babys secrete,
launch and project bodily fluids, kids do that and more. Show me a 16mo old who eats without making a mess and
I'll rethink our headcount policy:)
Sleeping:
We have 4 bedrooms
and a kids loft, two of those bedrooms are master bedrooms. The masters have one queen or king and then floor space for kiddos.
The upper master has several floor mattresses stored behind the headboard and sleeping bags in the bench. I do not guarantee
the cleanliness of the sleeping bags, if you use them please launder them. We recommend getting two cabins if your group
is over 25, though we have accommodated several more than that it does get cozy. The ideal number in my opinion is 22,
thus we have beds, pullouts and mattresses in the kids loft for that very number. I have stayed with groups of
20, 22, and 26. We poll guests and friends and it seems that at 22 you don't feel crowded, but it is full. This
is for families, I do not recommend move than 18 adults. Some of our summer reunion groups want to camp, we only recommend
camping on the deck as we have many deer and moose etc in the 'yard' and would hate for someone to be stepped on or worse.
please no ground camping.
Families:
We have 4 private rooms and then two additional
pullouts in the great room (queens) and then another pullout queen in the rec room the max family count you will want is 6,
unless you have some that want to do deck camping! We do also have the loft but logistics make that preferential to just having
older kiddos sleep there.
RVs:
There is space to pull an RV into our parking area, though it will clog up the round-about but
if you don't mind that you should be fine. We have pulled a 26ft trailer into the area (pulled by 4x4) and been okay,
but it does get tight then. There are 2 parking lots that may be available with a permit from the gate guard if needed,
they are on the way in and are 1 and 1.5 miles away from the cabin.
Kitchen:
Below
is a full photo set of the kitchen, there are A LOT of cooking utensils. We have a good set of Le Creuset pans too,
a large array of big group pans, small sauce pans and the collections grows all the time. Larger groups have told us plastic
and paper make things easier, we do have tons of plates, we only have silverware for one setting for about 20 guests, same
with glasses, though about the same in plastic cups. We only have a standard sized fridge though we plan to add an additional
fridge in the spring of 2010. We have things like crock pot, waffle iron, mixers, etc. If you have a special item you
need please bring it. Please do not rely on ANY of the items in the photos to be there, things do lose service or are
used up without notice. These photos are to give you an idea of how we run things. We ask that you leave more
than you take and you always consider those coming after you.
Food:
Depending on group size you may want a few coolers
to store food, and town is 15 mintues away... that said it always seems to turn into a 90 minute venture to go into town and
get something from the store... check your list before you head up to the cabin! We have two fridges, one is outside
the back door and is a commercial fridge for the summer use.. Most groups now bring a few coolers if they are bringing it
all up at once. In my experience it is best to hold two days of food at a time and then make a trip, for groups areound 20
we can easliy hold two days of food without 'FrostKing benches' everywhere.
Laundry:
We
have full service laundry, high efficiency machines with all soaps included.
Games and TV:
We have over 40 board games, we have a wii, couple xbox and xbox 360 consoles and games, though our best games and
gear are reserved for our VIP members and are locked up. So have your group bring any games they are looking forward
to, we have some but the best is reserved for our seasoned VIPs whom we know will care for the expensive gear and games.
We have over 40 DVDs and about 20 VHS movies. We are in teh process of phasing out the VHS and DVD collections as we have
ROKU now, which is Netflix and a ton of other channels for guests to use free., There are also pay channels there for Pay-per-View
style use for prize fights and such, these require a code that we will supply you with so that the kiddos aren't racking up
a bill on you. I do not believe there is any "Adult" content available so far as I have seen. You can get
the weather and such too.
Table Games:
We have pool, ping pong, Foosball, chess, checkers..... the gamut.
Outdoor games:
a big outdoor game is usually fun, we have a huge deck that will seat over 20, we have many chairs for this very
reason. We have a few out door games; we though we have to tread carefully so we don't get sued. So our horseshoes
are light plastic, not the real deal. We have tetherball too, some swings and have vests for squirt gun games that fill
up with water as you get hit. We do not provide squirt guns though, they break too easily. There is flat ground
for games though there are a lot of picker plants, FYI. Despite how much abatement we do they keep coming back.
Deck:
As
mentioned, we have a 12x20ft deck, it is great for getting everyone together outside without dealing with prickly mountain
ground. It is Trex, so no splinters, though it can get hot on the surface; it is mostly in the shade by lunch so plan
accordingly. It is a great place for breakfast! We do have a few portable tables though we have yet to find a good solution
for these as they keep being broken.
Greatroom:
You can get 30 people seated in the greatroom, though not
in one big happy circle, they are together in one room. The dining room table seats 12, the bar 4 and couches and bench
for another 14-16. That furniture is in the room and does not need to be moved to pull it off.
Reviews:
I have to give you the lowdown on guest reviews...
so it amazes me what people say about cabins; we can have 5 groups booked back to back, everyone having the same cabin, same
experience, similar weather and same everything and 4 will have the time of their lives and then the one group who just
are never happy. So no one ever leaves bad stuff in our guest book, but we get feedback from guests directly and we
track this and make adjustments to be the best. With that in mind I want to tell you what I have learned about people:
If you are high maintenance, require surgical cleanliness and everything must be perfect you probably don't want to do your
reunion at a cabin, a hotel may suit you best. We are, according to seasoned cabin guests, the cleanest, the best stocked,
the cabin with the best entertainment, games, amenities, things for babies, things for kids, operations, staff, communication
and systems that you will find in a cabin. We have been told this dozens of times by guests who frequent cabins.
We have also on occasion been told that things were dirty, entertainment was only "ok" and that they would never
return by guests; these were almost entirely people who had never stayed in a cabin before. So if you are used to the
Ritz Carlton and your family will ONLY stay at 5 stars I will steer you away from us and all reunion cabins as I don't
know that you will find what you will be happy with. We have so many guests that pour praise over us that we have realized
we will never please everyone, only 92% of everyone.
The
Aspen Moose Vacation Cabin
a million miles away in under an hour!
skiutahcabin@gmail.com
Toll free 855-930-8900
Local 801-859-2535
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