Dive Brief:

• Chicago-based national real estate investor and operator Waterton announced Monday its launch of a new outdoor-centric hotel brand, Outbound Hotels. 
• The brand includes hotels that Waterton has acquired and rebranded over the last several years in destination markets, including near Yosemite National Park and Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The properties offer “differentiated lodging options for lifestyle travelers seeking outdoor-inspired experiences in boutique settings,” Waterton said in a release obtained by Hotel Dive. 
• Outbound Hotels launches at a time when business and leisure travelers are increasingly demanding more experience-based trips and accommodations. Waterton is among several operators providing travelers accessibility to outdoor recreation. 

Dive Insight:

The Outbound Hotels portfolio includes The Virginian Lodge in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and Outbound Mammoth, formerly known as the Sierra Nevada Resort, in Mammoth, California. 

Waterton acquired the properties in 2020 and 2021, respectively, and repositioned them under the Outbound brand. The properties now offer local experience-based amenities like wine tastings, bike-in movie nights and outdoor workshops, as well as access to biking and hiking trails, ski runs, swimming areas and other recreational activities. 

Another core feature of Outbound properties is outdoor gathering space, including meetings and event space, Matt Mering, EVP of hospitality at Waterton, told Hotel Dive, noting that leisure travelers aren’t the only ones seeking more experience-based, “outdoor-inspired” trips. 

“We’ve seen a real increase in demand for things like corporate retreats,” Mering said. “People aren't necessarily going back to the office five days a week in a post-COVID world, so there's been increased demand for experiences and these types of locations where you can get your team together and have off-site retreats.” 

For all travelers, the firm’s strategy with Outbound is to create a “compelling lodging experience that will surprise, delight and connect visitors to some of the most attractive national park, mountain, beach and ski towns,” Mering said. 

Currently, Waterton is underway on the rebranding and reopening of the Towne and Country Stowe hotel in Stowe, Vermont, which it acquired in March. 

The firm is also developing the Outbound Yosemite Resort in Oakhurst, California. Upon completion, the property will encompass 108 new vacation rental cabins and 14 new hotel rooms located above a 12,500-square-foot clubhouse, in addition to a 13-key boutique hotel currently on the site. 

Waterton is the latest to look to meet travelers’ growing demand for experience-based travel. Choice Hotels’ Cambria brand and Margaritaville Hotels & Resorts are both expanding to destination markets in the U.S. that offer outdoor recreation and leisure amenities. 

In July, Cambria entered the Colorado mountains, opening a hotel in popular ski town Copper Mountain. And in the same month, Margaritaville announced plans to bring its first-ever ski town resort to Lake Tahoe. 

Waterton is targeting various Colorado markets and Lake Tahoe for future Outbound properties, Mering said. The company is also evaluating parts of Utah and Asheville, North Carolina for expansion. 

Waterton has a real estate portfolio worth $10.8 billion, a majority of which is residential property.