Like all great ideas in the 21st century, the concept that drives the evolution of the Cedar House Sport Hotel is at once progressive and retro. Everything — the culinary techniques taught at the hotel’s cooking classes, its steel-beam-and-skinned-cedar architecture, and its family-operated feel — is half 21st century innovation and half early 20th century throwback.
That’s the magic of the Cedar House Sport Hotel. With its recent acquisition of adventure guide company Tahoe Trips and Trails and the new culinary events at hotel restaurant Stella, Cedar House Sport Hotel is completing its acclaimed take on a very old lodging tradition common to European mountain villages — one where lodges are owned and operated by a family, the area’s attractions are shown to guests by in-house guides, and the food is authentic and unique.
‘The business environment here is challenging and you need to create a reason for people to come here that is not tied to snow,’ said Cedar House Sport Hotel co-owner Patty Baird.
In a world of hotels owned by stock-market-traded multinational corporations, where lodging is homogenized into a flavorless, characterless commodity, the Cedar House Sport Hotel stands out for its authenticity. Owners Patty and Jeff Baird helped design the hotel, live on the property, and regularly greet and get to know guests.
The Bairds’ brand of hospitality has struck a chord with travelers from around the world. For some it is the big, noticeable things — the in-house guide service that takes guests to the best trails and trips in the area, or the new cooking classes and culinary author events.
‘People who come here to visit want to experience the region like we experience the region,’ said Baird.
For others, it might be the small things — the fact that when they call to make reservations they talk to an actual hotel employee, someone who might serve them dinner when they arrive.
One of the driving motives behind the Bairds’ acquisition of Tahoe Trips and Trails is the hotel’s drive to fill its rooms consistently. Cedar House faces the same slow days and seasons that have plagued resort town economies for decades. The middle of summer and winter and the weekends are packed, but weekdays, spring, and fall are much more difficult periods to book rooms.
The Cedar House Sport Hotel’s new offerings make it more attractive for corporate retreats and conferences and pull in more visitors from across the nation and the world, guests who often stay for extended periods of time. Tahoe Trips and Trails runs trips from the California coast to Washington State and Southern Utah.
While Baird calls the purchase of Tahoe Trips and Trails ‘the last component I needed to complete the sport-hotel vision,’ don’t think that Cedar House Sport Hotel is done evolving. With a knack for putting her finger on the pulse of what travelers want out of their vacation, Baird is always thinking of new ways to cater to her customers.
The hotel is already a dog-friendly destination, but Baird envisions Tahoe Trips and Trails creating adventures especially for dog owners. And Baird’s other idea is just one more way that the Cedar House Sport Hotel continues to mine the legendary hospitality and simplicity of the past to address 21st century problems. Baird wants to see Cedar House offer a ‘digital detox’ weekend, where guests can leave behind the distraction, stress, and attention-stealing elements of technology and relax as if the Blackberry, iPhone, Facebook, and Twitter didn’t exist.
‘We are so tethered to technology that it is changing the way we connect to each other and nature, and hopefully people will come here and learn to reconnect,’ said Baird.
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