Category: Whistler/Blackcomb

Posted on

Mountain Travel Symposium 2019 in Whistler – a recap.

Whistler was the site of MTS 2019. Mountain Travel Symposium 2019 in Whistler – a recap. Photo courtesy of MTS.

Mountain Travel Symposium 2019 in Whistler – a recap.

Just came a couple of weeks ago from the Mountain Travel Symposium, an event I have been working for the past six years and which I enjoy every moment of it. I noticed however, that as I am getting old, it is taking me longer to feel back human again.

Trentino attendees having fun at the top of Whistler Mountain. Photo: Mirta Valentini - Trentino Marketing. Mountain Travel Symposium 2019 in Whistler – a recap.
Trentino attendees having fun at the top of Whistler Mountain. Photo: Mirta Valentini – Trentino Marketing. Mountain Travel Symposium 2019 in Whistler – a recap.

The Mountain Travel Symposium (MTS for short) is not a sprint, definitely is a marathon – An event that lasts one week and for me makes me be twelve days away from home from my husband and kids. MTS is the largest mountain and ski gathering of suppliers from all over the world – ski resorts, hoteliers and service providers, with tour operators that sell skiing, also from all over the world, and ski clubs and ski councils from the USA and Canada, that travel internationally.

I am in charge of the international market and on widening the international attendees year on year. This is a part-time, but yearlong job for me. Now I have a couple of weeks to get ready and close all things from this past event before we open the early bird registration for MTS 2020. MTS 2020 will be in Squaw Valley, at the Resort of Squaw Creek, in North Lake Tahoe, CA, USA from March 29 – April 4, 2020. In May we’ll be opening registration, with the best rates available for one month only. Then rates go up four times during the year, so whoever can register early, get rates that are USD 800 cheaper than the last published rates!

The French delegates at the Trade Exchange Reception. Photo: Mountain Travel Symposium. Mountain Travel Symposium 2019 in Whistler – a recap.
The French delegates at the Trade Exchange Reception. Photo: Mountain Travel Symposium. Mountain Travel Symposium 2019 in Whistler – a recap.

But, getting back to MTS 2019, the event was in Whistler, BC. Canada. We have been In Whistler also in 2015, but the event took the Fairmont in Blackcomb. This year the event was at the Whistler Village Conference Center. I was an attendee at MTS being at the same place in 2002, when I was having my own incoming tour operator Ski Patagonia, where I was selling trips to Argentina and Chile.

Continue reading “Mountain Travel Symposium 2019 in Whistler – a recap.”

Posted on

Wanting to Ski in Whistler but on a Budget? Why not stay at the Pangea Pod Hotel?

Pods from Pangea Pod Hotel. Wanting to Ski in Whistler but on a Budget? Why not stay at the Pangea Pod Hotel?

Wanting to Ski in Whistler but on a Budget? Why not stay at the Pangea Pod Hotel?

This article may contain affiliate/compensated links. For full information, please see our disclaimer here.

So you always wanted to ski in Whistler, but when looking at rooms rates you’ve thought you are out of money as you are on a budget? Look again, now with the Pangea Pod Hotel you can afford to stay in Whistler in budget and in style.

The Pangea Pod Hotel has opened its doors in Whistler, BC, Canada, on August 2018. It has revolutionised the hospitality industry by bringing chic and price-conscious solo accommodation to one of North America’s top tourist destinations.

Exterior of the Pangea Pod Hotel. Wanting to Ski in Whistler but on a Budget? Why not stay at the Pangea Pod Hotel?
Exterior of the Pangea Pod Hotel. Wanting to Ski in Whistler but on a Budget? Why not stay at the Pangea Pod Hotel?

The first hotel of its kind in Canada, Pangea’s rooms will, at most, cost half the price of a conventional hotel room, and usually far less. This new style of accommodation will make the resort more accessible to solo and budget travellers wishing to experience all that Whistler has to offer.

Husband-and-wife team Russell and Jelena Kling spent several years traversing the globe, garnering first-hand experience about what makes for a comfortable and satisfying stay. Loosely inspired by Tokyo’s capsule hotels, Pangea, located in the heart of Whistler Village, is the result of three years of planning and prototype development.

Continue reading “Wanting to Ski in Whistler but on a Budget? Why not stay at the Pangea Pod Hotel?”

Posted on

New investments in Whistler Blackcomb to enhance the guest experience will be ready for the 2018-19 ski season

Whistler- The effect that looks like a sea of clouds- Photo by Paul Morrison - Whistler Blackcomb - Vail Resorts. New investments in Whistler Blackcomb to enhance the guest experience will be ready for the 2018-19 ski season
  • Whistler Blackomb, owned by Vail Resorts, has invested CAD66 million (USD 52 million) at Whistler Blackcomb, including a new gondola-to-gondola-to-gondola connection.
  • This historic investment accelerates the Renaissance plan’s mountain improvements, with a focus on the heart of the resort, and defers consideration of new water park

Vail Resorts, Inc. (NYSE: MTN) announced last year that the historic investment of CAD$66 million (USD$52 million) at Whistler Blackcomb for the 2018-19 season which focused on three new lifts at the heart of the resort. This transformative investment featured the addition of a new gondola on the Blackcomb side of the mountain, as well as several other lift infrastructure upgrades, providing quicker, easier access to all levels of terrain. The plan also represented the largest single-year capital investment program in the resort’s history, and the Company’s decision to accelerate the mountain improvements included in the Renaissance plan, while deferring consideration of the new water park.

A family uses the Peak to Peak Gondola in Whistler Blackcomb. Photo by John Entwistle- Whistler Blackcomb- Vail Resorts. New investments in Whistler Blackcomb to enhance the guest experience will be ready for the 2018-19 ski season
A family uses the Peak to Peak Gondola in Whistler Blackcomb. Photo by John Entwistle- Whistler Blackcomb- Vail Resorts. New investments in Whistler Blackcomb to enhance the guest experience will be ready for the 2018-19 ski season

A new 10-passenger gondola is replacing the Wizard and Solar chairlifts and ascend from the base to the top of Blackcomb Mountain, terminating adjacent to the existing PEAK 2 PEAK Gondola, which transports guests to and from Blackcomb and Whistler. Upon completion for the start of the season, the new gondola will offer guests a more comfortable and weather-protected experience in the first three-gondola connection in the world, enhancing the longest continuous lift system. The new gondola is expected to represent a 47-percent capacity increase and move 4,000 people per hour, the highest capacity in North America.

Continue reading “New investments in Whistler Blackcomb to enhance the guest experience will be ready for the 2018-19 ski season”