Those who attend the Montage ribbon cutting and open house today will be greeted by a larger-than-life statue of a skiing miner by Herb Mignery.
The statue is as much symbolic as it is aesthetic. The Montage is more than a luxury hotel with over 200 rooms catering to families, explained spokesman Dan Howard. At each of its three resorts in the country Montage gives guests a “sense of place.”
Throughout the hotel, art, antiques and building materials pay homage to Park City and its mining past.
Original Western artwork can be found at every turn.
“Montage is about art,” he said. “It lets people know it’s not a typical hotel.”
Artifacts on loan from the Park City Museum greet guests on the way up to the Vista Lounge and Terrace. A portrait of John Daly adorns one of the two libraries within Vista.
The indoor swimming pool is decorated with mosaics inspired by the pool at the Hearst Castle in California. William Randolph Hearst once owned the land Montage sits on, Howard explained.
The spa and the Vista terrace have a view to the east that extends up to 100 miles. Montage Deer Valley wants guests to feel they have truly experienced Park City, not just stayed in a hotel there, he said.
An “X-shaped” design allows nearly every spot in the hotel to have views of the outdoors. About 99 percent of the rooms have a deck or balcony, he added.
Three ski lifts depart from the hotel including Empire, Ruby and Lady Morgan. Deer Valley was a significant reason Montage chose Park City for its third location, said founder and CEO Alan Fuerstman.
“Deer Valley is as good as it gets,” he said. “It’s a great inspiration for Montage. Deer Valley has been the premier ski destination.”
The ski shop run by Compass Sports is operated like a restaurant, Howard said.
The staff finds out beforehand what equipment a family brought along. Guests are then seated and their needs assessed. Each staff member carries an iPad to log items that are still needed. Those are then delivered to the family gloves hot and skis waxed.
That level of efficiency can be found throughout the hotel. For example, guests don’t check in, Howard said. Phone calls are made to confirm arrival, so they know who is coming, when and their names; checking in is not necessary.
Taking care of families is how Montage distinguishes itself in the marketplace, Fuerstman said.
While running the Bellagio in Las Vegas over a decade ago, Fuerstman said he noticed luxury hotels were getting bigger and bigger. running a small company focused on customer service, he knew his staff could be nimble and more responsive to the needs of guests.
Understanding his niche and target market, he builds hotels around the spa and food and beverage offerings. They are not the amenities, they are the focus, he explained.
In Deer Valley, the spa has prime real estate, Howard said. It covers 35,000 square feet with 29 treatment rooms.
There are four restaurants each with a different focus.
Apex Mountain American Grill is a modern steakhouse with a skier’s buffet. Vista is a French bistro with a lounge atmosphere instead of tables and chairs. Daly’s Pub and Rec in the basement has items like wood-fired oven pizzas and shepherd’s pie. It is also home to four bowling alleys, a darts room that resembles a shooting range, plus Wii stations and a classic arcade for teenagers. The fourth eatery is Buzz, a quick café adjacent to the lobby featuring locally-raised honey.
Decks are heated to allow outside dining year-round weather permitting. There’s also an outdoor pool and a 20,000-square-foot Grand Lawn.
The hotel rooms do not interconnect. Montage views that practice as unfavorable. Instead, smaller rooms have doors within an alcove. If two rooms are desired the most frequently requested set-up for families outside doors to the alcove are closed, adding a small common room between the two units.
Lastly, the hotel features two meeting rooms: a 4,300-square-foot Grand Ballroom and a 2,500-square-foot Gallery Ballroom. Although business travel is not the brand’s target market, it is frequently ranked highly by business publications, Howard said.
Walk upstairs between the two ballrooms and you are back in the lobby, where Monty, the Montage’s mascot resides. A 17-week-old Bernese mountain dog, Monty has a life fit for a children’s book. He even has two beers named after him that are produced by Wasatch Brew Pub.
Montage will not be competition for existing businesses, Fuerstman insisted. It will become an international destination and will introduce a whole new clientele to Park City.
The community has been extremely welcoming and he said he is looking forward to his company becoming a part of it.
“Wednesday is a day set aside for Park City,” Howard said.
The open house is for all Park City residents from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Dec. 8.
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