Earlier this year I was invited by the Reno/Tahoe convention and visitors bureau to come on their annual winter “fam” trip. A fam trip, or “familiarization trip”, is a semi or fully sponsored trip to educate travel professionals on a particular destination or brand. They are one of the perks of the job, but like my trip to Tahiti, they are actually work, though my work just happens to be super fun! 🙂 SO – I wanted to give a quick run-down of this quick trip and what I learned.
This was a short trip – with two nights spent in Reno, but most of two days and one overnight spent in northern Lake Tahoe experiencing the winter wonderland up there. If you know me at all, you know that I’m a skier, so OF COURSE I jumped at the chance to spend some quality time in one of my favorite parts of the world. Reno I was less sure of – so let’s start there.
Pro’s of Reno:
- Convenience! Reno itself is pretty compact, with everything being about a 10 minute drive (max) from each other. The airport, downtown, and the convention center are all close and easy to get to. The airport itself is fairly well connected with non stops from as far as New York (JFK), but mostly from the middle of the country (Chicago, Dallas, Denver, etc…) and points west. The biggest bonus is that the majority of the ski resorts are under an hour away. You can even see the slopes of Mt. Rose from most points in downtown Reno! The ski resorts in the south lake area (notably Heavenly and Kirkwood) are a bit farther, and I would not recommend Reno as your home base if those are the two mountains you want to ski the most.
- Expense! Reno is FULL of hotel rooms, and most of them will likely not cost you more than $100/night, especially in the winter which is actually low season in this golf (and gambling) crazy city. Plus all of the hotels offer plenty of inexpensive food options, from buffets to quick-service options. They also have good large-capacity venues, so you could easily hold a large group event in Reno for much less than it would cost up in the mountains.
- Fun! Besides the quick access to the mountains for fun in the snow, you also of course have all the casinos. If you like to gamble, you will have some fun in this town – the choices are practically endless. The nightlife scene is really pretty great – with lots of different styles of nightclubs and bars to choose from. They also have events galore during most of the year – from giant bowling competitions, to mural painting events, to concerts and other kinds of festivals.
Cons to Reno:
- I have to be honest – though they are spending a lot of money upgrading this town, it still has a bit of a “dated” feel to it. This is certainly NOT Las Vegas, but I don’t think it is really trying to be that. There is a kitsch factor at work, but the clientele in the casinos and such just is not going to be winning any fashion or modeling contracts or anything. This doesn’t mean they’re bad people, and in fact mostly everyone we dealt with was very nice and friendly.
- Though you are only a half hour or 45 minutes from the actual ski resorts, you really are a world away from the magical feel of a “ski vacation”. It is in the desert, with mountains looming of course, and it is a gambling town. If you’re looking for a quaint mountain lodge, you will not find it in Reno.
We visited 6 different casinos in Reno, though we only had quick stops in both Harrah’s (located right downtown) and the Nugget (located about 10 minutes from downtown, not related to the more famous “Golden Nugget” in Las Vegas). There are three properties right downtown that are connected now both physically and economically – the Circus Circus, El Dorado, and the Silver Legacy are now fully owned by the same company, and they really dominate the downtown scene — especially since they’re completely connected. You can easily get lost wandering from casino to casino, or especially on the 2nd level from restaurant to bar to bar, as there is nothing particularly that alerts you to which casino you’re in at the time. They each have their own theme (Circus, mining, and, a more elegant feeling for the third), and the rooms are quite different from one to the other thanks to different renovation timelines (Circus is about to be renovated, El Dorado is just about done remodeling rooms, and the Silver Legacy was completed a few years ago), but otherwise it is three giant properties full of fun. Here are a few shots from our super fast visit to each of the tri-properties:
Our host for the entire trip was the very generous Atlantis Resort. This is actually connected to the convention center, and super close to the airport, but about 10-15 minutes from downtown. They are working towards receiving the four diamond distinction for the entire resort, but at this point only the excellent spa has that distinction. The bed was SUPER comfortable, and though the decor was interesting at times, it was a great home for two of the nights. We had a wonderful after-party in one of their suites which was by far the largest room we saw the entire trip (though I’m sure there are giant suites available in the other casinos as well!) – and had a great view out over the city and mountains.
And finally we had a nice breakfast and visit at the Peppermill. This “little joint” started as a coffee shop (there is one in Vegas as well), but then grew and grew until it is the giant, almost completely self-contained resort. It is between downtown and the Atlantis, so very well located, and I have to say – the Italian family that own it have POURED money into this place. They not only have one of the only thermal water systems in the world (a very complicated process where the water is both pulled from & then recycled through a natural thermal tank way down deep in the earth), but they also have their own staff of photographers. What that means is that every hallway is basically a photo gallery with amazing and inspiring natural photos from around the world. It may be a bit jarring against the kitschy/gaudy Italianate decor, but it was a lovely addition basically everywhere you looked. They also offer two different wedding chapels, an all-season pool (which I shot through a tinted window, hence the odd filter on that photo), a giant spa (using the fancy thermal water of course), and a full-on conference center. Of course they have a casino as well, but what’s interesting is that it is mostly separated from the rooms & everything else – so you don’t get the horrible smoking smell that hits you as you walk in as you do with some of the others. It really would probably be my choice to stay at again of all of the hotels we visited (cheese factor and all):
So- that’s basically Reno in a nutshell. There is a lovely little river front park just out of downtown that we didn’t visit (winter time of course), and the very cute little mid-town area where locals spend their time full of boutiques and restaurants, and murals – this town does like a mural it seems! But, it is time to hit the main feature where we spent the majority of our time: North Lake Tahoe.
We were super fortunate in that we got to stay at what has to be one of the nicest resort in all of Lake Tahoe – the Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe Resort. Now- I had been here before years prior for some gambling, so I knew that casino was nice, in a mountain-y, more low-key way. I did NOT have a full picture of just how nice this hotel was. From soothing and lovely natural rooms, to a great and varied pool area, to the simply gorgeous private beach and lovely beach-side restaurant – it was all impressive. They have great family rooms, and awesome “cottages” by the lake that could work for families or groups of friends. Besides just being a gorgeous place to stay, play, and eat, it is also really strategically located. It is right on the water, but only about 30 minutes from Reno, and just outside of the central part of the town of Incline Village. It has complimentary shuttles to four different ski resorts, three of which are world-class (Northstar, ~20 minutes; Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows, ~30 minutes), and one of which, Diamond Peak, is all of 5 minutes away and a spectacular place to learn to ski (kids ski free!). Mount Rose is also really close, though they do not offer the free shuttle there. Of course, it is not ski-in/ski-out (like the Ritz Carlton located at Northstar), but it is swim in/out in the summer – so this is another cool aspect – winter is their low season, meaning the rates are really reasonable for you to have this be your ski vacation base! If you want to go for July 4th to see their own fireworks display from their own private beach – book early and prepare for the price! 😉 Here are some shots that help show you a bit of what this place is all about:
There is of course much more to Lake Tahoe that skiing during the winter (and boating during the summer). The non-skiers in our group were treated to an awesome snowmobiling session one day, and on another in the village of Northstar they all made their own candles. There is also ice skating at Northstar, as well as snowshoe hikes, cross country skiing trails galore, and frankly – lots of fire pits with gorgeous views for you to enjoy a hot beverage and just relax. It really is one of the more stunning locations with the giant, snow-capped mountains and crystal clear, bright blue water. I’ll save the ski resort reviews for another post, but will leave you with some of the shots I snapped while skiing Northstar and Diamond Peak (which boasts some of the best views of the lake while skiing):
All in all it was a great few days with people who are passionate about selling ski destinations. In this case, there were a few fellow traditional travel consultants, but there were also representatives from international tour operators, some of the big online travel agencies (some of which I hadn’t even heard of!), and even a few PR reps. Definitely a great perk to this business, besides getting to visit gorgeous locations, is the great people who work in the industry. I really do love my job – it’s not just a hashtag! If you have any questions about any of the locations mentioned, please don’t hesitate to ask either in the comments or via email.