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Showdown in Park City
Hospitality’s heavy-hitters duke it out for slope supremacy.
If you’re a member of the Hollywood A-list, you might not realize that Utah’s Park City exists for the 355 days that aren’t the Sundance Film Festival. And you also probably missed the current boom of mountain resorts jockeying for ski-slope supremacy. First out the gate is Waldorf Astoria who — after dropping their bedeviling equals-sign branding — have just opened the Dakota Mountain Lodge.
Waldorf’s first ever ski resort is a modern take on the classic mountain lodge, with dark-finished wood and stonework throughout. Each of the 175 rooms invites film stars and snow bunnies alike with custom furniture and individual gas fireplaces. Most importantly for the latter crowd, the ski-in ski-out lodge sits at the foot of the Canyons resort — the state’s largest ski haven. Designated “ski valets” will whisk guests from the main lobby (pictured) to the lifts in minutes, while back at the lodge, the Dakota features the world’s sixth Golden Door Spa. A destination unto itself, the 16,000-square-foot spa offers up to seven-day treatment regimens using everything from Pilates and Kinesis to water rituals and fireside therapeutic teas.
Not to be outdone, St. Regis also joins the fray in November when it launches the ultra-luxe Deer Crest Resort. Positioned slope-side at the Deer Valley ski resort, the property touts a split-level heated infinity pool plus all the trimmings of its brand-standard butler service. The real fun, though, takes place in between runs: Deer Crest claims to debut North America’s first ski-slope funicular, which connects the property’s upper and lower portions. The Swiss-crafted rail system has leather seated, climate-controlled cars that zip 15 passengers up 230 vertical feet in a swift 90 seconds. And once back at the hotel, gourmands will appreciate Jean-Georges’ signature J&G Grill, along with Deer Crest’s 3,000-bottle wine vault.
But if you’re not a powder freak — and aren’t producing an independent film — you might skip Sundance Country altogether in favor of Utah’s southern “canyon country,” where Amanresorts aims to open its second US property on October 15. With just 34 guest suites set amid 600 acres of desert wilderness, Amangiri is a veritable anti-Park City, and may well be the perfect Utah escape come January’s fresh influx of Hollywood hoopla.
