dale dombrowski/viewThe dining area at the Hotel on Mt. Charleston, 2 Kyle Canyon Road, features high-ceilinged elegance, a great view and a new chef and menu.
Advertisement
Mount Charleston is going green.
The Hotel on Mt. Charleston is now being managed by Investors Hospitality Management, a California-based, private corporation that bills itself as the country's first and only third party hospitality and management company dedicated to incorporating sustainability into its strategies.
What that means for the future of the mountain resort, which has been undergoing expansion and renovation for the past couple of years, is that its growth will be complemented by environmentally friendly operations.
John DiGuiseppe, president of IHM, said the hotel's setting in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest is a perfect fit for his green agenda.
"It is a wonderful setting, and just the perfect place to create an eco-friendly property," he said. "Our motto is stewardship with sustainability. I know what it's like to meet a budget, to take risks, to go out on a limb. I'm actually living, working and breathing this investment just as the owner does, but we are all about sustainability, so we create a unique 'green plan' for each property we manage."
DiGuiseppe said his company maintains a specifically trained staff that specializes in creating such plans while maintaining a product-driven strategy. Elements could include using eco-friendly cleaners and hypo-allergenic products.
IHM was awarded the hotel's management contract in early November, so DiGuiseppe's crew is still in the early stages of creating the green plan, as well as finalizing a new budget for the property.
The hotel, which houses 62 rooms and suites, a conference center, a bar and a restaurant 30 minutes from downtown Las Vegas at 2 Kyle Canyon Road, is owned by a private partnership of Ronnie and Noam Schwartz and Yaffa and David Dahan. The Schwartzes bought the hotel, opened in the early 1980s, from the original owners and brought the Dahans on board last year.
"The hotel's demographic has always been locals and corporations that did not want to have their events on the Strip," DiGuiseppe said. "But there wasn't a marketing strategy. The hotel had a very strong following about five years ago, but more recently, it has fallen short of that reputation.
"But we've been working hard with the staff and we're going to get back to that point. We had a smashing Thanksgiving event where there were almost 500 reservations."
Special holiday events -- more are in the works for Christmas and New Year's Eve -- aren't the only plans for drumming up business at the hotel. A health and wellness spa is in the final stages and should be finished before the end of the year, with approval expected. DiGuiseppe said the facility will offer full massage services, saunas and steam rooms, and a fitness facility.
The Hotel on Mt. Charleston also has been approved for gaming, an element that hasn't been available since the previous ownership vacated with its gaming license. Twelve machines will be installed in the hotel's bar off the main lobby.
Hotel general manager Michal Halfon said the renovations on the property haven't diminished business.
"Not at all," she said. "There is a lot of excitement (from customers) about the new features, especially the gaming area."
The rooms and suites at the hotel are in the process of renovation, as well, and that could be part of an even bigger development, DiGuiseppe said.
"There is a major hotel brand thinking of coming on board. It's a well-known, top five brand," he said. "If that happened, it would be something like, 'The Mt. Charleston Hotel by (the hotel brand) and that would really create some uniformity in the project. But we're also thinking of keeping it independent and further crafting it as a specialty hotel. We'll see what happens."
For more information on the hotel, visit www.mtcharlestonhotel.com, and for IHM, visit www.investorshm.com.
Archived Editions| Advertising | Contact The Staff
