Telluride, Colo., began as a mining town and local investment group Vault Home Collection hopes its struck gold with the pending development of a new Six Senses hotel and residence in the popular and chic ski destination.
It hasn’t been easy, Matthew Shear, president of Vault Home Collection, told HOTELS. It sometimes takes a village to build a community and that is precisely what is necessary to get this project underway. Last December, the Mountain Village Design Review Board approved final design review, but the project still needs final approval from the town council, which will vote March 16 on whether to move it forward.
Up to now, the project has rubbed up against some protest, mainly stemming from the scale of the project (height, specifically) and its impact on area denizens, but many of those concerns have subsequently been assuaged.
Vault Home Collection is a private real estate construction and development group that focuses on luxury residential and branded residences and hotels. Other projects of it include a slew of Colorado estates and upcoming hospitality projects in Driggs, Idaho and Lake Como, Italy.
The current design of the Six Senses Telluride calls for 82 hotel rooms, 18 residences and employee housing for 56 people. There will also be 25,000 square feet of retail and market space, a 10,000-square-foot spa and health center, two restaurants and a rooftop pool. Dependent on final approval, the project could be completed by winter of 2025.
COMMUNITY CALLS
Communities are constantly balancing the needs and lifestyle of residents with that of tourists who provide much-needed economic benefit. Developers, then, seek to ride the wave of tourism by building assets that accommodate demand. Telluride is one of those American locations that is peerless in its alpine offerings, but also is a city redefining itself as a year-round destination. Hotels in high season command lofty daily rates and the entire community benefits from the ancillary spend that accompanies it.
In the case of Telluride, luxury follows luxury. In addition to the Six Senses, a Four Seasons hotel is being built adjacent to the Six Senses lot, said Shear. Other luxury hotels in the area include the Fairmont Heritage Place and the Madeline Hotel & Residences, Auberge Resorts Collection. An assortment of other accommodations dot the mountain village.
ON TAP
Developing the parcel of land has been a long time in the making, Shear said. The land was originally owned by the Hunt family, which owns the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs, for more than eight years. It had plans to parcel it up, but ultimately Vault Home Collection was able to acquire it.
Architecturally, the development is visually arresting with a prominent curved elliptical design and features that include an Experience Center, which serves as a “connector” to the property’s experiences and activities.
By choosing the Six Senses brand, owned by IHG, Vault is positioning the project as a sustainable addition to the topography.
Six Senses’s ethos is—and was built upon—wellness and sustainability. This includes LEED-certified design and brand standards that are all crafted around that pursuit. Beyond green design and a no-plastic environment, Six Senses and its owners put their money where their mouth is: .5% of all gross revenue of a Six Senses property is donated to a sustainable cause.
Keeping with the sustainable and Six Senses’ theme, the project also includes an Earth Lab—a place to educate and create awareness about the nature, offering lectures and classes by visiting practitioners—and an Alchemy Bar, a space to learn about, experiment and celebrate all local flora and fauna.
Necessarily, what ski resort is complete without what’s being dubbed a “Gear Garage,” where guests can don the outfits and accessories needed to engage with the great outdoors.
BRAND DECISION
For a developer like Vault, which tapped Six Senses as its flag against a host of other choices, green might be a goal, but there are also financial implications. Six Senses is not a cheap stay. “Its ADR (average daily rate) crushes,” Shear said, noting the success of the brand’s revenue management platform. He also said that Six Senses’ service promise is matchless in the luxury space.
Though Six Senses is part of the IHG brand family (IHG acquired it in 2019 for $300 million), Shear said that the brand is decidedly siloed from IHG in a way that, for example, Holiday Inn Express would not be.