If you ski out West, as I do about once a year, you may spot a Gravity Haus property from your ski lift at some point.
Still quite new, the brand opened its first property in 2019 in Breckenridge, Colo., and despite the pandemic slowdown has since grown to seven locations, with its newest, in Jackson Hole, Wyo., opening last year.
Though the product differs in each locale, Gravity Haus aims to merge "work, play and outdoor adventures at world-class destinations" in a hotel and social club concept.
But unlike members-only model Soho House, the 4,000 Gravity Haus members share the brand's lodging, dining, co-working and fitness amenities with nonmembers, who make up the great majority of guests. Members get perks, including steep hotel discounts and exclusive activities.
If Gravity Haus sounds rather unique in the hotel world, its COO, Eric Lent, would agree.
"We don't fit a mold," he said. "We are kind of a category of one within hospitality."
Lent, a former executive on IHG Hotels & Resorts' upscale hotels team, said Gravity Haus opens in high-barrier-to-entry markets like its next one, Aspen, Colo., with amenities that stack up "against any hotel anywhere in terms of best in class and how comprehensive they are."
The Gravity Haus Winter Park in Colorado. Amenities there include co-working spaces and fitness facilities. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Gravity Haus
He cited room and public space design, world-class restaurants and coffee shops, co-working amenities, state-of-the art fitness and "leading-edge recovery facilities."
Lent Zoomed with me from the Gravity Haus in Vail, Colo., where he said he was looking at the base of the mountain. Gravity Haus properties in Jackson Hole, Breckenridge, Steamboat and Vail are all ski-in, ski-out or "steps" from the base of those mountains, as Aspen will be. Its properties in Winter Park, Colo., and Truckee, Calif., are both in town, offering proximity to nearby ski areas. Its Moab, Utah, hotel offers access to two national parks.
I stayed at the Gravity Haus Steamboat, which offers one of the best mountainside locations at a ski area with few hotels on its base and only two that are true ski-in ski-out, one being Gravity Haus. The Steamboat hotel is in the former Ptarmigan Inn; all Gravity Haus locations are conversions, which helps the brand open in those high-barrier-to-entry locations: Ski resorts are often known for having strict limits on development, and mountainside locations are particularly hard to come by.
Hotels with a common thread
Lent describes the portfolio as a collection of luxury and lifestyle hotels, each one "bespoke" but with "threads of the Gravity Haus ethos woven throughout."
"They all feel like they're from the same family," he said. When I mentioned that a Gravity Haus member told me the Steamboat property wasn't as upscale as others the member had been to, Lent said that the Vail property, for example, was in the more upscale category than some other Gravity Haus hotels, like Winter Park, which has an exterior corridor and was converted and given co-working spaces, fitness facilities and a design package that elevated it from a midscale property to an upper-upscale one.
Vail is the most high-end of the brand's properties, and its price point reflects that. (A search over Christmas week this year at Vail showed the least-expensive room was $999 per night, while in Steamboat it was half that.) Vail, for example, has a large spa with thermotherapy -- hot tub, sauna, steam room and cold plunge -- and a salt lounge. The other properties do not currently have spas, however Aspen will have both fitness and recovery facilities when it opens, Lent said.
The public spaces at the Steamboat property certainly achieve the brand ethos, with sustainably sourced coffee at Unravel Coffee and slopeside dining at the cozy White Rabbit Tavern. The property's stylish and comfortable public areas definitely invite guests to hang out. My family and I sat around one of two fireplaces after days on the slopes, playing cards and warming up with tea and hot chocolate.
The White Rabbit's bar, lively with the apres-ski crowd, extends into the coffee shop and is open to the rest of the lobby, giving it a communal vibe. The heated outdoor pool and hot tub were popular with both families and adults.
The White Rabbit Tavern offers slopeside dining in a cozy setting at the Gravity Haus Steamboat in Colorado. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Gravity Haus
Bang for the membership buck
Providing membership value is a priority for Gravity Haus.
This year, it will open AspenHaus Membership, a members-only social club with dining, co-working space and private offices. Those will be an addition to its restaurant and coffee shop that are open to the public.
"The brand positioning is really insider access to the ultimate adventure lifestyle," said Lent, who added that extensive research showed the brand that "what people see in Gravity Haus is the opportunity to come to a destination and have the ability to experience that destination knowing the secrets, the inside track, the tips, the tricks that make you have an almost elevated experience. We have structured our membership offering to take that to the next level."
That includes a series of experiential events, which in Vail has included a supper club, custom cowboy hat-making and whiskey tasting. Mountain bike rides are offered at all properties, and the company also offers overnight trips, such as backcountry hut dining and skiing, whitewater rafting and national park backpacking trips.
Gravity Haus membership includes 50% off hotel stays and one free night per year, late checkout and savings at the brand's partner properties, which extend to the Gilded Iguana in Nosara, Costa Rica.
Lent said partner hotels are also "adventure-loving lifestyle" properties with activities and locations similar to Gravity Haus. Member perks include use of the on-site gym facilities and fitness classes anywhere, the services of a Haus Guides Adventure Planning Concierge and more than 15 monthly members-only events.
Gravity Haus pays travel advisors commissions on bookings, but not on membership fees.