Four Seasons Resort Rancho Encantado
Santa Fe, New Mexico
When Rancho Del Monte, the original ranch on the present Four Seasons site, was founded in 1932, the Western film industry was at its height, and the dude ranch regularly hosted actors such as John Wayne and James Stewart as they rolled through town while working on their films.
Legendary hostess Betty Egan purchased the ranch in 1968 and brought a new era of celebrities, from Whoopi Goldberg to Johnny Cash to Robert Redford, to the ranch and Santa Fe as she welcomed her friends to take in the region that had stolen her heart. “Her philosophy was that you leave your ego at the door,” said Meredith Macfarlane, the resort’s general manager. “It didn’t matter who you are.”
Groups can visit Egan’s original home during a morning hike of the 57-acre property and experience the legacy of her hospitality in the James Beard Award-nominated Terra restaurant. “We take advantage of her love of bourbon and do a lot of bourbon-infused cocktails, and we’ve incorporated into the menu Betty’s barbecued short ribs,” said Macfarlane.
The property has nearly 14,000 square feet of meeting space, but Rancho Encantado tempts planners to take their entire event outdoors with the slate of activities at the adventure center. These include team-building tours to a nearby winery to bottle your own wine; a look at the ancient Kiva dwellings at Bandelier National Monument, which are more than 3,000 years old; and a tour of Georgia O’Keeffe’s home and painting sites, followed by a contest to see who can create the best O’Keeffe replica.
Asilomar Conference Grounds
Pacific Grove, California
Though it’s best known today for its architecture, which still draws architecture associations and enthusiasts for tours with state park rangers, the stunning oceanside retreat center now known as the Asilomar Conference Grounds and State Beach originally sprang from one woman’s determination to create a camp area for young girls.
When the YWCA western regional conference burned down in 1912, Phoebe Apperson Hearst, mother of William Randolph Hearst and a very active member of the YWCA, petitioned the Pacific Improvement Company for land. “It was owned by four of the robber barons, but she held a lot of weight with the well-to-do people and was able to twist their arms to get 30 acres,” said Tim McGill, Asilomar’s director of sales and marketing.
Hearst called upon a young architect, Julia Morgan, one of the first women to graduate from the University of California, Berkeley and the Academie des Beaux Arts in France to design the original camp. Morgan went on to design Hearst Castle and make a mark on American architecture forever by bringing the British Arts and Crafts movements across the Atlantic.
Today, the property is owned by the state of California and includes 107 acres of beach and sand dunes, with 65,000 square feet of function space and 312 guest rooms spread out in a total of 30 buildings, making it easy for groups to feel they have the space to themselves even if there are other events going on.
“Sometimes we have 10 or 12 groups, and sometimes there’s a full buyout,” said McGill. “We book large groups two years out, but I book about 30 percent of my business for the year in that year, so there’s still opportunities.”
Hotel Jerome
Aspen, Colorado
When Jerome Wheeler, co-owner of Macy’s, needed to move his family to a different climate due to his wife’s ailing health, he fell for the vistas of the Aspen Mountains, bought a plot of land and built a property meant to rival the Ritz in Paris and the Savoy in Rome.
Following its grand opening on Thanksgiving Day 1889, when every room was lit with electric lights, the Hotel Jerome became an anchor point of the community, as it was the first hotel west of the Mississippi to have hot and cold water, elevators and electric lighting. In part due to the tutelage of the Wheelers, Aspen grew into the luxury mountain destination we know today.
“During prohibition, the J Bar, the Jerome Bar, was turned into a soda fountain, but the bartender made moonshine, and miners would come in and ask for an Aspen Crud and wink, and that would be the signal to add three shots of bourbon,” said Susie Lee, the hotel’s marketing manager.
The hotel finished a top-to-bottom overhaul in 2012 that retained its historical authenticity, and groups can take a historical tour of the hotel during their meetings that starts with the hand-carved staircases and signature suites and finishes with an Aspen Crud in the J Bar. Hotel Jerome is the only venue in Aspen that features completely aboveground event space, with 10,000 square feet offering mountain views. The property offers options for tented outdoor space adjacent to the property or, for small groups, a horse ride up into the mountains.
