Outbound Hotels began with the intent to provide its guests with access to the great outdoors — while also elevating their trips with the experience and amenities of modern hospitality.
Founded under real estate investor and operator Waterton, Outbound Hotels has announced its two newest locations and a new operating partner as it continues to strategically grow its portfolio of destinations.
"Outbound was created to fill a gap of the hotel space," said Matthew Mering, co-founder of Outbound Hotels and executive vice president of hospitality at Waterton. "What we do is provide memorable stays [at] great outdoor destinations, but at an approachable price point. So, if you want to get outdoors, but still have the creature comforts of a nice, upscale, full-service hotel that you know reflects the locale, has a great sense of place and a good, authentic local vibe — that's really the niche we fill in the space with Outbound."
As of this fall, Outbound has named CoralTree Hospitality as its exclusive operating partner for its five open resorts and those in its pipeline. Mering said the partnership came together after years of unofficial collaborating, which turned into CoralTree pitching a more structured partnership as Outbound planned its portfolio expansion.
"From our perspective, we want to have an owner mentality. We want to have the benefits of vertical integration, where you own and operate, but for us, building a management platform was impractical," Mering said. "We've done it in the past at Waterton. It takes a lot of capital, it takes a lot of time, and we don't want to be distracted from our goal of building the brand and building the real estate portfolio."
He added that the deal allows Outbound "to bring in a partner, have them operate the assets and have the peace of mind knowing that they're true owners in both the brand and the portfolio. And they're going to treat this as an owner would."
Outbound currently has three open resorts — The Virginian Lodge in Jackson Hole, Wyoming; Outbound Mammoth in Mammoth Lakes, California; and Outbound Stowe in Stowe, Vermont.
Last month, Outbound announced two new hotels in its pipeline. Outbound Yosemite in Oakhurst, California, is a 17-acre, ground-up construction that's expected to open 104 park-model cabins in the first quarter of next year. The 137-room Outbound Sedona in Arizona, a conversion project, will open in the second quarter of next year. Both hotels will have a restaurant, and Sedona will also feature a spa — the first in Outbound's portfolio.
At each location, Mering said the priority is providing an experience connecting guests to each other, to nature and to the communities each resort is located in.
"Internally, when we talk through the business, we often say, 'We're not in the hotel business, we're in the connection business.' So it's really about connection, and connecting all those threads together to create something special."
For more from the interview with Outbound's Matthew Mering, listen to the podcast embedded above.