Glorious Getaways
Business-oriented luxury resorts tempt executives to squeeze a little fun into trips
Dallas-based Woodbine Development Corp. chose a more rustic locale for its Hyatt Lost Pines resort, which borders Bastrop County's McKinney Roughs Nature Park yet is a short hop from fast-growing Austin. Travelers may well feel as if they are camping in the thick of luxury. Woodbine bought extra land to buffer the resort from homes and other buildings. That made the long road necessary, creating the feeling of a remote escape, says Brian Sbrocco, sales and marketing director for the resort, which opened in June.
Hardwood floors, vast stone fireplaces, buttery leather sofas, and a chandelier made out of a large branch make the two-story Lost Pines lobby feel more like a country home than a convention center. Sbrocco calls the décor "unapologetically Texan." Central Texas music plays throughout Lost Pines, and pictures of famous Texans like writer Larry McMurtry and musician Lyle Lovett adorn the walls. Local touches, such as Elgin sausage with an assortment of mustards, pepper the seven eateries.
Pony express. Business travelers can check in on their BlackBerrys or at a lobby kiosk. They can access the Internet wirelessly while sitting in a rocking chair on the back porch, gazing out at a 300-year-old pecan tree. The resort offers 290,000 square feet of meeting space, including a lighted outdoor amphitheater on the banks of the Colorado River. During a recent company meeting at Lost Pines, the fast-food chain Whataburger brought in local musician Ray Benson for a concert on the grassy knoll. Companies can also make use of the grounds by having team-building scavenger hunts with GPS trackers. Or they can opt for a 30-minute express horseback ride created especially for business travelers.
While parents are busy working, children can amuse themselves in the water park, video game arcade, and youth spa or hike on nearby trails. Meeting facilities are on one side of the hotel while the fun stuff for kids is at the other end. "As a person in a business, you don't want to see little Tommy running around in a bathing suit," says Sbrocco. So far, Woodbine's calculation seems to be paying off. Even with rates starting at $250 a night, occupancy has hovered around 70 percent. About 65 percent of guests are business travelers with client meetings in Austin or company meetings at the hotel.
Doak Hunter helped plan a weeklong retreat at Lost Pines for software company Vignette's 130 consultants scattered throughout the United States, Mexico, and Brazil. Attracted by its seclusion and space, he booked the property in March for the November meeting before the resort was even finished. "Going out there, I'm like, 'Where am I going?'" recalls Hunter, a senior purchasing manager at the Austin-based company. The isolation "gave you time to sit back with your team and focus on them." Because the five-day event was chock-full of meetings, breakout sessions, team-building exercises, and dinners, Vignette employees had little time for golf or massages. But just being at the tranquil resort surrounded by nature, "everyone left feeling pumped up and excited," Hunter says. And "that's what we want-everyone to come out feeling refreshed and hopefully to gain some knowledge."
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