On Oct. 11-12, representatives of Wyoming Office of Tourism (WOT), Wyoming Travel Industry Coalition (WTIC), Wyoming Lodging and Restaurant Association (WLRA), Carbon County Visitors Council (CCVC) and people interested in the hospitality and tourism industry will be converging on Saratoga for a fall summit.
The Saratoga Hot Springs Resort, Hotel Wolf and Riviera Lodge are all at capacity on the 11th with the 10th and 12th being solidly booked too.
“It should be a pretty good economic impact for the community,” Stacy Crimmins, Saratoga Chamber Commerce Director said.
Crimmins has been to these conferences before, the last being in Jackson a couple years back. She said around 50 people attended the event in Jackson, but Crimmins will not be surprised if more attendees come to Saratoga because it is relatively near to Cheyenne and Casper.
The meetings will be held at the Platte Valley Community Center at 10 a.m. on the 11th until 5 p.m. Meetings will resume at 8:15 a.m. on the 12th and go until 5 p.m. There will be a reception to welcome participants at the Saratoga Hot Springs Resort courtyard from 6-8 p.m. Oct. 11.
“It is a behind the scenes kind of summit,” Crimmins said. “Because when I go the Hospitality and Tourism Conference, it is more oriented to the giving of presentations, while this summit is more of discussion and opportunity to present ideas.”
Crimmins is looking forward to seeing the creative thoughts that WOT presents.
“They always have incredible quality videos, newspaper ads and promotional ads,” Crimmins said. “They are very inspiring.”
Crimmins does acknowledge a large conference in Saratoga can be a challenge when a sizeable amount of people need to be fed at other venues’ peak times, but she sees the town does its best trying to cater to the attendees.
“The restaurants we have in Saratoga are fantastic, but when they have their own lunches and dinners to do, staffing and preparing additional meals can sometimes be a problem,” said Crimmins. “Most of the restaurant owners want to help out as much as they can because they understand the potential for new customers in the future.”
She doesn’t see a problem with the Hospitality and Tourism Fall Summit, but when a conference attracts close to a 1,000, the town is challenged.
It is similar with hotel rooms. The town can only have a conference with around 150 attendees because that is the limit of rooms the town has to offer.
She sees an upside to more conferences being held in Saratoga because not only does it generate more income for businesses, but if there are enough of them consistently it can potentially attract investors to put in more rooms.
Crimmins is looking forward to the hospitality attendees coming to the town.
“The people that are going to be at this, are the same people that tell someone to visit the good places in the state,” Crimmins said. “We in the industry promote other communities because that is what we hope others are doing for us.”
She says this is why this conference is an excellent opportunity for Saratoga to shine.
“We live in the Platte Valley, which is absolutely gorgeous and a place many wish they could live,” Crimmins said. “By townspeople telling all these visitors about the fantastic things they can do here, the town is in a great position to let the WOT, WTIC and WLRA know what we offer to the state of Wyoming.”
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