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Small Investment in Decorative Lighting Leads to Big Boost in Resort Property Appeal
by Richard Lyford
Director of Sales
American Lighting
Fall has just begun and yet the Rocky Mountains already lie under a blanket of snow. For the hotel and resort owners and managers whose livelihood depends largely on an influx of out of state skiers, the snow is a welcome sight. As they scramble to prepare for the upcoming ski season, which represents a majority of their revenue for the year, one persistent challenge is the need to both stand out from the competition and provide a year-round attractive lodging environment.
In this strongly competitive marketplace, every dollar you invest in your hotel and resort property needs to be well-spent and directly connected to the overall guest experience. Today’s hotel and resort managers have the difficult task of trying to balance the day-to-day needs of their catering, maintenance and housekeeping staff, while making smart investments to add to the ambiance of their property. Further, today’s typical resort guest can be more difficult to attract, and often has an array of lodging options at his or her fingertips.
Given these challenging circumstances, differentiating your resort property from the one down the street is even more crucial than ever. Implementing year-round decorative lighting is an effective way to distinguish your property from your competitors’ without incurring the large cost of renovation or additions. The investment in decorative lighting has the potential to boost the attractiveness, appeal and visibility of your hotel property, which in turn leads to higher occupancy and contributes to the overall lodging experience of your guests.
Mark Johnson, Vice President and General Manager of Beaver Village Management, a resort property management company whose properties include a landmark lodge near the Winter Park Ski Area, was facing a similar challenge. He wanted to improve the visibility of his hotel property but lacked the budget for a large-scale renovation. Although the idea of using decorative lighting to highlight the gabled architecture of his Colorado ski lodge was attractive to him, he knew that historically this type of lighting had its difficulties. Incandescent light bulbs and light strings used additional energy and were more expensive to operate, often required ongoing maintenance and higher replacement costs, and could result in an uneven, unprofessional look.
“I was looking for the right product to help highlight and upgrade our property but knew it needed to be low-maintenance, long-lasting, and low-cost. I tried some other options in the past but within a week, I noticed bulbs had burned out and breakers were flipping due to blown fuses. It was also important to reduce our energy costs and be as environmentally friendly as possible,” Johnson said.
Johnson ultimately turned to decorative lighting from American Lighting in Denver and learned about LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes). LEDs are being used in an ever –widening variety of lighting applications such as traffic signals, vehicles, and now seasonal and decorative lighting. LED seasonal and decorative lights come in the same styles and colors as their older incandescent counterparts; however, in addition to enabling a variety of decorative lighting applications, they provide a number of additional benefits:
• Extremely low energy usage. Using 80-90% less energy than incandescent lights, LEDs save money on energy bills, especially with rising utility costs across the country.
• Long-lasting. With an average lifetime rating of 100,000 hours or more (compared to incandescent bulbs’ average life range from 1,500 to 15,000 hours), they can be used year after year. This eliminates or minimizes maintenance costs due to ongoing bulb or light string replacement.
• Produce little or no heat. LEDs can be used safely to decorate wooden structures, plants or trees without damage.
• Rugged. Using plastic bulbs (rather than glass) significantly reduces the potential for breakage.
• Creative options. Ongoing technology enhancements enable new and innovative designs such as color-changing bulbs, a broader array of available colors, and designer lens styles. Hotels and resorts can even match their lighting designs to area sports teams, local festivals, and a variety of holidays. LEDs are also being used as replacements for traditional incandescent light bulbs.
Johnson’s resort lodge received an immediate boost from the installation of LEDs throughout his resort. “I was pleasantly surprised how cost-effective the new lights were. They were easy to install and are professional looking. Although I plan to keep them on throughout the year, I like the option of creating themes during the holidays and tying the lights into events going on in town,” he said. “Guests and local residents have been raving about how nice they look and how easy it was to locate our Beaver Village Resort,” he added. “That’s really important to me as the ski season starts to kick into high gear.”
Another Colorado resort, the Devil’s Thumb Ranch, is also decorating with LED lights this year. Rather than use decorative lighting to stand out from other nearby lodging options, Devil’s Thumb is using LED decorative lighting to enhance the resort feel of the property and improve the overall guest experience. They like the environmentally friendly and low-light pollution aspect of these lights. “Our resort is secluded in the woods outside of Winter Park. We wanted to provide a warm, decorative feel to our property, using a clean light that doesn’t overwhelm the natural beauty of the surrounding forest,” said General Manager Steve Koerselman.
Both resort managers are seeing immediate benefits from using LED light strings, and are pleased with the enhancement and improved visibility of their long-time destination resorts. In addition to the cost savings and positive response from their guests, these managers believe they’ve made an investment that will pay off for years to come.