RockResorts

RockResorts is a hotel brand with roots in the 1950s. Laurance Rockefeller, founder, began building a series of resorts in 1956 with the establishment of Caneel Bay on St. John in the United States Virgin Islands. Early properties included the Grand Teton Lodge Company (which, with the Jackson Lake Lodge and Jenny Lake Lodge, actually preceded Caneel Bay), Dorado Beach Hotel and Golf Club, Little Dix Bay and Mauna Kea Beach Hotel. At some point in the early to mid 1960s, Rockefeller and others began referring to his collection of resort properties as RockResorts. Additional RockResorts during this time included the Woodstock Inn in Vermont and The Boulders in Carefree, Arizona.

The company was sold to railroad company CSX, which combined it with its hotel resort The Greenbrier. In 1986, CSX sold the brand, and the original hotel companies were dispersed, though The Greenbrier remained.

In 1999, the RockResorts brand was revived by Olympus Hospitality, and later acquired by Vail Resorts in 2001. Today, the brand is headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado. RockResort properties include The Pines Lodge in Beaver Creek, Colorado; Keystone Lodge in Keystone, Colorado, The Lodge At Vail in Vail, Colorado, La Posada de Santa Fe Resort & Spa in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Snake River Lodge & Spa in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, The Lodge & Spa at Cordillera in Edwards, Colorado, and The Landings St. Lucia on the island of St. Lucia. The Lodge at Vail was at one time owned and developed by VSOE Hotels whose major shareholder James Sherwood was the entrepreneur behind the revival of the Venice-Simplon Orient Express and an eclectic mix of other luxury hotels and train services operated in the great cities and countries around the world.

Between 2006 and 2007, a significant number of RockResorts left the portfolio, leaving the brand with only six properties in Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico. The brand has announced The Arrabelle At Vail Square in Vail, Colorado, a new construction property to open in 2008; The Eleven Hotel & Spa in downtown Miami, Florida, to open in 2009; and Rum Cay Resort & Spa in The Bahamas, to open in 2010. Other pending properties in the Caribbean and Hawaii may or may not be announced in 2007.

References, Links

* [http://rockresorts.com/gen.about.asp RockResorts Corporate History, Properties]
* [http://archive.rockefeller.edu/bio/laurance.php?printer=1 Laurance S. Rockefeller Bio at Rockefeller Archive Center]
* [http://www.caneelbay.com/press.cfm Caneel Bay History, Press Room]