MTS Summit Award

The response to the call for nominations for our inaugural MTS Summit Award, sponsored by United, was overwhelming. The submissions truly exceeded our expectations, and we were blown away by the incredible initiatives that were submitted!

The winners of the award are Steamboat Ski & Resort Corporation and Berkshire East Mountain Resort, both of whom submitted truly outstanding entries. We would also like to extend an honorable mention to Switzerland for their Swisstainability program. But it wasn't just the winners who impressed us. We were truly inspired by all of the nominations we received, which highlighted the incredible work being done in our industry. From cutting-edge technology to community-driven initiatives, we are proud to be a part of an industry that is constantly pushing the boundaries and striving for excellence. Check out all of the nominations below.

Mount

Mount is a sharing economy company focused on reducing single use travel items. This marketplace where travelers can rent anything they need—from bikes and clothes to pool toys from the locals—encourages travelers to travel with just a backpack and rent everything in destination. By encouraging this, Mount has seen a decrease in single use travel items bought and immediately thrown away after a trip and a deeper connection to the locals and environment. Now, With over $4M in funding and a team of 15, Mount is on a journey to expand its impact to the entire global travel industry. Mount was named on Phocuswright's Hot 25 list for 2023. Madison Rifkin, CEO, won the 2022 Vacation Rental Management Association (VRMA)'s "Rising Star"

Jay Peak

Jay Peak has always advocated for the employee even in the most difficult of circumstances. The resort's work in community service is closely tied to its staff, who are the largest employers in an area with high unemployment rates. When Jay Peak faced federal receivership in 2016 and three of its owners were headed to jail, the resort's President and GM, Steve Wright, worked tirelessly to stabilize staff morale and save the wedding and conference business. The team convinced the federal government to get raises for full-time year-round workers, expanded their charitable giving, and looked for opportunities to help the community. During the pandemic, Jay Peak was the first major resort to close for the pandemic, giving up a lot of revenue for the health and safety of their staff. They supported laid-off employees, dairy producers, and seniors who were shut in. Throughout the selling process, they continued to support staff, expanding benefits, and raising the starting wage from $13 to $17/hour after selling to PGRI in the fall. Jay Peak's focus on staff has enabled them to navigate difficult times, lead from the front, and maintain a viable business that supports the community.

SNOWBIRD

Through our Play Forever initiative, Snowbird commits to protecting our environment and supporting our community. Our Play Forever initiative recognizes that the health of both our environment and local community is vital to the future of our mountain and the sports we love.
How Snowbird Protects Our Environment and Supports Our Community:
-Snowbird Power Systems’ Cogeneration plant is anticipated to save 62,000 dekatherms of natural gas annually. Snowbird continues to be the first and only ski resort in North America to run a facility that recycles the waste heat from the engines to warm the resorts’ facilities and water, rather than one that uses new energy sources.
-Electric Vehicle charging stations offer our guests and employees free vehicle charging.
-Snowbird provides free bus passes to all season pass holders and employees.
-Improvements have been made resort-wide in waste management.
-From March 2021 through November 2022, Snowbird composted 190,000 pounds of food.
-From June 2017 through November 2022, Snowbird recycled 261,000 pounds of glass.
-Participation in the Slow the Flow program has helped Snowbird reduce water consumption resort wide.
-Snowbird hosted our 41st Annual Little Cottonwood Canyon Cleanup.
-The Keep It Pure initiative with Salt Lake City Public Utilities help Snowbird better protect drinking water at the source.
-Cottonwood Canyons Foundation has led Snowbird in pulling invasive weeds throughout the resort and collecting native seeds to replant.
-Trout Unlimited and TreadLightly! have worked with Snowbird on watershed protection and restoration projects in Mary Ellen Gulch and American Fork Canyon.
-Snowbird’s Play Forever Fund provides funding in support of our community. In the 2021-22 season, Snowbird helped raise more than $43,000 to benefit non-profits focusing on local relief, participation and the environment.
-Snowbird has partners with Ski Utah and their Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Program to introduce skiing and snowboarding to upwards of 200 individuals from the Future Scholars of Africa, Park City Christian Youth Group and the Diversity Club at Weber State University.
-Snowbird is working closely to support research and initiatives around the Great Salt Lake, including The Nature Conservancy and Audubon Society's management of the Great Salt Lake Watershed Enhancement Program.
-Snowbird participates in numerous climate and environmental initiatives, including supporting Protect Our Winters, Breathe Utah, Utah Climate Action Network and Utah Clean Air Caucus.
-Alongside other Wasatch ski resorts, Snowbird helped organize, promote and support the 3rd Climate Week kickoff party at Fisher Brewery this past September.
-Snowbird also supports university research on air and water quality, and has an ongoing Snowbird Sustainability Internship program.
-Snowbird lobbied in Washington D.C. with Protect Our Winters on climate action.

Ski utah

Ski Utah’s Discover Winter program strives to make the outdoors more inclusive. Through a program designed by Ski Utah and its member resorts, Discover Winter aims to introduce ethnically diverse and LGBTQ+ adults (18+) to skiing/riding through a series of four lessons.
Unlike other programs that historically target children, this program targets adults, and the program is entirely free for participants. Discover Winter breaks down barriers to entry by providing transportation to the ski area, ski and snowboard rental gear, lessons, lift tickets and the necessary clothing and gear to keep participants warm and safe. At the end of the four lessons, each participant is given a Ski Utah Yeti Pass to continue honing their newfound skills. The Yeti Pass provides one lift ticket to each of Utah’s 15 ski resorts. They are also invited, along with past participants and volunteers to an Après Ski Party to socialize with all the other participants, to share their experiences and foster new friendships. During its first season, Ski Utah was able to introduce 140 ethnically diverse new skiers and snowboarders from 36 different countries of origin to the slopes.
Over 500 ethnically diverse individuals applied for the program this season. Unlike other ski and snowboard growth programs, Discover Winter wasn’t about introducing the sport to economically disadvantaged youth…in fact, the majority of participants are working professionals or university students and nearly half are refugees or immigrants. They may have the means to participate in the sport, they just don’t have a network of friends or family members that ski or snowboard to introduce them and go with them. In evaluating the success of the program, close to 90% of the participants from 2021–22 said they will continue to ski or snowboard and 36% purchased a season pass for the 2022–23 season. Over 90% of participants posted about their experience on their social media channels.

Introducing Skican's approach to Thoughtful Travel: Skican sends skiers and boarders to more than 50 destinations worldwide and has recently focused on reducing its environmental impact. The company engaged its staff in reducing their personal greenhouse gas emissions and partnered with LESS Emissions to provide the highest quality carbon offsets to reduce the environmental impact of air travel. Skican has offset the equivalent of 1,000 tonnes of carbon emissions since April 2021. Skican encourages its clients to shop local, reduce and recycle, practice "leave no trace" travel, pack lightly, and fly direct in economy class. By implementing these initiatives, Skican hopes to inspire a new generation of climate optimists and support a low-carbon future in travel.

Club Med Québec

East West Hospitality

At East West Hospitality, we believe that exceptional guest experiences are created by investing in people and building a strong organizational culture. While the products we offer are flights and hotel rooms, what our guests truly buy is the experience we provide. This is especially true for luxury travel, where expectations and expenditures go beyond basic utility.
Our culture revolves around the mantra of "doing the right thing," which requires knowledge, perspective, and empowerment. To cultivate this culture, we have developed a platform called Thrive, which focuses on three key elements: Knowledge, Well-being, and Connectedness.
Under the Knowledge pillar, we have established East West University, which offers more than 6,000 courses for our 1,500 employees. We also have a well-documented advancement path and a succession program to help our employees achieve their career goals.
Under the Well-being pillar, we prioritize the health and happiness of our employees. We have a Total Rewards program that encompasses all aspects of pay and benefits, and we offer flexibility in the workplace to promote work-life balance. We also provide housing options and a 4-week paid sabbatical after 10 years of employment.
Under the Connectedness pillar, we prioritize local engagement, sustainability, and fun. We connect our employees to charitable organizations, offer volunteer service hours, and have a dedicated sustainability expert on staff. We also organize events like holiday parties, picnics, and ski days to foster a sense of community and enjoyment.
Our focus on building a thriving culture has resulted in exceptional guest experiences. By prioritizing our people and creating an environment where they can do the right thing, we are able to provide thoughtful and personal experiences that no standard operating procedure could possibly define. We believe that genuinely caring about our people leads to them taking great care of our guests.

Berkshire East Mountain Resort

IceWalks

Athabasca Glacier IceWalks has been providing guided interpretive experiences on the Athabasca Glacier for over 35 years. IceWalks is co-owned by Corin and Megan Lohmann with founder Peter Lemieux. Zuc’min Guiding, owned by Tim Patterson, provides a variety of Indigenous led guiding experiences throughout the Rocky Mountains. In 2021, Athabasca Glacier IceWalks and Zuc'min Guiding came together with a shared interest and passion for deepening visitors' knowledge and connection to the Athabasca Glacier, sparking a collaboration that would lead to opportunities for new, impactful tourism offerings in the Rocky Mountains.
The partnership began with conversation around land, connection and what reconciliation means. Zuc’min Guiding owner, Tim Patterson, provided early guidance and insight on deepening land acknowledgements to reflect the responsibility each individual has to acknowledge, respect, and care for the wild spaces they are exploring. Since the partnership began, IceWalks guides have had the opportunity to learn from Tim during spring guides training, and integrate personal land acknowledgements into their glacier tours.
Recognizing the opportunity to demonstrate reconciliation in action, and to bring a greater understanding of the relationship and responsibility we as humans have to the natural world around us, owners of IceWalks and Zuc’min developed a tour dedicated to sharing Indigenous perspective and launched ‘Big Ice’ – a half day experience led by Indigenous guides on the Athabasca Glacier. This tour was piloted during 2021 and expanded in 2022 as the unique offering was identified as a preferred format for a tour company based in the United States.
Big Ice was nominated for an Indigenous Tourism Alberta award in 2022, receiving recognition as a Top 3 Finalist. The partnership and Big Ice tour has been documented by a number of media outlets. Though early in its development, this partnership between IceWalks and Zuc’min Guiding provides an example of reconciliation through collaboration. It is an example of how guiding operations can integrate critical knowledge and education into their tours to bring increased awareness to the relationship between outdoor adventure tourism and sustainability.

Switzerland Tourism

Switzerland is a global leader in environmental sustainability, and the Swiss tourism industry is committed to maintaining this position through its sustainability strategy, Swisstainable. The program promotes sustainable travel and aims to increase guests' awareness and enjoyment of local cultures, regional products, and nature. Switzerland is known for its hydropower use, early and comprehensive expansion of public transport, and high environmental awareness. The country has over 5,000 km2 of nature parks, 1,500 lakes, and 30% of its land is forested. Switzerland also has excellent air quality and is the largest consumer of organic products per capita. The country is a leader in recycling and waste management, with 90% of PET bottles being recycled.
Swisstainable's goals include increasing guest awareness of sustainability, increasing the duration of guests' stays, and increasing business participation in the program. The program has three levels of certification: committed, engaged, and leading. The requirements vary, but all levels require a commitment to sustainable corporate management, and businesses with comprehensive and recognized sustainability certification are eligible for the highest level. Switzerland aims to defend its position as the most sustainable destination in the world, and the Swiss tourism industry is committed to reducing its environmental impact by decreasing the number of business trips and training all employees in sustainability. Swisstainable is a unique and independent strategy that promotes excellence in sustainability in Switzerland's tourism industry.

Steamboat Ski & Resort Corporation

On December 2022 Steamboat Ski Resort opened an employer based child care facility for SSRC team members. The resort is one of only a handful of ski resorts across North America to provide this critical benefit to employees.
In only 15 months the resort went from concept to doors open of a childcare facility for team members with children ranging in age from 2 month to 5 years old; thanks to the incredible leadership of Rob Perlman and the Senior Leadership Team. The biggest hurdle was accepting that operating a childcare center would be a loss for the company—subsidizing the center to the tune of more than $200,000 per year.
Immediately 19 children of SSRC staff members were enrolled and a waitlist of 49 community members was started- highlighting the demand for this needed facility. By creating an employer-based child care center not only are we offering highly needed space to our team members, but we are likely opening spaces at community centers that our team members would have previously used, thereby creating more accessibility to childcare for our entire community.
Steamboat is taking big strides to showcase that employer based child care facilities are not only possible, they are necessary to provide meaningful and critical support to parents in the workforce. Our goal goes way beyond convincing other resorts to offer employer-based child care, we want to influence the entire business sector in hopes that one day employer-based child care is a benefit as common as 401k and health insurance. We have continued to work with local and state government officials to share our story of offering an employer based child care center, and we have engage with several other ski resorts from Colorado, New Mexico, California and beyond as their interest in providing this critical need grows.

Club Med, the pioneer of the all-inclusive concept since 1950, has opened its first four-season resort in Canada – Club Med Québec Charlevoix – in late 2021, marking the return of the brand’s mountain leadership in North America. This move by Club Med is aimed at giving travelers the opportunity to enjoy a cost-saving, hassle-free all-inclusive ski vacation closer to home, building on the success of its all-inclusive ski resorts in Europe, Japan, and China.
Club Med was drawn to Le Massif de Charlevoix in Quebec due to its rich culture, warm and inviting spirit, exceptional snowfall, and spectacular views. The region is also a World Biosphere Reserve, and Club Med is committed to sustainable development. Club Med Québec operates under the Green Globe certification, which focuses on sustainability efforts such as combating food waste, eliminating single-use plastic products, and prioritizing local sourcing. The resort was constructed to be respectful of its natural surroundings and leave a minimal footprint.
Since opening, the resort has supported the local economy by creating 350 direct and 400 indirect jobs, driving a 6% increase in traffic through the international airport, and promoting local tourism through a variety of excursion programs and community outreach. The resort has welcomed a large number of international travelers and operates with about 85% occupancy, with approximately 30% of international visitors from across North America, South America, and Europe during the winter season. The resort has also received a Rainbow Certification, indicating national accreditation that the resort operates under a stringent set of inclusive standards to ensure LGBTQ+ customers feel safe, welcomed, and accepted.
The total construction cost of the project was around $130M CAD. Club Med’s commitment to sustainability and its positive impact on the local economy make it a significant addition to the region. Its success in attracting international visitors demonstrates the brand's appeal and the value of its all-inclusive vacation concept. The resort's opening is a positive development for the Canadian tourism industry, which has suffered due to the pandemic, and it provides travelers with a cost-effective and stress-free option for enjoying a ski vacation in North America.

Berkshire East Mountain Resort in Charlemont, Massachusetts, has evolved from a seasonal ski area to a year-round adventure destination under the leadership of the second generation of Schaefers. The family has shown a pioneering spirit in developing a sustainable business model that includes reducing dependence on traditional energy sources and repurposing equipment. To combat climate change, the resort has installed a 500 kWh solar facility and a 900 kWh wind turbine, making it the first ski area in the world to generate 100% of its power demand from on-site renewable energy. This has stabilized the resort's electrical expenses for the next 30 years, providing a positive return on investment and enabling the resort to provide guests with a better on-hill experience. The resort has also taken additional steps to reduce its environmental impact, such as replacing fuel oil burners with wood cut from the ski area, replacing all interior lights with energy-efficient models, and replacing snowmaking pumps with more efficient alternatives.
In the future, Berkshire East Mountain Resort plans to develop a Micro Pump Storage facility, which uses water as an energy storage system, to produce power when electricity prices are higher. This is a basic, clean alternative to other options on the market that rely on rare earth minerals or toxic chemicals and are prone to fires. The Schaefers have worked tirelessly for nearly five decades to create a sustainable business model with a competitive advantage, identifying opportunities for repurposing equipment, reducing dependence on traditional energy sources, and making a commitment to future generations. Berkshire East Mountain Resort is an industry leader in sustainability and environmental impact and a model for other businesses to follow.