2022 ACRA Annual Report

2022

ANNUAL REPORT

VISION

To create an environment for Aspen to thrive.

MISSION

Attract visitors to the resort, foster a dynamic Aspen experience, and provide valuable member benefits to support a sustainable local economy.

ORGANIZATIONAL GOALS

Our strategic plan was formulated through the board of directors, committees and member feedback, and serves as a comprehensive guide of six primary goals for implementing our long-term vision.

LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT & CEO

Dear ACRA Members,

First and foremost, I want to say thank you to our dedicated group of board, staff, committee and task force volunteers. It is because of your unwavering support that the Aspen Chamber Resort Association continues to grow and positively impact our community.

This Annual Report illustrates a depth and quality of work of which I am extremely proud. We entered 2022 still operating in an uncertain, complex, and ambiguous environment full of challenges, yet also with a renewed optimism and confidence. Collaboration, best practices, and thought leadership continued to be our guiding values throughout the year, values that have been essential in staying true to our vision—creating an environment for Aspen to thrive.

Both in times of crisis and in prosperity, ACRA’s superpower has always been its collaborative partnership structure and the conviction that we are all in this together. We strive to cultivate a mindset and culture that enables us to move forward in a thoughtful and innovative way – one that balances the pressures of recovering financially and meeting business goals with a responsibility to be stewards of our community and our planet.

This is best illuminated in ACRA’s Aspen Destination Management Plan, a comprehensive and integrated roadmap for addressing visitor pressure, enhancing the Aspen experience, and preserving our small-town character. Designed to enhance the resiliency of the community over the next five years and beyond, the ADMP serves to build from and accelerate ACRA’s successes and aims to protect quality of life, and simultaneously preserve the very reason people enjoy coming here.

And to our 750+ locally serving business members…thank you! Your optimism, resiliency, and thriving mindset infuses our community with a sense of possibility and opens our minds and hearts to the certainty of a prosperous, sustainable future.

Now, go out and Defy Ordinary!

Debbie Braun President & CEO

STAFF

DEBBIE BRAUN

President & CEO

JENNIFER ALBRIGHT CARNEY Chief Operating Officer

ELIZA

JESSICA HITE Director of Marketing

BRIDGET

SARAH

LIZ WATSON Director of Sales

NICHOLE

ALYCIN BEKTESH Public Affairs Manager

MELANY MURO Special Events Manager

JENNIFER WOOD Special Events Coordinator

DIANA

ROBERT ALBRIGHT

LETTER FROM THE CHAIR OF THE BOARD

In our busy lives, it’s important and interesting to look back and take stock of where we’ve been, what we’ve been through, and count our blessings. And, oh so many blessings!

2022 began with a huge amount of fresh, deep powder, and the ski season was one to remember with blue skies, and steady snowfall.

Summer excitement was back with FOOD & WINE Classic in Aspen, Aspen Ideas Festival, and a full calendar of music, theater, ballet, nature walks, and art and history tours. In other words, Aspen was in full bloom.

Behind the scenes, the ACRA team gathered business leaders, surveyed community members, hosted epic events, and featured candidates running for office. They also greeted thousands of visitors with directions, helpful hints, and recommendations. And they showed our frontline workers appreciation with gift cards to local restaurants.

As we look ahead to what the future brings, let’s double down on what we all want more of: SNOW! Oh, and more of a sense of community. That’s where the Aspen Chamber Resort Association starts: convening community members to brainstorm, collaborate, and support those helping Aspen to thrive. We live in a complex world with complex problems but there’s nothing we can’t do if we do it together.

As we cap off another memorable year in the storied history of this enchanting miningturned ski town, let’s celebrate the heroes: teachers, health care professionals, grocery store workers and all those on the front lines – and salute those who came before us. We truly stand on the shoulders of giants.

A hearty thank you to everyone committed to making our corner of this vast world more kind, safe and healthy for all.

Cristal Logan Chair, Board of Directors, Aspen Chamber Resort Association Vice President, Aspen Community Programs & Engagement, Aspen Institute

ORGANIZATIONAL VITALITY

Flexibility has become a key element in ACRA’s organizational atmosphere. 2022 continues to uphold a high level of productivity in a hybrid work environment. While more employees are in the office than the previous year, the ability to work in a variety of models has been critical in supporting employee needs. In addition to ACRA’s primary office space, a satellite coworking space at Regus has offered employees an alternative down valley. While not originally planned for, the location became an efficient solution to counter the challenges this year’s commute faced during construction on Highway 82 into Aspen.

Internally, we have focused on developing detailed standard operating procedures. The past few years have taught us more than ever the need for documenting systems and procedures and the importance for others to be able to jump in and tackle tasks as needed. SOPs are also an important tool to onboard new employees. ACRA’s administrative department has seen several new faces in 2022, and our up-dated procedural documents have been integral to the training process.

ACRA continues to value its team and employee wellbeing. This year in support of mental health, we introduced a new benefit partnering with Triad to provide an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) benefit for ACRA full-time employees. This benefit is also offered to ACRA members. Celebrating our employees is an important part of ACRA’s culture, it has been wonderful to have moments back in person acknowledging anniversaries with the company, wishing happy birthdays, and toasting nuptials.

Much time has been spent in 2022 discussing and planning the future home of ACRA. Throughout the year, ACRA has been working with the City of Aspen on details of a move for later in 2023. While we have enjoyed our home at the Old Power House, we are excited about the possibilities the Armory holds, the opportunity to be in the heart of town, in close proximity to member businesses, and engaging with residents and visitors.

Plan a new office space with advanced technology, that enhances productivity and allows for a flexible work environment.

Ensure ACRA is getting the best value for services with contractors and vendors.

Provide comprehensive coverage in Human Resources arena.

Maintain internal policies and procedures for efficient operations.

Ensure financial stability through fiscal responsibility and conservative budgeting, in all departments.

GOING GREEN-ER

We are thrilled to announce our designation as a Top 100 Green Destination, the first step in a multi-year process to get Aspen certified by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council as a sustainable destination. With this award, Aspen is also mentioned on the Good Travel guide which increases our visibility and reaches conscious travelers interested in visiting a sustainable destination through the Good Travel Guide website.

CONNECTING

ACRA is dedicated to serving our member businesses through extensive marketing and advertising support, educational programming and professional development, networking and relationship building, exclusive cost-savings services, and member benefits to attract and retain employees. ACRA members include approximately 750 locally serving businesses. ACRA is led by a strong policy-setting board of directors and dedicated staff who ensure a positive and lasting return on investment.

ACRA strives to be recognized throughout the community as a convener and catalyst for business growth. The membership team provided networking and social activities to engage our members and create an environment to build relationships through Business After Hours and member social events.

In 2022 ACRA continued to support our member businesses as they experienced the new normal in their day to day operations. ACRA identified current workforce issues affecting our member businesses and implemented programming and benefits to off-set challenges with hiring and retaining employees. In the second year designating October as Guest Service Appreciation Month, ACRA again recognized Aspen’s front line staff and local workforce. The 7908 campaign evolved to respond to the resilience needs of our local workforce by offering a gift card giveaway as an opportunity to recognize Aspen’s local workforce. ACRA believes we can make it a good day at work for our community by offering a targeted perk of being apart of the ACRA member workforce.

To be a catalyst for business growth.

Develop and sustain strategic partnerships that position the chamber as a leader in strengthening businesses.

Increase membership by 2% annually.

Develop leadership skills through educational training and opportunities to elevate knowledge within the chamber industry.

The program today was great. I really learned a lot and it was beyond helpful for our new marketing associate. Thank you for providing such high quality and useful information in such a nice setting!”

- Jordan Matthews, Esq. Whitman Fine Properties

EDUCATION & COMMUNICATION

This year ACRA continued to evolve its role as a convener and catalyst for business growth throughout the community. Through workshops, professional development, frequent communication and updates regarding public policy, we brought the membership timely information to allow for informed decision making and improved business practices.

These goals are further accomplished through developing and sustaining strategic partnerships that position the chamber as a leader in strengthening businesses. ACRA sits on the Commercial Core and Lodging Commission, and is a founding member of the Mountain Chamber Alliance. These networks expand our reach and connect us with broader needs of the region.

We serve as a communication conduit, not only informing businesses about policies that affect them and their workforce, but also informing policy makers of business needs and sentiment on local issues. This year ACRA submitted public comment on topics from public health orders, to short term rentals and pedestrian safety. Our strong reliance on data ensures our communication, education, and representation are valued contributions in the public sphere.

To be recognized throughout the business and local community as a convener.

Identify and research the current workforce issues and provide an accurate picture of Pitkin County for current and potential business owners and residents.

Execute a SWOT Analysis for all chamber communications and branding that results in providing a high-quality member experience.

Molly

Adult Collection Developer Pitkin County Public Library

Thank you so much for providing the gift certificates to local restaurants. I and the crew from the library really appreciate your efforts!”

-

Ireland

PUBLIC AFFAIRS

The ACRA public affairs committee is made of up of delegates from the board of directors and business leaders who represent a wide swath of needs throughout the community. Through public polling and close relationships with government bodies, ACRA is able to keep our pulse on changing policies, and to represent member needs in the public realm.

In 2022 the Public Affairs Committee met bi-monthly, using membership survey data to inform policy statements on various focus areas. The committee hosted Aspen’s elected officials for a data presentation, including workforce preferences on housing, transportation and childcare.

APRIL

Roundabout Construction Info Session

Mountain Careers Hiring Webinar

Hurst Community Initiative Workforce Town Hall

EDUCATION

MAY

Snowmass Tourism & ACRA Job Fair

Content Marketing Workshop

AUGUST

Pedestrian Safety Focus Group

OCTOBER Employee Appreciation Giveaways

Galena Experiment Feedback Forum

Aspen Affairs Election Series

DECEMBER Castle Creek Bridge Focus Group

Throughout the year ACRA facilitated member education on large scale policy changes throughout the region, and offered insights and trainings on the changing hiring climate.

In response to member concerns, we broadened our education approach this year by creating resource pages to serve as an up-to-date information sources as ever-changing information progressed in several public realms.

Workforce

To address workforce needs early in the year, we hosted a Hiring in Mountain Town Communities webinar, with specific strategies for HR representatives in our resort community. In partnership with the Hurst Community Initiative, we co-hosted a town hall on workforce sustainability issues at the end of April. ACRA co-hosted a job fair with Snowmass Tourism in early June to support our members hiring for the summer season and year-round positions. We launched a job board on our website to offer another channel for members to post open positions. ACRA co-hosted the Colorado Chamber of Commerce State of the State, which included an update on workforce trends across industries in the Roaring Fork Valley.

In response to membership concerns, regarding community issues affecting our member businesses, ACRA created two informational resources pages to serve as up to date information sources as every-changing information progressed.

Short Term Rentals

ACRA kept our membership informed of ongoing policy work by Pitkin County and the City of Aspen on short term rental regulations, including a moratorium on new licenses in the city. The year began with community outreach and culminated in new regulations, licensure procedures, and a public vote on a new city tax. ACRA kept members updated throughout this process using a resource webpage, social media, live updates from city council meetings, member newsletters and specific task force communications.

Galena Living Lab

In response to member needs, ACRA served as a convener and advocate for the business community through experimental traffic changes in the downtown core this summer. Our regular updates between city staff and the ACRA Board of Directors, as well as member polling and a in person feedback forum allowed the business voice to come across throughout the lab. We also created a resource page, a focus group, and kept members updated through our newsletter and social media.

Membership Data

In order to best represent our diverse membership, we regularly collect information and opinions from our members. We are then able to educate government agencies and the community at large about the demographics of our business community as well and the needs of owners ands the workforce. In 2022 we implemented a quick poll in our membership newsletter for ever changing issues popping up. A membership stakeholder survey focused on policy issues resulted in a record number of participants. We also implemented post-event feedback questionnaires to make sure attendees are satisfied with their experience so we remain on track in providing the benefits our members desire.

COMMUNICATION

Our bi-weekly e newsletter is a continued source of rich information for our members, as well as a resource to share their own news and events. This year we launched the ACRA at Work newsletter to keep the public and membership up to date on the work of the ACRA staff and Board of Directors.

In 2022, ACRA revitalized Aspen Affairs , a business-focused television show on GrassrootsTV, producing candidates forums and programing examining the business effect of ballot measures. In 2022 ACRA proudly sponsored a community voice project with Aspen Public Radio to ensure the special moments and people of our community are celebrated for the every day impact they make.

COMMUNITY VIBRANCY

This year, ACRA continued to create and enhance experiences for both visitors and locals alike to enjoy. Through reimagined community events with like-minded partners, to events that embrace Aspen as a worldrenowned destination and enhance visitor experiences, 2022 was full of opportunities aimed at creating vitality to benefit the community.

Strategic goals were met by the Event Department’s dedication to effective event management processes in 2022. Traditional event activations evolved to align with industry leaders and best practices during a time of COVID uncertainty by virtually honoring Wintersköl Royalty and offering a community social media contest and enhancements to existing events such as the FOOD & WINE Classic proved ACRA’s role as a community leader in event resource information with passes sold out in just under three hours.

Attract and produce events that drive visitation.

Engage in effective event management processes to align with industry leaders and best practices.

Be the community leader in event resource information.

Partner with other organizations to enhance existing new events.

ACRA continues to be one of our most valued and important collaborators in Aspen, not only as our producing partner for the FOOD & WINE Classic, but with community relations support with local businesses.”

- Diella Allen FOOD & WINE Executive Director, Event Marketing

WINTERSKÖL

Wintersköl celebrated its 71st anniversary in 2022 with the slogan - Positive Altitude. Increasing COVID case numbers and the uncertainty of where county guidelines would fall in early 2022 paved the way for a reimagined Wintersköl celebration. The spirit of winter shined bright as traditional Wintersköl components took to social media. The “Show us your button” social campaign gave the community an outlet to showcase their Wintersköl button from current or past years and highlighted many of the Aspen stakeholders who participated in prize giveaways.

FOOD & WINE CLASSIC IN ASPEN

The FOOD & WINE Classic in Aspen returned in 2022 with the switch back to its historically held weekend in early June. Aspen’s “kickoff to summer” event sold out in record timing, ensuring a busy weekend for hotel and hospitality partners. New in 2022 ACRA worked with FOOD & WINE’s editorial team to bring Ben’s Friends, an organization committed to providing a path forward to those in the hospitality industry who struggle with substance abuse or addiction to Aspen over the weekend. A local chapter of Ben’s Friends was created through the connections made over the weekend.

BUTTERMILK UPHILL BREAKFAST

In partnership with the City of Aspen and Aspen Skiing Company, ACRA sponsored the Buttermilk Uphill Breakfast on Friday, March 11. ACRA matched the $6 breakfast vouchers offered by the City and uphillers received a surprise free breakfast at the Cliffhouse as part of the event. ACRA branded swag and raffle prizes were awarded by staff members.

4TH OF JULY

After years of producing the 4th of July night-time activations, the City of Aspen took over the production of both day and night-time activations for 2022. In partnership with the City of Aspen, ACRA hosted community officials, parade judges and announcers in the hospitality suite at the Hotel Jerome.

2022 Wintersköl Royalty

DESTINATION MANAGEMENT

Aspen Chamber Resort Association, released the Aspen Destination Management Plan (ADMP) in March, a plan 7 months in the making; involving desk side research analysis, two tourism town halls, two cocreation labs, 1299 resident surveys and 10 one-on-one stakeholder interviews. The result synthesized the challenges Aspen is facing and provided mindful strategies through the lens of our 3 established pillars of address visitor pressure, enhance the Aspen experience, and preserve small town character. Designed to enhance the resiliency of the community over the next five years and beyond, the ADMP serves to build from and accelerate ACRA’s successes and aims to protect quality of life, and simultaneously preserve the very reason people enjoy coming here. The plan belongs to the community and ACRA’s role varies from lead, partner or advocate depending on the strategy. The success of the plan relies on full community participation to execute against the plan’s recommendations.

PILLARS

Address Visitor Pressure

Enhance the Aspen Experience

Scan to read the full report.

Develop and execute strategic partnerships and promotions to protect our destination assets.

Develop a framework that allows us to identify, support and enhance existing community and destination worthy events.

Achieve best practices in business management.

Conduct and utilize research to inform programs and promotion.

Position ACRA as the best point of contact for all visitors into the destination during every phase of the trip planning cycle.

Deliver Visitor Experience that Defies Ordinary.

Increase Community and Local Business Engagement.

TOURISM FOCUSED INITIATIVES

Content Campaigns: Feb - Mid-March | Mid-May – Year End

Content campaign objectives build overall brand awareness of seasonal activities and getaways, promote safety and etiquette information to users currently in the destination, and encourage visitation by promoting lodging among the most engaged users. These digital ads, which ran on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, YouTube and StackAdapt through our agency TwoSix Digital, earned over 30 million impressions and 250,000 link clicks.

Defy Ordinary Branding Campaigns

Aspen Pledge: This local campaign ran from July – September with newspaper circulations of 32,100, and digital banner impressions of over 766,445 with over 697 clicks. Social media impressions were 1,060,000 with 5,478 clicks. 50+ radio spots ran per week.

Fall: Fall campaign ran from September 9 - October 10 on Facebook/Instagram and Datafy resulting in 5,655,820 impressions, 26,655 clicks, and a CTR of 0.47%.

Thanksgiving – Pre Christmas: This campaign ran from November 1-23, paused over the Thanksgiving holiday then picked back up December 1-9. Ads were placed on Facebook/Instagram and Datafy resulting in 12,323,395 impressions, 23,668 clicks, and 0.19% CTR.

SEM

BVK agency ran the paid search campaign January through February, paused March through June, then picked back up July through December. The campaign resulted in 67,451 clicks and 1,531 conversions.

WEBSITE

Aspenchamber.org website stats have decreased slightly YOY, in line with what we are seeing across other outdoor recreation driven destinations, following record numbers during the peak of the pandemic; however, we still exceed industry averages by a healthy amount and continue to work to attract engaged users to the site. 2022 WEBSITE STATS Users

DESTINATION NEWSLETTERS

ACRA sends 3 segmented newsletters going out to potential visitors, encompassing leisure travelers and wedding and meeting planners.

Wedding Planners

Bi-annually to database of 388 Open rate: 78.5%

Meeting Planners

Quarterly to database of 9,582

Open rate: 35%

Leisure Travelers

Monthly to database of 32,518 Open Rate: 47%

SOCIAL MEDIA - @ASPENCO

This year on social media, we incorporated more educational content into our aspirational messaging with a video first approach. As we saw reels become the dominant factor on Instagram, we pushed out more videos on social than ever before that were a combination of organic and User Generated Content. With a video first approach, we also became live on TikTok, and worked with TwoSix Digital to push our campaigns out on this new platform as well.

PUBLIC RELATIONS

Promo Communications holds the contract for ACRA’s Public Relations. We focused on promoting the release of the ADMP both locally and within the industry. We also redoubled our efforts to focus on arts & culture initiatives, the Aspen Pledge, and education in the responsible tourism field, while supporting partner requests throughout the year.

COLLATERAL

ASPEN PLEDGE 2.0

DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION, AND ACCESSIBILITY

With the guidance of Aspen Historical Society and their relationship with the National Association for Interpretation, we created a land acknowledgment statement in the spirit of healing.

We also continued to diversify the influencers we hosted, including a wider demographic in our videos and content. We are pleased to be part of the Challenge Aspen Open Doors Campaign. We look forward to working with Challenge Aspen to share accessibility information with our guests and locals, as well as work with local businesses to enhance or highlight their accessibility features. This fall we hosted a training for partners in collaboration with Ascendigo on wandering and elopement.

OCCUPANCY REPORT

ACRA INSIGHTS

Summer Season (defined by Destimetrics as May to October) saw a decrease in Occupancy of 8.1%; however, the same time period saw an increase of 7.9% room nights available; which means the compression within the destination between summer 2021 and 2022 was about flat. Summer 2022 saw an increase in ADR of 15.3%

DESTINATION MANAGEMENT

PARTNERSHIPS & COMMUNITY EFFORTS

ACRA is no stranger to collaboration, and we are proud to highlight some of 2022’s success for our community.

Fly Aspen Snowmass, your airport committee ensuring excellence in air service throughout the year, worked to return ground transportation service from DEN to the community with the newly launched Roaring Fork Express.

ACRA does a really good job of is marketing the destination and telling the story of Aspen. This helps attract more people to come and visit Aspen while supporting our Sales & Marketing efforts.”

- Lou Eppelsheimer, Director of Sales & Marketing, The Gant

MAROON BELLS

ACRA continues to host the Maroon Bells reservation system on aspenchamber.org. Our collaborative working group made up of RFTA, USFS, Aspen Skiing Company, Pitkin County, City of Aspen, and H20 Ventures was proud to receive the Rocky Mountain Region Regional Forester’s Honor Award for setting up the reservation system in 2020.

RFTA shuttled 93,593 guests in 2022 an 11% decrease for the same time period in 2021. The shuttles accommodated 14,707 day-of standby visitors in 2022. 73.7% of visitors who responded to the survey visited downtown Aspen before or after visiting the Maroon Bells. 36% of survey respondents reported that visiting Maroon Bells was the primary reason in their decision to visit the area and 91% of respondents decided to visit the Maroon Bells before arriving in the area.

ACRA is also a funding partner for the Maroon Bells Comprehensive Recreation Management Plan, an initiative that aims to provide a framework to sustainably manage recreation access to, and activities within, the Maroon Creek Valley. In addition to ACRA, the steering group is made up of Pitkin County, City of Aspen, USFS, RFTA, and Aspen Skiing Company.

COLORADO COLLABORATIONS

The Roaring Fork Valley Destination Alliance, made up of Chambers and Destination Organizations from Glenwood, Carbondale, Basalt, Snowmass and Aspen are working together to address the similar challenges that our communities are facing.

COLORADO HISTORIC OPERA HOUSES CIRCUIT

As part of a Colorado Tourism Office effort, ACRA and the Wheeler Opera House are partners on the Colorado Historic Opera Houses Circuit. This first-of-its-kind collaboration connects visitors with the arts and culture and Colorado’s heritage.

As an event planner, I turn to the ACRA to provide me with credible properties and vendors. I trust in their referrals and am so pleased to partner with Liz and her incredible team. They have been instrumental in helping me find group lodging during the busiest of weekends.”

- Emily Campbell Owner Bella Design & Planning

2022 2021 2020 Leads Sent 534 200 105 Lodging Revenue

MEETING & WEDDING RACK BROCHURE

The first meetings and weddings rack brochure was produced in 2022. 5,000 copies were printed and distributed around Aspen and Snowmass by Red Wheel. The rack brochure is more visual and less text heavy driving traffic to the website via QR codes.

LINKEDIN CAMPAIGN & WEBSITE WORK

ACRA continued our LinkedIn Digital campaign with TwoSix Digital in 2022. The goal is to position the ACRA Group Sales department as the best first point of contact and information source for meeting and event planners. Weekly LinkedIn posts focus on group activities, tips, hotels and venues, and more. To increase our visibility and gain more followers ACRA implemented a paid LinkedIn Campaign in 2022.

Hotels, Dining & Nightlife

HOW TO ASPEN

TO ASPEN

- On LinkedIn, ads have received 179,610 impressions and driven 1,999 link clicks. The average cost per link click is $1.57, and the average click-through rate is 1.56%.

are Aspen experts!

THE GOOD TRAVELER

ACRA has launched a new booking incentive that will offset travel (air and ground transportation) for groups coming into Aspen that have been sourced through ACRA’s group sales team. ACRA will complete the offset through The Good Traveler whose platform offers a quick and easy way to make air travel more sustainable. For the initial launch, ACRA has committed up to $10,000 in donations.

- Meetings content has driven significantly more clicks on this network - 1,202 compared to Wedding content’s 797. However, Wedding content has a much higher clickthrough rate at 2.09% compared to meeting 1.04%.

City Wide Events

The website is a wealth of information for planners when considering Aspen as a host destination. Tremendous work has been done on the website this year, enhancing existing meeting and wedding content as well as updating the website with new information. New pages have been created to highlight our Unique Venues around Aspen, a page dedicated to booking your Maroon Bells wedding, and updated booking incentives.

Experts

Travel & Social Gatherings

VISITOR EXPERIENCE

Visitor Services operates four information centers located at the North Mill Street ACRA office, the Wheeler Opera House, the Pavilion at the corner of Cooper and Galena Streets and our Guest Services Team at the Aspen Airport. Our frontline staff have extensive knowledge of the community and a passion for sharing information with and assisting our visitors. In our effort to stay up to date, staff attended the summer kick-off meeting, where local non-profit organizations and businesses shared their latest offerings. Staff also joined the zoom webinar, Guest Service Training on Autism Wandering and Elopement, which addressed ways to recognize signs of autism and how to best help guest with autism and enhance their travel experience.

Be the best point of contact for Aspen visitors and community partners.

Enhance visitor experience. Collaborate with partners to create modern visitor centers.

- Aspen Visitor

IN TOWN VISITOR CENTERS

2022 was a busy year for our in-town Guest Services staff. We engaged with and assisted many energized visitors ready to enjoy our winter season’s festive events and holiday’s, Gay Ski Week, X Games, Spring Break, Martin Luther King Jr. and President’s Day weekends. The North Mill Street office fielded a high volume of calls concerning the current COVID restrictions and requirements. We saw an increased flow of visitors arriving by car from within the state for shorter visits to ski, dine and shop, along with an increase in international visitors from the previous winter.

Summer presented challenges due to lengthy delays and detours in and out of town resulting from the Castle Creek Bridge construction and a shortage of parking options for cars and RV’s. Our Staff was empathetic and offered possible tips and ideas to ease their frustrations. Another 2022 issue was the Galena Street Living Lab project. Due to the pavilion’s location, we became a center for conversations regarding opinions being voiced from both visitors, locals and business owners.

AIRPORT VISITOR CENTER

The 2022 winter season presented ACRA with numerous challenges in assisting our visitors and finding solutions for their needs. We dealt with an extreme shortage of local ground transportation; guests routinely waited up to an hour for rides into Aspen and Snowmass. In addition, when flights were delayed or cancelled due to inclement weather, affordable ground transportation options to Denver, Vail and Grand Junction were limited or non-existent. Our staff focused on helping visitors secure transportation, last minute affordable accommodations and assisted with lost and delayed baggage. By being patient and listening to their concerns we were able to help reduce much of their anxiety and frustration. Even with these stressful situations, we engaged with many visitors happy to be here.

Summer and Fall were much smoother for our visitors with flights arriving on schedule and ground transportation usually available. Roaring Fork Express transportation is now providing much needed affordable transportation between the Roaring Fork Valley and the Eagle and Denver airports with plans to increase service to and from the Aspen Airport this upcoming winter season. For several weeks the Castle Creek Bridge construction caused significant delays to and from the airport leading to some missed flights. We advised travelers to allow extra time and patience. Our staff continues to be the primary liaison between travelers and the Airlines, TSA, Airport Operations/Security and Airport Administration, working closely with these stakeholders to resolve travelers’ issues in a timely fashion.

AIRPORT

January 7,826 February 8,066 March 7,534 April 2,428 May 1,612 June 4,213 July 5,396 August 5,226 September 2,861 October 2,826 November 2,346 December 6,501

YEAR-END TOTAL 56,855

VISITOR COUNTS BY LOCATION

PAVILION

January 1,371 February 1,620 March 1,753 April 2,174 May 1,948 June 2,634 July 5,093 August 3,934 September 4,458 October 3,292 November 794 December 1,869

YEAR-END TOTAL 29,071

590 N. MILL STREET

January 147 February 96 March 141 April 297 May 311 June 839 July 875 August 1,073 September 1,036 October 668 November 182 December 177

YEAR-END TOTAL 5,842

TOTAL INTERACTIONS: 93,719

WHEELER OPERA HOUSE

January 89 February 142 March 173 April 100 May 99 June 134 July 221 August 276 September 207 October 169 November 170 December 171

YEAR-END TOTAL 1,951

TREASURER

To our Members;

For so many Aspen businesses, Yogi Berra’s famous observation “It’s like déjà vu all over again!” applied to 2022. As could another: “No one goes there nowadays, it’s too crowded”. Aspen was very busy with visitors & part-time residents: Check! Many businesses saw record or near record revenues: Check! We couldn’t find enough employees to run our companies the way we would like: Check! ACRA and Destination Marketing experienced all this and more. Like the rest of the Aspen business community, we persevered, figured it out, and became more efficient.

2022 differed from 2021 in some notable ways. Inflation raged for much of the year and seems as if it will continue into 2023, at least for a while. Unfortunately, it seems as if we are going to have to have a recession to vanquish inflation, though that remains to be seen. Interest rates have risen faster than at any time in the past 40 years and may not be done yet. The equity and fixed income markets tanked together. Your 401k might now be a 301k.

Years of prudent budgeting and conservative spending enabled ACRA and DM to end 2022 in a solid position. New companies and people in town have led to increased memberships, membership dues and lodging tax revenues. ACRA ended the year with 775 members. Dues were 8% over our 2022 budget. DM experienced much higher tax revenues, largely driven by increased ADR during the year

Expenses remained controlled as well. ACRA and Destination Marketing each ran at least one person short of full staff most of the year; the work was picked up by the rest of the team without hesitation. The decision made in late 2021 to expand staff to provide more and better service to our members, visitors and the community at large has paid off. ACRA and DM were able to undertake many important projects in 2022 that would not have been possible without a few more good people.

Each entity has a strong balance sheet and the necessary reserves to carry them through whatever may happen in 2023. This is good for many reasons, not least of which is our upcoming move from the old Power Plant to a newly renovated Armory. Moves can be expensive and we are prepared for this one.

Entering 2023, ACRA and DM are in as strong a financial position as one could expect. With this solid base, ACRA and DM will continue to do even more to support the Aspen business community in general, our members in particular and all our visitors.

Charlie Bantis Treasurer

COMMITTEES

ACRA provides community members with various opportunities to volunteer and serve on our committees.

THE 2022 COMMITTEES:

- Executive Committee

- Finance Committee

- Public Affairs Committee

- Marketing Advisory Committee

- Nominating Committee

- Nonprofit Leadership Alliance

- Arts & Culture Nonprofit Committee

AFFILIATIONS

- Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives

- Adventure Travel Trade Association

- Brand USA

- Colorado Chamber of Commerce

- Colorado Association of Destination Marketing Organizations

- Colorado Tourism Office

- Destination Colorado

- Destinations International

- Destinations Marketing Association of the West, Debbie Braun, Past President

- Meeting Professionals International

- Mountain Chamber Alliance

- Northwest Colorado Council of Governments

- Rotary Club of Aspen

- Sister Cities

- Society of Incentive Travel Excellence

- U.S. Travel Associations

- Weddings International Professionals Association

- Western Association of Chamber Executives

You are visiting the ancestral territory of the Uncompahgre Tribe of the Ute Nation or Nuche. We honor the inherent stewardship native people have for the land, waters and air in which our residents and visitors continue to have the privilege to revel in. We strive to learn from the Ute tradition of living in harmony with the environment and take action to sustain it for generations to come.

T H E A SPEN PL EDGE