The Downhill Ski Resort Lodge | Member Input and Design Plans

The current lodge, dating back to Tahoe Donner’s earliest days, was originally used as a sales office. It has served us well and is at the end of its useful life with a myriad of service, access and functional issues. In December 2019, at an open board meeting and after extensive analysis, the board voted to rebuild, not remodel, the building.

Tahoe Donner Board of Directors and management are embarking on extensive two-way member outreach to address The Lodge at Downhill Ski. Member outreach will include focus groups and member surveys, as well as regular updates on the feedback we are receiving and where we are at in the process.

To facilitate a thorough outreach program that is comprehensive and unbiased in gathering, analyzing, and disseminating information, the board has authorized, and management has engaged with, PROS Consulting. PROS Consulting has extensive experience coordinating public outreach and assisting in projects across the country. PROS will report to the general manager and work collaboratively with staff, the Lodge at Downhill Ski Ad Hoc Task Force, and the future design team. Work to be done includes:

• Member Outreach: Opportunities will be available for all members to voice their opinion on the lodge development through upcoming focus groups and a member survey.
• Data Gathering and Consolidation: As documents and surveys are completed, data on the lodge will be consolidated and shared with the membership and board.
• Business Plan Development: Based on member feedback, we will begin business planning that reflects the winter operations and potential uses beyond the ski season that may be identified in outreach and research.
• Lodge Design: PROS Consulting will work with the design team to ensure the key findings are integrated into the design plan.

SCHEMATIC DESIGN AND BEYOND
Project sizing and cost as recently discussed provides preliminary parameters. These will be refined as we move through the future phases of schematic design (with architect engagement), then design development and detail drawings (with architect and contractor engagement). With detail drawings, we can go out to bid, and make final decisions based on actual bid costs.

We are at the front-end of a multi-month process. We encourage and welcome your participation to ensure a cost-effective project, right-sized for our future with all things considered.

VOICE YOUR OPINION
Member input is vital. We are no longer recruiting for focus group participants, but we look forward to hearing your feedback in the upcoming Downhill Ski Lodge Member Survey. Based on the feedback received from those focus groups, a full member survey will be developed by PROS to get feedback from all members.