Wyoming has spent a lot of money touting itself as a great, kid-friendly, family vacation spot with loads of room to roam, mountains to climb and rivers to dive into and explore.
At the top of many families’ Wyoming bucket lists is the world-famous Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks right on the northern edge of Jackson.
But now Jackson Hole has something to offer that’s decidedly not kid friendly at all.
It’s the Hotel Yellowstone, which opened Thursday with 36 posh, 600-square-foot rooms situated in clusters across a 4-acre property just 5 miles from Grand Teton National Park near the National Elk Refuge.
The hotel includes wonderful amenities like a heated indoor pool, a spa and a high-end restaurant.
But absolutely no children are allowed.
In fact, the venue requires all guests to be at least 21 years of age or older to check in. Those 18 years old must accompany someone who is 21 or older to stay there.
Those 17 and younger are not allowed at all, even if they’re with their parents.
Views Of The Tetons
The owner of this new, adults-only hotel is Jerry Johnson, a longtime hotelier in Jackson who also owns the Rustic Inn and the Parkway Inn.
Cowboy State Daily requested an interview to discuss the hotel’s many amenities and the vision behind it. The interview was declined.
In addition to being a neighbor of the National Elk Refuge, the hotel is also next door to Amangani, a well-known luxury resort in Jackson Hole, and one of its most exclusive.
Based on its website, Hotel Yellowstone is offering rooms with similar features to Amangani’s, though at a slightly less expensive price point.
Rooms at Hotel Yellowstone have a king-size bed, a sitting room with fireplace, a private balcony and a Calacatta marble bathroom that includes a soaking tub positioned so that it overlooks the Tetons. Prices start at $1,799 and range up to $2,199 per night, with a two-night minimum stay.
Amangani’s rooms list the same type of features, with prices starting at $1,850 and ranging up to $2,900 per night, also with a two-night minimum stay, but Amangani allows children.
Flown In From Italy
In a press release, Johnson said Hotel Yellowstone was a “labor of love” that he and his team “meticulously ideated, curated and constructed “to be a “pinnacle of luxury.”
Guests will be able to view wildlife from their rooms while enjoying all the modern amenities travelers have come to expect, as well as a few extras. Things like custom-crafted B&B Italia closets, which were flown in from Italy, and handmade moose AntlerWorx light fixtures. These are also smart hotel rooms, with DigiValet providing total digital room control for guests.
Four suite “styles” are available — Reflection, Vista, Grand Teton and Grand Reflection. Regardless of style, the rooms all list the same amenities, and it’s unclear what, if any, real differences there are to each room style.
The amenities listed include radiant-heated bathroom floors, enclosed showers, Toto Washlet Japanese-style toilets, flat screen television, Nespresso espresso machine and high-end, luxury mattresses.
It was not clear from the press release if the stay includes any meals besides breakfast.
Lunch and dinner menus were available online, but did not list any prices. However, only breakfast was listed as being included in the room charge.
The dinner and lunch menu include things like burrata, Dungeness crab cake, foie gras, oysters on the half shell, duck confit, wagyu, wild mushroom flatbreads, bacon-wrapped shrimp and more.
To celebrate its grand opening, the hotel is offering a “Serenity in the Wild Package,” which includes a customizable tour of Yellowstone National Park with Backcountry Safaris and a curated charcuterie and wine lunch on the banks of the Firehole River.
It was not clear from the advertisement whether the room price will include the cost of the customizable tour.
Adults-Only A Rising Global Trend
Some hotels, and even some restaurants, have long had adult-only areas or hours. But going completely adults-only is a relatively new phenomenon that began in the early 2000s in Spain, then spread to a few other European venues.
The trend has been accelerating across the globe lately, though, fueled in part by a rise in childless couples.
More recently, the COVID-19 pandemic, which kept parents cooped up with their children 24/7 for months at a time, seems to have been escalating the trend.
Wyoming Office of Tourism representative Piper Singer told Cowboy State Daily that the state attracts a variety of visitors throughout the year, and that statistics show most of those visitors are families.
“This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t cater to niche experiences in specific communities,” Singer said. “Different committees, hotels and attractions have their unique audiences and experiences that they research and market.”
Singer said an adult-only hotel in the state is a “great addition” to the wide array of experiences available in Wyoming.
More Expensive Than Hawaii
One Wyoming travel agent told Cowboy State Daily she almost never sees customers seeking adult-only travel in the Cowboy State. Given the hotel’s proximity to family-friendly activities and tourist attractions in Jackson Hole, she wonders how well the business model for such a venue will hold up over time.
“I have had some who want to go to the beach in Mexico and the Caribbean without kids,” said Pat Martin, an agent with Bursch Travel in Sheridan. “But that’s different, I think, than going to a hotel in Jackson Hole. I mean, I can understand people wanting to go to a beach and hang out and not have a bunch of kids running around. But what are you going to do, have an adult-only ski slope?”
In her experience, those looking for a more private or childless stay in Jackson Hole have more usually rented whole houses or sought an Airbnb.
“Granted, Jackson Hole is a whole different animal than the rest of Wyoming,” she said. “There are so many people coming from other places. There are so many international travelers, and there’s so many, for lack of a better word, rich people coming into Jackson Hole. But we are a very family-friendly state, with lots of family activities going on.”
The other problem Bursch sees with the business model as a whole is that the price points do not stack up well with other high-end opportunities she’s seen offered to travelers.
“I have a couple that’s leaving in a couple weeks for Mauna Lani on the big island in Hawaii,” she said. “That’s a very expensive hotel, and they’re going for 10 days at almost $11,000, so even Hawaii is not as expensive as (Hotel Yellowstone).”
Contact Renee Jean at renee@cowboystatedaily.com
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
