THE BLOCK Hotels to Speak at Public Relations Society Conference, Washington, DC June 19 "When Marco and I first started THE BLOCK Hotels everyone said the same thing "It won't work,"...says Liko Smith..."The willingness of our sponsors to partner with an industry first, has resulted in relationships that continue to bring win-win-win results in huge fashion; everyone wins, including our customers, employees and investors but above all..SNOWBOARDERS." he says. "It's our intent to create new locations for customers, create careers for snowboarders and create new branding opportunities for Sponsors while we all enjoy the lifestyle that is snowboarding ; one location at a time." he finishes.
THE BLOCK Hotels are "The Worlds First Snowboarder Hotels" created by Professional Snowboarder Marc Frank Montoya and Las Vegas Hotelier Liko S. Smith. The Group owns THE BLOCK at Tahoe in South Lake Tahoe, CA and THE BLOCK at Big Bear in Big Bear Lake, CA. The hotels have been featured on MTV, Fuel, The Learning Channel, CNN, and countless magazines including articles in Penthouse (November 2005 Issue), YRB Magazine (November 2005), and VIBE (December 2005 Issue) as well as being featured in Inc. Magazine as being one of the trends to watch for 2005.
The hotels also feature the most inventive rooms in the hotel industry, "Signature Suites" by companies such as DVS Shoe Co., Transworld Snowboarding Magazine, Jones Soda Co., Zoo York, SPY Optic, Napster, Nikita clothing, Bear Mountain Resort, Boost Mobile, Vestal Watches and others. There is also a "Liberty Lounge" by Liberty Board Shop of Southern California in Big Bear and the NJB Lounge in Lake Tahoe by NJB Clothing. Poker rooms also exist at both hotels created by Delta 9 and Season Five clothing companies respectively.
All guests receive free energy drinks, energy bars, popcorn, DVD movies, PS2 video games and Campbell's "soup at hand" as well as free wi-fi access and board waxing in a personal waxing room created by BLUEBIRD Wax. All rooms come equipped with PS2 game consoles, boot/glove dryers, cordless phones and ipod compatible mini boom boxes and 56' Widescreen HD Televsions (Big Bear) as well as original wall art photography by Burton Principal Photographer Dean "Blotto" Gray, Technine Photographer Ethan Fortier, and Snowboard Industry Photographer Andy Wright.
More information can be obtained at www.theblockhotels.com
Future locations are being reviewed in Colorado, Canada, and France.
Investors include Professional Snowboarders Travis Parker, Mikey LeBlanc, Joni Malmi, Jussi Oksanen, JJ Thomas, Kurt Wastell, Chris Coulter, and Devun Walsh and professional skateboarder Rob Dyrdek, as well as other industry veterans such as Dean "Blotto' Gray, Ethan Fortier, Travis Wood, Stan Yu, Carter Katz, Brock Heckman, Scott Heckman, Doug Hurley and Andy Wright.
THE BLOCK: a Snowboard Hotel chain created "For Snowboarders, By Snowboarders."
Smith and Montoya plan to open 20 locations within the next 5 to 7 years.