Housing Still Available Despite Heightened Attendance for 2008 Democratic National Convention

This 2 Bedroom/2 Bath Luxury Sky-Box Condo overlooking Denver’s skyline rents for $1750/night - Perfect for walking to the DNC site and entertaining

        Prior to its selection as the host city for the 2008 Democratic National Convention Denver’s capability to host such a large event was questioned with critics typically focusing on whether the city’s modest size of its downtown and its inexperience at hosting events of this magnitude would be a concern. These issues, primarily the concerns with housing, worked their way into national and local media quickly as housing demands for the convention filled Denver’s hotels within weeks.

        Now with Barack Obama’s acceptance speech being held at the larger Invesco Field and attendance surpassing initial estimates demand for housing has resulted in a frenzy as late comers scramble to find lodging for the week. Fortunately, locally operated DemocraticConventionHousing.com still has available housing in Downtown Denver close to the Democratic National Convention. The company’s moderately priced to high end housing is attainable through their website or by directly contacting Matt Conway or Joe Essy at 303-571-5280. While the housing may be moderately priced and above the company’s customers service and commitment to their clients is impeccable; elite concierge services are available to renters as are the company’s private fleet of shuttles and buses that will be exclusively available to customers.

This stunning loft overlooking the Convention facility is one of many fabulous options still available to rent, with easy access to the DNC its the perfect unit.

        Competing with devious and unprofessional alternative methods to renting from homeowners DemocraticConventionHousing.com provides the most reasonable, fair rates for stunning units within walking distance of the Pepsi Center and protection for renters. Their ability to offer such deals is the result of an intricately developed network of relationships with local homeowners who have offered to renegotiate the pricing of their units to ensure they’re rented. This competitive pricing has persuaded many potential attendees to commit and attend what many are billing as Denver’s break through as the country’s best city to host a large convention in.

Facing unprecedented demand on lodging nearly every city that hosts the Democratic National Convention must look towards its residents to supplement housing. With every major hotel full, and demand still growing due to Obama’s acceptance speech being held at Invesco Field, attendees are now looking towards short term leases with local residents for the upcoming 2008 Democratic National Convention to be held in Denver August 25-28. Progressive thinking ensured that DemocraticConventionHousing.com, a locally developed company that utilizes strong relationships with Denver residents and homeowners, was prepared for the 2008 DNC offering an inventory of over 150 properties.

Glass House Unit available through DemocraticConventionHousing

As the convention nears media coverage has increased and targeted some of the larger issues related to the convention, currently one of these is the lack of housing and how residents are stepping in to ensure Denver’s reputation and legacy are intact before, during and after the 2008 Democratic National Convention. This story made it into the Wall Street Journal today with author Christina Lewis writing a wonderful article highlighting the use of residential homes as lodging for attendees. She does a great job describing both sides of the interaction, and illustrates how at past events homeowners have been mislead into believing they’ll make a fortune.

Read the full article describing Denver’s Housing Shortage

for the upcoming Democratic National Convention here

Beat the housing shortage by using DemocraticConventionHousing to find your ideal property for the 2008 DNC, we guarantee that we can find you a wonderful place to stay in Denver that meets your highest standards. Whether you’re looking for a downtown loft or a more secluded home we have an amazing inventory of homes that stand out in Denver.

Call us at 303-571-5280

        The resurgence of Denver as one of America’s most prominent cities has been in full effect for over a decade now. A redeveloped and cleaner downtown, as well as an emergence of a stronger culture and identity for the city, have drastically enhanced the city’s image. Rewarding Denver’s improvements the Democratic Party choose the city to host their 2008 Democratic National Convention in late August. With an estimated 50,000 attendees this is quite the honor, and task, as the city will swell with an influx of politicians, media and casual observers as Barack Obama accepts his official Democratic nomination. However, the large unprecedented size of the event for Denver has manifested its share of troubles evident by the lack of housing, concerns with security and other issues that Denver politicians, residents and attendees now face.

        This is where many local businesses have stepped up their operations and offerings for DNC attendees, including Vail based Vail Hoffman LLC and its subsidiaries. Vail Hoffman LLC oversees VailSkiVacations.com and DenverConventionHousing.com, two active companies specializing in lodging reservations in unique, distinct parts of Colorado. Founder Tommy Z. Hoffman, and Manager of Operations Mark Cervantes set up offices in Denver years ago in preparation for Denver’s new found ability to successfully host conventions, corporate retreats and other large scale meetings. The city’s functional geographic location and international airport have enhanced the city’s ability to host such events.

        Eager to strengthen their staff with informed Denver residents Vail Hoffman LLC brought in Matt Conway to spearhead DemocraticConventionHousing.com, a component of DenverConventionHousing.com specifically designed to focus on the upcoming Democratic National Convention. Its design, implementation and inventory have developed in the past year, though the company’s life will not be short lived as its operations and scope are designed to sustain long term capabilities of providing housing for conventions and corporate retreats. In doing so, the company has employed its primarily Coloradan staff to network within Denver and develop a solid base of customers willing to rent their beautiful homes and apartments for such events. As proud residents of Colorado; the company, employees and contacts renting their homes all work together to ensure Denver conventions are held to the highest standards by offering high-end rentals for attendees.

        In an effort to alleviate housing pressure for the Democratic National Convention DenverConventionHousing.com has contracted over 150 properties in downtown Denver, Cherry Creek and other neighborhoods offering quick access to downtown through Denver’s light rail. Included in this large inventory are some of Tommy Hoffman’s very own units in the prestigious Glass House, stunning Cherry Creek homes and downtown lofts merely blocks from the Pepsi Center. The website features a user friendly method of searching, and matches personal interests with appropriate properties.

        As a proud sister company of DemocraticConventionHousing.com we encourage anyone attending the convention and in need of housing to contact us at 303-571-5280 or through our websites. We look forward to enhancing your trip to the DNC and ensure renters nothing short of Denver’s premier properties in convenient sections of town.

        With the 2008 Vail International Dance Festival quickly approaching Vail’s own Plum TV got direct access to director Damian Woetzel for a great interview.  This personal interview allows Damian Woetzel to inform viewers of what the highlights of this year’s festival will be, in addition he discusses the success of last year’s festival and what will live on from it.

Plum TV’s Vail International Dance Festival Preview

         The success of the 2007 Festival and Damian Woetzel’s encouraging preview should be enough to get you up to Vail for the 2008 International Dance Festival.  Remember, tickets are quickly selling out as the 2008 International Dance Festival begins July 27^th.  For premier lodging, in either Vail or Beaver Creek contact Vail Ski Vacations through our website or 1-877-411-VAIL

        I’ve struggled over where to begin this post for roughly twenty minutes now, it’s intriguing that after one of the best weekends of my life all I can recollect are the little things; laughter, stories, adventures and the such…yet no concrete storyline. But in many ways that’s the beauty of such a weekend, through words it’s nearly impossible to recount such events…hopefully photos will do the job.

Friday July 11^th Friday Afternoon Club at Vail

        It doesn’t take much to get our group on Vail mountain, so when Friday Afternoon Club rolls around offering free gondola rides to the top of Vail and entertainment it quickly becomes the place to be. This Friday was no exception, the plaza on top of the gondola was jam packed with a wide array of people enjoying the start of their weekend. Perfect weather kept the crowd up there till threats of walking down forced everyone to cram into the last gondolas.

        For the older portion of the crowd the next move was simple, get off the gondola walk all 10 yards to Garfinkel’s and keep the night going. The bar was crowded as was the deck, but unquestionably with such a nice night the deck was the the place to be as evidenced by a festive and lively crowd.

Saturday July 12^th Hiking down West Vail

        Saturday we ventured off into the depths of West Vail where we spent the better part of the day walking down the mountain. Exploring the terrain, vegetation and paths was quite intriguing and presented plenty of photo opportunities which will be showcased here.

Curious George would be proud

It turns out Thomas isn’t a lightweight!

A giant among trees…or a gnome?

Graham enjoying this meadow to its fullest

Sunday July 13^th Bottling Wine and Eating Raw Vegan

        For Scott, Thomas and Graham the opportunity to tour a wine bottling facility was too much to pass on…regardless if it was Sunday. The three of us were accompanied (or should I say chaperoned) by experienced wine producer Rich tenBraak as we toured the bottling facilities at the 4 Eagle Ranch. Rich has bottled over 2500 bottles in his life and was unquestionably the perfect guide to our tour (check his interview from last week). As for the actual bottling, well it was everything you could ever desire and more.

All of us would like to thank 4 Eagle Ranch for a great experience!!

Rich and Graham check out Rich’s barrel from last year

Thomas, Graham and Scott cheers our ‘hard work’

        Following an afternoon of wine, and quite the drive back from Walcott to West Vail through some amazing back roads, we converged at our concierge Pamela Saden’s house for a raw vegan dinner (click here to see her interview). The dinner had been scheduled for a week, but it had been on our minds for the last few days and ever since we left the wine behind.

        So what does a raw vegan dinner constitute? While to begin, cooking in methods that conform to raw vegan is actually much more liberating than the stereotypes suggest, for example we ate salsa, guacamole and hamburgers. Or at least that’s what we called them, in reality we were amazed by the attention to detail and commitment to your diet that a raw vegan diet requires. Raw vegans support a fully vegetarian lifestyle, but follow a strict set of other guidelines to cooking such as the inability to cook foods over 110⁰ F. I think what all of us really learned from our meal is that your diet is something you should take pride in, its easy to eat whatever is in front of you but showing discipline and using your diet as a means of improving or regulating your life is very honorable.

        For our meal, the carrot pecan burgers were made from carrots, pecans, olive oil, mushrooms, cilantro and a few other ingredient before being dehydrated for 8 hours. They were sandwiched between pieces of onion bread that contained onion, flax, sunflower seeds all of which was dehydrated for 2 days. The combination was great, it had a hint of Indian cooking but filled all of us up.

        Desert and drinks were also quite the treat, fresh juice preceded our meal and prepped our stomachs for the coming meal. Dessert, well anyone that thinks vegans are missing out hasn’t had Pamela’s cheese cake. Everyone at the table was delighted by it, in fact I’d challenge nearly any Vail Valley restaurant to beat it.

        We’re done, no more and be proud if you made it all this way….yes it was long but let me tell you this was one amazing weekend. Hopefully we’ll have more condensed updates for our weekends in the future!!

I’ve been here for just over 4 Years in the Vail Valley; I started out as a manager of a ski and snowboard shop in Beaver Creek before being hired by Vail Ski Vacations. I’m currently living in Avon with incredible views of Beaver Creek, having originally moved from the southeast coast of North Carolina, Wilmington to be exact…ever seen the movie Cape Fear with DeNiro?

What do you like about the Vail Valley? How does the Valley enhance your interests?

The Vail Valley allows you to pursue a career while be stationed in one of the greatest outdoor arenas in North America. As you push yourself at work you also push yourself with recreation…winter sports, summer sports, live music…there’s never a dull moment. My hobbies here in the valley include snowboarding, snowshoeing, kayaking, mountain biking, skateboarding, hiking and camping. And by the way, the Vail Valley sees over 300 days of sunshine a year!!! How do you like that Florida?!?!?

Give a brief synopsis of a typical day at work.

A typical day at work includes working on TPS reports, looking for my stapler, decorating my cubicle, harassing other coworkers (especially Greg)…pretty basic. On a serious note, I generally start the day by checking voice mail and emails and following up with anyone needed. Usually 3X weekly I will work on and create QuikBooks files to send to our bookkeeper. This keeps us up to speed with our cash flows and allows for a snapshot of our company’s financials. Once we have this snapshot we can then make knowledgeable, financially strategic decisions for the best interest of our company.

Throughout the day I will field phone calls from potential clients, work with existing clients and also work with domestic and international wholesalers whom send business our way. I love working with FIT (frequent independent travelers) clients but right now I’m really enjoy working with the wholesalers, as this is new to our company. Setting up new relationships throughout the USA as well as overseas is exciting! New contacts, new networks…it really takes our company in the direction we’re shooting for which is to be recognized and well-respected world-wide. I am proud to play such a vital role in developing our wholesale division.

Vail Kick It 3v3 Tournament

        With the tournament quickly approaching I though it might be a good idea to remind any team entering the Vail Kick It 3v3 Tournament that registration ends Friday, July 25th at 11:00 PM Central Standard Time. Registration is available here for the Vail Kick It Regional Championship taking place August 1-3. The tournament will be held at the Ford Fields and the Vail Valley Athletic Fields which both look amazing, the weather in Vail has been outstanding for the last few weeks and I can only imagine it will stick around for the tournament.

        Remember, Vail Ski Vacations is a great, locally owned vacation rentals company that has an educated staff ready to help you find the perfect accommodation. We have access to a large array of properties in the Vail Valley, with summer rental prices and our knowledge of our properties we can guarantee the perfect lodging for your trip.

Damian Woetzel the Founder of the Vail International Dance Festival Officially Retires from the Stage

        The man who founded the 2008 Vail International Dance Festival 2 years ago has officially announced his retirement from the stage, and in doing so performed once more with the New York City Ballet on June 18th. His style and grace supported a long career lasting over 25 years at the professional level. During this time his reputation as one of the United State’s prominent dancers has established his mark in the dance world. Yet, his contribution to the arts may just be beginning as Damian Woetzel is rumored to be a potential replacement for his troupe’s director in the future.

Damian making a curtain call for his final performance

Photo courtesy of Evan Namerow

        While the Vail Dance Festival may not gain his full attention now, he is enrolled at Harvard after all, it is sure to grow under his direction. His style and grace have translated into a wonderful persona as a director, his influence over the festival is quite dramatic as he guides his dancers yet doesn’t overstep his boundaries as a director.

        Vail Ski Vacations is very anxious for the return of the Vail International Dance Festival and await opening night. Coverage will increase as the festival approaches, but for now all of our staff would like to congratulate Damian Woetzel on a fabulous career.

        For further reading on Damian Woetzel’s retirement from the stage check out Dancing Perfectly Free a great blog covering the arts or check New York Entertainment’s for a great in depth look into his career and retirement.

Denver Precedes Vail as the 2008 Kick It 3v3 Soccer Tournament Debuts in Colorado

        Merely a month from the Kick It 3v3 Regional Championships in Vail the tournament descends upon Denver, CO as nearly 300 teams play for a berth in the regional championship. Denver will host the tournament July 12th and 13th at the Fort Logan Soccer Complex, Crocs a major sponsor of the tour plans to sell their shoes on-site and sponsor a wide array of events at the tournament.

        The tournament features a fast and friendly style of soccer, in which teams of up to 6 players field a 3 person team on a condensed field that features small goals without goalies. The pace is quick providing an interactive game that participants, fans and families will all find enjoyable. For the complete rules of the guide check out the Kick It 3v3 website (FAQ) which illustrates the modified rules and clarifies a few issues.

        The Denver tournament precedes the Vail Regional Championship for the Rocky Mountains where teams can earn a berth to the final in Orlando, FL. The top 5 teams from each division in Denver qualify for the Vail tournament, which is open to local teams as well. Vail’s tournament will be hosted at the Ford Fields and the Vail Valley Athletic Field.