Xanterra Travel Collection

What Xanterra Is and Where It Operates

Xanterra Travel Collection is a hospitality and travel group, not a marketplace: its site presents a set of its own national park lodging operations and its own tour, cruise and rail brands, rather than reselling other companies' tours. The homepage states that Xanterra "has been operating in legendary destinations for over 150 years, providing up close access and uncommon expertise for truly exclusive, unforgettable experiences." Its national park menu lists The Oasis at Death Valley, Grand Canyon National Park (the South Rim), The Grand Hotel at the Grand Canyon, Grand Canyon Hotel & Suites, Yellowstone National Park, Glacier National Park, Cedar Creek Lodge just outside Glacier, Mount Rushmore National Memorial in the Black Hills of South Dakota, and Rocky Mountain National Park. A second menu, "Tour Operators, Cruise & Train," lists Country Walkers, The Grand Canyon Railway & Hotel, Holiday Vacations, VBT Bicycling Vacations and Windstar Cruises, and those brands take travelers well beyond the US: the homepage mentions Africa, Ireland, Iceland and Greece. Two resorts, The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs and Sea Island on the coast of Georgia, sit under a separate "Affiliated Properties" heading. The team page describes the company as having grown "from a company focused primarily on the concessioner operations in our national parks, to a nationwide leader in the adventure travel, national park hospitality, and cruise industries." The corporate office is in Greenwood Village, Colorado, at 6312 South Fiddlers Green Circle, Suite 600 North.

National Park Lodges and Hotels

The Grand Canyon gets the most detail. A travel story on the site, the first part of a Grand Canyon planning guide, walks through the South Rim lodges. El Tovar Hotel, "established in 1905," is described as "one of the most luxurious hotels in the area," with 78 guest rooms, a gift shop, a newsstand, and a dining room and lounge. Bright Angel Lodge, which the site calls a Registered National Historic Landmark, has "a variety of 90 room types," including historic units, standard lodge rooms and historic cabins, and the page singles out the "Buckey O'Neill Cabin." The lodge's Fred Harvey History Room has a fireplace with "a ten-foot-high geologic representation of the Grand Canyon rock layers," designed by architect Mary E.J. Colter, and the lodge also has a gift shop, two restaurants, an old-style saloon, a coffee house and a seasonal ice cream fountain. Kachina and Thunderbird Lodges are "located directly on the rim," while Maswik Lodge sits, in the site's words, "in a pine forest just steps from the canyon." Outside the park, The Grand Hotel is described as "only one mile from the South Rim entrance" and "the only AAA Three-Diamond hotel near this natural wonder of the world." In Death Valley, the homepage describes The Oasis as "a beautiful, peaceful oasis, with two distinct hotel experiences to enjoy." Cedar Creek Lodge, near Glacier, is "inspired by the people, culture, and landscapes of Montana," with "upscale rooms and suites." Yellowstone, Rocky Mountain and Mount Rushmore get short homepage descriptions of the landscapes and monuments, without lodging details.

The Tour, Cruise and Rail Brands

Each brand gets a short homepage panel and a link out to its own site. Country Walkers is the walking brand: "When you travel on foot with expert local guides, you take in the sights and sounds you might otherwise miss." Holiday Vacations sells tours, and its panel reads "From a luxury tented safari camp in Africa to a five-star estate in Ireland," adding that whether travelers are seeing the Northern Lights of Iceland or classical Greece, "we take care of every detail." VBT Bicycling Vacations is the cycling brand, whose panel promises that on its scenic backroads "the adventure isn't through a window, it's right there underneath your feet." Windstar Cruises runs what the homepage calls "upscale small ship sailing," into "hidden harbors and smaller ports, narrow waterways and scenic fjords." The Grand Canyon Railway & Hotel pairs a train ride with a hotel in Williams, Arizona; the homepage describes "an entertaining journey aboard our vintage rail cars to the heart of the Grand Canyon paired with the luxury of a bygone era a block away from downtown Williams, AZ." The planning story adds that the vintage cars are "propelled by an authentic restored locomotive" and reach the South Rim "in a little over two hours," and it suggests pairing the ride with a stay at El Tovar or Bright Angel.

Who Runs It and How Booking Works

The team page names Andrew N. Todd as President and CEO since 1994, responsible for "Xanterra's national park, adventure travel, cruise, and tour brands," and says the company's growth "has been accomplished by both organic growth and via acquisition." The Chief Commercial Officer oversees revenue management, reservations, advertising, websites and e-commerce and regional sales offices, and the page says he "drives the cross-brand synergies and enterprise-wide marketing." Other named officers cover finance, human resources, hospitality operations, information technology and legal matters, including environmental, health and safety functions. For travelers, the Xanterra site works as a front door rather than a checkout: each park, lodge and brand has a "Visit" or "Learn More" link, and the footer lists a corporate phone number, a Special Offers page, email offers, online gift shops, a Health & Safety page and a Travel Professionals section. The footer also asks screen-reader users having trouble with the site to call the corporate number for assistance. A "Travel Stories" magazine carries hiking guides for the Grand Canyon and Glacier and the multi-part Grand Canyon planning guide.

What the Site Leaves Open

The corporate site shows no prices for lodges, trips, cruises or train tickets, and it gives no cancellation, deposit or refund terms. Trip lengths, group sizes, departure dates and inclusions for the Country Walkers, Holiday Vacations and VBT tours are not described here, and the homepage does not say which languages guides speak or what fitness level the walking and cycling trips expect. Opening seasons for the park lodges are not given, apart from the seasonal ice cream fountain at Bright Angel. Although the team page mentions cross-brand marketing, the site does not describe any combined booking or discounts across brands. The Broadmoor and Sea Island are labeled affiliated properties, and the site does not explain the nature of that affiliation. Xanterra suits travelers planning a US national park trip who want to stay inside or right next to the park, especially at the Grand Canyon South Rim, and anyone curious about the walking, cycling, touring and small-ship brands that share its ownership. Someone looking for a single booking page with prices and terms will have to move on to the individual brand sites, since this one is an overview of the collection.