TRUTH POTIONS
Beer and pointed comments flowed Tuesday night in the Mammoth Brewing Company Beer Cellar.
The comments came from local residents, while the beer came from consultants hoping the brews would prompt some unvarnished views.
It worked.
The drinks were on Hunden Partners, hired by Mammoth Lakes Tourism (MLT), in exchange for feedback to inform it’s new “Destination Stewardship Plan.”
Bethanie DeRose, Executive Vice President of Hunden Partners, was quick on her feet when the candor started flowing.
“That’s why we chose to serve beer at this event,” she cracked whenever someone made an especially honest statement.
For context, Hunden Partners is being paid up to $145,000, plus travel expenses, to collect this kind of community feedback, analyze it, and eventually hand MLT a set of recommendations.
The beer proved useful when she asked the crowd, “As residents, what challenges do you face?”
The answers poured out, especially from business owners who rely on Mammoth’s seasonal economy. They complained of both brutally slow shoulder seasons and of overcrowded winters with too many people and too few workers.
They weren’t shy to admit it’s a hard place to keep the doors open.
“I know you’ve lost some businesses over time,” one Hunden facilitator offered sympathetically. “Some? All of them. Most of them. Really good restaurants,” someone shot back without missing a beat.
Another owner described the struggle to balance extremes between on and off seasons: “We need someone… I don’t know who. God maybe? To give us a little help. We make it work, but we’ve had to get creative […] going from turning people away to no one.”
DeRose pivoted, looking up at the wall where the anonymous responses had been collected online from people in the room.
“Can someone please expand on this point, ‘no support for locals?,’” she asked. Here, the long-simmering tension between residents came to light.
MLT has historically focused on marketing to visitors, and has not necessarily won high fives from the community in this regard.
Especially as locals pay the Mammoth Lakes Tourism Business Improvement District (TBID) tax in retail and restaurant purchases, which, of course, helps fund MLT.
“Why am I paying tourism tax when I live here?” one person asked, loud enough for heads to nod around the room. Another voice immediately followed: “Yes, 100%.”
Another said living in Mammoth felt like being on “an uphill treadmill that’s only getting steeper and faster.”
People criticized MLT further, saying its efforts don’t always translate into a better experience for anyone, even tourists.
“You’re spending so much money, so many resources, to get visitors to come here. When they do come here, they have a shit experience in the winter,” one person said, bemoaning long grocery lines and just a few, overcrowded restaurants.
Southern Californians, one said, are shocked when they need dinner reservations. Another shouted, “Or try to seat 30 people at a table at 7 p.m.!”
Some complained that tourists’ respect for locals has dwindled with increased digitization. Because tourists can check into lodging online or order food through a QR code, they’ve lost their connection to the community.
One participant suggested MLT make “restaurant etiquette” videos to educate tourists, like its current PSAs dissuading tourists from feeding wildlife or encouraging them to pick up after their dogs.
When The Sheet asked DeRose about the tension between MLT and locals directly, she said it wasn’t unusual in tourism-based markets. Across the country, destination management organizations are shifting from pure marketing to a greater emphasis on community engagement and stewardship, she said.
She said the conversation was encouraging, and that she believes residents will be pleased with the outcomes of the study so long as there is continued dialogue and follow-through.
