A hotel company is adding residential condos to its offerings in a California development near a ski resort. The company is marketing to younger buyers who want an upscale vacation experience without a high-end price tag.
Outbound Hotels recently completed 20 condos on the same site as its lodge in Mammoth Lakes, located in the Sierra Nevada mountains, less than an hour’s drive east of Yosemite National Park. Buyers have full access to the lodge’s amenities, such as fire pits, a restaurant and wine bar, pool, sauna and hot tub. When homeowners are away, the hotel company makes their condos available for guests.
“We wanted to meet the growing demand for [hotel] stays that feel private and home-like, while still offering the convenience and comfort of hotel amenities. Once they were built, we kept getting asked if they were for sale,” Matthew Mering, executive vice president of hospitality at Waterton, Outbound’s parent company, told Homes.com.
Mering said that led to the idea of selling “an elevated product that … remains within reach” pricewise. Most hotel-condo developments cater to the “ultra-luxury” consumer, he said.
Outbound built the condos and amenities adjacent to a lodge that already existed in Mammoth Lakes, a town of about 7,200 residents. Two ski areas, Mammoth Mountain and June Mountain, are nearby.
The development’s for-sale units range from one-bedroom, one-bathroom cabins with room for two to four people, up to a six-bedroom condo that can fit 14, according to Outbound’s website.
In addition to Mammoth Lakes, Outbound has hotels in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and Stowe, Vermont, and has plans to operate them in 2026 in Sedona, Arizona, and near Yosemite. Mering said the company is considering opening other condo locations in the future, including in the Pacific Northwest.
Mammoth Lakes’ median household income in 2023 was $87,121, according to the U.S. Census. The town’s website outlines several programs to try to provide housing at an affordable price, including one that encourages homeowners to lease their properties to long-term tenants rather than as short-term rentals or leaving them vacant much of the year.