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Property management company lands contract

Tom Ross

When East/West Resorts announced in the summer of 2004 that it would sell its management contracts on 130 resort condominiums here, the pullout prompted a foursome of their most motivated young employees to re-evaluate their futures in the property management company.

After brief stints with other management companies, they resolved to form their own company, and now they’ve landed a prestigious contract. Emilie Crider, 23, Tim Smith, 39, Jon Kowalsky, 29 and Beth Wilhelm, 39, formed Pinnacle Resort management L.L.C. In October, they learned they’d been given the management contract for The Porches, a luxury duplex development near Mount Werner Road and Steamboat Boulevard on Turning Leaf Court.

Crider said all four of the partners formed a professional bond while working together for East/West at Eagleridge Lodge. They are convinced they can succeed by providing higher levels of service in the Steamboat market. She credits their mentor at East/West, Wendy McLaughlin, for showing them how it could be done.



“We all loved working at East/West because we had a great boss,” Crider said. “She empowered us. Now, we want to do something different.”

The principals in Pinnacle Resort Management will get that chance: Bruce Shugart, who is the developer of The Porches and the president of the homeowners association, has charged the management company with creating a community atmosphere for his owners.



The Porches, at build-out, will have 66 units in 33 buildings. About half are available for whole ownership, and the rest are available for interval ownership in increments of six weeks.

The varied ownership structure presents Pinnacle with the need to meet several management strategies. There will be whole owners who will not rent their units, and those who do. Similarly, there will be interval owners who will use every bit of the occupancy they are entitled to, and those who will make a variety of slots on the calendar available for rental to the public.

“It’s definitely going to be an interesting challenge for us,” Kowalsky said. “I think the demand will definitely be there.”

Although Pinnacle is a small company, the four owners do not have employees — they contract for housekeeping services.

As a group, they are committed to offering airport and in-town shuttles in one of two Toyota sport utility vehicles and providing shopping services for guests before their arrival. They’ll even go as far as opening FedEx boxes full of ski clothing and hanging parkas and bibs in guests’ closets so they are waiting for them when they arrive, Wilhelm said.

Wilhelm said that after 16 years in the hospitality industry, she looks forward to working on site at The Porches, where her work changes daily.

Pinnacle has landed a highly visible contract to manage The Porches, and its owners say for the three years that the contract is in effect, they plan to be content with growing their company along with The Porches.

Pinnacle does not have the physical assets that Steamboat’s larger property management companies have — Shugart’s financial participation has provided them with their shuttle vehicles.

They don’t have a large reservations department, and for the time being, they are handling reservations with a widely used spreadsheet rather than a custom piece of software.

“We want to provide a boutique experience right now,” Crider said.

Pinnacle Resort management can be reached at 879-0600 or at 866-992-0600.


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