◆ The steakhouse is open to the public at any time, which offers discounts to local residents
Located at the mouth of the Snake River Canyon, Flying Saddle Resort is strategically located to offer access to all types of outdoor adventures, winter or summer. It offers easy access to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, fishing in the Snake or Greys River, or any of the other nearby rivers and streams. It boasts a steakhouse, western bar, tennis court, hot tub, swimming pool and 7 well-groomed acres of resort.
Located in the epically scenic Alpine, WY, it continues to be one of the iconic businesses in the area.
Flying Saddle manager, Eric Bryan, explained some of the latest plans the resort has in an interview with SVI Media’s Duke Dance. Bryan originally came to work for Flying Saddle in 2009, retired in 2016 but came back in 2018.
Certainly one of the primary reasons for the resort’s success has been long-term management. Bryan commented, “The Clinger family started the resort, in 1947. And it stayed in the Clinger family up until sometime in the late 90’s, and then was bought by the Mays family. Abby Gehrman purchased it from them in 2004.”
Many of the employees have been with the Flying Saddle since 2009, like Chef Ted and his wife, Lisa. More recently though, Bryan explained that finding employees has become more difficult.
“We’ve hired foreign students to come in to help us because we employ about 45 people in the summer. It’s difficult to find people that just want to take a summer job, but now we’re leaning more toward just full time, with folks like Luis, who is our operations manager. He’s been there since 2009. And then we have a new addition. Juan is taking care of our front desk and doing a great job. So we try to keep the consistency in the management there, which helps a lot.”
About 20 years ago, the Flying Saddle went through a major remodeling effort. It tore down old buildings, put up new ones in their place, and significantly changed the look of the resort. The expenditure at the time was around 10 million dollars, which also included upgrades in the new pool building, tennis courts and the new rooms.
Bryan explained the new plan for updating the Flying saddle, “I figured it was the best time to reinvest, and it turned out the best thing right now would be to remodel so we have completely remodeled those older rooms and put in a little over a million dollars in new upgrades and then some equipment. So we’re here to stay.”
Even though the Flying Saddle serves travelers on their way through the area, it retains a firm commitment to supporting the local communities in Star Valley. Manager Bryan explained that the Flying Saddle is a supporter of local charity events and that it believes in being a major sponsor to support the community because the community supports the Flying Saddle Resort.
“As I always said, in the summer we’re a hotel with a restaurant, but in the winter, we’re a restaurant with a hotel. And it’s our locals that support us, so we need to support them. So any event that they need help with, we’re there to help them with because they keep us going,” commented Bryan.
The steakhouse is open to the public at any time, which offers discounts to local residents. The resort also offers discounts on rooms, especially on snowy days. Those discounts are posted on the Facebook page at facebook.com/FlyingSaddleResort.
The Flying Saddle Resort offers what it calls a local “staycation.” It offers a high discount on rooms.
Vacationers can eat in the restaurant, enjoy the pool, and bring the family. The resort prides itself on being extremely family friendly and encourages families to bring the kids along to enjoy the snow, and enjoy the pool in all seasons.
Bryan explained the best way to make reservations is to “call the flying saddle directly at 307-654-4422 or go to our website and you can book directly from our website, but it’s always best to call direct because then we can offer you the best discount.”
