LANSING, W.Va. — Adventures on the Gorge in Fayette County is expanding its services when it comes to balancing work with pleasure.
A new group conference center opened last week in Lansing.
“This is just evolution,” said Adventures in the Gorge Senior Vice President Dave Arnold. “You can’t have a better meeting, in my opinion, to have meetings in the morning and then to have a nice lunch and to go out and run a river or do a camping tour.”
The boutique conference center is called the Lookout Post. It includes up to five meeting rooms and is designed to fit up to 200 people, Arnold said. The new space is combined with ATOG’s existing restaurant Smokey’s on the Gorge.
“To actually have a real facility that has the kind of walls that open and close and can expand and is attached to our signature restaurant Smokey’s that has food service, that can handle both facilities is really a big deal for us,” Arnold said.
Arnold said they attract a lot of out-of-state businesses, so this expansion helps create more opportunities for them.
“Most of the people we attract — somewhere around 7 percent are West Virginians, but 93 percent of our leisure business is out of state. To bring businesses in here for meetings, it’s a really special thing,” he said.
The resort’s pool overlooks the New River Gorge as does the new outdoor deck which is connected to the Lookout Post and Smokey’s through walkways. Arnold said they’re goal is to combine work and play.
“When people combine work and play, team building gets better, working relationships and offices get better and people participate and enjoy themselves more. In the end, you have a better company,” he said.