The sister and brother team of Melissa and Todd Layton grew up in St. Louis but, in adulthood, longed to return to Colorado, where they graduated from college. While Melissa was a Chicago-based meeting planner and Todd a hotel sales manager in
St. Louis, they hatched a plan to return to the Centennial State. The siblings discovered there was only one destination management company (DMC) in the Vail Valley, and they aimed to create the second.
When they discussed the idea while talking on the phone at work, Melissa referred to it as “Operation Altitude.” The code name stuck. In 1997, they established Operation Altitude and have been planning corporate meetings and events ever since. The company was based in Minturn for 23 years, and now serves all Colorado mountain destinations from Avon. When the economy hit a rough patch in 2008, they opened a Denver office to broaden the company’s service area to include Denver, Boulder, and Colorado Springs.
The siblings, who are five years apart in age, both learned the corporate group travel business during previous roles at Maritz, an incentive travel company based in St. Louis. “Being a travel director was an incredible learning experience,” says Todd, who worked for Maritz from 1989 to 1992, while Melissa was employed by the company from 1981 to 1985. “It gave me a comprehensive view of the corporate group travel world and introduced me to the DMC business.”
Today, Todd manages transportation, activities, team building, and the financial side of Operation Altitude, and Melissa focuses on evening events, off-property dinners, theme parties, and entertainment. The DMC has six full-time employees between the two offices and numerous freelance staff to help implement programs.
For Operation Altitude, success means adjusting to the times with strategy and confidence, including managing the pressure of rising costs and the challenges of maintaining client budgets that are facing a majority of DMCs today, notes Melissa. “Since starting Operation Altitude, we have experienced many global economic and other challenges,” Todd adds. “Looking back, I now see that each of those past challenges eventually turned into new and profitable opportunities. I don’t know when, where, and how, but I have faith that the new opportunities will keep coming.”
For people who want to dip their toes in the water of DMC work, Melissa recommends jumping in by freelancing on-site. She says, “See what groups do and how DMCs support the client contacts to ensure attendees have a great time in Colorado.”
