For those with an adventurous spirit, a new social club and hotel, Gravity Haus has emerged on the travel scene. It has found a home in Southeast Utah, right on Main Street in Moab — a high-desert town known for its iconic red rock views and limitless desert playground. In Moab, art and culture mix easily with mountain adventure: bouldering, hiking, white water rafting, fishing and more.The hotel group calls itself an “adventure-centric hotel and membership club” offering “curated adventure experiences.” It debuted in Colorado in 2019 and has since grown into a small constellation of properties in prime outdoor destinations. In addition to Moab, there are hubs in Big Sky, Montana; Truckee-Tahoe, California; Jackson Hole, Wyoming; and six Colorado locations — Denver, Aspen, Steamboat, Vail, Winter Park and Breckenridge, where Gravity Haus first launched. While each property has its own look and feel, all are planted close to both boundless outdoor play and vibrant local amenities.In Moab, Gravity Haus is housed in the Radcliffe Hotel, a property it acquired in 2021. The hotel’s light, open design is a striking counterpart to the rugged beauty just outside town. Within minutes, guests can be standing beneath the stone arches of Arches National Park, 4 miles away, or surveying mesas and buttes in Canyonlands National Park, 30 miles southwest, where the Colorado and Green rivers have carved the landscape for centuries.
More than a place to stay
So, what exactly is a social club for an adventurer? The Gravity Haus platform grew out of a demand for remote workspace. Catering to the traveler who can work from anywhere, it seeks to balance the yin-yang pull of “living to work” and “working to live” — with a twist. “It’s a non-traditional second home that stokes the spirit of an adventurer,” says Chase Patterson, who helped open the Moab property and now serves as general manager at Gravity Haus Breckenridge. Hotels offer co-working space, fully equipped gyms, on-site restaurants and social activities, all with the outdoors just steps away.For 34-year-old Kea Pakele of Minturn, Colorado, her Gravity Haus obsession started in the coworking space of the Vail location in 2021. Working from her bed in a group house wasn’t ideal for her role in business development and owner relations at a property management company. Four years later, Gravity Haus has become her “catch-all space,” she says. “I go to the gym in the morning, then upstairs and work all day, and depending on the season, go out and ski a few laps and come back, or go out for a bike ride and come back.”When she’s ready to explore, “I pull up the Gravity Haus website to figure out where to go next. It’s become the first place I look.” Lodging doesn’t require membership, but perks include steep weekday room discounts and reduced weekend rates.Last year, Pakele headed to Moab to use a free-night certificate she earned by referring a friend. She timed her trip for “Moab May,” when streams of Coloradans make a spring pilgrimage to the desert after a long winter. Having a comfortable bed and outdoor pool was a welcome contrast to camping in the wilderness, where, as she puts it, “you get baked out of your tent in the mornings.”
A home base in the desert
For Brittany Stewart, 37, the draw is off-roading in her Jeep and biking in the desert with her husband. “I personally don’t like to camp in the desert, so we like to have a home base,” she says. “And a shower.” Evenings often end at the hotel’s firepit, which, she adds, “gives the feeling that you’re not totally skipping the outdoor fire experience you would get when camping. And, if you’re a Gravity Haus member, they give you a free s’more.”
Stewart, a business banking team manager, joined Gravity Haus Vail last September after moving to the mountains from New York City. Initially drawn to the space by the gym, she now jogs over from her home a mile away, starts with strength training, then moves to a hot-cold plunge before heading to the co-working area. In the winter, she’ll take clients skiing for team building, then return to Gravity Haus for coffee.
Shared adventures and perks
Each property also hosts expert-led experiences for members. In Moab, offerings include paddleboarding excursions, fishing trips, guided hikes, daytime trail rides, bike nights and downtime activities like paint-and-sip events with local artists. Members also get discounted on-site gear rentals.Like Stewart, chiropractor Seth Aungst, 28, “stumbled into Gravity Haus” looking for a gym and ended up finding a community. After joining Gravity Haus Breckenridge three years ago, “I met all of my really good friends,” he says. They’ve since taken “boys’ trips” to all the Gravity Haus locations, including Moab — four times last year alone between May and September.Aungst also likes to post a “join me” in the member portal to see if anyone wants to tag along on an adventure. “It’s great, especially for members who travel solo who can join someone familiar with, say, the best 10 or 15 bike trails in Moab. Instead of hiring a guide, they can just go with people who know what they’re doing, who are in the same community, which is really awesome.”
