We are now ramping up operations for the 2020 summer season. As such, we are in full recruitment mode. We have job openings posted on the web site, with Michigan Works!, and at various universities. In addition, we will be attending several job fairs, including today at Northern Michigan University’s Summer Employment Fair (from 1-4pm).

The current job openings include positions for all departments — lodging, dining services, events, golf / outdoor activities, and facilities maintenance.

We hope to see those that are interested in being part of the Lodge team at these events, applying for a position, and around the community.

We have made the decision starting in 2020 that we will move to being a cashless operation. This means that starting this month, January, we will not be accepting cash for payments, and will only be accepting credit cards.

This has been a gradual change, and not something that has happened over night.  The first step of becoming a cashless resort was to ensure that customers can easily pay with their credit cards.  This past year we spent time testing our payment and operational technology process to ensure we are able to accept credit cards reliably.  Customers have already been reserving Lodging online, and paying with their credit card (cash was 2% of the lodging transactions).  In addition, 70%+ of our dining and outdoor activities customers paid with some form of a non-cash payment. 

The reason for this decision is that we are spending our efforts to streamline our operations in order to provide better customer service (for lodging, dining, and outdoor activities).  Cash can slow down customer service, with customers searching for cash and employees counting out change (sometimes incorrectly). A credit or debit card transaction requires no counting, and more often than not, can result in a quick and efficient transaction.  Technology being used for electronic payments allows us to improve our customer service by providing faster and more efficient customer service.   By removing cash from the transaction process, we are able to focus more on providing quality service rather than counting and distributing cash to customers and employees.  

In addition, we are in the wilderness, with the nearest bank being 25-30 miles. It does not make operational sense to have cash on-hand and having to drive to the bank to make deposits on a regular basis.

Time spent counting cash and making bank runs can now be spent coaching team members and directly engaging with our customers in a more meaningful manner.

This is a decision that multiple hospitality establishments around the world and locally have made, including Mount Bohemia, Walt Disney World.

As in the past, in 2020 we will accept major credit cards for payment: American Express, Discover, MasterCard, and Visa. In addition, we are looking into accepting Apple-pay.  Over the next 4-5 months we will be getting the word out to customers that the Lodge has moved towards cashless operations.

As part of our test of the Lodge infrastructure this winter, we are figuring out what snow removal equipment we need. This is especially evident after receiving 17+ inches of snow yesterday. It is a good thing we added a new tractor and snow blower to our line of equipment.

Kioti CK 3510, with snow blower [ purchased from Ward’s ]

It was nice to see this piece of equipment working in tandem with the Keweenaw County snow removal equipment in order to clear Golf Course road, cabin road, and the parking lots at the Lodge. See the before, during, and after images below.

The crew is happy to be able to remove snow in a tractor that has an enclosed cab, with a heater. We can now keep the Lodge cleared of snow in a t-shirt.  That is a little different than working in the 1987 skidster, in an open cab.

Have a Happy New Year’s eve.

This past spring we had a photo contest, with the photos selected to be hung in the cabins, printed on wood from Unrefined Art in Niles, Michigan.

We listed the winners in an earlier post, but we did not show the photos. Here are the photos, and where we currently having the photos hanging in the cabins.

• • Cabins 1 & 24B: Copper Harbor Lighthouse, Jim Hay 

• Cabins 2 and 6A: Northern Lights over Lake Superior at North Shore, Mark Upton

• Cabins 3 & 25A: Sunset at True North Cabin, March 2019, Jason Makela

• Cabin 4A & Hotel Room 30: Breakfast Lake, Neil Harri

• Cabins 4B & 18B: Delaware Mine, Charles Eschbach

• Cabins 5A & 12: Great Blue Herron at Gratiot Lake, Jim Hay

• Cabin 5B & Hotel Room 27: Portage Life Bridge and the Queen, Brita Haapala

• Cabins 6B & 20: Milky Way Galaxy at Montreal Falls, Henry Roeters

• Cabin 7A & Hotel Room 28: Eagle at Gratiot Lake, Nicholas Wilson

• Cabins 7B & 17B: Lake Manganese, Gary Ennis

• Cabins 8A & 17A: Central Mine, Nathan Miller

• Cabins 8B & 24A: Lake Superior Waves, Mark Upton

• Cabins 9A & 14: Brockway Mountain, Gary Ennis

• Cabins 9B & 12: Skanee, Chris LaFernier

• Cabin 10 and Hotel Room 31: Eagle Harbor Lighthouse, Candy Pham

• Cabins 11 & 23B: Northern Lights at Great Sand Bay, Henry Roeters 

• Cabins 15 & 22A: Garden Brook and Keweenaw Mountain Lodge seen from Brockway Mountain, Frank Mittelstadt

• Cabins 16 & 22B: Belle Isle, Isle Royale, Pam Karttunen

• Cabins 18A: & 23A: Brunette Park Rocks, Brita Haapala

• Cabin 19 & Hotel Room 29: Winter Wonderland at Swedetown, Debbie Jarve

Woodprints by Unrefined Art

Over the past two months (we have been open for the summer season since May 9th), we have been receiving feedback from individuals that have stayed at the Lodge, played golf at the Lodge, and eaten at the Lodge — both tourists and locals. We appreciate the feedback, and try to log it so we can look back at the trends to see how we are doing, and adjust where we should improve and do so in line with our values and vision.

In order for everyone to understand how to provide feedback and truly make the Lodge successful, I would like to explain 3 points that can help. 

1. We make decisions based upon multiple individuals who are in our niche market — not just one person’s feedback or experience, nor everyone’s feedback or experience

We will not make a decision based upon one’s person’s feedback.  And we will be inconsistent in our product and service until we find what works, and then can spend time perfecting that.  As a result, we will not get it right every single time, especially during the early period of this transition.  This means you will have times where you will not have a good experience at the Lodge, and we will be considered a failure in some people’s mind after such experiences.

However, the last time we checked, the best baseball players did not bat 1,000%. Tony Gwynn, who has the highest career batting average, batted 338%. This means he did not hit the ball in fair territory 66% of the time on average.  Thus, we will fail multiple times with our experiments and activities at the Lodge in order to learn and find what works with our target market.

But we will look at the data over time and over multiple visits and visitors.

In addition, we want to make it clear our goal is not trying to appease everyone in this world; otherwise, we will appease no one. Our goal is to make it an awesome experience for those that want an enjoyable wilderness experience within our two niche markets: 1. historical patrons that value the history of the Lodge, but don’t live in the past, and/or 2. outdoor enthusiasts that love the wilderness.

If you do not fit into either one of those niche markets, then it will only be luck that the Lodge is a place for you to spend time. Otherwise, there are a number of other wonderful establishments in the Copper Harbor and Keweenaw area which could possibly be establishments for you and fit your desires.

2. Give feedback while you are the Lodge, not after you have left

If you give feedback after the fact, then we can not make it right during the time of your experience. Rather, we possibly can improve the next time you are at the Lodge — which will be a different time, and a different place in some cases — and that is if you come back.

3. Give feedback to the person that you are interfacing with

People love to give me feedback. However, I receive a ton of email with people telling me what to do with the Lodge, and giving me feedback. I am not the person to handle that feedback, as I will forget or have other items I need to focus on based upon the daily operations of the Lodge (like running a mini-town). It is the staff member that you are interfacing with at the Lodge that can best help you and improve your experience; do not be afraid of having a discussion with Lodge staff when providing feedback — providing feedback should be a discussion, not a one way dialogue. [ Note: Making decisions based upon fear leads to suboptimal results ]

If you are respectful in providing that feedback, individuals will work with you. If you disrespect them, then they will call me in. If I have to be called in, then it is too late for you to give me feedback because that feedback will be put aside based upon you being disrespectful to the staff.  Thus, you and I will lose the focus for the reason you are providing feedback — to improve your experience at the Lodge and improve the Lodge going forward.

I give the staff the authority to make decisions so they can make individuals in our target market happy.  Thus, if I have to be contacted for the situation or you contact me directly, the feedback will not be taken any differently, and will probably not be acted upon as the person that interfaces with the customer won’t make the decision to get better.  The time I should be contacted is when you feel that a Lodge team member is not having a discussion with you regarding your feedback.

If you are really interested in making the Lodge success, you will take notice of this post, as it explains how people in our target market can improve the their experience at the Lodge, and the Lodge overall.