Winter on Nantucket

By The Nantucket Hotel & Resort.

Posted March 1, 2013

As Nantucket insiders know, Nantucket is beautiful year-round…with each season holding its own special “allure.” Yankee Magazine’s Assistant Editor, Aimee Seavey captures the essence of winter on the Island, in her March 1, 2013 blog post, “Winter Weekend on Nantucket.” As winter winds down and melts into spring, there’s still plenty of serene moments on Nantucket to enjoy, not to mention the lower accommodation rates!

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“They Can’t Sleep in Hard Hats”

By Gwenn Masterman Snider, Co-Owner of The Nantucket Hotel & Resort.

Posted May 23, 2012

“They can’t sleep in hard hats” is a direct quote uttered by my husband Mark, without any irony, while talking to the project manager for The Nantucket Hotel.  He was annoyed by a requirement being imposed in order for us to get an occupancy permit for staff housing.

I burst out laughing. Yes, it is absurd that an occupancy permit would be granted only if hard hats were worn all the time, but it is also absurd that Mark was able to state this without seeing how far off the deep end we have gone in our quest to open our new hotel in less than 6 weeks!

What’s next? We hand each guest a hard hat upon check in? Probably not going to be too comfy when laying one’s head upon our down pillows.

In the last few weeks much has happened to speed the progress of our wild hospitality ride.

It was my birthday a few weeks ago and Mark baited me with the promise of a weekend away in Los Angeles and switched the bait by revealing that he in was in hot pursuit of an antique bus  for the hotel.

For those who do not know, Mark loves antique vehicles. Sadly for me, no Porsches or Rolls or a glam Packard capture his attention.  He has a fleet consisting of 2 firetrucks, circa 1945, 1 woody, 1 woody wagon, and now a 1934 school bus! All of which (excluding the newest addition), ferry our hotel guests around The Vineyard.

When I called a friend who is living in California to tell her that we were headed her way, and to arrange a time to get together, she told me that she was free but for a trip to pick up her new car.

“Oh, lucky you,” I said, “what are you getting?”

“A Range Rover.”

What was wrong with this picture? We were both getting new vehicles, but she’s cruising in a Range Rover while I rattled over speed bumps in Chatsworth, California  in a bright yellow, antique school bus.

Last week I spent three days on Nantucket. At one point Josh, one of the designers, seemed to be transfixed by a column in the lobby. This column seemed ordinary enough to me…just another tall, unfinished element.   Why then, I wondered, was Josh so bewitched?

“I don’t like the way they boxed it in,” he murmured. “It is on the diagonal and it disturbs the linear harmony.” (Maybe he didn’t use those exact words, but he can be very poetic.)

“What do you mean?,” I asked, while cocking my head from side to side to see if I could imagine it straight.

“It bothers me and I want it to be boxed in straight.”

That was OK with me, but I wasn’t going to be the one to tell our project manager about linear harmony.

One week later, it’s still inharmonious.

On the bright side, the second, third, and fourth floors are really taking shape and the suites are going to be beautiful. Baths are tiled; kitchenettes are about to be installed.

Sparky the sign maker, Marshall the print maker, Bruce the mechanical whale maker are all working on their projects. I kid you not. These are their real names.

Yesterday we started the day with a logo crisis and ended it with an urgent decision about background music for a short video promotion. Did you know that you cannot use any music that is identifiable? Generic tunes are free.

Today we had an email from a well- meaning Nantucketer raising a concern after seeing a photo of our guest suites. She noted that the illustration on a pillow showed upper teeth on the whale depicted – while sperm whales had none and the inaccuracy will bother whale experts.  Another kind gentleman requested “traditional Sunday suppers” rather than the modern food being served in restaurants on the island.

It is amazing how invested people are in this project.

And, just in case you thought that we were in control …last Sunday one of our cars broke down in the late afternoon and needed to be towed. Mark and I were due at an event in Boston, so I brought his suit, tie, shirt, and shoes to the gas station where he was waiting.

He got in the back seat, got undressed, and  pulled on his pants.

“Gwenn, you brought me my tuxedo!”

So off we went to a decidedly un-black tie event with Mark in his tux, no belt, because I forgot that, and laughed all the way there and back.

What else can one do?

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“Extreme Makeover-Hotel Edition”

By Gwenn Masterman Snider, Co-Owner of The Nantucket Hotel & Resort

Posted May 22, 2012

I am living in the midst of what one employee calls lunacy, but what I like to call Extreme Makeover-Hotel Edition.  In December we bought a 58,000 square foot hotel on the island of Nantucket, closed on it in January, and are attempting to open it at the end of June.

What’s the rush you might ask? Well, we’ve got to make hay while the sun is shining and summer on the island is the sunniest, shiniest time of the year. In other words, every day of the high season that we are not open is a lost liter and so we are (and here goes my run-on cliche) drinking from a fire hose, ripping a Band-aid off every other minute, and being shot out of a cannon.

My days are spent in a maelstrom of details.  For example, yesterday at around 3:30 PM, I was on Newbury Street in Boston looking at possible art selections for the Hotel. It was so much fun to see and dream about where some of the work might hang. Suddenly my reverie was interrupted by my cell phone and one of our designers called to tell me that we had one hour to select a new exterior color for the building.

Why only an hour? Because we had to tell the painter who was otherwise going to patch and paint the existing color that the plan had changed and we had to do that right away. Plus, if we decided to go with a  new color we would have to choose one of the pre-approved historic colors. I pushed the images on the canvases in front of me out of my mind and tried to visualize the now green building changing to Newport Blue, Quaker Grey, Nantucket Gray or Mainstreet Yellow. It was hard. The gallery owner was staring at me. I told Kevin I would call him back.

Later we made a very mature and cost-saving decision. Even though I don’t like the current color of the hotel, we’re going to wait until the fall to change it.

Next thing  I know, I get an email from the assistant manager at our hotel on Martha’s Vineyard, asking if I had ordered soap dishes. Soap dishes? Was I supposed to have ordered 60 soap dishes? Perhaps. No matter. They’ve been ordered now. Thank God for the Internet!

So, yesterday we had some important decisions to make. Things like who is going to do the finish millwork? What mattress will be selected and which shampoo, conditioner, and body wash do we want? What size bottle? What shape bottle do we want to sell the products in in the gift shop? What color lettering do we want on the bottles? Who is going to make the bathrobes? Micro-fiber or Terry? How many do we need? Have we ordered swim goggles? What should the sign say for the cafe?

Bow tie or skinny tie for the waitstaff? Chuck Taylors or Sperry Tennis shoes? Ipads for the hostess or a regular reservation book?

Every day there are at least 100 people working  in the building. It is a veritable beehive. I had to walk under three different ladders, which did not make me happy.

Slowly but surely, the Hotel is coming into being. I never thought I would be so happy to see dry wall, sewer pipes, back hoes, water sealant, and an elevator delivery schedule.

It is an amazing experience to be part of something so concrete ( no pun intended).  Everyone involved can point to what they are making and it is going to be great. But just in case we thought we were under control …

Last night around sunset on Nantucket, Mark set out to get some time alone and meditate on the scenery. He drove the pick-up truck  out toward the coast, went too far, and found himself  stuck in the sand. I was not on the Island, but received his distress call.

“I’ve been digging the car out for an hour. It is getting dark; not a soul in sight.” I was both concerned and amused.

“What is your plan?”

“The beach patrol is on their way.” He sounded defeated.

I hope this mishap doesn’t make in into The Nantucket Inquirer.

Tune in for more hijinks on Extreme Hotel Makeover. I’ll keep you posted.