Hope this update finds you and your family all well and safe.
The Mountain Club continues to make strides going forward through the daily challenges of COVID-19. The 4th of July weekend was filled to capacity here at Loon. There were many very happy guests and owners who departed after a fun and healthy visit. If you were among these folks, we hope you had a wonderful time here in The White Mountains.
All of us need to remain healthy and due to COVID, our health is constantly on our minds. At The Mountain Club, we must remain COVID free and we must follow the guidelines set by our State's Public Health Department. One such guideline is that any unit that has been occupied must rest for 24 hours before anyone can enter it.
This guideline is a wonderful rule as it allows for our housekeeping department to feel safe when they enter a room to clean for the next occupant.
However, the guideline has created a challenge for us to manage occupancy within the 117 suites of The Mountain Club. When we were restricted with low occupancies, we were able to "juggle" owners and renters and for the most kept everyone happy with their occupancy. But, now that we are finally allowed to pursue maximum occupancy the juggling is limited and could create a hardship on some owners.
There are indications this summer will be very busy with visitors desiring a "drive to" vacation. For sure we are a "drive to" destination. Rental bookings are maintaining a strong PACE with an increase of over 100 reservations or $8 to $10,000 every few days. Last weekend we were at maximum capacity, so things are looking as good as possible for all of us at The Mountain Club. However, we have this challenge as follows:
Ordinarily, when an owner checks in Friday for 7 nights, (she) he would check out the following Friday. However, with the new state guideline requiring a 24-hour rest, the next occupant would not be able to check in until Saturday, which is not ideal for anyone.
Due to COVID, the only fair course is to create a temporary rule whereby weekly occupants, including owners, can only stay until Thursday morning. This is nobody's fault and will be a temporary rule until we work our way through this together. We have made this same recommendation to our Board of Directors and they feel this is the best and fairest remedy for all.
So, beginning with Owner arrivals July 10th, reservations will show an 11 AM departure time on Thursday, July 16th. This same pattern will apply weekly. We appreciate your patience, support and understanding as we go forward through these unchartered waters.
Sincerely yours,
Jeff
Jeffrey O. McIver