Whitefish Lodge comes up diamonds

The owners of the Lodge at Whitefish Lake are celebrating the property’s AAA designation as a four-diamond facility.

The status was made official on Jan. 14 when AAA representatives presented members of the Averill family, which owns the lodge, with a plaque and other documents.

Just one other Montana establishment, the Mountain Sky Guest Ranch in Emigrant, has earned the AAA four-diamond award.

Four- and five-diamond ratings are AAA’s highest designations for hotels and restaurants. To earn the status, properties must offer guests a wide range of amenities and services, including a distinctive fine dining experience and complex menus, according to Denice Harris of the Helena AAA office.

The fundamental hallmarks of the four-diamond level include offering an extensive array of amenities combined with a high degree of hospitality, service and attention to detail, she said. The property is considered upscale in all areas and accommodations are refined with a distinct level of quality.

“To achieve and maintain this level of hospitality is a significant accomplishment,” Harris said.

The association has conducted field inspections of lodging and dining establishments since 1937. AAA began a rating system in 1963 that evolved into the diamond rating system for hotels in 1976 and for restaurants in 1986.

“We’re very proud” of the rating, said Fabienne Averill, one of the lodge’s owners. She’s also the sales manager and public relations director for the property.

The lodge owners twice had tried to gain four-diamond status, Averill said, undergoing rigorous inspections, but fell a bit short in a couple of categories.

“We were critiqued on service, the uniqueness of the property, attention to detail and going above the standard hotel experience to create something unique for the guests,” Averill said.

AAA inspectors don’t cut establishments slack, she said. “If one area is lacking, it can keep you from receiving that award.”

So after the first two inspections, the owners worked hard to improve, Averill said.

“This being a family business, we took it very personally,” she said. “Then the third time, we nailed it.”

Averill credited her sister-in-law, Stacey Averill, for working especially hard on the AAA ranking. Stacey Averill logged plenty of hours on the project “and at one point, she even said she cried when learning” of a shortfall, Fabienne Averill said.

“We believe in sharing our hospitality and beautiful state of Montana with discerning visitors and feel proud to be part of this growing community,” Fabienne Averill said.

The status of a four-diamond hotel is a big boost for Whitefish and the valley, she said.

Credit for the ranking goes to everyone who works at the Lodge at Whitefish Lake, Fabienne said.

“We have a group of core staff members, some who have been here since 2005, others are new,” she said. “We have an unbelievable staff. If it weren’t for all of them — from management to housekeeping to the restaurant to the front desk — if we didn’t have that support, there’s just no way we’d be where we are. We’re really fortunate.”

The Lodge at Whitefish Lake has grown from a condo-only property to a full-service lodge with a marina, spa, restaurant and lounge. It has been expanded in a few phases over the years.

Guests have three basic choices when staying at the Lodge at Whitefish Lake. The Viking Lodge rooms are classic-style hotel rooms. The Lodge rooms are suites. The property also includes the Lakeside condominiums, some of which are offered as standard lodging and some that are privately owned and occupied.

The Lodge at Whitefish Lake is owned by Dan and Laurie Averill and their sons and daughters-in-law, Brian and Fabienne Averill and Sean and Stacey Averill.

The Averill family has a long history in the lodging industry in the Flathead Valley.

Les Averill, the grandfather of Sean and Brian and the father of Dan, “had the dream to start the Flathead Lake Lodge in Bigfork, the first of the kind in the valley,” Fabienne said. Les and his wife, Delores, started that lodge in 1946.

Later, Dan Averill left that business venture to work in development, hospitality and real estate.

Dan bought the land that now houses the Lodge at Whitefish Lake and build the first condominium in 1990. He spearheaded a nearly 15-year effort to plan, design and build the Lodge at Whitefish Lake, which opened in 2005. Brian was involved in the construction phase of the lodge, which lasted about three years. The most recent addition to the property, the Viking Lodge, opened in June 2010.

“The Viking construction was a big leap of faith,” Fabienne said. Beginning a construction project in a down economy can be risky, she said. It does offer the advantage of having lower construction and material costs, however, and it created jobs.

When Dan and his two sons decided a few years ago they wanted to build a hotel next to the condos, Sean, who is a Realtor, sold all of the hotel units to individual owners, generating adequate capital to construct the hotel. The rooms are now in a rental pool.

The Averills maintain all of the rooms and oversee the room rental processes.

The income is split with the individual owners of a room. The room owners have a specific number of days each year that they can use the property themselves, Fabienne said. Owners may use their unit for 15 days during the peak summer season and 15 days during the peak winter season, which falls around Christmas and New Year’s. In the off-season, unit owners may use their own room as often as they like, she said.

Eighteen of the 45 condos at the site also are in the rental pool and rented out in the same fashion as rooms in the lodge.

Today, Brian handles the resort’s operations and expansion efforts. He and Stacey Averill are the property’s general managers. Sean Averill handles real estate and development.

Full family management of the Lodge at Whitefish Lake just began in 2009, Fabienne said, when Brian was named general manager.

“In 2009, when the economy was somewhat troubling, we shifted to hands-on management and it ended up being a tremendous benefit,” Fabienne said.

Having owners work at the front desk results in them having direct contact with guests, a tremendous plus, she said.

There’s much more to the property than great guest rooms, Fabienne said.

People can rent marina slips.

The Boat Club restaurant and the Boat Club lounge are open to the public. Live music is staged every Wednesday and Saturday in the lounge. Live piano music is featured every Friday night in the dining room and the first Friday of the month, the tables are pushed back and customers may dance to the piano music.

Spa appointments may be scheduled by anyone who wants the experience, Fabienne said.

The Averills are proud of the spa. “It’s serene. It’s very upscale,” she said.

Another new addition to the Lodge at Whitefish Lake is the White Gallery. Treg Miller’s artwork is displayed in the “literally white room,” off the lodge’s lobby, Fabienne said. Miller has “infused a bit of western art into his modern art,” she said. The plan is to host wine tastings and welcome receptions in the gallery and to provide opportunities for children’s art classes.

Through a cooperative effort with the Whitefish Lake Institute, a trail system is being developed through a wetlands area near the property. “It’s a great place to walk your dog,” Fabienne said.

A snowshoe trail is in place, marked with 4-foot-tall candy canes. Snowshoes can be rented at the lodge’s front desk.

Weather permitting, by February the Averills plan to have an ice-skating rink open to the public. Rental skates also will be offered at the front desk.

“The family’s idea is to expand,” Fabienne said. “Development is going to happen in this area and we want to do it in a manner that is pleasing to the community.”

Reporter Shelley Ridenour may be reached at 758-4439 or by e-mail at sridenour@dailyinterlake.com.