There's a mix of winter and spring in February - sometimes a lot of both, depending on the day! If you're walking through our little curve of North Chesterman early in the month, you may have felt the still-powerful storm surges ebbing along the shoreline, while a little later in the month, you might feel the full sun on your face on a brisk day that's as beautiful and clear-blue as any late spring afternoon. You may even notice a small strand of purple crocuses or even daffodils somewhere on this February walk - a promise of things to come and an early sign that the fiercest storms are behind us.

This month is often when the hotel's doors reopen after our Annual Closure, with the Inn fresh-faced and renewed in myriad ways, great and small. Our Chief Engineer, Mark Shaw, orchestrates and directs every last detail of this exciting time. I have had the distinct privilege of working with Mark for the last 15 years, and under his oversight, we welcome back a rush of our longtime friends: local tradespeople, craftspeople, and artisans - all of whom return to the Inn and start to work on a concert of projects both inside and out. This year, with a few short weeks at hand, we accomplished renovations, revitalizing touches, and brand new installations in nearly every corner of the hotel. Here are just a few examples;

• A new bicycle shelter for both regular and hybrid guest bikes, complete with electrical plugs
• The addition of 4 new universal Porsche electric vehicle chargers
• Installation of a custom-built corner display opposite The Pointe Restaurant Host stand
• Added desk level plugs with USB and USB-C options (for faster charging) above the surface of all our Pointe building desks
• Ceiling fans were added to all guestrooms in the Pointe building to provide a cooling breeze during those very few hot summer days
• Several guestroom carpets were replaced, and a host of painting and refinishing projects throughout both the Pointe and Beach buildings
• Plus, many behind the scenes tweaks to help ensure better service to you and a better working environment for our team

As always, we work to make sure we are growing over closure and striving to be better today than we were yesterday and better tomorrow than we are today.

While we continue to emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic and the world reopens, slowly but surely, this year feels like we may truly regain many more of the joys of travel. Without a doubt, we have come a long way in these last two years together, and I am grateful for our incredible team that delivered exquisite service every step of the way through extraordinary times. Speaking of the joys of travel, we also thank and appreciate so many of you who made the journey to visit us over the last two years. This time of year also marks the voting for Travel + Leisure World's Best Awards for 2022, which are now accepting nominations. If we have had the pleasure of welcoming you on a visit to our corner of the world, we trust you enjoyed every moment of your time with us, and if time permits, we would be grateful for your consideration in voting for us this year.

As always and more than ever, we are delighted to have reopened our doors we trust for good this time, and we look forward to welcoming you our guests to new beginnings, brighter days, an incredible team, and an experience that you have longed for and we are proud to provide.

Welcome to 2022!

Charles

Subscribe to the Inn's monthly newsletter here and hear about our latest news and offers.