Becky Robbins introduced Lisa Masters, Sales Manager at The Harbor Hotel. Lisa has been at her job since June and hails from Boston. She moved to our area (Burtis Bay) last year to be near her family. Lisa’s responsibility is to focus on corporate sales in the Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Buffalo area and entice them utilize The Harbor Hotel. There are four other employees in the sales department. The Hotel’s General Manager is Chris Scott.
The hotel has been well-utilized since its soft opening including 4 weddings, a major conference, and the Chautauqua County Conference on opioid addiction.
The hotel is the product of David Hart, Manager of Hart Hotels and Peter Krog, builder (Wegman’s & Home Depot). They are known for creating or recreating a destination. There are four Harbor Hotels; the others are in Watkins Glen, Clayton and Portland, Me. Our hotel is the largest and was built in 14 months for $40,000,000. They are all triple A – Four Diamond hotels based upon their amenities and service.
The Harbor Hotel has 35 guest rooms, 15 suites, all decorated the same, but different sizes. The king bed rooms also have a pull out sofa bed and the queen rooms have two queen size beds. There are rooms with lake views or village views, with patios or without.
The room we met in on Monday is 1200 square feet and there are seven different breakout rooms. The ballroom of 6200 sq.ft. holds 408 people with a dance floor, band area and head table area; this can be halved to accommodate 202. Outside the ballroom is 4100 square feet of pre-function space where cocktails and hors d’oeuvres are usually served overlooking the lake and outside seating areas.
There is a Lakehouse Tap & Grille for more casual dining and a bar with 4 TVs that serves local beers and wines. Outside is the beautiful Carousel Bar which features a replica of a carousel horse.
The hotel is a full service hotel, meaning it serves breakfast, lunch and dinner and has 24 hour room service.
The Harbor Hotel is a partner of the National Comedy Center and directs visitors to the Center whenever possible.
There are no carpets in any of the rooms; each room has a refrigerator, walk-in shower, and safes and bathrobes. There are no coffee makers in the rooms however each floor has a lobby which they call the Starbucks Coffee Café near the elevator with complementary coffee.
The Hotel menus are listed on line with prices.
Occupancy has been very good so far. They are busy developing packages to make fall getaways attractive.
The Hart family has purchased Ellicott Shores – the apartments next to the hotel and are busy renovating those accommodations as well.
There is an island attached to the hotel, but there is not food or beverage service there. Public docking is planned for further down lake next year. The hotel has also purchased the Celoron Lighthouse and plans to refurbish it. Hopefully there will be an area for public docking and canoe, kayak and paddle boat usage and rental.
Now Mr. Hart hopes to get everyone to the table to partner on improving the condition of the lake and build up business at the south end of the lake.
Bookings are available through Expedia, AAA, and AARP. There is a seasonal rate structure in place now through April 30. And the sales department is working with the ski resorts and local snow mobile clubs.
There are 110 full and part-time employees working hard to make your stay at the Harbor Hotel perfect.