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MELCHIORRI: All around America,
there are hotels that are hurting.
They're understaffed, mismanaged,
and in desperate need of a face-lift.
That's where I come in.
When hotels are in trouble, they call me.
But way out in the Alaskan wilderness,
America's last frontier, can I help save
this floundering fishing lodge before it goes belly-up?
Oh, my God. What the hell is that?
Look. That's where you put your soap.
Look at this. This is not even wood.
The worst bathroom I've ever been in.
Have you lost money?
We're liable for 3/4 of a million dollars.
MELCHIORRI: Do they understand
that this building's collapsing around them?
This is how you literally lose a property.
Tomorrow, we're gonna show them the room.
We're in the middle of nowhere,
and I have no resources nearby.
We have bears everywhere.
There's a bear right there, 20 feet from a guest room,
that could eat a guest!
Did somebody say there's a bear over here?
Dude, what are you doing with that gun?
I'm Anthony Melchiorri,
and after 20 years in the hotel business,
there's no problem I can't fix.
I've turned around
some of the most famous properties in America,
from boutique hotels to big-city landmarks.
I'm on a mission,
and I won't stop until every hotel you check into is perfect.
-- Captions by VITAC --
Closed Captions provided by Scripps Networks, LLC.
I've just flown into one of the most beautiful
and isolated places in the country -- Yakutat, Alaska.
A lot of land, a lot of water, not a lot of people.
Only 650 people in 10,000 square miles.
Boasting the largest run of wild steelhead
anywhere in North America,
everyone from veteran outdoorsmen to multimillionaires
travel to this faraway place for its world-class fishing.
And just upstream from the world-class fishing
is the Glacier Bear Lodge, a 32-room hotel with a bar
and one of the only few restaurants in town,
owned by a group of seven friends,
but mostly run by two of them -- Rick Outzen and Marc Dumars.
At the time when we bought it,
we thought, "We could take this place to another level,"
but we are aerospace workers.
We can build you an airplane tomorrow,
but I could not tell you how to run a hotel.
When we bought the place, I took money out of my retirement.
If we lost it, it would just be devastating.
We're always just one financial hit from something going wrong
to end up having to close the place down.
MELCHIORRI: This is my first time in Alaska.
I've never repositioned a property
in the middle of the woods in Alaska,
but I figure a hotel is a hotel,
so why not take on the challenge?
There's a lot of bumps on this road.
Been trying to have the mind of a fisherman or a hunter.
I don't really think I'm worried about a couple potholes.
[ Tires rumble ]
Do they have a Four Seasons here?
Glacier Bear Lodge.
They forgot to put siding on some part of the building.
Or is that -- Maybe that's the way it's supposed to be.
Looks like a Glacier Bear Lodge.
So, it's not completely dilapidated,
but it doesn't look like it's in great shape, either.
Well, it's definitely in the middle of nowhere.
It looks empty.
Doesn't it look like there's nobody here?
I feel way overdressed.
I've got my boots on.
Oh, hello, buddy. This is my bellman.
Can I have the ball?
That is a great way to get greeted
when you come to a hunting and fishing lodge.
I don't know if I have to tip them.
But I really feel like I'm in the great outdoors.
I feel like this is a good experience.
This is what you typically find.
So, if I found this in a regular hotel, I think I'd be upset.
But here, this is exactly what I want to find.
So, the facade looks worn.
You know, there's overgrown grass here.
There's cigarette butts everywhere.
There's no ashtray.
I know it's a lodge, but you can have an ashtray.
You're in nature. You're in Alaska.
You want to respect the ground. You want to respect nature.
I guess I'll put these in my pockets.
As a general manager, you put everything in your pockets.
I've had *** hair in my pockets.
I've had cigarettes in my pockets.
I've had all kinds of stuff in my pockets.
I don't see a front desk, but I see, uh...
Hi, wolfy.
Ooh. My God, that looks real.
This is the first thing I see when I come up here.
So, I'm in a lodge.
I expect to see a wolf, I guess, greet me.
I see antlers. I get it. I'm in a lodge.
But I feel like I'm in somebody's attic,
in a very dirty attic.
Oh, here's a bear.
Now, "Old Rover, shot by Bad Bob Fraker in May of '79."
I guess I wasn't prepared to see all these stuffed animals.
It's starting to feel a little dumpy, to be honest with you.
The bear looks like it's 30 years old.
I don't know where the front desk is.
Hello.
And welcome to the Glacier Bear.
I do.
I am the general manager.
So, where's the front desk?
We've never had one.
We've got a pretty regular plane schedule,
so I know when people are coming.
Normally, I'd be concerned
if a hotel doesn't have a front desk.
But with only two flights a day coming to this isolated place,
the hotel knows exactly when the guests are arriving.
I didn't know what to expect.
I don't know if there's a high-class lodge.
Very informal.
Am I the first person to ever check in in a suit?
Yes. Absolutely.
You want me to come in and give me a room?
Yeah.
You know what? I'm not gonna sit down, man.
Look at that chair.
That chair's disgusting.
It literally looks like
somebody went to the bathroom in that chair.
It gets sat in with wet waders.
Even as a hunter or fisherman, I don't want to sit in a chair
No.
What do I do now?
You give me my key, and you tell me what?
What information do I need to know?
The new clients I bring in that have never been here before,
I sit them down, and I give them a nice talk
about what the lodge has to offer,
the bear problems we have.
You have bear problems?
We have bears everywhere in Yakutat.
When you're walking around the lodge,
make sure you make noise
so you're not gonna walk into a bear.
This is a feeding place for them.
Okay. Do they like little, bald guys?
[ Laughs ] We'll find out.
I've heard all kinds of instructions
for guests when checking in,
but never to be on the lookout for bears.
I think I'm gonna walk to this room
just a little bit faster than usual.
Okay. This is definitely at the low end
of your expectations for a fishing lodge.
Nothing has been touched in literally 40 years,
and the first thing I notice is the carpet.
It doesn't look very clean,
but I don't know if I would have carpet in a room like this
when you have muddy boots
and fishing rods and hunting equipment.
The windows look relatively new.
They just put these windows in probably in the last five years.
Oh, my God. What the hell is that?
There's a tissue plugging up a hole.
"Maintenance, yes.
There's a hole in the screen in room 1."
"No problem. I'll bring the box of Kleenex."
I've been fishing all day. I'm exhausted.
I'm hanging with my buddies.
All I want is a cold beer, and I want a comfortable bed.
Got your low-rent sheets.
I don't know what that is. It could be snot.
Flick it. Flick the snot.
I can feel that this pillow is so lumpy and so old.
Lots of heads have been on this pillow.
I could not sleep on this pillow.
Let me go give it the lay-down test.
After a long day of fishing,
this is not the bed I want to sleep on.
An old mattress that's been here for 30 years.
So, this mattress has definitely outlived its usefulness.
A third of hotel guests surveyed said that a comfortable bed
is the most important part of the hotel experience,
even if it's a fishing lodge.
And this looks like just a place they would hang their clothes.
Oh, and I guess this is where I hang all my fishing gear --
two nails in the wall.
It's one step up or two steps up from sleeping out in the woods.
Whoever thought of a 3-inch nail for a bathroom hook?
I put my bathrobe, I put my towel on this --
on a 3-inch nail.
Look. If I turn around, and I'm not looking,
and I'm drying myself off, I can get hurt.
Look at this. This is not even wood.
This is laminate -- really old, bad laminate,
stuck on by duct tape.
I don't care if you're in a roadside motel
or if you're in Alaska,
every hotel is supposed to have a maintenance department,
so the maintenance department said, "Duct tape.
That's how we're gonna fix the problem in the bathroom."
There's no reason for these kind of doors.
Look at this.
Look at this toilet cover.
Why can't you just get a toilet seat?
That is the oldest toilet seat. It's original. Look.
We won't be using this toilet seat anymore.
Whoever's butt was on here last was the last butt.
And above the showerhead,
I guess you put your bar of soap up here,
and it's got a lot of soap ***.
Look. That's where I put my soap.
So, I put my soap up there, and I put it on my face,
and I put somebody else's God-knows-what on my face.
I've never seen a place where you put your soap
that is this filthy.
Literally, the woods are a better place to take a shower.
This is the worst bathroom I've ever been in by far,
and I don't care if you're in a hunting lodge.
I mean, you really can't get lower than this.
What's lower than this?
A tree. Go pee on a tree.
Worst bathroom I've ever been in.
Whether it's for fishermen or not,
that room absolutely failed my inspection.
I need to speak to the active owners of the property --
Rick Outzen and Marc Dumars -- as well as two other owners
that just came in from a fishing trip --
Bill Banneman and Bill Dumars.
Active or not, I don't think any of them know what they're doing
with this hotel.
If I added up all your years of hotel experience,
it would equal to...
Zero.
Yes.
So, how often are you up here?
Four times a summer --
steelhead season, sockeye season.
I come up here to fish.
So, more than kind of a business for you.
It's more like your own personal fishing lodge.
Yes.
New owners with zero experience
is, unfortunately, something I've seen my entire career.
What I haven't seen
is owners trying to save a struggling hotel
and just come to their property for fishing trips.
How often are you up here?
I have pretty constant interaction
with the general manager.
So, you're the most active owner, would you say?
And Rick?
Anything we need up here, you know,
one of us does the research, usually, to find it.
So, they fish, and you have the headaches.
So, the money you invested in the property --
has that money come back to you yet?
Absolutely not.
We haven't seen a dime.
Have you lost money?
Oh, yeah.
We're liable for 3/4 of a million dollars.
How much profit was made on the hotel last year?
Zero.
Zero?
Okay, let me show you something.
So, the first thing I do
is I come to your website, but I can't book.
I can't book. Why?
That's one of the arguments we've had quite a few times.
Okay, if you're not booking online, you're done, okay?
You're done.
One of the ways you get people
to come to your lodge are reviews.
There are no reviews of your lodge online
because no one can find your lodge online.
The reason that you have
the same people coming back every year,
and you don't have new people,
is because no new people can find you.
Agreed.
Can I book on third-party websites like Expedia Hotels?
You can't.
Okay, who's dumb at this table? Raise your hand.
Nobody's dumb here.
Just common sense tells you
It's expensive.
It's expensive to lose 3/4 of a million dollars.
Oh, good point.
How about travel agents?
We don't deal with any travel agents at all.
You should just go outside
and put a sign on your building that says,
"Closed, except for my friends."
Specialized resorts like this live and die by travel agents,
and if you're not dealing with travel agents,
it's kind of ludicrous,
and you're wondering why you're going out of business.
It's likely that it's probably spread,
because it's like cancer.
How far does this put us behind?
Why isn't that being taken care of?
Do they understand
that this building's collapsing around them?
I don't know how to help you if all I get is excuses.
So, the safety's on the gun, right?
There's a bear out here.
MELCHIORRI: I'm in Yakutat, Alaska,
one of the most rugged and beautiful places in the world.
Glacier Bear Lodge caters specifically to fishermen,
but its rooms are so bad that the bears in the area
probably wouldn't find them accommodating.
So I called in designer Casey Noble
to see if she could help make the rooms more comfortable
and more functional for guests.
O-kay.
What happened in here?
Did you do a little examining?
MELCHIORRI: Of course.
So, now, you're thinking "lodge."
You're thinking "fishing." What are you thinking?
I'm thinking the first thing
that is the biggest problem for me, we're standing on it.
You can see the stains everywhere.
This floor needs to be a hard finish.
Oh!
Oh [bleep]
Sorry. I apologize.
I didn't mean to say that.
Oh, smell that.
Are you kidding me?!
To really understand the feeling in this room,
I understand.
No, don't do that.
Smell it. Smell it. Come on.
Oh.
Doesn't that smell terrible?
It's the worst smell I've ever smelled in my life.
That smell smells like a cesspool.
That smells like shoes, fish, bare ***,
and it doesn't even meet the lowest expectations
I've ever had for a hotel.
But look. Here, you want to see something?
These are 3-inch rusty nails in the wall,
and they're everywhere.
Obviously, these guys
are creating a place to hang things.
They're here, and they want this room to be functional,
and it's not really even set up to be.
I want to show you something else.
Here, look at the bed.
Oh, yeah.
This bed has not been updated in 20 years.
Ever.
A lot of *** been on this bed.
I want a floor that I don't feel is filthy.
I want hooks to put my crap on.
I want you to at least think of me as a fisherman
that needs to be able to function
and not worry about anything.
Don't go in there.
I don't want to go in there.
I don't want to go.
Holy what?!
Anthony, what did this look like
when you first came in here?
Like that.
No, it did not.
Look. Look. This is a bathroom hook.
Oh, and the towels. This is like a hand towel.
Look how worn this towel is.
Here, hold that.
Hold that.
I can't. I can't.
It's the bottom part of the toilet.
While Casey gets busy making the rooms more practical
and comfortable for guests,
I want to see why people come here and where they spend
the majority of their time -- fishing.
I'm not a fisherman, but skilled outdoorsmen
and country-music star Craig Morgan is in town
and is willing to show me the ropes.
If anyone can help me get in the head
of a Glacier Bear guest, it's him.
MORGAN: Hey, Bud.
Frank, good to see you, buddy.
I want you to meet Anthony.
Yeah. I'm Frank Delarow.
Nice to meet you, Frank.
He hadn't fished since he was a kid,
so we're gonna get him in the boat,
and we'll show him the rods and everything.
Let's go fishing.
You want me to drive?
[ Laughter ]
MELCHIORRI: If you're gonna travel 10 hours,
sometimes 20 hours to get here,
I want to know why.
MORGAN: There are guys that would sleep in a tent
to be able to fish this river,
but they're used to a certain lifestyle.
So, you have everybody
from people making $40,000, $50,000 a year
to people who have millions of dollars.
Multimillionaires will fly their private planes in
and stay in a room next to the guy who is the plumber
who saved up his life to have this one trip at this river.
Right.
Sports fishing
is a multi-billion-dollar-a-year industry,
and the average angler will spend thousands of dollars
to fish here for a week,
in the world's best place for steelhead, halibut,
and five different species of salmon.
That is a ton of potential business
that the Glacier Bear Lodge is missing out on.
MORGAN: How good a life is this?
It's as good as it is when it comes to fishing.
It's about the experience.
Anthony's casting like a pro now.
I learned from the best, baby.
Oh, yeah. We got a fish on.
Yes, sir. Look at you.
[ Laughs ]
Well, look at that!
Hold on! Hold on! Oh, yeah, buddy.
Nice fish. Hold on.
This is what it's about! [ Screams ]
[ Laughs ]
What's that over there?
Look right there. Brown bear right there.
That is Alaska.
We're sitting here, fishing. We're hanging out with him.
He ain't hanging out with us.
He's fattening up, getting ready for winter.
I think I just peed myself.
That is why people come to Alaska.
This is as wild as it gets.
This is the true final frontier right here, buddy.
Big fun, my friend.
That's amazing. That's amazing.
This is the real deal.
This is the best fishing in the world,
the best guide in the world, the best view in the world.
Now I have to figure out
how to get people to know more about this place.
Absolutely.
The guy who catches the most fish --
the other guy buys him a beer?
That's it. I owe you a beer.
So, now, supposedly,
this is where we get our fish cleaned, huh?
This is the real test. This is what these guys come for,
and they're gonna take home the fish they caught.
I think you got the wrong fish.
I'm pretty sure I got the right one.
Mine are pretty heavy.
MELCHIORRI: One of the great services the Glacier Bear offers
is to clean, package, and freeze your fish right at the lodge --
something every fisherman appreciates.
While you're doing my fish, where do I put my stuff?
'Cause I stink like fish.
You rinse yourself off at one of the hoses,
and there's hooks in front of the doors.
And then just hang my stuff in my room?
Yeah. Once it's dry, I guess, you can take it in your room.
There's no other place to store it?
No.
This should be a fisherman's paradise,
but there's nowhere for them to even store their gear.
There's no point in renovating one of their rooms
if they're just going to trash it with fish guts.
Maybe Craig can offer Casey a solution
from an outdoorsman's perspective.
I notice you guys are putting down tile,
you say, because of the smell in the carpet holds that.
When we come in from fishing, we have on these waders,
and when you catch a fish, the fish is up against you.
You're holding it, and you get it on this,
and so it smells, and they'll take them off.
Right. I saw that.
It does work, but it's not normal.
In a normal situation, you would have what we call a mudroom,
where you can hang your waders and your rain jacket...
Okay.
...and leave your poles and stuff
so that you don't take those elements into your room
and create the stench that you ended up with.
Plus, you get up in the morning at 4:30,
you're not sitting on the porch,
where it's wet, misty, raining, trying to get dressed.
The mudroom can make you a lot more comfortable.
That seems to me to be a basic comfort
and a basic need for a fisherman.
I know we do have two existing laundry rooms.
There are dryers in there already,
so I think that would probably be the best place to explore.
I have about zero time.
So, I'm gonna let you get to it.
Oh, enjoy.
[ Laughs ]
MELCHIORRI: If they want to be considered a top fishing lodge,
creating a mudroom is essential.
Plus, with the proper place to put gear,
guests will stop hammering nails into the walls
to hang things up.
And the rooms won't reek of fish --
a smell that can attract other uninvited guests.
Dude, we've got a bear.
There's a bear right there.
There's a bear right -- 20 feet from a guest room
that could eat a guest!
When the man was cleaning the fish,
he left all the parts in that bucket.
The bear knocked them over this morning,
and now you have the birds feasting
on what he thought was gonna be his breakfast.
So, now you've got a bear that's pissed off,
and you don't know what he's gonna do,
and the bear is 20 feet from the building.
Did somebody say there's a bear over here?
Dude, what are you doing with that gun?
That's a little too close to my temple.
No, I mean --
I'm done. I'm done talking to you.
MELCHIORRI: I'm in the wilderness of Yakutat, Alaska.
We're working to save the dilapidated Glacier Bear Lodge.
I was thrilled to experience firsthand
the incredible sports fishing that attracts people here
from all over the world.
But as I inspected the property,
I ran into some other very special guests
that this property attracts.
There's a bear right -- 20 feet from a guest room
that could eat a guest!
It's not the bear's fault. He just wants to eat the fish.
He should have just taken the parts, put it in a bag,
and put it in the freezer until the garbagemen come
and then take the fish parts.
The owner said...
Somebody say there's a bear over here?
Dude, what are you doing with that gun?
Well, somebody said there was a bear over here.
Great. Just what I needed -- a gun-toting guest.
You're not supposed to shoot the bear. It's not his fault.
There's plenty of bear around here.
Right.
That's a little too close to my temple.
So, the safety's on the gun, right?
No, it's not.
[ Laughter ]
Can you put the safety on the gun?
Okay.
So, do you think it's a good idea
to give the bear a smorgasbord of fish?
[ Laughs ] Probably not.
Right? And you may shoot me.
I won't shoot you.
As a guest, you shouldn't have to protect me,
but thank you.
I normally don't see a guest wielding a gun
at the hotels I stay at,
but I guess this truly is America's last frontier.
It feels like a good time to head indoors,
so I'll check in with Casey
to see how she's doing with the room renovation.
Look what she's done already. She ripped the whole room apart.
NOBLE: Come on in.
This is Mike Bullock. Have you met?
Mike Bullock with Marathon.
Mike, nice to meet you.
I did not expect you to already be this far along.
I see you have a big hole in the floor,
and I see there's some kind of water damage.
What's going on?
Well, we're definitely making good progress in the room,
but in here, specifically in the bathroom,
we've taken a few steps backwards.
When Mike and the guys were pulling the tub out,
they discovered the floor was rotten.
There's been major water damage going on for a long time.
You see where water's been coming down from the roof there.
Look at this.
Yeah. And that's into the...
And now you have your hand into the other bathroom.
Oh, wow.
Yeah, it's a mess.
It's likely that it's probably spread,
because it's like cancer.
When it gets wet, it just spreads.
We started seeing rotten wood,
so we tore the rest of it out to find out where the problem was.
Right.
So, this could be going on on the second floor, as well.
It clearly looks like this has been going on for 10, 15 years.
How far does this put us behind?
We're gonna work through the night.
MELCHIORRI: Casey and her team are doing all they can,
but the rot they found in the bathroom is a major concern.
This is beyond a red flag.
This is a neon sign saying,
"We are completely ignoring maintenance."
How many other rooms are just like this?
I'm gonna check around the rest of the property
to see if I can find other problems.
So, now, this building here, it looks almost abandoned.
And look. Oh, my God.
Somebody goes like this.
Look at this.
You can fall. That took no effort at all.
So, this can fall, and somebody can fall with it,
and it can fall on somebody.
I need to talk to the G.M., Pete, about this immediately.
Yes.
Not only is the lodge sinking underwater, but so is the G.M.
I need to help Pete wake up
before his property caves in around him.
How often do you do a perimeter check of the building?
Every other day, picking up trash.
But a general check of the building...
Never.
I want to show you a couple things.
Correct.
I literally kicked it gently like this,
and it fell off.
It got hit by a backhoe this winter, and it never got fixed.
Why would you let that go?
We get busy. Things don't happen.
It's not an excuse. I understand that.
There's not a general manager alive
that runs a hotel that's not busy.
Look up there at the roof.
I know what you're looking at.
This is actually on our list
of things to do yet this year, budget provided.
How long have you been here?
First year as G.M. Four years.
This roof should have been done seven years ago.
Budget.
So, you've told the owners about it?
We've discussed it many, many times.
Do they understand
that this building's collapsing around them?
I don't think it's collapsing.
You don't think so? Let me show you something.
This roof is all rotted.
Look. Moss is growing out of here.
This is how our maintenance guy tried to fix this problem.
Look at that. Look at the rot on this wood.
With my fingers, I'm just taking it out.
I can dig through this
and rip this whole board out if I wanted to.
In all-weather conditions, it's very important
to maintain the outside of your building.
Is that supposed to be open like that?
Look at this here.
I can literally crawl underneath here,
and it's probably drenched underneath there.
This wood is falling apart in my hand.
We don't want water underneath the building, do we?
No, absolutely not.
I don't have a valid excuse for why it hasn't been fixed,
but it's never been a problem here.
This fills with water every year.
Things like this were on lists that didn't get finished
because there was priorities other places.
Thank you.
When I first started talking to you, I was mad.
You were in excuse mode.
There was not one thing that you gave me
that's not an excuse, so I'm about done.
There's serious, serious maintenance issues
that can kill people,
and all you do is give me excuses,
so I need you to explain to me
what the hell you want me to do for you.
If I had an extra maintenance person,
and we had the money to do things,
we could get things fixed more efficiently.
How many months a year are you busy?
Six months.
So, for six months,
you have the time to get this place in order.
Weather dependent.
Okay. See? Another excuse.
I don't know how to help you if all I get is excuses.
It's like I could tell you things,
but 10 seconds after I tell you,
you're gonna make an excuse
as soon as I walk out the damned door.
Okay, I'm done. I'm done.
No, seriously. I'm done.
I'm not here to yell and scream at people.
I'm done.
I'm done talking to you.
So, I want you to think real hard.
One, do you want to be the G.M.?
Because the hotel's gonna fall apart.
I can't sit here and talk to somebody
that just gives me excuses, okay?
So, I want you to think about it.
MELCHIORRI: I'm in the sports fishing paradise
of Yakutat, Alaska,
where I'm realizing just how grave the situation is
at Glacier Bear Lodge.
I found the G.M. has been ignoring
the lodge's crumbling buildings,
which could lead to other disaster.
Now I've decided to look for some Yakutat locals
to find out what they think about the lodge.
MAN: No. Have a seat.
I'm here to help the Glacier Bear Lodge.
Are you guys into fishing?
I'm a sport-fish guide.
Glacier Bear Lodge is not a place right now
that I'd recommend my clients to go,
and we used to be all Glacier Bear.
MELCHIORRI: As small-business owners, I wonder what effect
closing the Glacier Bear Lodge might have on them.
It would be a blow to the entire community,
because we all have to depend on each other.
So, if they go away, my profits are drastically cut.
I'm really surprised by that, so that's gonna help me.
Thank you very much for your time.
MANDY: Anthony, nice to meet you.
I'm Mandy. I'm Barbara Jean.
How important is Glacier Bear Lodge to the community?
In Yakutat, there's not a lot of options for our kids.
A lot of them graduate
and will attempt college and then come back.
Our economy's just not that great.
It's fishing, or it's in the tourism industry.
So, the Glacier Bear Lodge
is important to the young people of the community
because they need a job.
Actually, there's the mayor.
The mayor?
The mayor of Yakutat.
Go say "hello."
Hi, Mr. Mayor. Hi. I'm Anthony.
Hi, Anthony. Glad to meet you.
I'm starting to realize that the Glacier Bear Lodge
is a big part of this community.
Glacier Bear Lodge and the other lodges
provide a lot of sales tax,
which we use to plow roads and everything else.
Plus, we have a 47% unemployment in the winter.
They hire a number of locals, and that's huge.
So, I'm gonna go back with all this knowledge,
and I'm gonna try to help the town and help the hotel.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
MELCHIORRI: The townspeople of Yakutat
depend on the Glacier Bear Lodge even more than I thought,
so I dug in the lodge's finances to see where I could help
and came across some shocking information.
They're spending way too much
to have their goods and supplies shipped here.
So, it's very simple.
I asked for some invoices
to see kind of what's going on.
You have $65,000 in shipping -- okay? -- which is high,
but if you consolidate your shipments and order quarterly
instead of monthly, your costs go from $65,000 a year
to about $44,000 a year.
That's huge.
I saved you 20 grand
because I need you to start a capital expenditure fund.
I need you to take 3% of your revenue,
so every dollar you make, 3 cents goes into an account.
And then, you start doing a budget for capital expenditures.
You sit down with your general manager, and you say,
"Okay, for the next 12 months, we're gonna change out TVs.
In February, we're gonna change out the air-conditioning units."
Whatever it is.
And then, every month, you have a maintenance line.
A light bulb goes out, you fix it, right?
Our attitude for nine years has been,
"Well, if we have money at the end of the year,
then we'll fix something."
And obviously, that doesn't work.
Every day, it's getting beat up by the elements.
It's getting beat up by fishermen.
It's getting beat up by bears.
Literally.
Instead of taking care of it and having an appreciating product,
you're having a depreciating product.
Yeah. It makes sense.
And that's why number one -- you're right --
is the maintenance.
I want a commitment that someone is going to spend
more than a couple of days here.
Oh, absolutely.
To give you an idea of how influential you've been,
this is probably the first time
him and I have ever been here and not fished.
This isn't your personal fishing lodge.
This is a lodge that you opened to the public.
People save for five years to come here.
This is their dream that you're controlling.
I never looked at it that way.
You're right,
'cause our first trip up here was the same way.
We came up here wanting the trip of a lifetime.
And we got it, you know.
So, yeah. Good point.
You need to make sure
that the townspeople have pride in this place
and tell people to stay here next year.
Yeah.
Right now, the townspeople are dejected.
I think your general manager's getting overwhelmed.
I'm gonna go back to work. You go back to work.
We've still got a lot to do.
All right.
I'm glad the focus is starting to shift
from the fishermen who own the hotel
to the fishermen who actually stay here.
Now I want to check with Casey
to see how the mudroom is progressing.
So, I scoped the entire property out,
and this is the best-case scenario for this mudroom.
Tomorrow is our last day here.
I know. There's a lot to do.
We're 24 hours away.
I'm not kidding. I mean, this is ridiculous.
Let me talk you through what we've got going on here.
You've got nothing going on here.
We've got an empty room.
Tomorrow, we're gonna show them the room.
We're in the middle of nowhere,
and I have no resources nearby.
How the hell are we gonna get anything done by tomorrow?
MELCHIORRI: I'm in the fishing town
of Yakutat, Alaska,
where I'm working to put the Glacier Bear Lodge
back on the map, and to support that,
I brought in someone special to help,
who will be a key player in the lodge's future.
Gentlemen, Tara is from Liberty Travel,
and she's a marketing manager.
TARA: Liberty Travel --
we've been America's vacation experts
for the past 60 years.
We have over 500,000 unique visitors
to Liberty Travel website every month.
Tara has been traveling around Yakutat in the last couple days,
really trying to understand who you guys are.
What have you got?
I spoke with headquarters,
and we put together a very comprehensive marketing plan
for you.
She's gonna get them on the back page
of the travel section of the "Boston Globe,"
the "Philadelphia Gazette," and the Sunday "New York Times,"
which has over a million readers.
That is huge.
The "New York Times."
That's more marketing than we've done
in the last nine years that we've owned the place.
This is an $80,000 marketing plan.
$80,000?
But for you guys, it's free.
No. Are you serious?
Yes. We believe in your lodge,
and we're very excited to help the Glacier Bear Lodge.
This is remarkable.
This is the kind of thing that puts it over the edge.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
MELCHIORRI: The Glacier Bear Lodge's
new national marketing plan
will attract fishermen from all over the world,
but they will be miserable when they arrive
if the G.M. can't keep up with the serious maintenance issues
around the property.
The lodge's success depends on it,
so I need to know he's committed.
Hey, Pete.
Good. How are you?
I bet you I'm the last person you want to see right now.
Not the absolute last, but you're not high.
[ Chuckles ]
Thanks. I appreciate it.
I'm going around here,
killing myself to help you reposition this hotel,
and that's how you greet me?
I'm really glad you're here.
I'm all about the Glacier Bear,
and if this is gonna help, I'm in 100%.
Have you thought anything that I've said makes sense?
A lot of it's made sense.
I need more maintenance help, and it's on its way.
Next season, we will have a full-time maintenance guy
who is dedicated to nothing but maintenance.
What else?
Thank you for saying that.
It's great that you greet the guests
and the guests feel your warmth, but you need to walk around.
I need you to be more effective.
Oh, absolutely. I want this place to succeed,
and it starts with me.
So, what am I gonna expect from you
that's changed from the day I got here to today?
A better-run lodge, well-maintained.
Doing general-manager duties -- I need to do them.
I'm starting to notice that you're changing things.
Like, see these chairs?
These chairs are older, but I don't care.
They're clean.
So, you're making the right moves.
I want you to do your job, and I want you to feel
that we're giving you the tools to do that.
That's what I want to do.
I want to make this place as successful as it can be.
I'm glad to see
that Pete is committed to turning things around here.
The full-time maintenance person he's going to hire
will pay off immediately.
Now that we're on the same page,
I have a little surprise for the person he's going to hire.
I know since I've gotten here, I've given you a lot of crap,
and I know I kind of got in your face,
but it's because I care about the guests,
I care about the owners,
and more importantly, I care about you,
'cause you're the one holding all this stuff.
And you can't hold this stuff
if you don't have the proper tools to do your job.
I want to show you something.
That's awesome.
Don't think I've ever seen tools that nice here, ever.
They're not rusty. That's a first.
I love it.
So, my friends at American Hotel Register,
I called them, and I said, "I need some tools,"
and they said, "We work with Grainger,"
so Grainger gave you over $3,000 worth of tools.
It's one thing to get a new maintenance person,
but you want to give them pride,
and nothing says pride
when you have really nice, good tools.
I love it. It's great. We need it.
It's definitely gonna help.
That's the first time I've really seen you smile.
[ Laughter ]
I like tools.
You want to give me a hug, don't you?
No, not really.
A handshake.
All right, brother. Let's go to work.
We may not be fishing together anytime soon,
but Pete seems happy with the tools I gave the hotel,
and I know they'll be very useful right away.
Now I need to find Casey
and make sure she got the renovation moving along.
Hopefully, she hasn't fallen through a rotten floor.
Casey Noble.
I'm doing well.
I'm -- I'm doing.
I love the floor.
Oh, good.
This is a hunter-fisherman lodge floor.
Yes, it's almost indestructible.
And I bet you it doesn't smell.
Oh, better not.
What's this?
Well, when the guys first walk into the room,
obviously, they need a lot of storage.
In a very rustic, affordable way,
I'm building this open closet.
I love the organization here.
I love the fact I can just dump.
The bathroom. Tell me about the bathroom.
Okay. Well, this is the scene of the crime.
I'm still feeling a little concerned,
because I have tile going up on the shower surround.
I still feel like there's a lot to be done right here.
Did they just cover it up, or did they fix it?
They fixed it. They replaced all the wood.
The pipes are replaced.
Everything's soldered correctly now.
'Cause that is a major, major setback,
and obviously, our schedule doesn't allow for that.
We have a lot done in here,
but there's still a lot left to do.
Let me show you what the new Glacier Bear Lodge looks like.
Holy [bleep]
I can't believe you did this!
I'm blown away. I just can't believe this.
MELCHIORRI: I'm in the fishing paradise of Yakutat, Alaska,
where I'm trying to make the Glacier Bear Lodge
the number-one destination for fishermen.
We've made a ton of progress since we arrived,
but Casey and her team faced the challenge
of finding enough building materials in such a remote area
and finishing one of my surprise bonus renovations
before our time here is up.
I hope she pulls it off, because that's what this lodge needs
to attract the specialized guests they want to stay here.
What were you laughing at?
I like the sign -- "Mud."
DUMARS: Oh, yeah. That's cool.
99% of the people who come here are fishermen,
and what they've been doing is dragging their mud,
the smell of fish,
through their rooms, and what have you got?
You've got smelly, muddy, fishy rooms.
Yeah.
So, by doing a mudroom,
we take the gear out of their room.
No more nails on the wall. And they have more space.
You screwed up my new check-in policy.
It was gonna be a key, a river map,
five nails, and a hammer when you check in
so you can put your own nails in.
[ Laughter ]
Let's go check out the room.
Let's do it.
Holy smokes.
I can't believe you did this in just a couple days.
DUMARS: Wow. Nice and warm, vent in the wall.
We've talked about this for five years -- doing this.
This room was inspired by Craig Morgan, your guest.
It was created by my designer, Casey Noble.
Hi. Nice to meet you. How are you?
How did you do this?
I immediately thought of the laundry room,
because I know you guys had two,
and with that boiler room back there,
heating this room -- it was already here.
Honestly, this room cost me 300 bucks.
Really?
Just a little bit of thought
and consideration for the guests.
You just said it. Consideration for the guests.
You were fishermen before you got here.
You're businessmen now.
You have to think about the guests all the time,
not yourselves.
Come here. I want you to see this.
MELCHIORRI: I have two questions.
One, how did you do it? And two, what's that?
NOBLE: One, sheer determination.
Two, I looked kind of like that when I was doing this.
[ Laughter ]
This is one of the coolest things I've seen
since I've been here. This is the Glacier Bear.
It's an artist's rendition of a Glacier Bear.
And it's so cool.
DUMARS: Very nicely done.
Nice job.
I had her pull off another job that I had her working on,
which is even more intense than what she did here.
Absolutely.
Cool.
NOBLE: Follow me, gentlemen.
So, let me show you
what the new Glacier Bear Lodge looks like.
Enjoy your new room, guys.
Holy [bleep]
DUMARS: Wow.
I'm blown away.
I just can't believe this.
Hooks for the fishing poles. Wow.
It feels homey and warm just standing here.
Comfortable beds.
OUTZEN: The beds we've had in here since the '70s.
Yeah.
You took the time to understand what we have here
and what we are trying to attend to.
What I heard from the fly fishermen was
that they couldn't store their poles vertically.
They needed to have them horizontal
'cause sometimes they're extra long.
So, there's plenty of room on this wall
to have a very, very long fishing pole stored.
I'm finished with my fishing pole.
OUTZEN: Throw it up there, and you're done.
That's perfect. That's what you need.
Let's go see the bathroom.
Yeah, okay. Let's go.
Oh, wow.
Holy cow.
The tiled shower is perfect.
DUMARS: That looks great.
Everything in here is very functional.
Wow. I love the shelves.
These were in the shed out back.
That's rough-cut wood right out of the trees in the local area.
NOBLE: You know what else I did?
I hung up some new towels for you guys.
Real towels? Oh, my gosh.
My friends at American Hotel Register
have donated all the towels and all the linen
No way.
For every room?
All 32 rooms.
You're making it tough for us to fail, here.
People want a clean room,
and they just want to be comfortable.
You know, even fishermen, they want to come back,
and they just want to feel comfortable.
So, you're well on your way.
Are you fishermen, or are you businessmen?
Businessmen.
I could have never have done this all by myself.
My heroes from Marathon Construction
up in Anchorage.
Great job, you guys.
Anybody that could do this kind of work in four days
under the pressures you're under.
If you can get it down to two days, it would even be better.
[ Laughter ]
MELCHIORRI: I'm glad the owners are happy with what we've done.
Now guests who stay here can spend more time fishing
and less time putting nails in the wall to hang their gear.
If the owners continue on the path I've set for them,
I know this lodge can thrive.
You've got a marketing campaign.
You've got a model room
that you can really take to the next level.
I tried to give you the tools.
It's up to you.
You are no longer fishermen. You are...
Hoteliers.
Now you can say, "I own..."
It's a world-class fishing lodge.
And when they say, "Hey, you want to fish with me?"
Too busy.
So, now you have work to do.
I've got fishing to do.
Now I'm a fisherman. You're a hotelier.
MELCHIORRI: The Glacier Bear Lodge is critical
to the Yakutat community.
When I first arrived here, the owners were treating this lodge
like their own personal fishing lodge.
But now they have a marketing plan that's world-class,
a design that's world-class,
and if they provide the level of service that the guests expect,
this hotel is going to the top,
and it will be in their family for generations,
but more importantly,
will stay in this community for generations.