'Twas the Night Before Christmas at the Motel Montreal

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from all of us at the Motel Montreal in Lake George.  From our family to your family, we wish you a very safe, happy and healthy season and a new year full of prosperity and good tidings.  If you are starting to plan your 2013 Lake George vacation, we have a bunch of special offers, deals and packages here or just give us a call at (518) 668-5439 and we can create the perfect Lake George getaway for you and your family. 

Now....without further adieu...Rob gives you his contribution to the literary world, rhyming and Christmas (drum roll please):

 A LAKE GEORGE MOTEL MONTREAL CHRISTMAS:

by Rob Gregor

'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the hotel
Not a creature was stirring and I was sleeping well;
The neon sign was lit up with care,
In hopes that our guests soon would be there;

The travelers were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of the Minne Ha-Ha danced in their heads;
And Nerisha in her PJs, and I in my sweats,
Had just realized that life in Lake George is as good as it gets

When out in the parking lot there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I grumpily trudged,
Pushed on the window but it barely budged.

The moon on the cars parked in my lot
Made the Motel Montreal look like a great spot,
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a bus from Nova Scotia carrying lots of beer,

With a little old driver, so tired and irate,
I knew in a moment his stay was not going to be great.
As he tried to find parking he yelled up to me
“We have no reservation but do you have a vacancy?”;

I told him I had nothing for such a big group,
I was nearly out of rooms, not even a stoop. 
To my neighbors at Lake Haven and Shore Meadows I suggested they go,
But be careful because Lake Ave is slick in the snow.

As loose lumber from a truck surely does fly,
They skidded down Lake Ave, I thought they would die,

But much to my satisfaction, they were able to survive,

Without a bump or a bruise safely they did arrive.

And then with a curse I heard the driver proclaim,
“Lake George is full, this is f@#!in’ insane.”
As I drew in my hand, and headed to bed,
Back came the bus driver filled with dread.

He had sold a tour group but forgotten to book a hotel,
If he admitted this to his customers, it would not sit well.;
A bundle of cash he had at the ready,
And he looked a little bit mentally unsteady .

His eyes showed desperation; his smile was so crazy,
And I told him next time to make reservations, don’t be so lazy.
His expression seemed to think me unkind
When a great idea came to my mind;

True, I lacked hotel rooms for his travelling school,
But I have a large room under the pool.
The driver borne a look of shock and dismay,
But take it he did for a one night’s stay.

He spoke not a word, but nodded his head,
And asked for help making the beds,
And giving a thumbs-up to the riders of the bus,
He ushered them off without a fuss;

The driver told the guests that the hotel was called “Under the Pool”,
But believe him they did not, they thought him a fool!
But I heard him exclaim, as I shut off the light.
Next time I will book the Motel Montreal in advance and then we will all sleep tight!

Thankful For You

Yesterday was Thanksgiving Day in the United States.  The day was filled with friends, copious amounts of turkey and potatoes (sweet, garlic mashed and au gratin) and a New York Jets disaster that makes me wonder if Vinny Testaverde is available for next Sunday.  Most importantly, Thanksgiving Day gives me a chance to reflect on how lucky I am and how thankful I should be.  I am very thankful for my family and for my health and I am incredibly thankful to be the owner of the Motel Montreal and to live in Lake George.  None of this is possible without our repeat guests, loyal visitors and Lake George vacationers and I am very thankful for every guest that comes through our doors at the Motel Montreal.  Although we are closed for the winter, I am busy making 2013 very special for all of our guests.  Keep an eye on our Special Offers and Discounts page for new hot deals on Lake George vacations including dining packages, Great Escape and cruise tickets and other great discounted family vacation packages.  Also, in 2013 we will roll out 10 newly renovated guestrooms and an improved deck and pool area.  Thank you for staying with us in 2012.  Your business makes a difference in our family's life and your friendship means the world to me. 

Americade 2012

Last week was Americade in Lake George and we at the Motel Montreal had a blast.  Americade is a week long motorcycle rally where persons from all walks of life come to Lake George to share their common interest of everything motorcycle (i.e. channel their inner biker).  This was our second Americade in Lake George as the owners of the Motel Montreal.  The guests make the event and Americade in Lake George is the event of the season.  We had a great time with JP and the 74th Crusaders out of Nova Scotia and with the Blue Nights from Paterson, NJ who have been long time guests at the Motel Montreal.  A special thanks to Doug and Anthony of the Blue Nights for playing electrician and to JC of the East Coast Roadrunners for playing techie on our wireless routers.  Also, thanks for the food, the beer and the laughs.   Thank you to all of those who stayed with us during Americade 2012 and we hope to see you again for Americade 2013!  Check-out pictures and video from Americade at the Motel Montreal and click on our video of the Saturday morning Americade parade here. 

Thank You

We use this blog as a weekly forum to promote the Motel Montreal and the greater Lake George region but we wanted to use this week's post to thank the men and women of the armed forces for their commitment and sacrifice.  These brave souls sacrifice time with family, financial wealth and their own health and safety to keep our country safe and to perpetuate the ideal that is the United States of America.  The members of our armed forces deserve recognition, appreciation and a very heartfelt THANK YOU from us all.  To this end, we posted some links to veteran related charities.  We note that many of these organizations accept donations of time, food, clothing, as well as financial contributions.  If you have the means, we hope that you will find it in your heart to help those that protect our country.  Happy Memorial Day, be safe and may God Bless America.

• ClothingDonations.org 
• Paralyzed Veterans of America
• Wounded Warrior Project
• Soldiers' Angels
• Homes for our Troops
• US Wounded Soldiers Foundation

Happy Victoria Day Weekend

Monday, May 21st, 2012, is Victoria Day in Canada.  For those who don't know (and we didn't until yesterday), Victoria Day celebrates the birth of Queen Victoria (pictured to the left) and it is the first long weekend of the spring/summer season (historic information here).  What better way for our Canadian neighbors to the north to celebrate a Canadian holiday than by leaving the country and coming to the United States for some fun in the sun and outlet shopping?   The weekend weather forecast is absolutely perfect for a drive from Quebec to Lake George and the Motel Montreal is fully operational (we even have a new French to English I-Phone app that we are itching to use).  The pool is up and running, the barbecue grills are ready to go and there is going to be PLENTY of sun for outlet shopping.  Happy Victoria Day to all and we hope to see you soon!

Shameless Promotion: Memorial Day Weekend in Lake George

Memorial Day weekend (May 25th through the 28th) is coming quickly and the hotel is ready for summer.  Although we opened last weekend, Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial/official start to our summer here at the Motel Montreal and in Lake George.  We have some great Memorial Day weekend deals for your Lake George and Adirondack getaways.  For starters, we have a three night Memorial Day weekend getaway package for only $255 plus tax.  This package includes 10% off dinner at Mario's Italian Restaurant in Lake George Village.  Also, you can add an extra night to your stay for only $40 and/or purchase Great Escape tickets for only $27.50 each.  It is going to be a great summer and we hope to see a lot of people at the Motel Montreal for its unofficial start, so call us at (518) 668-5439 or check our availability online. 

Cinco de Mayo in Lake George!

The 2012 season at the Motel Montreal is officially underway!  We had a busy, but productive winter renovating and improving the hotel and we are very excited to show-off our handy work.  Here is a list of off-season improvements for 2012:

• Renovated ten poolside rooms (details here and here).
• Replaced the existing furniture in all of our hotel rooms (pictures here).
• Installed free WiFi throughout the hotel and rooms.
• Instituted an environmental sustainability initiative (aka the "Green Initiative").

The Motel Montreal is officially open for business and it looks like the Cinco de Mayo weekend weather will cooperate.  Cinco de Mayo in Lake George can be lots of fun and the hotel is walking distance to the village's Mexican-American dining establishments, so give us a call for a Cinco de Mayo weekend getaway to Lake George!

Our Newly Renovated Poolside Family Rooms

We are very excited and proud to present pictures of the newly renovated poolside family rooms at the Motel Montreal.  Each room has two double beds, a refrigerator, microwave, coffeemaker, free WiFi, a 32-inch flat screen television and updated furniture and bedding.  Also, we removed the drop ceilings and exposed the wooden support beams, replaced the ancient air conditioning units with modern heating and cooling units and painted the walls with a shade of paint called "tea and honey".   Please email or call us at (518) 668-5439 with any questions or to reserve your newly renovated poolside family room today!

Some Pictures of the Non-Poolside Value Rooms

Our team is busy putting together the newly renovated poolside family rooms at the Motel Montreal but we wanted to take a moment to share some pictures of the non-poolside value rooms with the new furniture and bedding.  These are the best looking hotel rooms in Lake George.  If the discount value rooms look this good, imagine what the premium renovated rooms are going to look like.  Feel free to request more information about your Lake George vacation at the Motel Montreal or give us a call at (518) 668-5439.

It's Not Easy Being Green

We had a busy winter upgrading and renovating the Motel Montreal.  We transformed ten poolside family rooms, added furniture (pictures to come later this week), improved the poolside sundeck and the list goes on.  Perhaps the most extensive change was the introduction of our Green Initiative at the Motel Montreal.  One night, we sat down and discussed what we, as a team, could do to make the hotel and Lake George a little more environmentally friendly and here are some of the changes that you will see in 2012:

1. Replaced ten inefficient air conditioning and heating units with newer, more efficient units
2. Replaced ten televisions with energy star rated flat screen televisions
3. Placed a front loading washing machine into service
4. Replaced wrapped disposable cups with washable, reusable tumblers 
5. Replaced styrofoam coffee cups with paper cups
6. Switched from oil to natural gas for heating hot water in one of the buildings
7. Replaced remaining incandescent bulbs with CFLs
8. Designed a guestroom insert to improve guest awareness of the Green Initiative at the Motel Montreal
9. Placed recycling bins in each hotel room and condo

Designing and implementing the Green Initiative at the Motel Montreal was fun and I was amazed at the number of low cost changes that we were able to implement.  So, in 2012, our guests will return to better rooms, a nicer pool and a more environmentally friendly hotel in Lake George.  We welcome any comments about additional ways that we can make the hotel greener.  

Cognitive Dissonance and Sugarloaf Reggae Fest 2012

Mother Nature is officially messing with us.  Two weeks ago, the Lake George weather was perfect and the team at the Motel Montreal was thinking summer.  Spring had sprung and winter, what there was of it in Lake George, was a fading memory.  The weather lulled the Motel Montreal team into a a false sense of confidence but, low and behold, the wintery weather returned.

The return of the cold weather got us thinking about the goings on at our sister property, the Herbert Hotel in Kingfield, Maine (website here).  The Herbert Hotel is located in the western mountains of Maine, about 12 miles from Sugarloaf Mountain ski resort.  For those in the know, spring skiing is an unrivaled exercise in cognitive dissonance as you race down a snow covered mountain in Bermuda shorts.  To this end, next weekend (April 12th through 15th) marks the annual unofficial end of the ski season at Sugarloaf marked by the annual Reggae Fest (more info here), a celebration of the cognitive dissonance that is spring skiing set to a live Reggae soundtrack.   So, if anyone is interested in a Western Maine adventure next weekend, grab your skis and some patchouli oil and give our sister property a call at (207) 265-2000.

Bienvenue Summer!

Last week's gorgeous weather gave us a taste of summer in Lake George.   Motorcycles drove down Canada Street, families with strollers walked through Shepard's Park and visitors from Quebec made their way south of the border to Lake George.  Believe it or not, Memorial Day 2012 is only eight weeks away and the warm, long days of summer are on the horizon.   Here at the Motel Montreal, we are entering our second year with the hotel and we are very excited about the off-season improvements to the rooms and our 2012 discount Lake George vacation packages  (click here for more info).  For example, we have a three-night Memorial Day package for $85 per night or a three-night weekend with four Great Escape tickets and four Minne-Ha-Ha tickets and breakfast for only $499.  It is going to be a great summer and we can't wait to see you!

Sham Rock the Block--Summer Comes to Lake George

Summer is here!  Ok, officially, spring began yesterday but the high temperatures, blue skies and motorcycles cruising down Canada Street all create a feel of summer.  Last weekend was Memorial Day St. Patrick's Day and we took the opportunity to put down the skill saw (renovations are ongoing) and stroll into Lake George Village for the Sham "Rock" the Block festival.  The music was fabulous and many shops and restaurants along Canada Street were open and rocking.  Check-out some of the pictures and video below and come to Lake George this spring.  Once the weather gets nice (and it is amazing right now), people want to be out and about.  Lake George is the most scenic spot in all of the Adirondacks.  By the way, the Motel Montreal opens on May 1st  (learn more about us here and check on availability and pricing here) so let us know if you are planning a quick overnight getaway and we will see you soon.

Renovating the Motel Montreal

Last week, we began renovations on rooms 1 through 10 at the Motel Montreal.  The project seemed harmless enough on paper, paint the rooms, tile the bathroom floors and bring in new air conditioners, furniture and fixtures.  Simple right?  What could possibly go wrong?  Before I could ask myself what I was thinking, the rooms looked like a bomb had exploded (see the video for an example of our team's fine demolition work) with the remnants taking up residence in our parking lot.  Who knew that so much stuff could come from so few rooms?  Who knew that Waste Management made a 30 yard dumpster?   The project is half-way through and the rooms are starting to take shape.  The new furniture arrives in a few weeks and our new poolside family rooms will look grand.  All in all, we are very excited about the outcome but sometimes it is better not to see how the sausage is made.

The Average Joe's Guide to Beating $5 Gas

The content of this post diverges from my usual Lake George related material and describes a method by which the average American can offset rising prices in gas, heat, food, clothing, etc.  As the owner of a business which consumes copious amounts of oil and relies on gasoline to fuel the cars that bring guests to our hotel, I spend a lot of time thinking worrying about ways to offset the impact of rising gas and oil prices.  Here is what I have come up with: 

During the last decade, the use of exchange traded funds (ETFs if you want to sound cool) have become all the rage.  An ETF is a fancy term for a stock which invests in bets on the direction of anything from the value of the dollar to the value of oil. There is an ETF for everything (even a social media ETF) and ETFs can be traded using a free brokerage account (E-Trade, TD Ameritrade, etc) for as little as $7 per trade.

What does this have to do with $5 gas?  Let's say that you believe that the price of a gallon of gasoline will increase to $5 (*vomit*).  Furthermore, let's assume that you will drive 2,500 miles this summer.  Assuming that your car averages 25 miles per gallon of gas, you will consume 100 gallons of gas.  If gas prices increase to $5 per gallon from today's $3.73 national average, then your costs will increase by $127 this summer (100 gallons X $1.27 per gallon increase in price).  Bottom Line: You will spend $127 more and get nothing extra for your money.   

Now to the good news.  Remember the ETFs (the stocks that allow you to invest in bet on almost anything)?  There is an ETF that tracks the price of gas (ticker: UGA).  So, if the price of gas increases by 10%, then the value of UGA will increase by approximately 10% (less expenses).   The Friday close of UGA was $56.48 per share.  If you purchase 20 shares of UGA for $1,129.60 ($56.48 X 20), and the price of gas increases to $5 per gallon, then UGA would rise to approximately $74 per share.  If you sell at the $74 mark, you would make a $350 profit on the sale of the ETF (($74.00-$56.48) X 20).  To determine your overall profit, subtract out the $127 that you paid in additional gas costs.  Bottom Line: You turn a $127 loss into a $223 profit from $5 gas (the math is boring but I am happy to lay it out step-by-step to anyone who emails me a request).

There is a risk of loss involved with this process.  If you are wrong, and the price of gas decreases, the ETF will lose value and you take a loss. No one wants losses but the loss that you take on the sale of the ETF is partially offset by the fact that you  pay less at the pump (remember that a decrease in the price of gas triggered the decrease in the value of the ETF).  Moreover, losses incurred while trading ETFs are usually tax deductible while price increases in gas are not. 

I realize that this post has absolutely nothing little to do with Lake George or the Motel Montreal but most of our guests are not rich and increases in gas, heating oil and food prices decrease the amount of money that a family spends on fun.  Less discretionary family income means less nights at the Motel Montreal, which means my family suffers.  Additionally, I am deeply disturbed by the notion that paying for life's necessities has become a substitute for the family vacation.  It is my hope that this post helps someone and that he or she returns the favor by coming to Lake George and staying with us at the Motel Montreal.  Feel free to call me at (518) 668-5439 with any questions or to discuss (I love this stuff).  Life is too short to worry about price hikes.  The kids grow up too fast and we need to enjoy the time that we have with the people that matter most.

Disclaimer: There are risks involved with investing in ETFs and any financial instruments.  Nothing in this post should be construed as advice to invest in a particular financial instrument.  As of the time of writing, I do not have any positions in the ETFs mentioned above but I am considering taking a long position in the gasoline and heating oil ETFs.

An Ode to the Lake George Polar Bear

Yesterday, we had the opportunity to witness our first Lake George Winter Carnival polar bear plunge (see Youtube video here).  Although we were not drunk brave enough to participate in the mayhem, we feel compelled to tip our hats to those young men and women who bared some skin (especially the twenty-something year old brunette in the black bikini), risked hypothermia and took the plunge.  Here's to Lake George's very own polar bears.  Winter carnival is over and it is time for the Lake George polar bears to find a comfy cave and hibernate but we eagerly anticipate their return on January 1, 2013.  Sleep well polar bears, sleep well.

Winter(less) Carnival

It might be time to call winter 2011-2012 a dud.  The snow is missing in action and I continue to wear a sweatshirt outside.   But fear not you lovers of the frost, the Lake George Winter Carnival is back.  We tend to think of Lake George as purely a May through September destination but there is lots to do in the winter.  Moreover, the unseasonably warm weather makes for an enjoyable outdoors experience for those of us who loathe the cold.  Even if you do not stay the night at one of our fine lodging establishments (the Motel Montreal is not open this winter), make sure to save a day for the winter carnival this February.  Take advantage of the warm weather and get in the car, head on up the Northway to Exit 21, park your car on Canada Street and walk around the village.  Even if the lake is not frozen over, there is lots to do and, if you can, stay until 6:30 and see the fireworks on Saturday night.  You can check out the Winter Carnival schedule and activities here.  

The Parallels of the Baseball Season and Owning a Hotel in Lake George

Pitchers and catchers break for spring training in two weeks or just about the time that we begin renovations on our new poolside family rooms.  This got me thinking about the parallels between the baseball season and the season in Lake George.  Both ballclubs and seasonal hotels begin preparing for the hot days of summer during the cold days of winter (usually after the Superbowl).  Each new season seems endless and the possibilities for success seem infinite.  The memories of past failures are wiped away by the winter's hiatus.  We add new staff, much like a ballclub adds new players.  As the spring fades, the days grow longer and the new season is on. Before we know it, the kids are out of school, the phones are ringing and we are off to the races without respite.   Each day brings with it a new set of challenges, people and fun.  Then, just about the time when we feel that the marathon-like nature of the business will devour us, an end comes into view.  The days grow shorter.   Night comes at 8 rather than 9.  The first cool mornings touch our faces and we realize that soon it will be time to drain the pipes, put the tarp on the field and call it another season.  But that day in 2012 is far off and I am TREMENDOUSLY excited about this season. I hope that you will join us and get as excited about Summer 2012 as I am!

Our New Innkeeper's Blog!

We are very excited to introduce the Lake George Motel Montreal's new blog.  This blog will provide updates on the hotel as well as on fun things going on in Lake George. Guests are invited to comment, share and discuss.  Occasionally, I will offer up topics for comment and discussion about Lake George and probably offer up some unsolicited opinions about the very same.  Thanks for reading and let the fun begin.