Family Ownership Paying Meticulous Attention to Detail

The Mussers Are Known as Hosts Who "Always Do it Right"

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. October 14, 2008

MACKINAC ISLAND, MI, April 22, 2008. Grand Hotel marks a milestone when it opens its doors for the 2008 season May 2nd, celebrating 75 consecutive years of stewardship by the family that has made the hotel the icon that it is today. In March 1933, in the depths of the Great Depression at a time when all the nation's banks had been closed, W. Stewart Woodfill was the sole bidder in an auction to take the hotel out of receivership. His nephew, R. D. (Dan) Musser II, became president in 1960 and purchased the hotel from Woodfill in 1979.

President R. D. (Dan) Musser III and Vice President Mimi Musser Cunningham became the third generation of their family to take the helm of the hotel in 1989. Dan is responsible for all day-to-day operations of Grand Hotel, while Mimi is responsible for the management and buying for all nine Grand Hotel shops.

"The family sense of stewardship and dedication to the unique nature of the hotel is a key part of Grand Hotel's success," said Thierry Roch, Executive Director of Historic Hotels of America. "They are true innkeepers determined to make each guest's stay a memorable experience. They are legendary in our industry for their dedication and commitment to maintaining the highest level of hospitality at Grand Hotel."

Roch said a key part of the success of any historic hotel is having an individual owner who pays meticulous attention to detail.

"Grand Hotel would never work under corporate ownership," he said. "An accountant would start to figure out ways to cut corners and pretty soon the very nature of what makes it so unique would be compromised."

Pennie Beach, co-owner of the Basin Harbor Club in Vergennes, Vermont, said the Mussers are known within the historic hospitality industry as hosts who "always do it right. They run it in way that is not about today and not about this quarter's balance sheet. It's about tomorrow. They want their guests' kids to come back. Their repeat business is the envy of the industry."

R. D. (Dan) Musser II started at the hotel as a college student in 1951, working for his uncle in a variety of assignments as he got to know every detail of the operation. He has worked at the hotel fulltime since leaving the U.S. Army in 1957.

He remembers his uncle as "very single minded. When he got something in his teeth he didn't let loose. I think that is how he survived some very hard economic times. He would figure out how to make a go of it, one way or another. I can't imagine how he survived through the 30s and through the war."

In a 1969 speech, Woodfill said his family and friends were not enthusiastic about his decision to purchase the hotel.

"They suggested a bucket be secured, a sterling silver bucket if need be to please my expensive tastes, and that my money be put into it and poured down the sink," he said. "This would shorten the ordeal of losing my money and make it much easier!"

In that same speech he reflected on his success in not only keeping the hotel in operation but in assuring its continued success as an icon.

"It fell to my lot to nurse Grand Hotel and keep it alive through many precarious seasons," he said. "It has become a great landmark that will long serve, entrance and educate the tourist public. As such an achievement, one can say it has been eminently worthwhile."

Woodfill, who was from Greensburg, Indiana, had started as a desk clerk at the hotel in 1919 out of a desire to spend the summer in northern Michigan to seek relief from allergies. He became manager of the hotel in 1923, became a part owner in 1925, sold his percentage of the hotel in 1927 and then purchased it for good in 1933.

His nephew said the continuity of ownership has been "very important" to the continuing vitality of the hotel.

"My uncle, myself and now Dan all have been dedicated to making it work in different ways," he said. "We all were effective in our time. Dan will do things that I never dreamed of. You have to do that. You can't just stand still. It's always been a plus that one of us was in charge and here every day. A lot of properties around the country have been hurt because they don't have the day-to-day presence of the owner."

President R. D. (Dan) Musser III said the hotel will be fully staffed for the season in spite of Congressional action last fall that has sharply reduced the number of foreign national workers who can enter the U.S. under the program through which roughly half of the hotel's employees have entered the country in past years.

"We have, of course, continued the intensive efforts we launch every year to identify U.S. citizens who want to work at Grand Hotel," he said. "In addition, by working with other resorts in Arizona and Florida whose season falls off in the summer, we have successfully recruited enough experienced hospitality industry workers to fully staff Grand Hotel for the 2008 season. We also have instituted a new, more intense training program for new employees to assure that the quality of our hospitality remains unmatched."

The 2008 season also will see the 100th running of the Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac, which will set sail from Chicago on Saturday, July 19.