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Mike Duggan — quietly recreating Creekside

"Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love. It will not lead you astray." - Sufi poet Rumi It really suits him. He cruises through the halls of the hotel with the light-footed step of a confident leader.
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Mike Duggan

"Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love. It will not lead you astray."

- Sufi poet Rumi

It really suits him. He cruises through the halls of the hotel with the light-footed step of a confident leader. He never raises his voice. Never visibly asserts his authority. In fact, he greets everyone he sees — staff, guest or supplier — with the same gentle bonhomie. But he misses nothing. And I marvel at his ability to seamlessly blend the personal with the professional.

He's like a throwback to those old-school innkeepers who once made ski holidays such a wonderful social adventure. Fully engaged. Thoroughly informed. And for just a beat, I'm transported to Austria and the legendary village of Lech where that kind of hosting was born.

"Memorable" is the first word that comes to mind when I think back to my first visit there. "Familiar" is probably the second. I haven't been back to the Arlberg in years, you know, but I still feel a special kinship with the place. Why? Because the owner of the lodge where I was staying gave me a backstage pass to this fabled skiing landscape. He was my host, guide and historian... a proud keeper of local stories... on- and off-mountain. By the time I left Lech, I felt like I'd become a member of his family... and an expert on local culture.

In the tourism business, they call this "high touch." But the term's become such a tired cliché over the years that it really doesn't mean much anymore. What I'm talking about — what I see going on with Mike Duggan and the Nita Lake Lodge — is something far more fundamental. I like to think of it as "personal touch." And in Whistler's sterile condo-hotel landscape, it's a rare quality to behold.

But then Nita Lake Lodge is different. Nestled on the shores of its eponymous lake, a mere 500-metre walk from the Creekside gondola, Whistler's most successful boutique hotel (yes, I know, another cliché) boasts classic lines and native building materials. And while not specifically tied to a West Coast architectural tradition — its design is more inspired by early-twentieth-century auberges in Quebec's Laurentians or New York's Adirondacks — the lodge still blends better into its surroundings than just about any other commercial property in the valley.

It's a jewel in Whistler's lodging crown. A unique hotel experience in a part of town that desperately needs new commercial energy. And yet...

Back in 2010 I happened to stay at the Nita Lake Lodge for a few nights. It was early winter and the tourist season hadn't yet kicked in. Still, I was appalled. It was like being a guest in a haunted hotel. The towels hadn't been changed in the bathroom, the TV didn't work, the maintenance guy wasn't available, and the manager was off for the weekend. As for the ambiance — every time I walked down the hall, I expected to confront an axe-yielding Jack Nicholson...

But that was before Mike Duggan took back the reins of the place. (To say that is Mike as passionate about customer service and client relationship-building is like saying it snows some at Whistler.) This guy gets it. And he's not afraid to step out and challenge conventional thinking.

It's all about opening your eyes, he says, and seeing what's really there. "Companies need to understand the economic value that results from building better customer relationships," he explains. "There is a message that is as simple as it is powerful: Most companies, in most industries have a kind of tunnel vision. They chase the same opportunities that every other company is chasing. They miss the same opportunities that everyone else is missing. It's the companies and brands that see a different game that win big..." He smiles. Shrugs. "But all too often, the big companies in a field see things exactly in the same way."

Dare to be different: that's what his message really is. Celebrate who you are. Play to your strengths. And from what I've seen at Nita Lake Lodge since Duggan took over again this year, that's exactly what he's done.

Consider the lodge's deli-café "The Fix." It barely had a pulse 12 months ago. Drop in on a sunny weekday morning now, and the place is pullulating with locals. "I know more than a few who now use The Fix as their 'office,'" confides Duggan. But instead of harassing them, he just asks them if they need their coffee refreshed.

Kind of counter-intuitive, no? I mean, isn't a small place like The Fix predicated on turnover? Mike laughs. "I believe it's essential for Nita Lake Lodge guests to interact with Whistlerites," he explains. "More importantly, I want locals to feel good about hanging out at the Lodge. I want them to feel welcome here too." He pauses for a beat. Smiles. "Besides, I like seeing the kind of mix we get in here now. It feels real."

The Fix, not surprisingly, is just one initiative in Duggan's community-building strategy. "Penny Eder just moved her White Dog Studio from Function to the Lodge." He says. "We're hoping this is the first step in our becoming known as an 'art hotel' as well." Other locally owned businesses based at the lodge, he adds, include Innovative Fitness and Juvamukti Yoga. "Our core goal is to become as engaged as we can with the Whistler community. We want to become one of its building blocks... a place where everyone feels welcome. That's why we've also committed to hosting fundraisers for community-based events." He stops. Grabs a breath. "Our approach here is very collaborative. We're always open to new ideas..."

Mike Duggan's personal history is instructive. "I didn't try skiing until I was 22," says the still-active and very fit-looking 62-year old. And laughs. "But it didn't go exactly as planned. You see, I broke my ankle in a dozen places on my very first day on the hill. It didn't matter though. I was already hooked."

So what was it about the new sport that so turned him on? "Being on top of a mountain — in an environment I'd never really visited before — it was so eye-opening. Such a wonderful feeling... I knew after my second run that this was something I'd want to do for the rest of my life." More laughter. "The injury barely slowed me down, you know. I was still wearing a cast and already I was looking to buy skis and boots..."

He wasted no time. Three years later — "in the winter of 1976, I think," – Duggan was a certified ski instructor and running the Tod Mountain Ski School. "I'm not an adrenaline junkie," explains the lifelong trail runner, "but I do like adventure. And I really enjoy sports I can do on my own. To me, skiing was the perfect sport."

But Mike was no mere born-again ski bum and his work ethic and business acumen opened new doors for him. He moved to Silver Star in 1978 as the ski area's new marketing director... and stayed in the Okanagan for nearly 20 years. By 1997, Mike had risen to the post of Senior Vice President and had overseen the creation of a whole new mountain village... from scratch. "Fear of failure? That's really never affected me much," he admits. "I've always been keen to try new stuff."

Which explains his return to his old Tod Mountain stomping grounds (now renamed Sun Peaks) in '97 to take over as the new president of the Sun Peaks Mountain Resort Association. "It was a challenge I just couldn't resist," he says. "During the four years I was there, we raised the skier-visitor numbers from 100,000 to 260,000."

In 2000, Duggan was enticed away to Whistler to become the new general manager at the Pan Pacific Hotel. But after three years there, he was ready for a new challenge. Now involved with real estate development and hotel start-ups (Duggan worked with Nita Lake Lodge's original management team), he eventually became the lead developer on such game-changing projects as Ucluelet's now internationally recognized Black Rock Ocean Resort.

Still, there was something about mountain life — and hosting people personally — that Mike just couldn't shake. And when the opportunity came to take over management of the struggling Nita Lake Lodge again, he jumped at the chance.

"We can afford to be different here," he says. "We can take real risks — we're not limited by the constraints of a chain hotel." He smiles. "You see," he continues, "most hotels are 'parasitic,' meaning they merely fulfill demand." He stops. Takes a deep breath. "But with Nita Lake — with our location, our design, our distinct story — we can actually create demand. And that's a big part of our vision. I'd like to think that bottom-line profits isn't all that drives us." He lets a beat go by. "To me, it's all about 'the experience.' If we can create a new feeling of community at Whistler with this hotel as its nexus, well.... I think everyone wins."