TOURISM
Destination Denali
Premier Alaska Tours pivots from concierge to host
By Katie Pesznecker
Premier Alaska Tours
P

remier Alaska Tours built its business on providing Lower 48 and international tour companies an Alaska-based army of employees, vehicles, and expertise. Because Premier markets almost entirely to the national and international wholesale market versus the individual traveler, many Alaskans have never heard of them. That’s about to change: Premier is stepping up in a big way with an ambitious development at Denali National Park & Preserve.

The planned development will unfold across 50 acres on the shoreline of Otto Lake, just outside Healy, west of the Parks Highway. From the site’s 1,788-foot elevation, the lodge-like boathouse and 300-room hotel will offer views of mountain scenery and, in the winter, blazing displays of aurora. Rounding out the complex: paved vehicle access, boardwalks for nature strolls, an on-site restaurant, employee housing, a bus maintenance facility, and more.

Peter Grunwaldt, co-founder and co-owner of Premier Alaska Tours along with Tim Worthen, says the first-of-its-kind development will offer a new experience to the discerning Denali traveler. Premier already interacts with some 250,000 Alaskans and visitors annually. Some of that is off-season transport for military, industry, and schools. But the vast majority are interactions with tourists—transporting them via buses and luxury train cars, moving their luggage, taking them to the state’s special places, all at the service of other tour companies. Premier having its own branded hotel and property built into that experience makes sense, Grunwaldt says.

“We will build this product into their trip experience,” he says. “Most people who visit the park stay in the canyon where most of the hotels are. This is high on a plateau and the views are just amazing. I think you’ll have a bit of a wilderness feeling, closer to a wilderness experience than a city experience. It should be a really unique, special place in Denali National Park.”

First Foray
The Denali development is the first of its kind for Premier, whose brick-and-mortar holdings to date consist of year-round offices in Anchorage and Fairbanks, seasonal workspace in Denali, and facilities to maintain, clean, and park their fleet of 160 passenger buses, Sprinter vans, luggage haulers, and other vehicles.

For its foray into the hotel-owning business, Denali was the right place to start.

“Denali is the one destination that everybody thinks they have to go to,” Grunwaldt says. “Denali is the bottleneck. There’s spectacular scenery in other areas, but it doesn’t have the marketing Denali does. We historically cannot sell a vacation package in Southcentral Alaska that doesn’t include Denali National Park. If you sell a three, five, or nine-night tour, it might not include Valdez or Seward or Homer, but they all include Denali.”

Business is booming in Alaska’s most famous national park. Grunwaldt says his company is operating at capacity 30 percent above 2019 levels, before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

“After a two-year break, it’s really welcomed,” he says.

In 2019, Premier purchased land from the Alaska Railroad—an endeavor that took some time and required Legislative action and the governor’s signature. With plans drawn up, Premier prepared to order materials to begin building Phase 1, the $6 million lakeside boathouse, in summer 2020.

“Up until March 2020 we were full steam ahead,” Grunwaldt says. But then COVID-19 hit. “We pulled the plug as soon as we knew there was no season.”

Coming out of the pandemic, Premier reassessed its risk tolerance in conjunction with its construction plans, and the focus now is on building the boathouse—a picturesque and multi-functional gathering space that could be used immediately and year-round.

“It’s a challenging time to be building, but we’re excited to use the boathouse next year,” Grunwaldt says. “There won’t be a hotel yet, but with the boathouse, we’ll do daytime programs, breakfast programs, evening programs, so people can really experience the wilderness and check out the trails.”

“It’s fun being part of a business where people are excited to be here and we’re delivering something they’re excited to be spending money on… They’re going on an experience of a lifetime. They’re landing on a glacier in a float plane, they’re going rafting, they’re having a salmon bake dinner. It’s something they’ve dreamed about.”
Peter Grunwaldt
Co-owner
Premier Alaska Tours
BOATHOUSE LEGEND

1. Main entry
2. Community room
3. Prep kitchen
4. Mech/Elec
5. Janitor
6. Men’s restroom
7. Women’s restroom
8. Exterior deck
9. Service entry
10. Access drive
11. Site trails

Premier Alaska Tours

Boathouse floor plan
BOATHOUSE LEGEND

1. Main entry
2. Community room
3. Prep kitchen
4. Mech/Elec
5. Janitor
6. Men’s restroom
7. Women’s restroom
8. Exterior deck
9. Service entry
10. Access drive
11. Site trails

Premier Alaska Tours

Scandinavian Clean
This summer, construction crews broke ground on the timber-frame boathouse. With a few dozen workers on site, some lived in existing cabins and others stayed in Healy. When complete, the boathouse will have capacity to seat 200 for indoor presentations and educational programming, to use as an overflow waiting area, or for staging tour departures.

With huge chalet windows, sweeping lake views, and spacious decks with an outdoor fireplace, Grunwaldt imagines that the space’s versatility could make it an asset to the Healy community, an option for events, weddings, and more.

“They don’t have a building like this, and we needed one for evening presentations or where we can host student groups and tour groups,
he says.

Aesthetically, the building is “authentic Alaskan but Scandinavian clean,” Grunwaldt says. “It’s not log. There’s too much of that already in Alaska.”

The boathouse is wood-framed with birch and maple wall paneling, and the interior appears bright, white, and expansive—woodsy in a fresh, organic way. The hotel will have a similar look, Grunwaldt says, with restaurant and common areas that encourage fireside relaxation and comfortable socialization.

If the project remains on pace, the boathouse will open in summer 2023 as construction begins on employee housing and then the hotel. The hope is to open the hotel in summer 2024.

A rendering shows the timber-framed boathouse at Premier’s Otto Lake development. Construction was supposed to begin in 2020, but COVID-19 delayed the project by two years.

Premier Alaska Tours

Concept art of the boathouse
A rendering shows the timber-framed boathouse at Premier’s Otto Lake development. Construction was supposed to begin in 2020, but COVID-19 delayed the project by two years.

Premier Alaska Tours

Seamless Transition
Completion of the Denali complex will be a landmark achievement for Premier Alaska Tours, which got its start almost thirty years ago.

Grunwaldt and partner Worthen were coworkers for Regency Cruises, which was essentially the budget cruise option before the company collapsed in 1995.

“They left the state when they went bankrupt, and our last paychecks bounced,” Grunwaldt recalls. “We had one van and two guys and said, ‘We could go to the wholesale market.’”

Premier’s business model from the get-go addressed a uniquely Alaska problem. Major Outside tour companies arrive with thousands of visitors who want to leave port and venture into Alaska to ride trains, see mountains, shop, and dine—but the companies didn’t have infrastructure to support the logistics of these extended, secondary vacations.

That’s where Premier comes in. They supply staff, vehicles, and knowledge, stepping in as luggage handlers, drivers, guides, and more for droves of tourists who arrive via cruise ships from companies like Royal Caribbean International, Norwegian Cruise Line, Celebrity Cruises, and Silversea Cruises.

The ordinary traveler never knows the difference. For example, disembarking from a vessel in Seward, visitors are checked in by an employee wearing the name tag and uniform of the cruise ship company—but the employee actually works for Premier. And the bus the travelers board? It’s a Premier luxury coach, but it bears the cruise line’s logo, thanks to vinyl decals that Premier prints.

“It’s our staff wearing that cruise company’s name tag, scarf, blazer, checking the guests in in the Seward terminal,” Grunwaldt says. “We check them in and out, move the bags, drive the buses, greet them at the hotel, serve their cocktails, act as their tour guide. We have luggage handling, bartenders, servers, people cooking salmon on the train, cooking your halibut and prime rib. It’s a different model from anywhere else in the world really. This is a full-on vacation package separate from the cruise. We are one-stop shopping for the cruise lines.”

In a regular tourist season, Premier hosts 70,000 train passengers in its luxury domed cars. The company pays a tariff to the Alaska Railroad, and the cars are attached to the back of a passenger train.

Some 50,000 people move through Alaska in a given summer on a multiday cruise tour package facilitated by Premier.

SITE PLAN CONCEPT AND DESIGN LEGEND

1. Boathouse
2. Lodge (150 rooms)
3. Lakeside Trail
4. Lynx Meadow Trail
5. Wetland Boardwalk
6. Gazebo and Outdoor gathering area
7. Employee housing (60 person capacity)
8. Bus maintenance lot and wash
9. Two-way entry road
10. One-way loop road
11. Otto Lake
12. Otto Lake road
13. Property line

Premier Alaska Tours

Design concept art and layout for the entire site plan
SITE PLAN CONCEPT AND DESIGN LEGEND

1. Boathouse
2. Lodge (150 rooms)
3. Lakeside Trail
4. Lynx Meadow Trail
5. Wetland Boardwalk
6. Gazebo and Outdoor gathering area
7. Employee housing (60 person capacity)
8. Bus maintenance lot and wash
9. Two-way entry road
10. One-way loop road
11. Otto Lake
12. Otto Lake road
13. Property line

Premier Alaska Tours

Taste Alaska
While acting in the guise of out-of-state cruise lines has proved valuable to their clients, there was one major philosophical shift early in Premier’s approach to doing business.

“We thought that if we had really low prices, we would be successful,” Grunwaldt says. “What we found out really was that the guest experience and quality of service we could provide was what differentiated us from competitors.”

For example, Premier’s pancake sales went through the roof when they upgraded to offering their passengers a Talkeetna birch syrup. Ditto with Bloody Marys when they swapped out the vodka for an Alaska brand.

“When people are visiting Alaska, they want to taste Alaska too,” Grunwaldt says. “We do anything we can to source Alaska products. It may cost more, but the company has never been based on budgets. We look at customer scores and service levels. If everyone goes home and says that was the best experience I could have had in Alaska, we know we’ll make money.”

This Alaska-focused philosophy extends elsewhere. For instance, when Premier bought its train cars, the interiors were filled with generic landscape paintings that looked nothing like Alaska. Premier promptly replaced the decor with Alaska Native carvings and art by Alaskans.

“When given the choice we always try to support our local community,” says Grunwaldt, himself a fifty-year resident with two children in grade school in Anchorage.

“If we can stop at a local restaurant, if we can work with local Alaskans, we always strive for that, and we’re always looking to develop that,” he says.

In this spirit, Premier strives for local hire, knowing proud Alaskans make enthusiastic tour guides and ambassadors. The company hires about 650 employees in the summer season, and many are teenagers who get their first jobs in roles like cleaning buses or greeting passengers at airports and terminals.

“If you love the place [where] you live and you’re proud to share it and have an enthusiasm for it,” Grunwaldt says, “it’s going to come through.”

EMPLOYEE HOUSING LEGEND

1. Main entry
2. Lobby
3. Common area
4. Prep kitchen
5. Offices
6. Laundry facilities
7. Manager suite
8. Typical room
9. ADA Accessible room
10. Mechanical/electrical
11. Storage
12. Stair
13. Employee common area
14. Fireplace

Premier Alaska Tours

Floor plan and concept art of employee housing
EMPLOYEE HOUSING LEGEND

1. Main entry
2. Lobby
3. Common area
4. Prep kitchen
5. Offices
6. Laundry facilities
7. Manager suite
8. Typical room
9. ADA Accessible room
10. Mechanical/electrical
11. Storage
12. Stair
13. Employee common area
14. Fireplace

Premier Alaska Tours

A Dream Come True
For Grunwaldt, his favorite parts of the business are equipment acquisition, interior decorating, and menu selection—and from his experience as a general contractor, he enjoys anything involved with construction. It’s a nice balance with his partner, Worthen, who has an accounting degree.

“It’s fun being part of a business where people are excited to be here and we’re delivering something they’re excited to be spending money on,” Grunwaldt says. “They’re going on an experience of a lifetime. They’re landing on a glacier in a float plane, they’re going rafting, they’re having a salmon bake dinner. It’s something they’ve dreamed about.”

With the Denali hotel project well underway, Premier is considering future developments in Homer, Seward, Talkeetna, or in Girdwood, where the company has secured a 10-acre mountainside site, approved for a 150-room hotel in the Girdwood master development plan.

Still recovering from the pandemic’s economic impacts, staffing has proved challenging this season, and shortages with rental cars and hotel rooms remain logistically stressful. But Grunwaldt is looking forward to the coming decade that he thinks will be marked by growth.

“We’re excited our company is positioned to meet those demands,” he says. “We’ve got buses, trains, and most importantly, our team. At Premier Alaska Tours, the things we’ve been planning for the next ten years will help us be successful. We’re really proud of not only where we live but that we, as an Alaska company, are competing on a global level.”