We serve breakfast from 8 to 10. Depending on the number of people in the lodge (we've had as many as 28, but we'll never do *that* again), we serve either buffet or do table service.
We also offer a "first tracks" breakfast for people who want to get an early start skiing or hiking or fishing or climbing mountains. It's pretty brainless: juice, coffee, cereal, and leftover muffins, bread, and sundry we've frozen and can nuke for just this purpose.
Regarding late check-in, we're pretty easy, as well. The lodge is 4 miles from the nearest town on mostly dirt/snow-packed roads. Late check-in usually is because of circumstances (dark, blizzards, avalanches, dead moose on the road) beyond their control.
Last year, Julie took a reservation for two couples from the UK. They had rented a condo for a week at the resort, but needed a "bridge" night and booked us. Funny, delightful people; Julie was in stitches telling them about our amenities and the food. "What about cake?" one asked. "Nigel loves cake." It was a running joke over multiple phone calls. Julie promised them cake. Then, the day their plane landed in Denver, we had a winter storm. Dumped about a foot of snow on us, and as they crept up I-70, they discovered that an avalanche had closed Berthoud Pass. Well, they were in a quandary, and called us to apologize for being so late. "No worries," we assured them and suggested that, since the weather was bad, they just find lodging for the night and we wouldn't charge them for the night.
An hour later, (about 9:30 p.m.), they called us again and said, since we had been so nice, they were determined to spend the night with us. They were going the "long way around" and should be at the lodge by midnight.
"$h*t!" I exclaimed when Julie told me. "That means I have to bake a damn cake tonight!"
Which I proceeded to do. They showed up in the middle of a horizontal blizzard, we fed them cake and gave them tea, then sent them off to bed.
It was a funny event. They were most appreciative and have sent us business.
So many weather "acts of God" affect when people show up that we're pretty blase about the whole affair as long as they communicate. If they don't communicate, well then, our policies kick in, and they find a big whopping charge on their credit card. We're nice, but we're not pushovers. --Tom.
