Kenai River Drifter's Lodge
Kenai River Drifter's Lodge
Currently recruiting for the season from April 15th, 2024 to September 30th, 2024.
If you want to experience the best Alaska has to offer, Kenai River Drifters Lodge is the place for you. Cooper Landing is a semi-remote town nestled at the headwaters of the famous Kenai River, in the heart of the Chugach National Forest. Here you will have access to some of the best fishing, hiking, and wildlife viewing in the world.
Cooper Landing is located right in the middle of the Kenai Peninsula, about 100 miles south of Anchorage, and about an hour away from the nearest city.
- Location
- Alaska
- Season
- Spring, Summer, and Fall
- Staff size
- 25-30
- Housing
- Whether included in the compensation package or provided at a cost, housing is provided for staff.
- Meals
- Provided
- Cell phone service
- Yes, most carriers
- Internet access
- Good
About Kenai River Drifter's Lodge
We are located right on the Kenai River, and it doesn't get much better than this!
Drifters Lodge offers guests a variety of services such as guided fishing, cabin accommodations, scenic rafting, guided hiking. Our specialty is bespoke Fishing Packages.
We pride ourselves on customer service, and we lavish our guests with our time and attention. This hard work directly translates to guests' experience of a lifetime, which is one of the most rewarding aspects of the job.
The Employee Experience
Time spent together enjoying the Alaskan outdoors is the magic spark of lifelong friendships and memories.
Our team atmosphere makes the Drifters Crew feel like a family and keeps guests coming back year after year. We live and work together, so there are some amazing friendships made over the course of a season!
Compensation starts at Alaska's hourly minimum wage and goes up based on experience level. There are many opportunities for advancement. Our employees living at the lodge have very few expenses and most needs are provided for. Room and board are available for a low monthly fee, which includes a fully stocked employee kitchen, and dinners made by our chef nightly. You'll also have access to a vehicle on your day off to explore. In the height of fishing season our days start very early and they end late due to the 20+ hours of daylight. The season runs from Mid-May to Mid-September, though there is some flexibility for start and end dates.
Ideal Candidate
Here at Drifters we all share a love of the outdoors and respect for the incredible wilderness at our fingertips. We look for candidates who are self-motivated, reliable, efficient in their duties, and who genuinely enjoy people. This is a tourist-based industry, and we expect everyone to happily go the extra mile for our guests to maintain our high standards of service. A willingness to be flexible with your hours is important as well.
Employee Core Values:
- Work hard.
- Guests come first.
- Be the person everyone wants on their team.
- Show your enthusiasm and positivity.
- Follow through on what you say.
Room and Board
Drifters lodge offers room and board to all of our employees for 450/month. We have both single and double occupancy rooms, and you will have access to a shared lounge. The lounge includes a fully stocked kitchen, bathrooms/ showers, and a living area with a TV. Our lodge also has on-site laundry, and all bed linens and towels are provided. The rooms are equipped with linens, electricity, and Wi-Fi, but not water. We employ a full time chef to provide employees dinner every night.
Employee Perks
Drifters Lodge employees have many opportunities available to them. We offer rafting, fishing, and wildlife viewing at no charge, and have access to discounted glacier cruises, fly-outs, horseback riding, and other exciting adventures through the partners we work with.
We have awesome meals and all the ice cream you can eat.
Getting Here and Getting Around
Employees fly into the Anchorage airport (ANC). From there we will provide transportation to and from the lodge. We have vehicles on site for employee to use, depending on availability and a good driving record.
For Fun
How many ways to have fun in this amazing place? Too many to count. Join us for a Trophy Rainbow Trout trip, alpine mountain hiking, Alaskan Halibut charter, white-water rafting trip, live music at the pavilion, group outing to the State Fair, ocean kayaking, or just about any adventure you can imagine.
Cooper Landing is small, but offers several restaurants with live music, a post office and library, and plenty of community activities to keep you busy.
Current Job Openings
- Drive clients to/from fishing trips and the airport. Drives can be extremely early or late in the day, and they vary in length: some are just an hour, some are a full day outing.
- Drive company vehicles to run trailer shuttles, rafting trip pickups, client dinner dropoff and pickup at local restaurants, fish drop, and other errands.
- Learn to back a trailer
- Maintain vehicles and by cleaning inside and out, checking and filling fluids, checking tire pressures, making sure all lights are operational.
- Assemble sack lunches
- Box up guest fish
- Make trash runs to the transfer station
- Start the nightly campfire, keep fire pit clean, split and stack firewood
- Help to unload groceries and supplies from town runs
- Scrub dirty waders and boots
- Maintain property by weeding, mowing, trimming, fertilizing, and digging.
- Water flowers and potted plants daily.
- Participate in pre-season cleanup of property and buildings. Includes sweeping, pressure washing, scrubbing, sanding, painting, leaf blowing, raking, shoveling, planting, and stacking wood.
- Assist with the maintenance on buildings and structures at the direction of the supervisor. This may include nailing, hammering, sawing, drilling, sanding, painting, carrying lumber and measuring.
- Perform other duties assigned by the supervisor
- Turn over guest cabins: Strip and make the beds, gather and empty trash, clean mirrors, dust furniture and fixtures, do dishes, clean the kitchenettes, bathrooms, and surfaces, vacuum and mop.
- Replenish cabin supplies and linens as needed.
- Inspect rooms for broken fixtures and make small repairs such as replacing batteries and light bulbs. Report larger maintenance issues to supervisor.
- Work the early morning Breakfast Nook shift. Set out food, re-stock inventory, do dishes, and mingle with guests.
- Compete all laundry everyday by washing, folding, and putting away. Maintain high standards of quality by checking daily for stains or tears and replacing as needed.
- Clean shared employee lounge, kitchen, and bathrooms daily.
- Perform other duties assigned by supervisor, such as client pick up/drop off, shuttle driving, landscaping, and food preparation. When it is busy jobs often cross over to ensure that all needed tasks are complete
- Must be courteous and respectful to all guests and address their individual needs by fulfilling requests or communicating requests to the supervisor. Guests are of the highest importance and must be treated as such.
- Must be able to stand for eight hours straight, and perform strenuous tasks such as lifting 30lbs, bending, kneeling, and squatting.
- Work morning or evening office shifts under the supervision of a manager. Take sales calls, answer emails, follow up with leads, build reservations on the computer, take payments, schedule guests’ halibut and fly-out trips with outside companies, coordinate reservation details and troubleshoot logistics.
- Learn how to use our reservation program and use it to schedule complex daily operations. Details are important.
- Complete training to gain a baseline understanding of fishing techniques, salmon runs, and their timing in our area. Apply this knowledge to sales calls with the understanding that it will impact the guests’ expectations and the overall success of their trips.
- Perform front-desk tasks such as guest check-in, taking payments for retail purchases, rafting check-ins, and handling minor guest issues if they arise
- Help in other departments with lodge chores such as shuttling vehicles, driving clients to dinner, making a trash run, unloading supplies, packaging fish, packing lunches
Lodge Staff/Transportation
No two days are alike! If you enjoy a varied routine and an active job, this is the perfect role for you. Our lodge staff make the season possible.
Some duties of our lodge staff:
Housekeeper
We are seeking a detail-oriented individual to work as a housekeeper at our lodge for the summer season. Our housekeepers keep the cabins and employee lounge sparkling, the breakfast nook stocked, and fill in as backup shuttle drivers. If you love the outdoors and working in a team environment, Drifters Lodge is the place for you this summer!
The ideal candidate will show close attention to detail, a good attitude, adaptability, and bring their personality to interactions with our guests. Some prior housekeeping experience is preferred, but not mandatory.
Summary of housekeeping job duties:
Front Office Staff
The office is the hub of all activity at the lodge. Help us build our guests' dream reservations and keep operations rolling from day to day during the season. Office staff aren't just stuck behind the desk! They serve as our core shuttle team, rafting pickup drivers, fish boxers, lunch packers, flower waterers and more!
A summary of office job duties:
How to Apply
Please email your resume, cover letter, and 3 work references to info@drifterslodge.com
Don't be afraid to show off your personality and any special skills in your cover letter! We look forward to hearing from you!
Contact Info
- Alison Mand
- info@drifterslodge.com
- (907) 595-5555
- www.drifterslodge.com
