Ready to run the show? Your next-level INNkeeping experience is off the coast of ordinary.
Year-round
- year round
Job Starts:May 01, 2024
Off the coast of ordinary: Experience the #1 Hotel on San Juan Island
Done with mainland monotony? Over humdrum hospitality hustle? Level-up at our 15-room hotel INN the heart of Friday Harbor, WA. You’ll fit INN if you value crafting off-the-charts experiences and genuinely care for our community, guests, and planet. We’re a Tripadvisor Travelers’ Choice Best of the Best 2022 award winner and hold steadfast to our trademark: endless INNtuitive service.
Just steps from the ferry and float plane docks, the Inn is embraced by the historic Friday Harbor seaport on San Juan Island. The island has it all – hiking, cycling, kayaking, orcas, and us. We're an award-winning boutique hotel that offers 15 elevated accommodations INN a Silver LEED certified building that nods to maritime gone by.
Jobs in the Spotlight
Live INN Friday Harbor: Join Team Clean! - INNkeeper 1: Cleaner/Landscaper
Seasonal
- spring
- summer
- fall
Job Starts:May 15, 2024
About The Island Inn at 123 West
It's totally island time
You’ve gotta live on an island at least once INN your life. If you’re gonna live on an island, it has to be San Juan Island. It sounds super cliché, but it’s soooo true: as soon as you sail away from the mainland, you feel different. Refreshed. Relaxed. Ready.
The great PNW is well-known for stellar summers, and it doesn’t get any more Upper Left stellar than San Juan Island. The summer sun doesn’t stop, and there’s hardly a drop of rain July 4th – Labor Day. Summer high temps hover INN the 70’s – perfect for endless hiking, biking, and kayaking.
INN case you were wondering – San Juan is a legit island. Read: no bridges. Most folks take their vehicle on a Washington State Ferry, but float planes, wheels planes, and private boats are popular ways to navigate, too.
Small is the new big
If you dig small-town energy, you’ll fit right INN. Chances are good that you’ll see the guest that you just welcomed to the hotel when you're making your routine grocery run. You may also bump INNto a co-worker when you’re hiking on your day off.
Our 15-room Inn is INN the heart of Friday Harbor. The county’s biggest (and only!) town. Dining, shopping, movies, parades, ferries, music, and float planes are all around the corner. We opened INN 2011 and hold steadfast to our trademark: endless INNtuitive service.
The results are INN
We’re flattered to be a Tripadvisor Travelers’ Choice Best of the Best 2022 award winner for Top Hotels near the Water — United States. Tripadvisor ranked the Inn 6th out of the top 25 listings INN the United States. The Travelers’ Choice Best of the Best award is the highest Tripadvisor recognition, and is presented annually to those businesses that are the Best of the Best on Tripadvisor.
The Island Inn at 123 West is ranked in the top 1% of properties worldwide on Tripadvisor, and the only hotel INN the San Juans to receive this distinction!
Let us acknowledge that we reside on the ancestral lands and waters of the Coast Salish people who have called this place home since time immemorial and let us honor inherent, aboriginal, and treaty rights that have been passed down from generation to generation.
The Employee Experience
We’re all INN this together
When you’re on our island, you’re not alone. What we might lack INN size, we more than make up for with big community vibes. Small town comfort and willingness to lend a hand is what makes our island, and our Team, special.
Guests feel it too. They know that we’re on their side, and that we’ll do all that we can to be sure that their experience is off-the-charts. The guest is our boss. Everyone on our Team works for the guest, or another Team member who’s working for the guest.
No secrets
There’s nowhere to hide. If one of us makes a mistake, we own it. Then we spread the word so that we set the whole Team up for success.
Small but mighty
Because our Team is small, each one of us makes a big impact. Positive or negative, our INNdividual contributions shape the culture, guest experience, and overall business.
If you want to be heard, we’ll hand you the mic.
Don’t get us wrong, we’ve got strong leadership guiding the Team and Guest experience behind the scenes, but that leadership relies on real-time INNsight that only you and our guests can offer. Your keen observations could help enhance the guest arrival experience, or INNform the next great package or amenity.
Win-win
After a season of making sure that the guest always wins, you’ll feel like you've won, too.
Ideal Candidate
We really value hospitality pros with
- A drive to find the right answer – no matter the question
- A cool head and great judgment INN the heat of the season
- Appreciation for going with the slow before the season starts and after it winds-down
- Strong familiarity and understanding of housekeeping and front desk standards and best practices
- The uncanny ability to be nice to everyone while demonstrating the right sense of urgency associated with completing projects and tasks with competing priorities
- The ability to read, write, speak and understand English
- Genuine care and concern for our community, colleagues, guests, and planet. Our Team is small, mighty, and drama-free. We have strict health and safety protocols that everyone must follow every day.
- Enthusiasm for keeping us as green as it gets.
- Exemplary and super-savvy communication via e-mail, website chat, text-platform chat, INN-person, phone, two-way radio, carrier pigeon, echolocation, and INNternal notes.
- Computer confidence for managing our online INNterfaces: property management software, INNtranet, text, webchat, extranets, Microsoft Office products, and more.
- Ambition to get it done yesterday and flexibility to complete operational tasks that will change by the minute, hour, day, and season.
- INNtuition that offers our Team and Guests next-level service to INNclude troubleshooting challenges with INN-room equipment like televisions, WiFi, HVAC, dishwashers, fireplaces, and more.
- Motivation for more. We’re looking for the right people to enhance and expand our guest experience!
Room and Board
INNkeeper 4 | Operations Manager
Temporary on-site housing is possible if you fly solo (sorry, no pets or families) with a light footprint and need a place to land on-island.
- Private 300 ft² room with a King bed
- Private washroom that INNcludes a stall shower
- Around-the-corner access to shared INNkeepers' living space, laundry, and kitchen
INNkeeper 3 | Housekeeping Manager
Temporary on-site housing is possible if you fly solo (sorry, no pets or families) with a light footprint and need a place to land on-island.
- 180ft² solo sleeping room with a Queen bed
- Attached to shared INNkeepers' living space and washroom
- Around-the-corner access to shared shower, laundry, and kitchen
INNkeeper 1 | Team Clean + Landscape
Seasonal on-site housing is possible if you fly solo (sorry, no pets or families) with a light footprint and need a place on-island.
- 120ft² solo sleeping room with Twin XL bed
- Attached to shared INNkeepers' living space and washroom
- Around-the-corner access to shared shower, laundry, and kitchen
Monthly rents usually range $350 - $750/month and INNclude WiFi as well as trash, water, sewer, and electricity.
Employee Perks
If living INN the heart of Friday Harbor, and being a big part of our small but mighty Team isn’t enough, here’s the icing on the cake:
- Adventures Abound
Enjoy an on-the-house adventure with the best kayak and whale watch operators.
- Free Rides
On-the-house ferry passes if you need to venture off-island.
- Great Rates
If you’ve got friends or family visiting, we’ll welcome them with open arms and a great rate. If you’re looking to explore, you’ll enjoy access to employee rates at over 50 partner hotels near and far.
*Of course, you've got to be successfully and consecutively employed by the Inn for at least 60 days, INN good standing, and work an average of 30 or more hours per week before you're eligible for all of these on-the-house benies. Max two free ferry rides and max two on-the-house adventures per season. Based on availability. No cash value!
Getting Here and Getting Around
San Juan Island is a legit island
Here’s a quick look at how you can get to San Juan Island. Then, once you’re here, how you can get around?
- When moving to San Juan Island, almost everyone drives their car onto a Washington State Ferry INN Anacortes, WA. Anacortes is about a two-hour drive from Seattle depending on traffic. Good news – you can reserve a spot for your vehicle, and the fare that you pay INN Anacortes is round trip, so there’s no charge to sail back to the mainland.
- Kenmore Air operates daily flights from Seattle to Friday Harbor on both wheels and float planes. The planes are small, so there are luggage weight restrictions!
Though you won’t have a commute to work, once you’re on San Juan Island, a car will come INN really handy. There’s a limited seasonal shuttle that’ll get you to most of the island’s highlights, but you’ll be held to their schedule and route.
As far as essential services, our hotel is a short walk from banks, the pharmacy, medical care, grocery stores, shops, restaurants, the ferry landing, and the float plane dock. If you bring a vehicle to the island, and rent our on-site housing, we’ll provide you a parking space a short walk away.
For Fun
There’s endless outdoor adventure on San Juan Island. You’ll enjoy scenic hiking trails, lots of kayak paddling, and plenty of biking. If you prefer to explore indoors, the island offers lots of art galleries, as well as a few museums.
Better yet, our spot INN Friday Harbor on San Juan Island is the perfect launch pad to explore other ferry-served islands like Orcas Island and Lopez Island.
Moran State Park on Orcas Island is the perfect spot to stretch your legs and explore over 35 miles of hiking trails. Moran State Park is also home to the highest point on San Juan Island – Mount Constitution. With five freshwater lakes, you’ll have easy freshwater access a short ferry ride away.
Take it even slower on a day off; Lopez Island is the friendly choice to pedal rolling hills and see how small (and friendly) our small towns really get.
If you need traffic lights, chain restaurants, and retail therapy INN your life,
the San Juan Islands aren’t the right fit for you!
How to Apply
⚠️We won't consider INNcomplete applications⚠️
👀 Every detail matters. Please complete our online application if you’d like to be considered for an employment opportunity. “See resume” or similar language
doesn’t count toward completing the application.
Please complete our online application via the link below and be sure to include a cover letter to share why you're the right addition to our small but mighty team.
Learn all about our employment experiences off the coast of the ordinary.