New Hotel Saranac General Manager Jacob Kipping has spent the majority of his life working in the Adirondack lodging industry. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Cerbone)

SARANAC LAKE — The Hotel Saranac’s new general manager, Jacob Kipping, is an Tri-Laker who has spent the better part of his life working inside the Adirondack lodging industry.

Kipping described the hotel as the heartbeat, the hub and the glue of Saranac Lake, connecting people and providing a space for local goings-on. He has been busy recently, between the Can-Am Rugby Tournament last weekend and the Lake Placid Summit Classic lacrosse tournament this week.

“We’re really starting to feel some life in the building,” Kipping said.

Kipping took over for interim general manager Brenda Edwards, who was appointed by hotel owner Roedel Companies after it fired the hotel’s initial general manager, Michael Salyers, in February, a month after the hotel reopened, without issuing a reason.

Kipping was born in Rainbow Lake and grew up on Keese Mills Road in Paul Smiths. He saw many of the great camps in that area, found his first jobs in local hospitality and went to the Hotel Saranac’s Boathouse Lounge when it was still run by Paul Smith’s College.

He said he has been following the hotel’s rebirth and was excited to see the Roedel family bring it back to its former glory. The Hotel Saranac is the only one of many grand hotels left standing in Saranac Lake, partly because of its fireproof design.

“One of the greatest things being in hospitality in the Adirondacks is that I’m able to share that history that the area has with people,” Kipping said. “The big claim was, ‘One hundred rooms; and each room has its own bathroom’,” Kipping said. “That was a big deal in 1927.”

He also said it is special to share the Adirondack wilderness he enjoyed as a Boy Scout, and still enjoys when he is out fishing in remote areas with guests from around the world.

Kipping was 16 years old in 1997, when he started washing dishes at The Point resort in Saranac Lake. Since then, he has worked in various departments of the hotel industry, living in Puerto Rico, Florida and New York City in the process.

In 2003 he returned to The Point to take over the food and beverage department, and when the resort was sold to a global chain three years later, he became its club director. When the chain folded, he lost his job, but took over the front office before working at the Lake Placid Lodge, leaving in 2009 to work privately.

He returned again to The Point in 2013 as assistant manager and worked there until he saw the Hotel Saranac opening a few months ago.

Kipping said he sees his job of general manager as being the fourth leg holding up the table of the Hotel Saranac. His day-to-day job is to make sure everything runs smoothly between the other three legs: the staff, the guests and the owners.

His goals are that the staff, which provides the backbone of the hotel’s services, are happy and motivated, that guests enjoy their stays and that the Roedel family, which owns the hotel, gets the revenue it needs to keep it all running.

From his experience, he realized that the best general managers to work for were not office-bound; they were part of the operation in all aspects, pitching in when needed.

He said the hotel already has a good staff of 89, which is good because that’s the hardest part.

“You can train anyone to do anything, but as long as they have a good attitude, that’s what I feel is the most important,” Kipping said.

He said it is always difficult to staff hotels in the Adirondacks, but with the Hotel Saranac’s history and recognition it is a lot easier.

The hotel has also hired five Saranac Lake High School students to work in the food and beverage department as their first jobs. He said he hopes as these students go through high school, and even college, that they will return to work at the hotel.