We Are Famous :o)

Weirs Beach Motel and Cottages owner Dan Petrini gets help cutting the grand-opening ribbon from his grandson, Patrick Ferland, as friends and family members, including Kurt Williams, left, Sue Gaudette of Gunstock Mountain Resort, Lorraine and Sean Ferland, and Holly and Greg Petrini and their daughter, Rowan, look on.

Family roots the center of Weirs Beach Motel & Cottages

By JOHN KOZIOLjkoziol@citizen.comjkoziol@citizen.com
Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Underscoring that it's a family business, several generations of the Petrini family joined together Friday at noon to mark the official opening of The Weirs Beach Motel & Cottages.Dan Petrini, the family patriarch, and his grandson, Patrick Ferland, did the opening honors by joining their hands to cut an elaborate yellow ribbon with big red bow that was stretched across the business's Lakeside Avenue entrance.

Petrini bought the lodging establishment — a 31-unit facility which comprises a motel, three houses and 14 stand-alone cottages — at a foreclosure auction earlier this year and for several months his sons, Gregory and Brian, daughter Lorraine and their respective spouses, significant others and children, have been getting it ready for the season."

I think it's really going to happen up here this year," said Petrini, who resides in Sanbornton and has been investing in properties throughout the Greater Lakes Region since 1993, of the prospect of a successful season not just for him but his fellow Weirs businessmen and women. At one time the owner of the Franklin Business Center, Petrini became an hotelier when he got "caught up in the bidding" for the Weirs Beach Motel when it went up on the auction block."

Our bookings for May were 75 percent ahead of what they were last year," said Petrini, while Bike Week — which starts June 12 — "is very positive and at this point we're about 97 percent full" and with end-of-the month NASCAR races at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon "starting to come in strong."Heavy traffic on the hotel's Internet site, http://www.weirsbeachmotel.com/, and Facebook site, required Petrini to buy a new computer server, although he said it's a good problem to have to be so popular.

"I'm optimistic" about the season said Petrini, "but you have to be in this business." He said his motel will have some legs up on the competition in that his sons and their families will live on-site while other pluses are that the rental units are well appointed, clean, "and close to all the amenities at Weirs Beach."The motel is also close to all of the Lakes Region, Petrini continued, noting that he is working synergistically with several entities, among them the Gunstock Mountain Resort.

Closer to home, Petrini is exploring ventures with the Paradise Beach Club and the M/S Mount Washington, which is berthed in The Weirs during the tourist season.Petrini thanked those businesses for helping him find his way in opening the motel and while a rival to some, he pledged to work cooperatively for the common good."Everyone's starting to realize that if we don't all work together, Weirs Beach isn't going to work that good," said Petrini, "and everybody's throwing in their ideas to make it better for everyone."