A Warm Oasis in Interior Alaska.

• Author: JONES, PATRICIA
• Position: Chena Hot Springs - Brief Article

The now-successful Chena Hot Springs is generating new business from the European market.

In less than three years, Chena Hot Springs Resort has grown from an unwanted property obtained by the State of Alaska in bankruptcy court to a flourishing year-round tourist destination drawing visitors from around the world.

Improvements to overnight accommodations, the addition of a hot-springs pond and an increased marketing effort to potential European visitors has helped the Interior Alaska resort become a player in the state's tourism industry.

These changes started in March 1998, when Fairbanks-based entrepreneurs Connie and Bernie Karl purchased the resort and its accompanying 440-acre parcel from the State of Alaska for a negotiated price of about $1.5 million.

State officials agreed to the price--considerably less than the original asking price of nearly $5 million--after the property sat virtually unchanged while on public rolls for nearly a decade.

"Tour operators had always described it as an authentic, rustic Alaska lodge," said Mok Kumagai, tourism manager at the Fairbanks Convention and Visitors Bureau. "But that was a way of saying, 'Hey, the rooms here do not necessarily have all the modern facilities."

Now, things are much different at the mineral hot springs, discovered in 1905 by an early day Alaskan prospector named Robert Swan, who suffered from rheumatism.

For starters, the Karls launched a large construction project at Chena shortly after acquiring the property in 1998. A 40-room addition offering standard hotel accommodations was quickly constructed, as was a large recreation center for aurora borealis viewing.

"It still has some of that aspect of an authentic lodge, but they also gave people a choice to stay in modern, full-service facilities," Kumagai said. "There are still cabins, so the Karls basically brought in a choice for people."

Probably the resort's most visible improvement involves the mineral springs itself. For years, visitors have soaked in the pool or small hot tubs located inside a bathhouse. In recent years, a large Jacuzzi tub and deck were added outside.

But the new owners took hot springs soaking to a new level at Chena, with the formation of a hot springs pond from two existing pits dug several decades ago.

A high-tech fabric, which allows hot water to bubble into the pond without silt from the ground, forms the bottom of the new pool. Tiny pebbles from decomposed granite cover the bottom of the pond...