Just Starting Out with a Few Questions about Salary and What to Expect
Posted on: Thu, 02/04/2010 - 12:49pm
Original Topic
OfflineHi All,
I graduated from college in May and have been toying with the idea of working for an inn since around November. I have done some research on the subject and think that this is something that I would really enjoy doing and something that I would be good at. I have read books, Googled like crazy and even shadowed someone at a hotel to see if it something that I would enjoy doing. I recently left a job that was miserable and terrible, it completely drained my spirit and I think that at my age it is the tie to take a risk. I know a lot of you are owners, and while at some point I would love to own my own inn, right now I just want to work at an inn. I live in New Jersey and I want to move up to Connecticut, where it is looking very strongly like I might have a job offer from a 22 room inn on the shoreline. I have been trying to figure out about what type of pay I would be looking at, but cannot seem to get a roundabout figure. As I will most likely not have my family's support because I would be moving I want to make sure that I would be able to support myself on the pay. I would be doing the job of an innkeeper/assistant innkeeper, but would not be living at the inn. I do not have any experience working in hospitality, but like I said before I have done my research and am willing to learn. My attitude, is something that I think the innkeeper was very impressed by. I am going to go up in a few weeks to talk with the innkeeper again and discuss salary and when I would start and all that fun stuff. I just want to go in with some idea of the amount of money I would be making to know if this is doable or if this is just a pipe dream. I would be moving into my friend's basement until we found an apartment that both of us could afford so I would be living with a roommate so I am not too concerned about rent, I just want to make sure I have enough for rent and then some so that I could put some money aside and be able to buy things.
Also, if any of you have any advice or good websites or books for me to check out I would really love that.
Thank you all in advance for your help with this!! I really really appreciate your time!! Thanks a bunch!! 
Danielle
Comments
Well I am glad you have been doing your homework. But reading cannotreally train you for the experience. All of us here did the same I am sure before we started into innkeeping and took aspiring innkeeper courses and in some cases, did internships as well. And we still weren't prepared for some of the things we have encountered. Which is why lots of folks join in here to learn how to deal with a variety of different situations.
Too bad you don't have time to do some time of an internship. A 22 room inn could be a real nightmare to run. How many staff do they have? Do you have experience as supervisor and in dealing with employees. I wish you well, but if the inn is a successful one, I would think they will want someone with experience. At the shore....so they aren't open right now???? OR are they??? I would guess not too much business this time of year.
Salary, hard to say, most of folks here are fairly small operations. They may want to give you a base salary and maybe then have you work on commission for sales/ or percentage of rooms booked.
The most I personally have ever heard offered for an innkeeping position was $50,000 a year and this was for a couple. I seriously doubt they would be paying that kind of salary to an individual. Hopefully someone else here has more experience than I do with this and can give you a more informed answer.
Best wishes...a good and positive attitude certainly is a good thing.
Actually $50K is not at all out of the question for an individual running an inn. I've certainly made more.
But the operative word is running. That means someone experienced in the range of skills a managing innkeeper would need. That's more than a positive attitude.
As an assistant innkeeper with no experience, salaries are all over the place but would most likely be on the low end. I've seen places offering rates of pay as low as $9 an hour.
And I hate to say it, but folks who are looking to hire someone right out of school with a good attitude are talking in code. They're saying we don't want to pay much but want a lot of work.
IMHO
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Oh I doubt I will make anywhere near 50K, I was just hoping for $12 an hour. I do have a lot of the skills that a manager has though, as I have 3.5 years of supervisor experience and 2 years of event managing experience. The inn does has a lot of weddings and events, something that I would be the coordinator on with my event planning experience. I am willing to work a lot as long as I am learning.
CatLady, the inn is open all year round. They seem to get a lot of business retreats and many people come for the different festivals in the area. I wish I could do an internship to fully immerse myself and learn more, however, where I live in NJ does not have many inns or bed and breakfasts, but major hotels. They only seem to offer internships to people still in school, sadly.
Thank you both so much for the info!!
Oh I doubt I will make anywhere near 50K, I was just hoping for $12 an hour. I do have a lot of the skills that a manager has though, as I have 3.5 years of supervisor experience and 2 years of event managing experience. The inn does has a lot of weddings and events, something that I would be the coordinator on with my event planning experience. I am willing to work a lot as long as I am learning.
SurferStitch, if $12 an hour is what you want, let them know that. And tell them why you're worth it, if they want to pay less.
But what you're hoping to get is definitely within the doable range for an inn of that size, even just starting out in innkeeping.
You might also try to get them to commit to review your contribution and pay in 6 months or at the end of the season, whatever makes sense. If you've done a great job and have proven your worth, they'll probably be willing to increase whatever your starting rate is.
Whatever it is you finally agree upon....Just be sure to get everything in writing. Believe me when we say, if you do all weddings and events planning..besides running the inn and managing staff, you will want more than $12 an hour. But if you are willing to start out there, and you are fine with that come up with an incentive program or review in 6 months.
We've had a couple here not too long ago who were young newly hired innkeepers who were very disillusioned by the owner and his lack of support and knit picking over every penney spent etc etc. I wish now I could remember where they were and hope you are not filling their old position. Maybe someone else here will remember where they were.
All good info for anyone to consider.
From what SurferStitch was saying, though, I didn't get the impression this was a job running the inn, just working there.
Sounds like running an inn, or at least assisting with the running of it to me...not just working there.
Maybe so. Folks use innkeeper/assistant innkeeper titles for all kinds of work, so could be.
If this is a job running an inn of that size, then I completely agree that $12 an hour is not going to keep anyone happy for long.
But more than that, if it's the place with the kind of owner problems you've described, no amount of money is going to help.
That's often the problem with investor-owners. They don't necessarily understand innkeeping and thus don't always have the kind of respect they should have for just how demanding the work is and what fair compensation means.
Of course, there are just as many owners out there who are former innkeepers themselves and totally get it.
Just like the title of innkeeper. It can mean a lot of different things at a lot of different places.
$12 an hour? Thats a bargain! I pay my housekeeper $15 an hour.
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$12 an hour? Thats a bargain! I pay my housekeeper $15 an hour.
Me too - that is what I pay my innsitters that help us out - and a three hour minumum. Sometimes I pay that just to have them babysit the inn and check in guests when we are both out driving tours as we don't get back until 6 pm.
Riki
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Part of what you are wanting is experience, right? Sometimes you agree to take a rate of pay that seems low but you are gaining a lot in other areas. Maybe you can negotiate for a commission or a percentage of rentals.
I also paid my housekeepers $15 an hour ... and they were paid more than I ever earned as an innkeeper. Sad but true. (that was my own problem, I won't go into it) Housekeeping was hard, demanding work performed to high standards. Without a clean place, guests won't return. I paid what I had to in order to prevent 'my girls' from migrating to another inn or hotel.
Here is a reality check. $11 to $12 an hour is the prevailing wage in my area for bank tellers, customer service reps and general office workers. I have been offered a job that pays $12.50 an hour and I have to work nights and Saturdays. (If I take it, I'm going to continue my job search) I earned twice that years back as an office manager. The playing field has changed. For many, a paycheck is a paycheck.
Best of luck, really! Enthusiasm and a great attitude can go a long way.
We're nudging $13/hr here for housekeeping but the only other jobs around are retail, which are a lot less. And we offer the 'security' of having a fixed schedule so the person can get another job knowing what their hours here will be. No one in retail can say that. They get called in and sent home whenever. Ditto at the restaurants.
And we still had problems finding help.
When I wanted to learn the book trade, I got a PT job at $10, but I was getting experience. There are times a lower salary is a good trade for being able to put 'experience' on your rez.
In that case, what this person should be sure of is that the place she is looking at has a GOOD reputation. No sense in using a place no one in the industry respects as your reference down the road.
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