I am new to this forum as an aspiring innkeeper currently under negotiations with the inn we want to purchase.
My husband and I were on a buying trip - looking at an area with the intent to either find the perfect place and inn or eliminate the area from our consideration so we had booked stays at four different B&Bs. All were made aware that we were "shopping". EVERY one of them called us the week of our arrival. On the first day we found this extremely odd since we have only rarely received that annoying intrusion from an innkeeper over the many years of traveling via B&Bs. BUT, when we arrived, we completely understood why this was the norm and not the exception in this community. The narrow winding streets, strange layout of the town and just plain difficulty in navigating made phone calls necessary. Both Google maps and Mapquest gave inaccurate directions to the entire town and, until you spent a little time there with the map in the middle of the CVB hand out, it was impossible to get from one place to another without holding the map on the top of the steering wheel or having someone on the phone directing you.
As we have become more savvy about the industry I understand why the calls might be made, but, I also felt it was an intrusion and too much like a "helicopter" parent behavior. Much like my students who think teachers are put away in the coat closet when the final bell of the day rings and then retrieved when the school opens in the morning, travelers believe innkeepers never leave their inns and have no life outside of that role. It kind of adds to the overall ambience and illusion that makes B&Bs so charming, IMHO..
Welcome to the forum Susan. Great insights and right on the money!
As an inn for sale, those shopping have not been the greatest at showing up, or being on time, or showing early. I can attest to that, the stress of having the house ready when you are in your busy season is even worse! I remember one person who called and was on the way and then never showed up. We left messages for her, we scheduled our entire day around her walk through, and she finally called the next day and said "Sorry my sister called and I had to turn around and take care of something...I will be there next weekend." We said, nope, no chance.
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Oh my! No way I would be so rude. We actually stayed over and paid full price for our room online before telling them we were shopping. Then we sent a "thought you should know..." e-mail. We also didn't do official "showings" then. We went on scheduled appointments for two full days with a local realtor who made all the arrangements except for the "by owner" property and we stayed there two nights. One of the owners said that it was standard practice for every innkeeper to call the guests for the very reasons I cited - everyone gets lost on their first visit.
I don't think it would be a bad thing to mention what town it is, especially since it is on the top 10 list referenced in a different post and I didn't mention any Inn by name. It's Eureka Springs, Arkansas. If you've not been there, it is a town of lovely historical homes, mostly victorian, nestled into a hillside, amongst springs coming up everywhere with lovely parks around them, all in the Ozark Mountains. The downtown is all shops, studios, galleries and restaurants. Lovely, but not the right region for us midwesterners. We also want a larger Inn since neither of us want to work outside of the Inn, so we are only interested in Inns with at least 8 rooms. The one we are currently negotiating for is 9 and, if we can get over the hurdles, and sell our home, we should be innkeepers by next summer. If not, we will just find something else and have already been looking at other properties.
This weekend, Kentucky.
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