Inn-sitters - to hire or not to hire!!??

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bbinnsitters

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As an Inn-sitter I felt a need to speak up on this subject - maybe a little late for some of you, but better late than never!
First - A B&B is a very personal business and if I, as a potential guest, call and get an answering machine (and possibly no reply for a day or so) I will go on to the next B&B where someone will talk to me and take my reservation!
2nd - A vacation is not really a vacation if you are attached to your phone and computer.
3rd - If you close down/shut your doors, etc. you are losing all business that may come in while you are gone and if you don't return messages you are losing any future business.
An Inn-sitter will be there to answer the phone, take care of any last minute guests while also taking care of guests who booked in advance. I have noticed last minute bookings are way up this year. I just got back from a NY job where there was very little on the books when I arrived - I thought I would at least have Tues, Wed. and Thursday off. Well, the phone never stopped ringing and I never had any day that I didn't need to make breakfast and clean! The owners were thrilled, I was thrilled. Since I charge depending on room occupancy, I made over $1,600 and the owner made over $2,500 - more than enough to pay for their vacation!
I guess it depends on if you are trying to run a business or if owning a B&B is just a hobby for you.
All you Aspiring Innkeepers out there - I highly recommend getting into the Inn-sitting business. It will give you a good taste of what running a B&B is like. All the fun without all the responsibilities of owning! Kinda like being a Grandparent, you spoil the kids and then you get to go home.
 
suellen222 said:
All you Aspiring Innkeepers out there - I highly recommend getting into the Inn-sitting business. It will give you a good taste of what running a B&B is like. All the fun without all the responsibilities of owning! Kinda like being a Grandparent, you spoil the kids and then you get to go home.
I would never hire an innsitter who did not previously own an inn or had extensive experience working in one.
 
suellen222 said:
All you Aspiring Innkeepers out there - I highly recommend getting into the Inn-sitting business. It will give you a good taste of what running a B&B is like. All the fun without all the responsibilities of owning! Kinda like being a Grandparent, you spoil the kids and then you get to go home.
I would never hire an innsitter who did not previously own an inn or had extensive experience working in one..
Catch 22 - how is someone supposed to have extensive experience working in one if no one ever gives them a chance? I am so glad someone gave me a chance 5 years ago - neither of us has ever regretted it and I go back 2-3 times a year. Put your faith in someone and you might be pleasantly surprised.
 
suellen222 said:
I guess it depends on if you are trying to run a business or if owning a B&B is just a hobby for you.
You are entitled to have you own opinion...and I have mine! I have taken vacations and closed and have taken vacations and hired an innsitter. I wll say there are good and bad points with both and would really not depend on if it is a 'business or hobby' B&B. What it really boils down to is what experience YOU want for ALL your guests.
When I hired an innsitter I had several emails when I returned. Some that were left were bragging up and down on the great treatment they had with our sitter while others were disapointed in the fact that WE were not here stating that half the B&B experience is getting to meet and talk with the innkeeper and they had truely wanted to meet US. The second time we hired an innsitter for vacation we make it a point to tell our potential guests that we would be gone during their stay....some did not book!! Guess there is really no right or wrong way to do things...it is an individual preference but it has NOTHING to do with whether it is a business or hobby.
My Two cents!
 
I guess it depends on if you are trying to run a business or if owning a B&B is just a hobby for you.
No, it depends on what is economically sensible. If I go away for 2 weeks and hire an innsitter, I have to pay for every day that innsitter is here BUT will probably only have guests on the weekend - and since I am in Podunk, depending on the season, even that is a maybe. IF I have guests to equal the cost of the innsitter, I still lose due to overhead costs. I am not trying to run a business, I am running a business. Perhaps if I were in a destination area - I have had to tell people we are a tourist destination - it would be different. I have also had comments about the disappointment of not getting to meet ME - even though I left everything ready for breakfast for DH to "open zip-loc and put in bowl" put in oven for xx min. etc - I was not nere.
Hiring an innsitter depends on a lot of factors. I wish I had enough demand to warrant an innsitter - I think. I would probably - unless it was something like my daughter's wedding in 2007 or DH's HS reunion (and I DID have reservations for that weekend so hired a friend to innsit) for me it is best to be booked.
BTW, that particular Labor Day weekend, I had 8 room nights booked when we found out about the reunion. This friend was considering foing B & B. I worked out for both of us. I had coverage for guests who sould NOT have been able to find othr rooms and she found out she did NOT want to do B & B.
 
suellen222 said:
All you Aspiring Innkeepers out there - I highly recommend getting into the Inn-sitting business. It will give you a good taste of what running a B&B is like. All the fun without all the responsibilities of owning! Kinda like being a Grandparent, you spoil the kids and then you get to go home.
I would never hire an innsitter who did not previously own an inn or had extensive experience working in one..
Catch 22 - how is someone supposed to have extensive experience working in one if no one ever gives them a chance? I am so glad someone gave me a chance 5 years ago - neither of us has ever regretted it and I go back 2-3 times a year. Put your faith in someone and you might be pleasantly surprised.
.
No, it's not a Catch 22. You get experience working in an inn, NOT learning on the job as a novice. Even when I've hired a local person to help at my inn who has no B&B experience, it takes me weeks of training before I would ever leave them alone.
I'm sorry, but in these days of PITAs and bad TA reviews I would never hire someone to innsit without experience.
 
I guess it depends on if you are trying to run a business or if owning a B&B is just a hobby for you.
No, it depends on what is economically sensible. If I go away for 2 weeks and hire an innsitter, I have to pay for every day that innsitter is here BUT will probably only have guests on the weekend - and since I am in Podunk, depending on the season, even that is a maybe. IF I have guests to equal the cost of the innsitter, I still lose due to overhead costs. I am not trying to run a business, I am running a business. Perhaps if I were in a destination area - I have had to tell people we are a tourist destination - it would be different. I have also had comments about the disappointment of not getting to meet ME - even though I left everything ready for breakfast for DH to "open zip-loc and put in bowl" put in oven for xx min. etc - I was not nere.
Hiring an innsitter depends on a lot of factors. I wish I had enough demand to warrant an innsitter - I think. I would probably - unless it was something like my daughter's wedding in 2007 or DH's HS reunion (and I DID have reservations for that weekend so hired a friend to innsit) for me it is best to be booked.
BTW, that particular Labor Day weekend, I had 8 room nights booked when we found out about the reunion. This friend was considering foing B & B. I worked out for both of us. I had coverage for guests who sould NOT have been able to find othr rooms and she found out she did NOT want to do B & B..
Since I charge depending on room occupancy...you could afford me! I don't charge unless rooms are rented when I am there. That way you are only paying me for the work I do. Everyone is happy!
 
suellen222 said:
All you Aspiring Innkeepers out there - I highly recommend getting into the Inn-sitting business. It will give you a good taste of what running a B&B is like. All the fun without all the responsibilities of owning! Kinda like being a Grandparent, you spoil the kids and then you get to go home.
I would never hire an innsitter who did not previously own an inn or had extensive experience working in one..
Catch 22 - how is someone supposed to have extensive experience working in one if no one ever gives them a chance? I am so glad someone gave me a chance 5 years ago - neither of us has ever regretted it and I go back 2-3 times a year. Put your faith in someone and you might be pleasantly surprised.
.
No, it's not a Catch 22. You get experience working in an inn, NOT learning on the job as a novice. Even when I've hired a local person to help at my inn who has no B&B experience, it takes me weeks of training before I would ever leave them alone.
I'm sorry, but in these days of PITAs and bad TA reviews I would never hire someone to innsit without experience.
.
Would 18 years experience of raising children "qualify" someone in your book? Inn-keeping is not rocket science - can you cook, clean, do laundry, make beds, be nice to people? The hardest part of Inn-sitting is learning the different reservation systerms. I usually like a day with the owner b4 actually taking over and thought I made that clear, but once when I showed up for a job the owner was there for an hour and then left me on my own! I'm not sure what takes weeks - I would've been happy for a day of training!
 
suellen222 said:
All you Aspiring Innkeepers out there - I highly recommend getting into the Inn-sitting business. It will give you a good taste of what running a B&B is like. All the fun without all the responsibilities of owning! Kinda like being a Grandparent, you spoil the kids and then you get to go home.
I would never hire an innsitter who did not previously own an inn or had extensive experience working in one..
Catch 22 - how is someone supposed to have extensive experience working in one if no one ever gives them a chance? I am so glad someone gave me a chance 5 years ago - neither of us has ever regretted it and I go back 2-3 times a year. Put your faith in someone and you might be pleasantly surprised.
.
No, it's not a Catch 22. You get experience working in an inn, NOT learning on the job as a novice. Even when I've hired a local person to help at my inn who has no B&B experience, it takes me weeks of training before I would ever leave them alone.
I'm sorry, but in these days of PITAs and bad TA reviews I would never hire someone to innsit without experience.
.
Would 18 years experience of raising children "qualify" someone in your book? Inn-keeping is not rocket science - can you cook, clean, do laundry, make beds, be nice to people? The hardest part of Inn-sitting is learning the different reservation systerms. I usually like a day with the owner b4 actually taking over and thought I made that clear, but once when I showed up for a job the owner was there for an hour and then left me on my own! I'm not sure what takes weeks - I would've been happy for a day of training!
.
Would 18 years experience of raising children "qualify" someone in your book?
NO
The hardest part of Inn-sitting is learning the different reservation systems.
If an owner were to hire someone with no experience, how would they possibly run the inn using some complicated systems?
I usually like a day with the owner b4 actually taking over
And that's what it should take with an experienced innsitter.
Suellen, I'm not putting down your abilities and your skills which you have now. I think it's irresponsible to encourage aspiring innkeepers to put themselves out there to innsit if they have no experience. It's doing other innsitters a disservice by minimizing the skills it takes to become a professional innsitter.
 
suellen222, are you saying that someone hired you to innsit before you had any experience working at an inn?
if so, you were very fortunate!
i've been looking at inn sitting and the first questions i am asked are 'how many years of innkeeping experience do you have?' and 'what reservation systems are you familiar with?', etc. an aspiring innkeeper would not likely be able to answer those questions in a way that would get them an interview, let alone 'a chance'.
a better route for an aspiring who cannot afford to purchase an inn/b&b, in my opinion, would be to seek out a position as an assistant innkeeper or similar job in the hospitality industry. after that, perhaps as an interim.
you do not say how long you inn-sat at the place where you earned over $1600 and $2500 for the innkeepers. the interims i know (and i only know 2 innsitters - a couple and a single person) are paid approximately $100 to $200 per day, in addition to room and board, depending on whether or not they are expected to do the housekeeping and if it is one person or a couple.
when i ran a b&b myself, my overhead was so high that i often paid the housekeeper more than i earned myself. i hired an innsitter twice --- when i attended an out of state wedding and an out of state graduation. i paid the innsitter more than i would have earned in that time also. sad but true.
but i wanted the place to be open and it was the only way i could attend these important events. both times, i let all guests know that i would not be there. i explained why and asked for their 'critique' of my interims and they seemed to enjoy this ... giving me long, report card style notes.
i am glad you are happy with your experiences and that you continue to be hired to innsit. but i do not believe it is such an easy thing to be taken on as you were.
also, the economic reality many innkeepers face, especially those who own old buildings that require ongoing repairs (think money pit without the humor), in addition to a mortgage, can be staggering.
large, established businesses with additional staff are the ones i am finding are looking for interim innkeeping help. and they want someone with a lot of experience.
i wish you well.
 
suellen222 said:
All you Aspiring Innkeepers out there - I highly recommend getting into the Inn-sitting business. It will give you a good taste of what running a B&B is like. All the fun without all the responsibilities of owning! Kinda like being a Grandparent, you spoil the kids and then you get to go home.
I would never hire an innsitter who did not previously own an inn or had extensive experience working in one..
Catch 22 - how is someone supposed to have extensive experience working in one if no one ever gives them a chance? I am so glad someone gave me a chance 5 years ago - neither of us has ever regretted it and I go back 2-3 times a year. Put your faith in someone and you might be pleasantly surprised.
.
No, it's not a Catch 22. You get experience working in an inn, NOT learning on the job as a novice. Even when I've hired a local person to help at my inn who has no B&B experience, it takes me weeks of training before I would ever leave them alone.
I'm sorry, but in these days of PITAs and bad TA reviews I would never hire someone to innsit without experience.
.
Would 18 years experience of raising children "qualify" someone in your book? Inn-keeping is not rocket science - can you cook, clean, do laundry, make beds, be nice to people? The hardest part of Inn-sitting is learning the different reservation systerms. I usually like a day with the owner b4 actually taking over and thought I made that clear, but once when I showed up for a job the owner was there for an hour and then left me on my own! I'm not sure what takes weeks - I would've been happy for a day of training!
.
suellen222 said:
Would 18 years experience of raising children "qualify" someone in your book? Inn-keeping is not rocket science - can you cook, clean, do laundry, make beds, be nice to people? The hardest part of Inn-sitting is learning the different reservation systerms. I usually like a day with the owner b4 actually taking over and thought I made that clear, but once when I showed up for a job the owner was there for an hour and then left me on my own! I'm not sure what takes weeks - I would've been happy for a day of training!
No. Most people have experience raising children but don't know the first thing about innkeeping. And I know a lot of people who are wonderful cooks but would not know how to present my kind of breakfast.
If you think the hardest thing about innkeeping is the reservations systems, I assume you can handle plumbing problems, electrical problems, and all the other things that can go wrong with running an inn.
I would never leave my inn in the hands of someone after one day of trainnig.
My innsitters have huge innkeeping and spa work experience, and are baby sitting our inn for several afternoons and are going to spend a night with us and turn a room before we are going to leave them alone running the inn.
For goodness sakes, they have to know where everything is in the kitchen, understand our quality of breakfast served, know where to turn off the water in case of plumbing problems, know who to call for what emergencies, etc. They have to know where to direct the guests to the farmer's market, the wineries, local historical sites, etc. I'm not leaving them to the mercy of whatever might come in the door without creating a book for them to go to for info.
RIki
 
suellen222 said:
All you Aspiring Innkeepers out there - I highly recommend getting into the Inn-sitting business. It will give you a good taste of what running a B&B is like. All the fun without all the responsibilities of owning! Kinda like being a Grandparent, you spoil the kids and then you get to go home.
I would never hire an innsitter who did not previously own an inn or had extensive experience working in one..
Catch 22 - how is someone supposed to have extensive experience working in one if no one ever gives them a chance? I am so glad someone gave me a chance 5 years ago - neither of us has ever regretted it and I go back 2-3 times a year. Put your faith in someone and you might be pleasantly surprised.
.
suellen222 said:
Catch 22 - how is someone supposed to have extensive experience working in one if no one ever gives them a chance? I am so glad someone gave me a chance 5 years ago - neither of us has ever regretted it and I go back 2-3 times a year. Put your faith in someone and you might be pleasantly surprised.
You offer to help at a local B&B at no cost to get the experience. You go and work at a hotel to at least get some experience in the general industry. You do not expect one of us to trust our whole business to you just because you "need experience".
If you are really serious, there are inns out there where you can pay to get the training and experience of running an inn. If you want to be an innsitter, you have to put out some money or some time working for free for training, just like any other profession.
RIki
 
suellen222 said:
All you Aspiring Innkeepers out there - I highly recommend getting into the Inn-sitting business. It will give you a good taste of what running a B&B is like. All the fun without all the responsibilities of owning! Kinda like being a Grandparent, you spoil the kids and then you get to go home.
I would never hire an innsitter who did not previously own an inn or had extensive experience working in one..
Catch 22 - how is someone supposed to have extensive experience working in one if no one ever gives them a chance? I am so glad someone gave me a chance 5 years ago - neither of us has ever regretted it and I go back 2-3 times a year. Put your faith in someone and you might be pleasantly surprised.
.
No, it's not a Catch 22. You get experience working in an inn, NOT learning on the job as a novice. Even when I've hired a local person to help at my inn who has no B&B experience, it takes me weeks of training before I would ever leave them alone.
I'm sorry, but in these days of PITAs and bad TA reviews I would never hire someone to innsit without experience.
.
Would 18 years experience of raising children "qualify" someone in your book? Inn-keeping is not rocket science - can you cook, clean, do laundry, make beds, be nice to people? The hardest part of Inn-sitting is learning the different reservation systerms. I usually like a day with the owner b4 actually taking over and thought I made that clear, but once when I showed up for a job the owner was there for an hour and then left me on my own! I'm not sure what takes weeks - I would've been happy for a day of training!
.
Would 18 years experience of raising children "qualify" someone in your book?
NO
The hardest part of Inn-sitting is learning the different reservation systems.
If an owner were to hire someone with no experience, how would they possibly run the inn using some complicated systems?
I usually like a day with the owner b4 actually taking over
And that's what it should take with an experienced innsitter.
Suellen, I'm not putting down your abilities and your skills which you have now. I think it's irresponsible to encourage aspiring innkeepers to put themselves out there to innsit if they have no experience. It's doing other innsitters a disservice by minimizing the skills it takes to become a professional innsitter.
.
I agree with BD. I would never hire someone who had no experience as an innkeeper to be an innsitter. To me that is just common sense. Unless it was someone I knew personally and had trained myself to do the job.
 
suellen222 said:
All you Aspiring Innkeepers out there - I highly recommend getting into the Inn-sitting business. It will give you a good taste of what running a B&B is like. All the fun without all the responsibilities of owning! Kinda like being a Grandparent, you spoil the kids and then you get to go home.
I would never hire an innsitter who did not previously own an inn or had extensive experience working in one..
Catch 22 - how is someone supposed to have extensive experience working in one if no one ever gives them a chance? I am so glad someone gave me a chance 5 years ago - neither of us has ever regretted it and I go back 2-3 times a year. Put your faith in someone and you might be pleasantly surprised.
.
No, it's not a Catch 22. You get experience working in an inn, NOT learning on the job as a novice. Even when I've hired a local person to help at my inn who has no B&B experience, it takes me weeks of training before I would ever leave them alone.
I'm sorry, but in these days of PITAs and bad TA reviews I would never hire someone to innsit without experience.
.
Would 18 years experience of raising children "qualify" someone in your book? Inn-keeping is not rocket science - can you cook, clean, do laundry, make beds, be nice to people? The hardest part of Inn-sitting is learning the different reservation systerms. I usually like a day with the owner b4 actually taking over and thought I made that clear, but once when I showed up for a job the owner was there for an hour and then left me on my own! I'm not sure what takes weeks - I would've been happy for a day of training!
.
Suellen, I am not being snarky in any way when I say this, but raising 6 kids was not in any way a preperation for running an inn other than giving me experience in biting my tongue because I was "second mother" since the first wife died.
What did do it was over 10 years of working part-time as a relief night auditor which means I was manager on duty with all it implies, reservations, front desk (including answering calls and putting them through to guest rooms), balance the restaurant, banquet, and bar receipts (many a night they could not get it to blance and it was my job to find out why), post all charges, and do the reports - all in 8 hours.
There were 2 times friends innsat. BOTH very early in our innkeeping career. The first one had moved away between the time of agreement and the time of sitting and I had to just trust it would work out because SHE told me at the last minute she would not be able to come even a day before I HAD to leave. I guess it worked out - but NONE of those guests ever returned and yes, I DID call them to tell them due to circumstances beyond my control a raw rookie would be here - their greatest fear was that the room would disappear. (I paid the agreed fee and then sent a second check of the same amount after I returned home as a "tip".) The second time, was friends who came in for a one night w/dinner and served a dinner that was ready to serve (put in oven and bake) and breakfast was the same with breakfast. I left a detailed list with where everything was located. And they did this out of friendship refusing to be paid.
The turmoil I went through convinced me (after checking rates of a "real" innsitter) it is best for me, if I know in advance and can block the rooms IS to block the rooms. Today, with the reputation I have built for my inn, I would never leave my reputation to anyone less than a professional with experience - whatever it cost.
 
suellen222 said:
All you Aspiring Innkeepers out there - I highly recommend getting into the Inn-sitting business. It will give you a good taste of what running a B&B is like. All the fun without all the responsibilities of owning! Kinda like being a Grandparent, you spoil the kids and then you get to go home.
I would never hire an innsitter who did not previously own an inn or had extensive experience working in one..
Catch 22 - how is someone supposed to have extensive experience working in one if no one ever gives them a chance? I am so glad someone gave me a chance 5 years ago - neither of us has ever regretted it and I go back 2-3 times a year. Put your faith in someone and you might be pleasantly surprised.
.
No, it's not a Catch 22. You get experience working in an inn, NOT learning on the job as a novice. Even when I've hired a local person to help at my inn who has no B&B experience, it takes me weeks of training before I would ever leave them alone.
I'm sorry, but in these days of PITAs and bad TA reviews I would never hire someone to innsit without experience.
.
Would 18 years experience of raising children "qualify" someone in your book? Inn-keeping is not rocket science - can you cook, clean, do laundry, make beds, be nice to people? The hardest part of Inn-sitting is learning the different reservation systerms. I usually like a day with the owner b4 actually taking over and thought I made that clear, but once when I showed up for a job the owner was there for an hour and then left me on my own! I'm not sure what takes weeks - I would've been happy for a day of training!
.
Now that you've insulted all the innkeepers on this board with your comment about 'rocket science' ..... some of the best innkeepers in this industry have NEVER had children!
I have used innsitters for years. They have all owned and operated a bed and breakfast prior to becoming innsitters. There are other innsitters in my world who have learned their trade by being an assistant innsitter but that does not necessariy qualify them to run a bed and breakfast.
Do you think it is easy to just walk into someone else's house and work in their kitchen? Can you prepare breakfasts exactly as the Innkeeper would like you to? Are you proficient with a computer and the various systems an Inn might use for books, bookings and confirmations?
You are lucky someone let you just take over. All of my inkeepers came to stay with me first BEFORE I considered hiring them. I looked at references and talked to other innkeepers who had used them.
The innkeepers I've had generally bring some of their own kitchen equipment with them. They sleep in MY bedroom and all of them bring their own linens because they realize that sleeping in an innkeepers room can be invasive. They have to look after my cat in the manner that I like him to be looked after and that includes giving him medication.
They have to know what to do if there is an emergency in the house.
When I have innsitters they have 4 sets of instructions:-
1. for the house
2. details of how the BB/Inn is run
3. computer and bookings
4. the cat.
In otherwords they pretty much have to come in an live and work like I do.
An attitude that claims running a bb is not rocket science does not bode well in my opinion. It takes a great deal of skill to handle so many different personalities and so many different jobs it takes to run a successful business. This is why so many bb's fail - innkeepers don't understand how all-consuming this job can be.
For those of us who have lasted, and I'm in my 18th year, we will not leave the running of our business to someone who is not extremely proficient and extremely experienced with this wonderful business.
 
suellen222,
Ummm.... first, I'm thrilled that you and your sister have found a venture you find rewarding and valuable.
The tone and the asumptions you've made in your initial post to support your sales pitch are about as condescending and presumptive towards the intelligence of any veteran inn owner as I've seen here.
I'm in the camp of innkeeper that believes "we" as the owner or innkeeper of a small B&B are such a huge part of the experience for our guests that except for a health emergency or family death, nobody could ever "sit in" for us here.
I'm not sure how it is that hundreds of OUR guests per year can bring a laptop, cellphone, pda, etc. and for a few minutes per day, keep up on their business affairs AND still relate to us just how relaxing and enjoyable of a time they have while in our home, but they do.
While our B&B is only in its fifth year of operation, we already know with about 95% certainty what our busy and slow seasons are and when we could most easily expect to take a break and NOT miss much business.
Maybe for innkeepers who refuse to take vacations only in their slow season or are in it only to make maximium income, your service would be very appealing.
I'm not sure why you would encourage inexperienced, aspiring innkeepers to start competing with you, but I would expect that flooding a fairly small labor market niche with too many inexperienced, untested service providers could eventually work against the positive aspects and reputation of having highly trained, experienced innsitting services available for those that could use them.
 
suellen222,
Ummm.... first, I'm thrilled that you and your sister have found a venture you find rewarding and valuable.
The tone and the asumptions you've made in your initial post to support your sales pitch are about as condescending and presumptive towards the intelligence of any veteran inn owner as I've seen here.
I'm in the camp of innkeeper that believes "we" as the owner or innkeeper of a small B&B are such a huge part of the experience for our guests that except for a health emergency or family death, nobody could ever "sit in" for us here.
I'm not sure how it is that hundreds of OUR guests per year can bring a laptop, cellphone, pda, etc. and for a few minutes per day, keep up on their business affairs AND still relate to us just how relaxing and enjoyable of a time they have while in our home, but they do.
While our B&B is only in its fifth year of operation, we already know with about 95% certainty what our busy and slow seasons are and when we could most easily expect to take a break and NOT miss much business.
Maybe for innkeepers who refuse to take vacations only in their slow season or are in it only to make maximium income, your service would be very appealing.
I'm not sure why you would encourage inexperienced, aspiring innkeepers to start competing with you, but I would expect that flooding a fairly small labor market niche with too many inexperienced, untested service providers could eventually work against the positive aspects and reputation of having highly trained, experienced innsitting services available for those that could use them..
Condescension is a show of disdain and superiority in which the condescending person patronizes, or considers himself superior and "descends" to the level of, the disdained person.
Talk about the pot calling the kettle black, TIM. I saw nothing condescending in suellen's posts, but see it loud and clear in about 75% of your own; how typical that your first post after a five-day suspension is green and nasty.
Suellen IS a professional Innsitter, has sat for Inns all over the country....how she got into it originally doesn't matter in the least. She was invited to this forum to get the opinions of an Innsitter. I'm embarassed now to see some the the nasty responses that have been posted. Sue was simply expressing her thoughts, and there was nothing I saw that was meant to be insulting, and certainly nothing she said insulted me. How can anyone attack her for encouraging aspiring innkeepers to consider inn-sitting, a profession she loves? I encourage aspiring innkeepers to become Inn owners every day, because it's a profession I love.
 
suellen222,
Ummm.... first, I'm thrilled that you and your sister have found a venture you find rewarding and valuable.
The tone and the asumptions you've made in your initial post to support your sales pitch are about as condescending and presumptive towards the intelligence of any veteran inn owner as I've seen here.
I'm in the camp of innkeeper that believes "we" as the owner or innkeeper of a small B&B are such a huge part of the experience for our guests that except for a health emergency or family death, nobody could ever "sit in" for us here.
I'm not sure how it is that hundreds of OUR guests per year can bring a laptop, cellphone, pda, etc. and for a few minutes per day, keep up on their business affairs AND still relate to us just how relaxing and enjoyable of a time they have while in our home, but they do.
While our B&B is only in its fifth year of operation, we already know with about 95% certainty what our busy and slow seasons are and when we could most easily expect to take a break and NOT miss much business.
Maybe for innkeepers who refuse to take vacations only in their slow season or are in it only to make maximium income, your service would be very appealing.
I'm not sure why you would encourage inexperienced, aspiring innkeepers to start competing with you, but I would expect that flooding a fairly small labor market niche with too many inexperienced, untested service providers could eventually work against the positive aspects and reputation of having highly trained, experienced innsitting services available for those that could use them..
Condescension is a show of disdain and superiority in which the condescending person patronizes, or considers himself superior and "descends" to the level of, the disdained person.
Talk about the pot calling the kettle black, TIM. I saw nothing condescending in suellen's posts, but see it loud and clear in about 75% of your own; how typical that your first post after a five-day suspension is green and nasty.
Suellen IS a professional Innsitter, has sat for Inns all over the country....how she got into it originally doesn't matter in the least. She was invited to this forum to get the opinions of an Innsitter. I'm embarassed now to see some the the nasty responses that have been posted. Sue was simply expressing her thoughts, and there was nothing I saw that was meant to be insulting, and certainly nothing she said insulted me. How can anyone attack her for encouraging aspiring innkeepers to consider inn-sitting, a profession she loves? I encourage aspiring innkeepers to become Inn owners every day, because it's a profession I love.
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Blue, I am sorry if you read the responses on this thread as being nasty. I have read the all - including Toad's - and do not consider them as nasty. No one has said an Aspiring should not go into innsitting, however we have said WE would not consider hiring someone who had no innkeeper experience. Suggestions have been offered on many threads as to how to get that experience.
I do not believe there has been anyone looking down their nose at anyone until it was implied that anyone with half a brain could be an innkeeper. Although that may be true to be an innkeeper - it is not true of a SUCCESSFUL innkeeper - and this Forum strives to help each other be successful.
I was cooking at age 10. That does not mean I could cook a B & B breakfast that would be appealing to the eyes as well as the stomach. I did raise kids - but that also does not say I did it successfully nor does it mean changing diapers and wiping up puke and cleaning bathrooms gave me what it would take to clean to an acceptable level for paying guests and separating warring kids does not prepare to deal with PITAs. I could knock kids heads together but you cannot do that with guests. Sorry - that analogy was WAY off. And as Ginocat pointed out, many who are successful never dealt with 2-legged animals.
 
i am sorry, littleblue ... but i would use the word condescending to describe suellen's saying that innkeeping is not rocket science. not the best phrase to use, surely.
not one i would want to hear when seeking out an interim innkeeper and not one i would use, hoping to be hired.
suellen222, we are a passionate bunch in here. as you see.
 
suellen222,
Ummm.... first, I'm thrilled that you and your sister have found a venture you find rewarding and valuable.
The tone and the asumptions you've made in your initial post to support your sales pitch are about as condescending and presumptive towards the intelligence of any veteran inn owner as I've seen here.
I'm in the camp of innkeeper that believes "we" as the owner or innkeeper of a small B&B are such a huge part of the experience for our guests that except for a health emergency or family death, nobody could ever "sit in" for us here.
I'm not sure how it is that hundreds of OUR guests per year can bring a laptop, cellphone, pda, etc. and for a few minutes per day, keep up on their business affairs AND still relate to us just how relaxing and enjoyable of a time they have while in our home, but they do.
While our B&B is only in its fifth year of operation, we already know with about 95% certainty what our busy and slow seasons are and when we could most easily expect to take a break and NOT miss much business.
Maybe for innkeepers who refuse to take vacations only in their slow season or are in it only to make maximium income, your service would be very appealing.
I'm not sure why you would encourage inexperienced, aspiring innkeepers to start competing with you, but I would expect that flooding a fairly small labor market niche with too many inexperienced, untested service providers could eventually work against the positive aspects and reputation of having highly trained, experienced innsitting services available for those that could use them..
Condescension is a show of disdain and superiority in which the condescending person patronizes, or considers himself superior and "descends" to the level of, the disdained person.
Talk about the pot calling the kettle black, TIM. I saw nothing condescending in suellen's posts, but see it loud and clear in about 75% of your own; how typical that your first post after a five-day suspension is green and nasty.
Suellen IS a professional Innsitter, has sat for Inns all over the country....how she got into it originally doesn't matter in the least. She was invited to this forum to get the opinions of an Innsitter. I'm embarassed now to see some the the nasty responses that have been posted. Sue was simply expressing her thoughts, and there was nothing I saw that was meant to be insulting, and certainly nothing she said insulted me. How can anyone attack her for encouraging aspiring innkeepers to consider inn-sitting, a profession she loves? I encourage aspiring innkeepers to become Inn owners every day, because it's a profession I love.
.
Little Blue said:
How can anyone attack her for encouraging aspiring innkeepers to consider inn-sitting, a profession she loves? I encourage aspiring innkeepers to become Inn owners every day, because it's a profession I love.
Encouraging aspiring innkeepers to consider inn-sitting is not a problem. The problem arises when you encourage them to do it without any experience.
 
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