The Logic Behind Inn Policies Part Three

Policy Explanation #3: Hindsight is 20/20 When It Comes to Group Reservations

I’ll never forget one of my biggest rookie mistakes in this business. We were preparing for our first summer season at our original bed and breakfast, the Carriage House, and the bookings were starting to pour in. Every time we filled another week, we did a victory dance and celebrated with a fairly cheap bottle of champagne (we had just blown all our money on the inn). So when we got a call from a family who wanted us to host their family reunion for a week in July meaning they would book all six rooms, we were ecstatic. In fact, I think I offered them something like a 15% discount and waived all third person in the room fees to ensure they would book with us. At first glance, this may seem like a fantastic booking – it did to me. But as a veteran of the business, I can now admit that taking this booking was actually a mistake. A big one.

Don’t get me wrong – the family was pleasant enough. But when booking a group who’s going to reserve the entire inn, the business logistics are a nightmare. First off, all six rooms are going to check in and out on the same day. This means that in order to maximize occupancy, we needed to find six guests who would all be checking out on the group’s check-in day and another six guests who were looking to check in on the group’s check out day. Not only is it highly unlikely that this will happen, but if it does, think of the housekeeping involved. With six guestrooms, we employed one housekeeper who would single-handedly have to flip all six rooms between the hours of check out and check in (a four hour window). At an hour a room, this is mathematically impossible and the end result is an unhappy guest on my doorstep at 3:00 expecting his room to be ready and it’s not. Also, consider breakfast – a group booking typically implies group activities, which means everyone meets up for breakfast at 8:30 before heading off to Nantucket for the day. So, instead of six rooms coming in at staggered times during our breakfast window, we had all six rooms sitting down at once while I frantically raced around fetching drinks and taking orders and James tried to cook 30 flapjacks on a griddle the size of a Monopoly box and refrained from cursing too loudly.

That said, if the group had wanted to book a week in say, March, one of our slowest months, I’d break out a bottle of champagne (a slightly higher end one these days) and celebrate the booking. But in the height of the busy season, when rooms can be filled with individual reservations that are staggered, my advice to all you aspiring innkeepers out there is – go that route.

The Logic Behind Inn Policies: Part Two

Policy Explanation #1: The Rationale Behind Minimum Stay Requirements

Picture this scenario: you call an inn wanting to book their most expensive suite for a Saturday night during their high season. It’s your 25th wedding anniversary, so you’re splurging for the best, but when the innkeeper informs you there is a four night minimum on the date you’ve requested, your plans are shattered. Why on earth would a business turn away the $500 you’re willing to fork over now versus holding out for a possible longer booking? I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve ruined someone’s vacation plans because they did not meet our minimum requirements. I honestly hate being the bearer of this bad news and have actually been called selfish, money hungry, and stupid for not taking a booking during tough times in the economy. While I appreciate the name calling and unsolicited business advice, there is good reason for this policy and quite frankly, I wouldn’t be in business if I didn’t adhere to it.

Here’s the thing – the high season is our bread and butter, so we’ve got to maximize our occupancy during that time. This often reminds me of a puzzle in which booking reservations back to back in the same room is key. Sometimes, this means we can take a one or two night stay because it is a perfect squeeze between two standing reservations. For this reason, we try to keep the wording on our minimum stay requirement policy fairly vague – after all, filling those gaps between reservations is the difference between achieving 98% occupancy and 100% occupancy – a feat we have managed the last two Augusts in a row.

In general, though, weekends in the summer, for us, are like gold. We can sell Saturday nights 20 times over that same day, let alone four months in advance. Bottom line is, we’re not worried about selling our Saturday nights and we’ve got to hold onto them for the guests whose stays will spill over to the weekdays. We’ve also got to keep in mind that the longer a guest stays, the less man hours are required. To illustrate my point, here’s what goes into flipping a room from start to finish:

1. Previous guest checks out (about five to ten minutes).
2. Room gets stripped so a set of sheets, towels, and robes go into the laundry (believe me, on days when we have a lot of check outs, the laundry room is a scary place!).
3. Housekeeping staff cleans room (about an hour).
4. Once room is clean, housekeeping marks off that room is finished and one of our interns goes over the room with an extensive checklist to make sure it is properly stocked, the temperature is comfortable, lights and music are on, etc. (about 15 minutes)
5. The intern initials that the room has been checked so the whole staff knows the room is ready for check-in.
6. Once the new guest arrives, a member of staff gives a brief tour pointing out all the amenities and common areas, walks the guest to his or her room, assists with bags if necessary, and checks off that the guest has arrived. (about 15 minutes)
7. Also, bear in mind that taking and processing each reservation takes anywhere from 15 minutes to several half hour phone conversations.

Therefore, with all that’s involved, it is important to stagger arrivals and departures so we don’t have all sixteen rooms checking in and out on say, a Sunday, which is what would happen if we were to sell our Saturday nights in advance. Perhaps this makes me “selfish, stupid and money hungry,” but as an innkeeper, I’ve got to remember that my inn is my livelihood which would not survive without sensible policies like this.

The Logic Behind Inn Policies – Part One

When we bought our first inn, I remember thinking that a lot of the policies we inherited from the previous innkeepers seemed kind of, well, rigid. I mean, I had stayed at countless Marriotts and Hiltons where I was able to cancel my reservation the day I was due to check in and there was never any mention of minimum stay requirements or deposits being taken. So what was up with the strict and lengthy page of policies citing rules involving “14 days notice,” “reservation handling fees,” and “three night minimums?” It took a few months before I thoroughly understood why a small inn’s policies couldn’t mirror those of a Marriott. Which leads me to speculate that aspiring innkeepers or, worse, potential guests, must read the policies of smaller lodging establishments such as ours and wonder where we get off charging guests for reservations they don’t use or demanding a three or four night stay. So, my next few posts will attempt to explain ourselves as well as answer any questions from a business perspective.

Policy Explanation #1: What’s up with a 14 day cancellation policy?

Our cancellation policy states (and I’d like to defensively add that it is a lot more lenient than many other inns in which I’ve stayed):

A deposit of one nights stay is required to guarantee all bookings of four nights or less and two nights stay for more than four nights. We are able to refund the deposit, minus a $30 handling fee, if we are given 14 days notice for a cancellation. Otherwise, the deposit is refundable only to the extent we are able to re-rent the room.

So why do we require 14 days notice when Marriott hardly requires any notice at all? For starters, a Marriott has several thousand hotel rooms across the world. We have just 16 rooms which means not only do we have fewer to sell and therefore retaining a room for a guest means holding over 6% of our potential revenue for the night, but we also have a smaller marketing budget so it takes longer to sell 16 of our rooms versus 16 Marriott rooms. The bottom line is, a small business like ours can’t absorb the lost revenue like a Marriott can. But, you may wonder, why should the guest have to forfeit a deposit just because we don’t have the corporate cushion to recoup our loss? Think of it like this: a guest reserves a four night stay which we have been holding with a one night deposit for, say, three months. The day before they are due to arrive, they cancel due to illness. Fair enough – I probably wouldn’t want to travel when I’m sick either. Now, it seems somewhat insensitive for us to keep the one night deposit given the circumstances; however, we had been holding the room for three months and we’re still out three of the four nights, so really, it’s us taking quite a big hit. Staying at a smaller property like ours is certainly a bit more risky as far as the cancellation policy goes. However, in my completely unbiased opinion, the benefits of staying at an independently owned inn, (i.e. breakfast, WIFI access, afternoon tea, snacks, room service, DVD library, and use of our fitness center and pool, all for no additional charge), far outweigh the slim chance you will need to cancel at the last minute and lose your deposit. Hey, when you look at it like that – you’re actually saving money with all the freebies at a smaller inn!

Civil Disputes: Arguing Innkeeper Style

Despite the fact that I love my husband, there are times I want to wring his neck. I’m sure he would say the same about me. After all, we live together and work together – we’re bound to have our differences. But, as I tell my interns, who also live and work together, it’s important to keep the fists from flying at work and to leave personal issues at home. Easier said than done. There are occasions when an argument erupts at the inn, but we have learned over the years a few rules of combat so as not to alarm our guests:

1. No yelling. Granted, “am I the only one around here who knows how to change a bloody (our English interns taught us this supposedly “bad” word) light bulb?!” holds a lot more caché when screeched across the room at full volume, but learning how to whisper-yell is key to keeping brawls under wraps. (As a side note, James is not the only one who knows how to change a bloody light bulb, but he is the best and fastest at doing the hard to reach ones, so frequently gets requests to do so. Sometimes, my timing is off.)

2. Obscene hand gestures must be disguised. Now, I can’t reveal our secret signal in case you happen to stay at the inn and notice us using it. But remember that Friends episode when they strike their fists together instead of “flipping the bird?” Something like that would suffice.

3. Fight it out in private. Designate a fighting zone at the inn, preferably a padded sound proof room far away from guests. And steer clear of the kitchen. Too many knives.

4. Agree to disagree. Generally James and I see eye to eye and work exceptionally well together. I’m assuming that’s the case for the majority of husband-wife innkeeping teams or they probably wouldn’t have attempted to go into business together. But no matter how in synch two people are, you can’t possibly agree on everything.

5. Choose your battles. I’m quite certain James had no interest whatsoever in replacing the creepy portraits that used to hang in the sitting area. But he humored me and the sitting area is now a better place because of it. Likewise, I feign concern every time he uses the phrase “fiscally responsible.”

6. Accept defeat. Two years ago, I desperately wanted to give the foyer a facelift, but my decorating argument didn’t hold much water against putting the money toward roofing work that needed to get done. As much as I hated to live another year with those creepy portraits and wallpaper which was not my personal taste, the image of a leaky ceiling in the middle of the summer was enough to shut me up. For a year anyway.

The bottom line is, arguing is to be expected and in many ways, is a good practice. We all need to clear the air and vent every now and then. But when work and home mesh into one, as is often the case for innkeepers, it’s important to lay down some ground rules…unless you want to scare away your guests! If you're considering buying and running an inn (or any business for that matter) with your spouse, here are a few articles on the subject:

How To Work (If You Must) With Your Spouse

Work & Life: Working With Your Spouse

Working With A Spouse In A Small Business Partnership

The Benefits of Working with Your Spouse

Avoiding Packing on the Pounds as an Innkeeper

Although I’m not a big partaker in the new years resolution tradition, I do always find myself counting calories and hitting the gym more frequently around this time of year. For me, it’s not the holiday parties and temptations that do it, but the sudden slower pace at the inn and therefore less physical activity. Being an innkeeper is like celebrating the holidays year round. The kitchen always smells like chocolate chip cookies or bacon and there is a constant stream of coffee cakes, cookies, tea sandwiches, egg casseroles, blueberry pancakes and French toast leaving the kitchen on beautifully decorated plates and leftovers going to waste if the staff doesn’t eat it. So, for all aspiring innkeepers who fear the relentless lure of baked goods resulting in reliving the “freshman 15”, and in light of the new year resolution season, here is a brief list of tricks that have helped me over the years and that I still try to fall back on when I see a big plate of royal toffee chocolate bars…my arch nemesis.

1. Try to think of the food at the inn as work. Metaphorically speaking, a jeweler can’t bring home all the diamonds in the store, right? So don’t eat all the cookies at the inn.

2. It is important to taste the food that gets served for quality control. But don’t use this as an excuse to eat an entire stack of flapjacks. Take one bite and judge. And remember – the next bite is going to taste exactly the same as the first.

3. Recreate dishes with low fat ingredients. For example, Kevin makes a mean breakfast burrito which is great for a treat when you’re on vacation, but for the innkeeper who sees it pop up in the rotation every couple weeks, it’s best to trick your taste buds. For this particular dish, I take a low carb burrito and stuff it with egg beaters mixed with low fat cheese, diced jalapeños, peppers, onions, and center cut bacon, then wrap it and top with spicy salsa.

4. If you’re an innkeeper like myself who is lucky enough to have a fitness center on site, use it. Hate is a strong word, but I am using it to describe my feelings about going to the gym. Still, I hate when my jeans start feeling snug even more, so I bite the bullet and go….sometimes.

5. Eat breakfast before you start serving your guests. You may not be starving first thing in the morning, but you certainly will be after an hour or two of breakfast service and at that point, leftover sausage links and Belgium waffles will somehow sneak into your mouth.

Managing Staff – Finding my Management Style

Clearly going from six to sixteen guestrooms required a period of adjustment. For the first six months or so, I had to relinquish my inner control freak and realize that until we had a handle on what was what, we were going to have to be reactive as opposed to proactive. I could deal with that as I knew that over time, I would gain a better sense of control over day to day operations. What really scared me, though, was managing a staff. I had never managed people before and didn’t know if I’d be any good at it. Any time I had tried to train somebody to do something, I felt bossy and guilty for asking them to do something. I knew that I would have to rely on a staff to help manage the inn properly, so I tried to mimic the management style of the previous owner of the inn who was helping transition us into our new roles.

Here’s a tip: ditch your managing people books and don’t try to imitate someone else’s management style. While the previous owner was a great manager and trained a hard working staff, we have very different personalities and therefore different management styles. The trick for me was finding that style and realizing that by just being myself, I could effectively manage a staff. Here are some techniques that worked for me, but again, I stress that it is important to do what works for you:

1. Never ask a member of staff to do something you won’t do. James and I are often found scrubbing pots and pans, serving breakfast, mopping floors, and even pitching in with housekeeping. Not only does it set a good example, but it makes us appreciate our staff and all they do for us.

2. Don’t yell. Just get a really disappointed look on your face when a member of staff does something wrong. We didn’t even realize we were doing this until one of our interns pointed out that James’ “look of disappointment” is far worse than yelling.

3. Have fun at work. Recently one of our interns said she thinks she laughed at work every day since she arrived last June. That means a lot to us – sure there are bound to be moments of stress and frustration. After all, this is work. But if we have a good time, our positive attitude reflects on the level of service we provide to our guests.

4. I remember someone telling me never to make friends with staff. I can’t imagine that person had a very good report with his subordinates (by the way, that’s a really demeaning word). While we maintain some boundaries and authority, we have the whole staff to our house for Thanksgiving and even indulge in the occasional drink after work. When we all feel like family, it makes it much more natural for, say, our chef to help the housekeepers in a pinch and vice versa.

5. Let them make fun of you. Everyone should be able to laugh at their boss – it’s fun. Just recently I spotted a picture of myself on Facebook with the captain “Geeeek” underneath posted by one of our interns. I know it’s all in good fun. And let’s face it, sometimes I really am a geek.

6. Give them authority. We put a huge amount of trust in our staff and rarely look over their shoulders. Sure mistakes are made from time to time, but they’re worth it – not only are they lessons learned, but the trade off of having a sense of ownership and pride outweighs the occasional goof.

Buying and Selling an Inn

I’ve never officially been diagnosed with ADD, but every couple of years I start feeling restless. Let’s just say if there’s not something new and exciting to report in my annual holiday card, I start seeking out a new adventure. Such was the case in late 2005. We had a couple solid years at the Carriage House Inn under our belts and had tripled the occupancy rate. We were in a busy, but predictable routine…and ready to move on. There are a lot of advantages to owning a smaller six guestroom inn – without a staff, we had total control over every guest interaction, we were able to get into the rooms daily for inspections, we didn’t have to hire/fire/train staff, and we could answer emails and phone calls in our pajamas. There are also a number of disadvantages – without staff, we were ALWAYS at work. If someone said they were going to check in at 3:00 and they still hadn’t arrived at 6:00, we had to call off our plans to go out to dinner. If someone wanted an extra pillow at 10pm, guess who’s got to get dressed and bring it to their room? And going on vacation meant hiring, training, and paying a professional innsitter or closing the inn. Basically, with a smaller inn, you forfeit freedom for complete control. We were young, and couldn’t envision living the next twenty-five years married to the inn. So we began seeking out a bigger venture.

As luck would have it, the Captains House Inn, just next door happened to be on the market. We were familiar with the inn and knew it had an outstanding reputation. With sixteen rooms and a separate house for the owners, it was just what we were looking for. The problem, of course, was the price. Let’s just say that two acres of property in close proximity to downtown Chatham doesn’t come cheap. Unlike our more spontaneous purchase of the Carriage House Inn, this purchase required a lot more number crunching, a formal business plan, and some creative marketing ideas to convince the bank that we could sustain a profitable business to support the huge mortgage we were requesting. With some creative financing and a very trusting loan officer, we managed to seal the deal and settled on a closing date for June 2006.

I’ll never forget how overwhelming it was to walk through the engineering inspection. We went from dreaming up a business plan and fantasizing about owning a four diamond inn to the reality of maintaining eighteen bathrooms, seven whirlpool Jacuzzi tubs, seventeen fireplaces, commercial washers and dryers, a commercial kitchen, two acres of landscaping, a swimming pool, a fitness center, and a gift shop. We would have to learn how to do payroll, market and execute afternoon tea, train a staff, manage a large reservation system, track inventory, and maintain all the standards to meet AAA four diamond criteria. Needless to say, we had many sleepless nights as the closing date approached.

While this was all going on, we were also in the process of selling the Carriage House Inn. We were lucky enough to have six offers over the course of just a few months and ultimately sold it to a couple from South Carolina, Paula and Tim Miller, who were seasoned and savvy innkeepers. It was important to us to sell to a couple who would sustain and improve upon the business we had worked so hard to build and the Millers fit the bill.

With the sale of the Carriage House and the purchase of the Captains House successfully orchestrated, our next step was to make the transition. It would be a long, but educational summer!

Love is in the air at the Captains House Inn

My favorite thing about being an innkeeper is the fact that the guests I meet are often celebrating a momentous anniversary, birthday, or honeymoon and I get to not only share that with them, but contribute to making these occasions special and memorable. Just the other day I was able to participate in one of my favorite memories to date.

Less than a week ago, one of our interns received a call from Laura, a guest who had stayed with us seven months earlier with her boyfriend Ian. Ian had departed to serve in Iraq shortly after their stay and they had just received word that he was due to return home in three days. The couple decided to make his homecoming extra special by getting married as soon as possible – i.e. just hours after he set foot on U.S. soil. Remembering their visit to the Captains House Inn fondly, they visited our website and discovered our elopement package – perfect!

Since we are in the midst of our quiet season, we were able to pull together all the details in just days – red and white roses for the bride’s bouquet, a simple, yet elegant white cake with rose petals, a dinner at their favorite Chatham restaurant, the Impudent Oyster, and of course, a bottle of bubbly to celebrate. Laura arranged for Reverend Nick Boas to officiate the ceremony and since we weren’t terribly busy at the inn, I was able to go offsite for the ceremony which was held at Chatham Light Beach.

It was the coldest day of the winter to date with temperatures topping out in the low twenties and gusty winds coming off the water. But we all bundled up and somehow forgot about the arctic air as Laura and Ian became husband and wife and walked along the shoreline arm in arm – now together forever.

The Many Hats an Innkeeper Wears

If the following story sounds like something that might happen to you, you might be cut out for the innkeeping profession: I was in college. One night, I was chatting on the phone with my cousin, Rachel, who was also attending university. She lived in an off-campus apartment and had just welcomed a new roommate. I’ll call her Kristen. Kristen and Rachel weren’t exactly hitting it off. “For starters,” Rachel complained, “she insists that we color code our sink sponges – yellow for dishes and orange for countertops….she says it’s gross to wipe down the counters with a sponge you’re going to clean dishes with.” I feigned horror at such a proposition, but was really thinking what a brilliant idea Kristen had come up with and was adding “colored sponges” to my grocery list. Who knows what happened to Kristen, but it wouldn’t surprise me if she joined the ranks of obsessive compulsive innkeepers like me. I knew that becoming an innkeeper would only encourage this behavior. What I didn’t realize were the many other hats I’d wind up wearing – here are just a few:

Traffic Analyst – I may look like I can predict the future, but trust me, nobody, not even Sky Chopper 4 News guy can tell you exactly what time to leave to avoid any traffic. As much as I try to sidestep this question, guests always counter my “leaving in the morning is probably your best bet,” with, “so should I leave at 10:00 or are you saying I should wake up really early and leave at 8:00?” The truth is, I have no idea when accidents will happen, exactly what time construction is going on, or when every other person in the area will decide to hit the road and head home.

Handyman – Guess what? Innkeepers don’t typically have plumbers, electricians or IT consultants on their payroll. I’ve plunged many a toilet in the last five years and have even learned how to use a snake (don’t ask). I can relight the pilot on gas fireplaces, solve a lot of computer problems, and even fix the occasional broken table leg. Despite being a true “girly girl,” I now know the difference between a Phillips head and flat head screwdriver. Usually, though, I hunt James down for the maintenance issues.

Weather Forecaster – I’m happy to advise guests about typical weather patterns and temperatures during different seasons. Please bear in mind, however, that even professional weather forecasters can be completely wrong two days ahead, let alone months in advance. If I could guarantee the weather, trust me, I wouldn’t be an innkeeper.

Exterminator – One of the first investments we made after buying our second inn was a screen for the top of the chimney. If you’re serious about innkeeping, you better not be too squeamish about “nature” because you’re not going to have time to call in the pros when a raccoon finds its way down the chimney and a guest is due to check into the room any minute.

Locksmith – What happens when a lock jams on a guest’s door and you want to avoid calling in a locksmith on a Sunday when you’ll have to pay time and half? You climb through the window in a dress and fix it yourself.

Detective – I’ll be the first to admit, I’ve left items behind at hotels, in taxi cabs, and at restaurants. I’ve locked keys in my trunk, looked high and low for my watch which is on my wrist, and left the oven on overnight. I attribute being a little scatterbrained to the fact that I am running a busy inn while trying to raise a family coupled with the fact that I didn’t have the greatest short-term memory to begin with. So I am very sympathetic when a guest calls and asks me to hunt down a missing item – once I even unearthed a diamond ring from our vacuum cleaner!

Psychologist/Marriage Counselor/Referee – I really can’t divulge too much about the stories behind these hats I’ve worn. Just trust me – innkeepers are a lot like hairdressers – we listen, advise, and save marriages.

Behind the Scenes with Jill

If I had a dollar for every time a guest told me that I have her dream job, I could retire and spend the rest of my days sipping Chianti and eating too much pasta on a remote island off the coast of Sicily. I suppose that to the outsider’s eye, my job is pretty cushy. They see me working the breakfast room chatting easily about restaurants and beaches with people from all over the world. They see the gorgeous property where I have the great fortune to live, and the lavish displays of tea cakes and pastries that emerge from my kitchen day in and day out. What they don’t see is everything that goes into running, what I aim to be a seamless operation. So, in answer to the question, “what is it really like?” I will attempt through this blog to bring you behind the scenes and let you decide if my job is, indeed, your dream.

I remember years ago posing this very question to the owner of an inn where I was staying. My question was met with a patronizing chuckle and an extremely negative description of the innkeeping profession. In hindsight, I can understand his reaction. Imagine several times a week people telling you that they want your career and you know they probably have no concept of exactly how hard your daily life is. Nobody really knows what is involved in innkeeping until they do it – I know I didn’t. So, it’s tempting to share with aspiring innkeepers the story about the overflowing toilet you dealt with the night before or the last minute cancellation that is unlikely to fill. But despite all that, I love my job and wouldn’t trade it for anything. I certainly wouldn’t talk anyone out of leaving a secure job to pursue their dream, but perhaps following this blog for awhile will shed some light on what it’s really like.

I should mention, before continuing, that I cannot in good faith bare all in this blog. Perhaps someday I will publish an anonymous book with all the sordid details of certain guests’ visits. And to be honest, 95% of the guests we host are very pleasant and we would welcome back time and time again. The 5% who fuel our comical repertoire of dinner party conversation, I’ll save for a more appropriate venue.

In the meantime, this blog will share our background, our smart moves and not so smart moves, and our day to day anecdotes which make our jobs both fun and trying. I am happy to answer any questions you may have along the way, so please feel free to comment. In addition to the dialogue on this blog, about.com has a wealth of information for aspiring innkeepers on their site.