Show Off Your Decorating Skills
Your antique beds may be authentic beauties, but they won’t satisfy some guests’ standards for size. “Do you mean an old-fashioned double bed like our grandparents slept in?” one caller asked. Almost everyone who books a room inquires about the bed. Some of those who require a king bed will settle for a queen and those who prefer a queen will settle for an old-fashioned double, but in our experience, the king people will never accept a double. Personal taste might have to bend to guest comfort if you want happy guests, or guests at all.
Meet Interesting People
. . . except when they are irascible or impossibly demanding. Then you are stuck counting the hours until they check out. When you open your doors to the public, you open the doors to many kinds of people.
Learn New Things
Yes, but there are things you don’t want to learn and will anyway. That nice couple who stayed last weekend? They tried to flush a box of Swiss chocolates down the toilet.
IF YOU DECIDE TO GO AHEAD ANYWAY
Most people go into the bed-and-breakfast business for the lifestyle and the economics and most leave it for the same reasons. Here are some points to keep in mind:
1. Expenses and Income. Estimate your expenses and the income to be generated by the bed-and-breakfast realistically to be sure you can cover your costs. These might include a mortgage and living costs, such as health insurance and savings for retirement, items that tend to be overlooked in a casual assessment. Couples who go into the bed-and-breakfast business commonly keep one person employed elsewhere to ensure a steady income flow, at least initially.
2. “Room Nights.” A key factor in the income equation is how many nights you can expect to book your rooms year-round, not just in high season. This is based on the desirability of your place and the surroundings, as well as on how other similar establishments are faring in the vicinity of your bed-and-breakfast. Bear in mind that bed-and-breakfasts average a 40 percent occupancy rate.
3. Room Value. The related question of what you can charge for your rooms and services requires careful evaluation. Room rates typically vary from under $100 a night to $200 and up. Just because you think your inn is exquisitely charming and ought to be expensive, the competition might be intense or the overall economy of the area may price you out of the market. Research is necessary to set prices.
4. Marketing and Promotion. How effectively you will be able to promote your business may be difficult to assess at the outset. It requires skill and can be the source of expensive mistakes. If you previously ran a small business, or a large one, that experience will come in very handy.
5. Your Disposition and Skills. Are you flexible, do you have a calm disposition, and are you willing to work hard at the variety of jobs, some of them tedious and repetitive, that will need doing? If it will be a larger bed-and-breakfast, are you an effective manager of staff, skillful with budgets, accounting practices, and basic business strategies?
6. Personal Goals. Understand what you hope to gain personally from the experience. That is, determine your objective. Consider these: companionship, with a room or two booked now and then to bring people into the house; a hobby, meaning you aren’t planning to support yourself on the income; or a moneymaking venture. Be candid.
7. Wise First Steps. Attend one of the seminars offered to aspiring innkeepers, such as those sponsored by the Professional Association of Innkeepers International (www.paii.org). This organization welcomes innkeepers-to-be as well as owners and managers of bed-and-breakfasts and country inns, and the association publishes an informative newsletter, Innkeeping. An exhaustive, nuts-and-bolts guidebook, So—You Want to Be An Innkeeper, discusses every aspect of the business and problems of innkeeping, from legal structures to risk management to market trends to equipping a “luxury” bathroom.
We took none of those wise steps. Had we attended a workshop or read that guidebook, I am sure we never would have opened a bed-and-breakfast, so daunting can the details seem in the aggregate, and we would have missed a great run. What we did was to visit a lot of bed-and-breakfasts and if you, like us, see fit to proceed mainly on exuberance with skills carried over from other businesses, and are game to learn from your mistakes, I suggest this at the very least.
Presumably, you are already familiar with, and enjoy, bed-and-breakfasts as a visitor, but try staying at a variety of establishments as you consider them now from an owner’s perspective. The view is very different. Running a good bed-and-breakfast takes a certain frame of mind: You have to want to make people feel happy, comfortable, and welcomed at your place. As a guest you can sense this from the minute you arrive.
Sources
Prologue
Barth, John. “A Floating Aria,” Talking Tidewater: Writers on the Chesapeake, edited by Richard Harwood. Chestertown, MD: Literary House Press, Washington College, 1996, 2003.
Emery, Theo. “After Steps to Desegregate, Plaintiffs Drop Tennessee Suit.” New York Times, September 12, 2006. www.nyt.com.
Chapter 1 A Curious Ballast
Marcus Aurelius, Selections from the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, translation and introduction by Benjamin E. Smith. New York: Century Company, 1899.
Chapter 2 Royal Oak
Chapelle, Suzanne Ellery, and Glenn O. Phillips. African American Leaders of Maryland: A Portrait Gallery. Baltimore: Maryland Historical Society, 2004.
Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. From a Lighthouse Window: Recipes and Recollections from the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. St. Michaels, MD: Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, 1989.
Commager, Henry Steele, ed. The Blue and the Gray: The Story of the Civil War as Told by Participants, vol. 1. New York: Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1950. Hallman, E.C. The Garden of Methodism. Peninsula Annual Conference of the Methodist Church, n.p., n.d.
Leonard, R. Bernice. Twig and Turf, vol. 3, The Royal Oak. St. Michaels, MD: privately printed, 1985.
Mariners’ Museum, “Waters of Despair, Waters of Hope: African Americans on the Chesapeake,” exhibition at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, St. Michaels, MD, on loan from the Mariners’ Museum, Newport News, VA, spring 2007.
Preston, Dickson J. Talbot County: A History. Centreville, MD: Tidewater Publishers, 1983.
Public Broadcasting Service. “Africans in America: Frederick Douglass.” June 28, 2007. www.pbs.org.
Shannahan, J.H.K. Tales of Old Maryland: History and Romance on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Baltimore: Meyer and Thalheimer, 1907.
Chapter 6 The Bay
Baker, William C. “Averting a Chesapeake Disaster.” Washington Post (November 2, 2008): B8.
Chesapeake Bay Foundation. “Susquehanna River Named America’s Most Endangered River for 2005.” April 20, 2005. www.cbf.org.
Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. “At Play on the Bay,” a guide to the exhibit. St. Michaels, MD: Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, n.d.
Chesapeake Bay Program Office. “American Oyster.” April 20, 2005. www.chesapeakebay.net.
Fahrenthold, David A. “Oyster Project Consumed with Problems: Predators Eat Test Shellfish.” Washington Post (August 25, 2004): B2.
____________. “Pollution Rising in Tributaries of Bay, Data Show.” Washington Post (December 5, 2007): B2.
____________. “To Some Chesapeake Crabbers, a $50 Document Is Priceless.”
Washington Post (August 24, 2009): A6.
Harp, David, and Horton, Tom. Waters Way: Life Along the Chesapeake. n.p. Elliott and Clark, 1992.
Horton, Tom, and Harp, David. “Living on the Edge—Man, Nature and the Chesapeake Bay,” Lecture at the Avalon Theater, Easton, MD,
January 9, 2008.
Trade Environment Database (TED) Case Studies. “The Blue Crab: A Declining Resource.” April 20, 2005. www.american.edu/projects. Warner, William W. Beautiful Swimmers: Watermen, Crabs, and the Chesapeake Bay. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1976.
Chapter 7 Family, Family
Eron, Carol. “James Michene
r: Life and Literature, American Style.” Washington Post (September 19, 1976): F1.
Kilborn, Peter T. “Weekends with the President’s Men.” New York Times (June 30, 2006): D1.
Chapter 18 coyote Dreams
Brazos River Rattlesnake Ranch. “Cottonmouth Water Moccasin.” January 22, 2007. www.wf.net.
DesertUSA. “The Coyote: Canis latrans.” November 6, 2006. www.deser-tusa.com.
Maryland State Department of Natural Resources. “Coyotes.” July 23, 2006. www.dnr.state.md.us.
Chapter 19 Kitchen, Garden, Field
Cox, Beverly, and Martin Jacobs. Spirit of the Harvest: North American Indian Cooking. New York: Stewart, Tabori and Chang, 1991.
Chapter 20 As simple As It seems
Harwood, Richard, ed. Talking Tidewater: Writers on the Chesapeake. Chestertown, MD: Literary House Press, Washington College, 1996, 2003.
Chapter 21 Guests and Geese
“Conviction of Wife in Killing of Spouse Is Upheld.” Baltimore Sun (September 28, 2000): 4B.
“Got Ghosts? Share Them with Us.” Star Democrat, Easton, MD: October 20, 2005, www.stardem.com
Terrer, John. Audubon Society Encyclopedia of North American Birds. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1980.
Chapter 23 And the Creek Don’t Rise
Carroll, Bill. “Demand Management: Beyond Yield Management.” Innkeeping, Professional Association of Innkeepers International, 24, no. 12
(December 2006): 1.
Dougherty, Conor. “The Endangered B & B.” Wall Street Journal (August 11, 2006): W1.
Chapter 24 Home
Hammond-Harwood House Association. Maryland’s Way: As Told by a Collection of Traditional Receipts Selected from Three Centuries of Maryland Cooking. Annapolis: Hammond-Harwood House Association, 1963. Jones, Beth. “What’s Not to Love About a Marsh?” Water’s Edge. St. Michaels, MD: Bay Hundred Foundation Newsletter, May 2007.
Eight Good Reasons to Start a Bed-and-Breakfast and Seven Bad Ones
Brown, Susan et al. So—You Want to Be an Innkeeper: The Definitive Guide to Operating a Successful Bed-and-Breakfast or Country Inn. San Francisco:
Chronicle Books, 2004.
Professional Association of Innkeepers International, www.paii.org.
Acknowledgments
I wish to thank all those named and unnamed here for providing ideas, insight, and help in many different ways.
At the Talbot Historical Society, Beth Hansen led me to a trove of information on the region, as did Scotti Oliver at the Talbot County Library, along with the staff of the library’s Maryland Room, Beth Jones at the Bay Hundred Foundation, and Captain Wade Murphy. Pete Lesher, curator of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, expertly reviewed historical portions of the book, for which I am very grateful. Naturalist Tom Horton gave inspiration through his writings about the Chesapeake Bay, as did Helen Chappell in hers and in conversation. William Habig drew my attention to attitudes toward emancipation in Maryland, the state where Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman were born, a state that solidly supported Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election, the same state where OBAMA FOR PRESIDENT signs were burned.
Those who encouraged this project from the beginning include Margaret Bauer, Karen Binswanger, Dianne Stephens, Rita Geier, Keven Wilder, Amy Taylor, and Jean and Gary Ratner, true friends. Also Robert and Kathy Day, Theron Raines, and John Nicoll. Brigitte Weeks kindly read an early draft and offered hope. Gail Greco, who celebrates bed-and-breakfasts in her many books, made useful comments, as did Jay Karen, president of the Professional Association of Innkeepers International, who generously took time to read the entire manuscript.
Thanks to everyone who shared their stories about the bed-and-breakfast life, including the hosts at over a hundred of these remarkable establishments, which Hugo and I visited before embarking on our own adventure. Especially Hugh and Jeannie Taylor of the Outermost Inn, Martha’s Vineyard; Joe and Raquel Sanchez of the Aspen Inn, Flagstaff, Arizona; and Vicki Barrett at Inn on the Ocean and Danielle Hanscom of the Brampton Inn, both in Maryland—extraordinary innkeepers all.
For hospitality during the cold, early months of work, I thank Amy Haines for the warmth of Out of the Fire, Ellen and Steven Exelbert for their cozy cottage, and Paul and Candy Milne, of The Oaks. Paul really knows how to cook an oyster. Lydia and Jerry Kaplan offered advice on everything from publishing to medical care. From Fran Neaton came the perfect metaphor for our line of work.
Technical assistance on the manuscript was provided by Peter Strupp of Princeton Editorial Associates. Thanks also to Melissa Kelly and Dale Patchett. Miss Ebbie down at the post office always got the manuscript where it needed to go next. Bill Lippincott provided a quiet place for work.
A basketful of gratitude to Alice Waters, who inspired appreciation for the fruits that flourish all around us wher ever we live, the good, the local, and the seasonal—and to the memory of Julia Child. These two extraordinary women graciously taught Hugo and me, on an earlier project, how (and how not) to present a recipe. Appreciation again to the ever-enthusiastic recipe testers, Hugo, Rick, Lucy, Amanda, Ethan, and Linda, along this time with Kurt Weyrauch.
For friendship, the sharing of local ways including a Christmas goose on the doorstep, and so much more, thanks to the best of neighbors, Susie and Scott Kilmon, also Jerry and Julie, Kurt, Paul, Francine, Liisa and her clan, and Captain Iris. Roland Murray was generous with his great store of historical and practical knowledge, a bridge to the region’s past. Many thanks to Bryan Arling, through thick and thin and to Barbara Meade, preeminent bibliophile and friend.
An important part of bringing this account to light was played by Susan Koh, Donald Buxton, Philip Webster, and Bernice Michaels of Chesapeake Chamber Music. I am most indebted to Alison Schwartz of ICM, New York, and to Becky Koh, J.P. Leventhal and their colleagues at Black Dog & Leventhal, for their hard work, vision, and tenacity.
Last, a thousand thanks to Tarmy.
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