Innkeeping: Dream or drudgery?

An article appearing recently in the Wall Street Journal outlines two very different accounts of innkeeping. Barry Werner of Scarborough Fair B&B in Baltimore, MD outlines how while others played cowboys and Indians when they were young, he played B&B with his grandmother. For him, owning a B&B is a dream come true. This story is contrasted by another account of a former innkeeper who found the job drudgery and difficult. She sold her Clearwater, FL inn which is now a private home after just a few years of attempts at innkeeping.

There’s more to owning and managing an inn than meets the eye. So many of us still imagine the bucolic career of mild mannered Bob Newhart, the Vermont innkeeper and owner of the Stratford Inn whose staff – Larry, Darryl and Darryl – kept us all in hysterics. While Bob occasionally shoveled snow, the majority of his time was spent behind the front desk greeting guests and keeping his crew in line.

Today’s innkeepers still go out and shovel snow – sometimes for days on end – while they also juggle everything from restaurant management to social networking, something good ol’ Bob Newhart hadn’t even conceived of yet.  From time to time, they’re up all night holding court with older guests regaling stories of their younger years on aircraft carriers or taking guests who fell out of bed to the hospital.  Ask a Distinctive Inns of New England member about the highlights of their job and they’ll all unanimously tell you the best part about the job is the people who enter as guests and leave as friends.  Ask them about the “lows” of the job, and they’ll each have a story or two to tell about the six weeks during foliage season when they never leave the inn, or the despair they’ve felt  after someone who never stayed at the inn posted a false review on TripAdvisor.

The innkeepers of Distinctive Inns of New England all love their careers and are dedicated to the finest in hospitality.  They’ve perfected the art of creating relaxing, restorative destinations, and they’ve also perfected the art of making it all look so easy, giving our old friend Bob Newhart a run for his money.  Ask a member of Distinctive Inns of New England, and he or she will tell you it’s the incredible people that drive them into this 24-7 career. Each and every guest expands that innkeepers’ horizon and leaves a lasting mark.  Ask a DINE guest and I think they’ll tell you that the innkeepers do the same for them.

Whether it’s front of the house or behind the scenes, the DINE innkeepers have discovered a career that brings fulfillment both to themselves and others.  Hats off to the hardworking DINE innkeepers and to their guests who make their jobs possible.