My Inn Matchmakers partner, Becky Goldsmith teaches our aspiring innkeeper clients about the three legged stool of innkeeping. She likes to keep things simple and try as hard as I can to overanalyze the data, good innkeeping still comes back to the basics:
1--Great housekeeping.
2--Superior hospitality.
3--Exceptional marketing.
Over the years, we've found that if one of these "legs" is wobbly, the stool cannot support its weight. Sounds so simple, but you'd be stunned at how often we see inns where one of these elements of success is missing.
It's the third leg that is most often the deciding factor, and the hardest in which to excel. I believe that's because the onslaught of changes on the internet marketing front are absolutely overwhelming for most innkeepers. As a new innkeeper myself, I can relate.
That said, each month I face my fears, and participate in Acorn Internet Services' monthly internet marketing webinar. After it's over, I'll usually consider a frontal lobotomy because there's so much to learn. So far, I've opted to stay out of the OR and have a stiff drink instead.
Today I chatted with Lisa Kolb (Acorn's founder and co-owner) for over an hour after the webinar was over. We share the same frustration. She's trying to help innkeepers improve their business and MAKE MORE MONEY. I'm trying to help innkeepers maximize their investment return, and to do that, they NEED TO MAKE MORE MONEY! So, Lisa and I are both trying to accomplish the same thing. Despite our efforts however, more and more inns are going under, and I believe that this is going to continue for some time.
As an ex-business consultant, I know that the biggest problem that small business entrepreneurs face is that they don't stay engaged in their "highest and best use". If something needs to be done, they do it. Like housekeeping for instance.
This, my friends, is the slow kiss of death. If you don't learn to place a higher value on your time, and rise to your highest and best use (which, by the way, unless you are an illiterate monkey, is NEVER EVER cleaning toilets), your business will languish. I promise you that your time is worth more than $10 or $12 bucks an hour, and you can find housekeepers who will do a fine job for that pay. So do yourself a favor, and pony up the $15 bucks or so to get a room cleaned. YOU my friend, have a higher and better use!
ALL innkeepers expect to sell their inns at a profit, and it's an ugly road for those who find out that this dream has turned into a nightmare. I see this more often than you would like to know, believe me! So, don't become an unfortunate statistic. Take the bull by the horns, and get cracking on your marketing! Like castor oil, it may not taste good going down, but you'll be glad you swallowed it by the next morning.
And, over the long run, when it comes time to move on with your life, you won't have to make excuses about why your inn's income is so awful. Don't expect some rich California buyer to come along and pay cash for your money pit. That ship done sailed......
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Roxanne, I swear you and Becky are the best inn brokers in the business! It's not only innkeepers who do the easy things on the to-do list first (clean toilets) and never get to the most important but more difficult ones (getting new business). Maybe you could write a post on some simple marketing steps innkeepers could take everyday to get into the habit of focusing on the Big Rocks of their schedules.
ReplyDeleteThis is a fabulous article and I always enjoy listening to your advice. Sometimes it's hard-hitting and not what we want to hear, but it's necessary and it's truth. With that said, I still want to be an innkeeper in northern Colorado--I still want it to be rustic, elegant, and 'me.' And, I'll remember to hire someone to clean the toilet so that I can have a higher calling...
ReplyDeleteWhen Julie and I bought our inn with help from you guys, the fact that it had been empty and on the market for almost a decade with no takers was something of a warning sign to us that selling it when that time came would not be a walk in the park.
ReplyDeleteSo we built into our business plan our exit strategy.
Our business plan covers the three points you raise above, and based on our limited experience, you are absolutely right in highlighting them.
Our Lodge is a funky ski lodge, not a high-end chintz & lace & antiques B&B. But guests will find spotless rooms, exceptional breakfasts, welcoming innkeepers that they found from our fine website.
I disagree, however, about the room cleaning thing. Julie and I have housekeepers during high season, but we would never ask anybody to clean a room to our standards unless we were willing to do so, ourselves. And so far we have had a variety of housekeepers who are not up to our standards. You can't train a housekeeper to do something you are not willing to do yourself. So there is some merit in learning how to clean a bathroom to spotless standards--if only so that you can insist that your employee do so. There is something to be said for being on your knees in a bathroom in front of a toilet showing a female employee where to look for and eradicate traces of man-pee.
That being said, we have already had several times this summer (not our high season) when we were so busy that we found ourselves stretched too thin. We plan to remedy that as we head into our winter high season. But, as with any business, being willing and able to do any of the jobs necessary for the success of the business is invaluable. Granted, we do some better than others, but we must be willing and able to do them all if we are to succeed.
Hi Innkeeping at Altitude! As Three Legged Stool School Graduates, I know one thing for sure about you--you're new to the game, and are still full of "piss and vinegar" as my grandfather used to say! That's what gives new innkeepers an edge over those who might be a little "long in the tooth". I'll be interested to hear what you have to say once you've been at it for a decade. Those toilets might not be as free of "man-pee" as they once were when you could still bend over with ease.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I once read a book by the founder of Keller Williams Realty, Gary Keller. He wrote something that really resonated with me, and I remind Becky of it often. Gary wrote "Don't hire GOOD, hire GREAT".
The solution to the removal of "man-pee" is not to clean it yourself, but to hire a better employee. (And, no offense intended if I inadvertantly insulted your son! He's a great kid!)
I didn't say it would be easy......
LOLOLO. Dunno how full of "piss and vinegar" we are anymore. The former tends to get used up pretty fast when establishing object lessons for housekeeping staff on the secret places where one can discover and eradicate man-pee in guest bathrooms, and we tend to prefer lemon juice to the latter in our cooking.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I understand what you are saying about losing the edge, and truth be told, we have already hit that wall multiple times.
It is clear to us that we need employees; it is equally clear that we will never ask an employee to undertake an unpleasant task that we are not willing to do ourselves. The way to hire a "better employee"--let alone a "GREAT" one--is to train a person to one's own standards, not to hope for that miracle, a ten-buck-an-hour person who has standards higher than our own.
All that being said, we have proven to ourselves repeatedly during our stint as innkeepers that the secret to success is welcoming people to our lodge into a spotlessly clean room, making them feel welcome, and surprising them with hospitality and food that exceeds their expectations. To do that on a regular basis, we have repeatedly taken inventory of our own strengths and weaknesses. We know when we get tired and how that affects our goals. And we have taken steps to ensure that our limitations won't affect how guests perceive our lodge.
After just a bit more than a year, we have proven to ourselves what we suspected when we started this venture: our success is about us. Tom and Julie. We're the lynch-pin. It's about us welcoming people. It's about us making guests comfortable. It's about us responding to our guests and adjusting our hospitality to their needs. It's about us enjoying our business.
Our lodge isn't a motel or a hotel. It's our home. We're at our worst when we have guests expecting nothing more than they would get at a Motel-6.
We're swimming upstream because the place we bought has a lot of physical problems. Earlier in this venture, we were worried that those limitations would cause us problems if our guests expected more than we could deliver.
We have addressed that fear in our marketing: we are honest about the strengths and weaknesses of our rooms and our property in general.
We have also, in our marketing, deliberately targeted a mid-range demographic. We know who our audience is, and we know how to attract them to our lodge. Anybody who finds us through our website, books a room, and then is disappointed really hasn't been paying attention.
Our website has brought us an astonishing and wonderful array of guests. We are constantly tweaking it. But we have deliberately designed it to inform people about what we are and what we aren't. Our website is our most prominent and successful marketing tool: not only because of the people it attracts, but also for the people who, reading it, decide that we aren't right for them.
Our website is a filter. We attract a huge amount of people, but we scare off an equally large number. That's good for us. The people who book (if they've been paying attention) will get more than they expect. And they will tell (and have been telling) their friends.
So, to summarize, Roxanne. I agree with you on almost all your points. Nevertheless, I'm pretty sure that the only way to eradicate man-pee is to wipe it up yourself initially, then train another person to clean to your standards. There is no such thing as a "great" cleaner. If there were, then they wouldn't be looking for a job cleaning in my inn-they would be leveraging a way to buy it.
I couldn't have said it better myself Tom! Your website does indeed act like a filter and communicating what it is you have to offer is paramount to bringing to you the clientele which fits both owners and property the best.
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