Consulting Services

On-going Innkeeping

Are you feeling overwhelmed and need to get away to relax? I know the feeling! When high season was done, so was I! I did not want to see another muffin pan or baked apple French toast! The problem was finding that special person who could cook for a crowd, manage the daily business of producing revenue, handle conflicts in reservations, operations personnel, and services, and just fill in 50% of the innkeeper’s shoes!

Lots of my friends offered to run the inn for me while I took a vacation. One time I took up the offer from a guest-turned-friend and left her in high season with a full house. She got through it, but there was no communications between us because of difficulties with cell phones and computers! She had a good time, but I was worried to death about what was going on.

Another time, I had another friend take care of the house and ended up getting stranded in Texas when a hurricane was bearing down on Tampa Bay. She had all of the guests working in the kitchen and taping up the windows and the house was a great mess when I returned – although it was in one piece! She did her best, but was very much afraid of the storm and it was not within her realm of sanity to be doing so much!

In addition to full-time innkeeping – with all of its working parts – INNfocusmeetings.com can provide services beginning with answering the phone, tending your garden, and entering your expenses and writing checks to keeping your marketing and advertising going while you are off enjoying yourself. Having someone who can effectively deal with problems and solutions, knows the inside and outside of the business, and who can do all the work you do in a day is hard to find.

Some other things that we can do range from being your stand-in wedding booker/planner, business meeting facilitator, and small party caterer to answering the phone and taking reservations remotely. Pricing is based upon what you would want with remote services at the lower end and total innkeeping at the top end of the scale.

It should be noted that daily housekeeping such as turning rooms would be handled by your regular staff as you would normally have it.

Pre- and/or Post-purchase/sale Phases of Inn Acquisition

How many times has a guest said, “I’ve always wanted to own an inn! But I understand it is a 24x7 job…” Well, we know that it takes a lot of work but most of us have fun doing it. And it is not 24x7! When would the innkeeper sleep?! Perhaps 12 hours is more like it and a great innkeeper would work 18 hours/day to fill up the property.

It is the nature of the business that it reflects the personality of the innkeeper and so if you are looking for an inn to buy, you need to be able to really get into the personality of the inn. To give you a few examples of things to ask:

• Does the innkeeper have to run her or him self ragged? Is it because they do not have enough staff?
   

• What are the financials for the inn?
   

• Does it or will it support two people?
   

• What’s the location like?
   

• Is this a “community property?”
   

• What are the guests comments like?
   

• What is its presence on the Internet?

There are many things to know that the average, aspiring innkeeper(s) does not have access to unless you know what to ask and where to look for the answers. As a successful innkeeper, providing the financials for my inn to potential buyers was easy because I had the computer expertise to maintain an audit trail for 10 years of operations.

INNfocusmeetings.com can help you in your pursuit of a business or the expansion of your existing inn. Some of the services we would provide are:

• Evaluation of the existing inn(s) for purchase: Financials; Internet visibility; location; history; future growth potential; current quality standards vs. future needs.
   

• Developing a business plan for purchase financing: Cash flow; occupancy potential; Pro Forma for five (5) year plan.
   

• Recommendation to financial institutions for mortgage loans.
   

• Training for computer and general operations, marketing, sales, and maintenance.
   

• Interior design and decorating for business & leisure travelers: Evaluate requirements to attract guests based upon market segments that will mean success.
   

• Internet advertising and promotion: 85% of my business for 10 years came from the Internet with over 700 hooks into sites from A-Z.
   

• Transition operation of the inn, short term.
   

• Consulting in all aspects of buying or selling, or owning and running a successful inn: Marketing, sales, operations, housekeeping, inventory control, kitchen and restaurant management, personnel, provisioning, and cooking for a crowd.
   

• Computer Operations - including online reservation systems and accounting software. Thirty-five years spent in the computer business before becoming an innkeeper. Expect recommend systems--hardware and software applications--that will be right for you and your business needs.
   

• Project Management - facilitation is available from the search through the move-in of your inn.
   

• Marketing – Beginning with answering the phone and the door and taking reservations; pricing your rooms to meet the competition; meeting objections and objectives; determining where you need to be on the Internet; advertising to get more bang for the buck.
   

• Operations – Start at the bottom to find the best operating style that works for you. Building the base for successfully running your day-to-day business includes determining how you check-in and check-out guests to meet your living style; installing quality standards that can mean more revenue to your bottom line; being innovative and incorporating economical and ecologically-friendly policies in your property to become a “Green Lodging” (State of Florida).