In This Issue:
PAII News
PAII Forum Digest
PAII Food Feature
PAII Pointer
About INNfo

PAII INNfo Archives
2006 Volume 1
November:
Issue 1
Issue 2
Issue 3
Issue 4

December:
Issue 5
Issue 6
Issue 7
Issue 8

2007 Volume 2
January:
Issue 1
Issue 2
Issue 3
Issue 4
Issue 5

February:
Issue 6
Issue 7
Issue 8
Issue 9

March:
Issue 10
Issue 11
Issue 12
Issue 13

April:
Issue 14
Issue 15
Issue 16
Issue 17

May:
Issue 18
Issue 19
Issue 20
Issue 21
Issue 22

June:
Issue 23
Issue 24
Issue 25
Issue 26

July:
Issue 27
Issue 28
Issue 29
Issue 30

August:
Issue 31
Issue 32
Issue 33
Issue 34
Issue 35

September:
Issue 36
Issue 37
Issue 38
Issue 39

October:
Issue 40
Issue 41
Issue 42
Issue 43
Issue 44

November:
Issue 45
Issue 46
Issue 47
Issue 48

December:
Issue 49
Issue 50
Issue 51
Issue 52

Tuesday, January2, 2007
Volume 2, Issue 1

PAII News & Announcements: Fire Burns Down North Carolina Inn

Our thoughts are with these North Carolina innkeepers and guests after this tragedy:

A fire destroys a historic inn in Franklin, kills one person, leaves another in critical condition, and injures two others. The fire started just before 3:00 a.m. Thursday morning at the Summit Inn and Spa in Franklin and continued smoldering hours later. Now, nearly nothing remains of the inn, where six people were staying along with two owners.

Authorities haven't officially identified the person and it could take a while for the medical examiner to look at dental records in Raleigh. But one of the owners is missing and his wife Nancy Poser told others she saw her husband, Chuck Poser, go back inside the burning inn possibly to try to get their dog who didn't make it.

Owner Nancy Poser is now at the Joseph M. Still Burn Center in Augusta, GA where an inn worker tells us 80% of her face and hands are burned. One man is at Mission Hospitals with a back injury after he jumped from the second story. Franklin police were able to rescue three other people stranded on the roof and two others made it outside. One of them went to Angel Medical Center for treatment as well.

Firefighters are still investigating but say they don't know yet what caused the fire.

The couple has three daughters, a worker at the inn says at least one of them is with her mother at the Augusta burn unit.

Source: WLOS, NBC News 13 in Western North Carolina (www.wlos.com)
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PAII Forum Digest: Business This December & More
If you have not had time to log on to the Forum located in the Members Only section of www.paii.org,
here are some of the interesting topics that have been discussed this past week.

Business this December?
How has this month been for you folks? I do believe it was my slowest in 18 years. I think that the extremely warm weather in New England has taken a bite out of biz here. "Not cold" translates into people not being hunkered in and wanting that getaway to a cozy room with fireplace and Jacuzzi.

RE: Aspiring Innkeeper #11
By all means, if you are able, go to the convention. Our first convention was in San Antonio BEFORE we bought our inn in 1996. We have never missed a single one since. Marilyn and I would use the conference, its messages, its diversity of opinions while networking, its trade show, and its energy to re-jump-start our business plan. We would revisit our mission, our strategy, our tactics, and tweak our marketing and operations plans as needed. It would set our action plans in place to continue the improvements (both physical nature of the inn AND its personality). It paid off in the long run when we sold in 2005.

It is a lot like your Chamber of Commerce or your local B&B association: You get out of it what you put in. If you sit back and wait for somebody to hand you the answers to your questions (I paid my association dues, why aren't you sending me some bookings?), the answers will never come. If you are proactive, however, learn what's out there, what others are doing, make your own decisions on what fits YOUR inn's profile or personality, you will be more successful. And the convention gives you all of these things. If you fail to keep learning, you will soon learn how to fail. I have heard a number of seasoned innkeepers tell me they don't get anything out of the convention anymore. My heart sags a bit every time I hear that. I know they've stopped learning.

Aspiring Owners: After Christmas Shopping
For those of you anticipating the opening of your new inn, this is the time to really stock up on mini-lights and rope lights. Rope lights tend to be available at Lowe's year-round, but I have found that mini-lights are available only during the holiday season. These lights come in handy for so many uses all year long so buy extra lights, especially the minis—they seem to last about 3–4 months at best when used outdoors.

There is one other item I found only a Christmas time—a small two-rack countertop oven. Brand is Hamilton Beach. This might sound like an easy item to find but after a two-year hunt I had given up. I found the item at WALMART. The 2-rack ovens I had hitherto found at Lowe's, etc. were HUGE and took up way too much counter space. They cost over $100. This one is around $40–$60.

Aspiring Owners: Have You Planned For... #1
To individuals who are coming from other than a hospitality/retail field into innkeeping, the awakening can be a rude one. The service business is challenging and demands time and patience because it is all about PEOPLE. As we all know, people are unpredictable and do not fit into neat formulas. I waited tables for 6 years in NYC and always felt that individuals should be required to wait tables in a restaurant before being allowed to eat out themselves. This business is an art—you must be part actor, illusionist, barrier-breaker, event planner, and psychologist among other things. You must possess a love of people and the ability to be adaptable under the most trying of circumstances. Customers/Guests may be sympathetic in difficult situations, but ultimately they want to be taken care of, and if you are not able to do that they will go elsewhere. This all being said, the rewards of this business can be unlike those of any other.

About burnout: I recently read that burnout is defined as the gap between reality and expectation. This makes a great deal of sense. While you can never know the daily goings on of any business, it is imperative to be educated and obtain experience if at all possible. Know what you are getting into—this is a great forum for that.

After Midnight Phone Call
I believe that phone calls after 10:00 p.m. should be for emergencies only. That's how I live my life, and cannot remember ever calling anybody in the middle of the night. The phone rang at 12:05 a.m. tonight. I answered it and talked to a guy very briefly about one of our packages. About 10 minutes later the same guy called and booked an $800 package. It's good to be cheerful in the middle of the night, no matter how badly I wanted to strangle the guy when the phone rang.

Scam Via Fax
It is amazing how much effort is put into scamming people. I am now getting faxes from the "Official Internet Registry & Optimization Bureau." The fax has a seal on it that looks like the IRS seal on government documents. It also has in large letters "Please remit your payment by December 31, 2006" and resembles an invoice for services. In the largest letters with arrows, it says "Forward to Accounts Payable." It is "your" annual website monitoring bundle registration (whatever that is?) to improve your site visibility on the internet.

RE: Holiday Greeting That Backfired #15
I've seen "Babymoon" packages targeted for "expecting" parents (i.e., that last "romantic" getaway before baby) as well as for couples with new babies. Covers both sides of the equation!
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PAII Food Feature: Calling All Foodies!
Let us feature a recipe from your inn!
Please send your submission (and a photo of the dish if available) to L1simpson@msn.com.

Happy New Year! In this section of INNfo we will address timely food issues, answer burning questions, and feature recipes from our members. To kick this off I would like to share this delicious dessert from the Green Cape Cod Bed & Breakfast in Tacoma, Washington (www.greencapecod.com). Please share your recipes by sending them to me at L1simpson@msn.com.

Green Cape Cod Bed & Breakfast's Apple Blackberry Crumble

Ingredients
Inside Layer
6 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
2 lbs fresh blackberries or 2 bags frozen blackberries
1 cup sugar with 2 tsp. cinnamon sprinkled over it

Topping
3 cups flour
3 cups brown sugar
1 1/2 cups oatmeal
3 cubes melted butter

Instructions
Crumble in a 12" x 14" Deep Pan. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour or golden brown on top.
Serve with Breyer's vanilla bean ice cream. Serves 16.
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PAII Pointer: Post-Party Pick-Up
Now that the holiday parties have past, it's time for the post-party recon. If you find remnants of red wine in your carpet, break out some more wine! No, seriously, folks: White wine is an excellent dilutant for red wine stains.
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About INNfo

INNfo is published weekly. Annual subscription is included in the price of membership.

Advertising Rates & Information
Weekly sponsorship ads are available. Please send all inquiries to Marlene Sapir at marlene@paii.org or 856.310.1102. MC/VISA/AMEX/DISCOVER accepted.

Publisher
Professional Association of Innkeepers International (PAII)

Editor-in-Chief
Stacey Bleistein

Production Coordinator
Laura Middleton

Editorial Staff
Pam Horovitz, Stacey Bleistein, Karen Hudgeons, Laura Middleton

Editorial Suggestions and Contributions
Editorial comments and suggestions are welcomed. In addition, if you have a suggestion for an article or would like to contribute an article for INNfo, please contact INNfo’s Editor-in-Chief, Stacey Bleistein, at 856.310.1102 or stacey@paii.org.

Editorial Offices
c/o PAII
207 White Horse Pike
Haddon Heights, NJ 08035
Phone: 856.310.1102 • Fax: 856.310.1105
membership@paii.org • www.paii.org

Title Image Courtesy of Jumping Rocks