In This Issue:
PAII News
Membership Minutes
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, January 9, 2007
Volume 2, Issue 2

PAII News & Announcements: 2006 PAII Industry Study Is Coming!

It's coming!

The 2006 PAII Industry Study of Operations and Finance
For Bed & Breakfasts and Country Inns

- Occupancy Levels
- Average Daily Rates
- Key Costs: Labor + Food + Insurance + Marketing
- Key Trends: Amenities + Breakfast
- Non-Room Revenue: Gift Shop + Weddings + Meetings

$99 For PAII members ($6.00 shipping and handling for hard copy)

20% Off all pre-orders by May 15, 2007

To order, call 1.800.468.PAII or contact membership@paii.org
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PAII Membership Minutes: Your Staff at the PAII Convention & More

Bringing your staff to the PAII Convention is one of the best ways you can offer them a professional education opportunity and a great way to make them feel valued. Registration for the third person (and fourth, fifth, etc.) from the same inn is just $175 for the full Convention and $60 for a one-day registration Tuesday or Thursday (Wednesday is $90 and includes lunch).

You may register staff online if you do it at the same time as you register the first two people from the same inn. To register online, click here.

If you have already registered two people from your inn and want to add staff, call the PAII office, 800.468.7244, to get the special staff rate.

One-stop Shopping for Innkeepers!
The Trade Show at the 2007 PAII Convention is filling up with vendors who understand the B&B business and cater to innkeepers' needs. Past attendees report that finding new vendors and better deals at the Trade Show saves them enough money to more than cover the cost of coming to the Convention! At the Trade Show you will find insurance, rugs, linens, china, coffee, mattresses, Internet and marketing services, pottery, specialty items, down products, Internet directories, property management software, realtors, and more.

Additional vendors are signing up every week! Click here to check the current list.

Vendor Benefit
We would like to remind our vendors that the PAII staff is a valuable resource so please keep us updated on new products and/or services. If you have been a PAII vendor member for some time, please note that our staff has changed over the past two years so don't assume that we know all about you! Why not schedule an appointment for a telephone conference call during one of our weekly training sessions to bring us up to date?

PAII staff receives inquiries every day from innkeepers and aspiring innkeepers looking for products, services, and vendors. We need to be informed in order to properly direct these potential customers to you. More importantly, you need to be sure that you have created a profile next to your directory listing and that this profile gives a good overview of what you have to offer. We are constantly directing innkeepers to the Vendor Marketplace, so your profile is crucial to grab their attention quickly rather than having to click through to each website. Go to www.paii.org NOW and click on "Shop! The Vendor Marketplace". Then click on your category to review or create your profile. If the other companies in your category have profiles and you don't, you are probably losing business. Creating a profile is easy, and it's a great membership benefit. Email karen@paii.org for instructions or assistance.
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PAII Forum Digest: Wine Glasses & Cork Screws & 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.

Wine Glasses & Cork Screws
We have a lot of guests who bring their own wine and want to have it in their rooms—but come to us and want us to provide them with wine glasses, a corkscrew, etc. In the last year, we have lost countless wine glasses and approximately 150 corkscrews. My questions: a) Do y'all provide your guests with wine glasses and corkscrews in their rooms or available to borrow; b) If you do, do you lose them; c) Do you have the name of your inn on them; and d) I'm thinking of putting together a package of two wine glasses and a corkscrew and telling my guests they have to buy that package if they want them; what are your thoughts?

ReservProperty reserv.com New Monthly Fees
We switched to reserv.com as our GDS supplier because they had no monthly fees so we only paid a commission on rooms booked. We recently received an e-mail from the company stating, “We have changed your password in the CRS. Please go to www.myreserv.com to acknowledge the payment methods for Reserv International . . . and receive your new password for the CRS.” Part of that form requires we accept a $49 per month fee ($588 per year) plus commissions on rooms booked. That isn't going to work for us.

California Aspiring Innkeeper Needs ADA Code Advice
We are in the process of creating a B&B of our recently purchased historical landmark home. There are no existing B&Bs, yet there is a city ordinance that was created for the purpose of preserving the city's historical homes that states that residentially zoned landmark homes can be used as B&B inns.

I have recently been told at the city building and safety department that when I change use from residential to B&B or "commercial" use, I will have to bring the building to compliance with all the current state fire and building codes. The architect is not familiar with ANY specific B&B codes that would alter or relax the commercial requirements for ADA access or fire codes.

B&B Fire in NC
We have been saddened by the total devastation by fire of the Summit Inn in Franklin, NC. The husband, Chuck, lost his life, and Nancy is in a Georgia hospital with burns on 80% of her upper body. Guests did escape, although a few are injured but will recuperate. They had a hardwired alarm system and the fire chief said THAT is what saved the lives of the guests. My question is.... are YOU prepared for something like this? Of course, we never think it WILL be us, but please, please take time to be sure YOU have alarm systems, escape routes, clearly defined meeting places outside to account for your people, fire extinguishers where they need to be, and POINT them out to your guests as they are checking in. This is a major "Hello" moment for each of us.

How Would You Answer?
This was a phone call I received just a few days ago. The caller asked me if we make arrangements for "medical conditions." I started thinking, a wheelchair, diabetes, vegan, oxygen tank, etc. I said, "such as?" He replied, "Do you provide waterproof sheets or do I need to bring my own?"

innkeeping 's Question of the Month
innkeeping 's new section, "Question of the Month: What Do You Do?" will post a real innkeeper's query each month.

January's Question
"A guest keeps picking the nuts off the top of the chocolate cake you've left out for evening desserts. What do you do?" Post what you would do here and your response will be included in next month's issue of innkeeping.

Also, do you have a nut-picker, a loud-snorer, or another scenario you'd like to ask other innkeepers "What do you do?" If so, please post your scenario here and your question will be included in a future issue of innkeeping!

New Year's Eve: 2006 Results & 2007 Plans
New Year's Eve fell on a Sunday in 2006. This was a major issue for our county as most businesses (including restaurants) are closed on Sundays and liquor can not be sold at all—even on New Year's Eve. I'm wondering how others did with the weather, economy, day of the week, and other factors in the mix. New Year's Eve falls on a Monday in 2007. That could make for a huge 4-day weekend. Does anybody have some interesting package ideas?

Homestead Exemption
Do any of you actually have homestead exemption on your inn? I purchased an inn that has had it for 20 years and now I will lose it. The word is that it is commercial. Please let me know how your state deals with this.

INNSTAR Updates Getting Started
I'm about to get started with the annual INNSTAR updates. There will be some changes in criteria, which you can see at http://innstar.com/criteria07.html . If you want to take a look and send me some comments (info@innstar.com) before I get to you, please feel welcome to do so. For background, I started doing these reviews in 1996. They're still free.

Here's the Source for CA and Federal ADA Exemption for Small Inns
I must share the fruits of my labor with all of you! I needed actual code to hand to my architect and the city building department. After a few hours on the web, phone calls to various state offices, and reading through a few hundred pages of code, I finally have the answers I need for the CA ADA access code requirements for a B&B of 5 rooms or less with the owner living in the same building.
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PAII Food Feature: The Green Cape Cod B&B's Chicken & Broccoli Quiche
Let us feature a recipe from your inn!
Please send your submission (and a photo of the dish if available) to L1simpson@msn.com.

The Green Cape Cod Bed & Breakfast's Chicken & Broccoli Quiche

The Green Cape Cod Bed & Breakfast in Tacoma, Washington (www.greencapecod.com) offers this delicious recipe. Makes 5-6 servings.

Ingredients
Pastry dough for 9" pie plate
1/4 Pound Gruyere or Swiss cheese
1 1/4 Cups boneless cooked chicken, cut into 1 inch pieces
8 Mushrooms
1 Small onion, peeled and quartered
1 Tablespoon sweet butter
10 Ounce package frozen, chopped broccoli, defrosted and squeezed dry in paper towels
4 Large eggs
1 1/2 Cups heavy cream
1 Teaspoon salt
1/4 Teaspoon dried tarragon, lightly crushed

Instructions
Place an oven rack about 1/3 from the bottom and preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Line a 9 inch pie plate with pastry dough. Cover and refrigerate while preparing filling.
Shred the cheese and set it aside.

Chop the chicken coarsely. Chop the mushrooms. Chop the onion. Melt the butter in a skillet over moderate heat, and cook the mushrooms and onion, stirring frequently until most of the moisture has evaporated. Remove from heat.

To assemble, sprinkle half the cheese over the bottom of the prepared pie plate. Make an even layer of broccoli over the cheese. Sprinkle the chicken evenly over broccoli and scatter the mushroom/onion mixture over the top. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Mix eggs, cream and seasonings. Pour this liquid mixture carefully over layered ingredients in pie plate.

Bake 10 minutes at 450 degrees, then reduce temperature to 325 degrees and bake for 20-25 minutes more, or until browned and firm. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.
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PAII Pointer: Cozy Cost-Efficient Comfort
Make the most out of your fireplace enjoyment this winter and take advantage of the fire's heat: When burning a fire, reduce heat loss by cracking open the nearest window about an inch, turning down the thermostat, and remembering to close the flue when the fire's out.
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About INNfo

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

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, Jeanine Zeman, Liza Simpson

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.

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.

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