Saturday, April 4, 2009

Real value in a bed and breakfast

Kathy and I just returned from Atlanta where we attended the Professional Association of International Innkeepers (PAII) conference. We stayed at the downtown Hyatt on Peachtree Street. It is a beautiful hotel with a 23 story atrium and all rooms in the hotel open onto the atrium. On our way home we started to compare the costs/value of such a fine hotel to our Bed and Breakfast, The Carriage House Inn Bed and Breakfast in Lynchburg, Virginia.

The first thing we noticed when we arrived at our room was the $6.00 bottle of water. This generic brand of water is filtered water not some exotic water being shipped to the States from a spring in the Alps. At our Bed and Breakfast we provide our guests free bottled water. If you wanted a can of Coke (sorry Pepsi, Coke has a strong hold on the Atlanta area) that would also cost you a $2.75 at a bar or restaurant or a little less at one of the vending machines on each level. Again soda is complementary at our establishment. There was no refrigerator in the room but the hotel would be happy to put one in your room for a one time charge of $25.00. Our guests have access to one of our refrigerators at no charge. When it came time to check email I connected to their server and was greeted with a message offering to sign me up for their service. The least expensive (slowest) service was $12.95 per day with a discount for signing up for more days. Again, using our computer is free as is the wi-fi connection in our facility.

Breakfast in one of their onsite dining establishments could easily run $20.00 per person and more than likely it would be closer to $25.00 per day or $50.00 for the both of us. Our legendary three course breakfast is included in our room rate. A glass of wine in the afternoon was cheerfully provided along with a charge of $7.00 per glass. By now, you guessed it; a glass of wine is complementary at The Carriage House Inn Bed and Breakfast. I almost forgot to mention the cost of parking your car at the Hyatt was $27.00 per day! Of course there were no complementary slippers or bath robes for us to use while staying there and there was no turn-down service or chocolate on our pillow at night. I didn’t check into charges for faxing, copying, scanning, or making long distance calls (we don’t charge for these) but I am confident there is a charge for utilizing those services, something many business people may need to do while staying at the hotel. The Hyatt charges $.75 for local calls and they are complementary at our Bed and Breakfast

The room was comfortable and somewhat clean although Kathy found a 6” hair on the bathroom floor and there was mold or mildew growing under the caulk surrounding the bath tub and under the soap holder in the tub, but my experience is that is somewhat normal in hotels. I do applaud the Hyatt for being green (as we are) and we did take advantage of them not changing our towels and sheets every day so that we could do our part to help the environment.

The conference was fantastic and I took away a lot of great ideas. I can’t say I wouldn’t stay there again, but next time I travel to Atlanta I might look at staying at a bed and breakfast instead. Even if the room rates are the same, one could easily save $75.00 or more per day with the add on charges that many hotels are now charging to make up for lower occupancy rates or perhaps just to increase their bottom line.

As you can see, staying at a Bed and Breakfast is a great value. Even if the room rate is a little higher you get so much more and the cost could end up being a lot less than a hotel. The experience of staying in a bed and breakfast and interacting with the innkeepers gives the guest so much more insight on the area. Many bed and breakfasts are in historical properties, as is ours, and you just don’t get the same ambiance out of a modern hotel room. Next time you travel I would recommend checking out a bed and breakfast and if you are traveling to Lynchburg, Virginia please book your room with us at: www.TheCarriageHouseInnBandB.com.