(1888PressRelease)
June 09, 2007 - Savannah, Georgia – Exuding confidence and anticipating the impending era of empty nest syndrome, two baby boomers set in motion -- in a business crusade fashion -- to augment their bed and breakfast dream. Their family roots are in North Carolina, so it was time to go home to the southern gentry American South.
Rob and Jane Sales willingly admit that the allure to a bed and breakfast business, especially in the very hospitable Old South, can be titillating … perhaps to the point of temptation to make an emotional buy. For any unsuspecting inn shopper, that’s the wrong approach.
B&B SUCCESS BEGINS WITH WISE PLANNING
Originally, by keeping cool heads, the pair postured wisely for their new financial investment and smartly selected a destination city investment in 1996. Following their first successful lodging project on Forsyth Park, Magnolia Place Inn (now Magnolia Hall, the guesthouse of the Savannah College of Art and Design), the couple bought Hamilton-Turner Inn, located on famed Layfayette Square fresh from its new notoriety in the Savannah novel sensation, “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.”
“When we were daily and personally leading two nationally renowned bed and breakfast inn properties -- both founded on historical and architectural prominence, both located in an active tourist destination location, in Savannah, Georgia – we maximized our uniqueness to gain national attention,” Mrs. Sales continues.
Following the sale of these two nationally prominent inn properties, the international salesman and social services consultant turned their collective determination and innkeeper wisdom to guide others.
STILL ACTIVE AFTER THE BED AND BREAKFAST SALE
Weaving through Georgia and the Carolinas, Jane and Rob Sales indulge in southern slow paces, including frequent stopovers at bed and breakfast inns. By mixing business with pleasures, the pair uncovers unpublished inns for sale in their travels, discussing new opportunities, creative financing, and overlooked challenges.
For innkeepers who have become their friends over the years, the insights of caring friends make an impact. Their friend-innkeepers became their informal focus group, willing to talk about their well-charted course of financial planning for the purchase, sale, or to turn-around a breakfast inn or boutique hotel.
“Our knowledge of the industry, financial experiences, marketing successes, and objective insights will benefit a seasoned innkeeper, aspiring bed and breakfast inn owner, investor, B&B seller, and real estate professionals,” shares Jane Sales. The President’s Quarters, an historic district bed and breakfast inn in Savannah, Georgia, is the latest beneficiary of the couple’s work.
CREDIBLE TALK AND HARD WORK
Jane and Rob Sales conduct business with Ben Franklin’s philosophy: Motivation is you’re your dreams put on work clothes.
“Obtaining an inn business in a wise location is a critical decision, but it’s only the beginning,” Jane Sales adds. “Like it or not, small business bed and breakfasts must compete with giant brands in the hospitality industry. For the lodging novice, even one who may be a corporate professional, the new adventure of buying, operating or marketing a bed and breakfast in today’s competitive marketplace is too risky a direction alone.”
“The day that a bank president called for our insights, eager to learn our assessment of a mansion being considered for conversion into a bed and breakfast property, I realized that our success and wise decision-making were being noted in respectable circles,” reflects Mr. Sales. Rob Sales points beyond nostalgia to the tough realities of innkeeping. “Compared to the national-brands hotels, a southern-based bed and breakfast is a small-time business. That is, of course, unless you’re the one plunking upwards of $1-million on the table or penning debt for $2M or more. The bed and breakfast dream can mean a lifetime investment is being put on the line.”
Mr. Sales encourages, “To realize maximum value, it’s wise to ask for an objective second opinion. The approach to rivet out details is based on quality control principals-- identify what’s right, what’s wrong, and what could be better within the bed and breakfast business. When a seller and buyer attempt to rivet out the potential troublesome points alone, either or both will risk missing important goals.”
SUCCESSFUL INNKEEPERS RAISE THEIR OWN BAR
Two award-winning properties -- Beechwood Inn and Glen Ella Springs Inn – were among many who extended brave invitations to B and B Consulting to test the Bed and Breakfast Strategic Review, a propriety evaluation tool developed by Jane and Rob Sales. The Strategic Review is an objective discovery to look at critical points -- the things that make or break a bed and breakfast business -- financial, marketing, operations, location, real estate and other factors.
“B&B properties should be constantly setting new benchmarks for themselves. These award-winning B&B properties already recognize that fact, so it was a delight to be candid and share fresh ideas with people we know as friends,” the sociable Mrs. Sales explains.
The Sales explain that the joys of bed and breakfast travel encompass new and sociable adventures. “It’s not as simple as how soft the bed or how imaginative the food. A high-achieving property will have a unique personality -- distinctive scenery and furnishings, and uncommon offerings from which travelers make their own new memories. Bed and breakfast aficionados enjoy exploring new places and making new acquaintances. The trend to personal services is found affordably in bed and breakfast lodging,” Mrs. Sales concludes.
WHAT’S NEW ADVENTURES ARE IN THE NORTH GEORGIA MOUNTAINS?
The pair spent two days in the North Georgia mountain retreats. “What fast-paced executive would not welcome an authentic mountain lodge escape, a place to slow down surrounded by enticingly majestic landscapes, gourmet dining with boutique and Georgia wines, and congenial hospitality?” Mrs. Sales inquires.
Jane and Rob’s insights at Glen Ella Springs Inn brought fresh eyes and new ideas to the family-run bed and breakfast, best known for its gourmet dining. After brainstorming with the Sales, the innkeepers at Beechwood Inn put their plans in motion to renovate a honeymoon cabin.
SMART PLANNING FOR NEW ADVENTURES
The calm, collected boomers are pursuing new dreams that evolve around their joys to blend sociality and business. Jane and Rob Sales confess that smart financial planning, smart operations, smart banking relationships, smart location decisions, and smart marketing are key elements that contribute to B&B success stories.
A final word or two. “Unemotional objectivity can save the day,” urges the real estate developer and consultant. “Get that critical second opinion prior to making a life-changing bed and breakfast business investment or sale. The breakfast inn or boutique hotel is not a business to which one may retire,” cautions Rob Sales.
The southern styled mentoring business promotes a 21st Century, one-on-one version of breakfast inn lodging consulting -- not so different from the innkeeper’s personal attentiveness to each guest in the American South – with a dash of southern hospitality.
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