Sunday, May 9th, 2010
Asheville, NC has become a destination wedding locale in recent years. What exactly is a destination wedding? Well, it started out meaning an elopement where the people involved had to travel somewhere in order to get married. Now, it has expanded to mean a wedding at a location other than where the bride and groom live that can also include guests.
As such, Asheville is a great location for people to travel to to get married. This city and the surrounding area offer so much for the wedding guest and traveler. Some of the backdrops for weddings include hills and mountains, rivers and waterfalls, historical houses and loads of interesting architecture, gardens, barns, and even hot air balloons!
While Asheville has event locations that can accommodate hundreds and hundreds of guests with costs in the tens of thousands of dollars, this city is more receptive to smaller destination weddings with budget-conscious brides and grooms. We run the gamut of wedding/reception locations from small, quaint churches and B&Bs to large conference centers and, of course, the Biltmore Estate. What this city does not have, and probably never will, is the drive-through chapels you see in Las Vegas, although I get calls at the Inn from people looking to do the quickie ceremony. What people need to understand is that we are a destination wedding location, but we do not offer the cheap, cliche-type ceremonies you find elsewhere.
At Blake House, we can accommodate weddings up to 150 guests, but the average size that I see here is under 60. I have seen a trend in the past four years from larger groups to smaller groups, of just the closest family and friends. People would rather spend their money on a down payment for a house, than for a huge wedding attended by people they don’t know. This bed and breakfast offers an alternative to the typical hotel banquet hall or conference space at a reasonable price. And Asheville is filled with wedding locations just like mine.
This past weekend, the Inn welcomed the Riddle/Robbins wedding party for a BEAUTIFUL wedding for just under 50 guests. I am posting several photos below (with permission from the bride and groom, of course). I was most impressed with the Mother of the Bride (MOB) and her incredible organizational skills. In no way was she overbearing or uncontrollable (we don’t see those kinds of guests here just by virtue of the types of people we attract at the Inn). Sharon should become an event/wedding planner because her attention to detail is just fabulous. The colors chosen by the bride and groom were white, black, and lime green. The flowers included purple as well and I thank the MOB for generously donating the flowers to the Inn for our guests to enjoy this week.
The weather called for thunderstorms, wind, and low temperatures. We only experienced one of the three, wind and that was only in spurts. We did not have any rain and the low temperatures only went down to the 40s at night. It couldn’t have been a more perfect day for the wedding ceremony, held at 3:00 pm. The Rehearsal Dinner on Friday was catered by Luella’s Bar-B-Que and Colorful Palate catered the Wedding Reception on Saturday. The guests and I were impressed and happy with both, me with the professionalism of the staff and the wedding party with the quality of the food! Jeanne from Appearances Salon & Spa provided onsite makeup and hair services to the bride. The delicious carrot wedding cake was provided by Tiffany’s Baking Co. and the acoustic trio Strictly Clean and Decent played some fabulous bluegrass and folk music when the bride’s daughter walked her down the aisle as well as during the reception.
Please enjoy my amateur photos and let me know if you have questions. I am happy to discuss your wedding or other special event needs.
Tuesday, May 4th, 2010
In today’s world, there is an emphasis on reviews. Many people do or don’t buy or try a product or service based on someone’s personal opinion about that product or service. In my world, the world of travel, hospitality, and tourism, there are many sites out there for people to leave anonymous reviews of me and my B&B. Trip Advisor, Yelp, BedandBreakfast.com, just to name a few. Not to mention someone’s personal blog or website.
Someone has a bad experience or just a bad day and they can ruin a business’s reputation. Or at least make it difficult to overcome. I have received my share of good AND bad reviews. After the initial upset caused, I have been able to take a step back and really look at what the reviewer is saying. In some cases, their issues were totally valid and I have sought to remedy problems. Things like an a/c unit that is not working properly or someone not wanting to share table space with other guests or not liking something I cook are easy enough to fix. Personality conflicts and not liking my style of running the Inn are not so easy to change, but I try my best. As a result, I have definitely seen a change over the past several years in the number of unhappy guests versus happy guests. It’s not that I received a large number of bad reviews, but when you receive one or two a year, it leaves an impression. The ultimate goal as an innkeeper is to offer a welcoming house for guests and to enhance their lodging experience with a genuinely pleasant and accommodating attitude.
I think I have come a long way from the first 2 years of B&B ownership and a background in Human Resources where policies are policies and you don’t break them and where everything has its place and any deviation caused stress. Taking the review comments from unhappy guests and comments from the happy ones too, I feel so much better now that I listen more and don’t get so worried about the small stuff. If a guest breaks something, I don’t break out into hives anymore; it’s no big deal. It can be replaced. I have gotten rid of some of the fees that I used to charge for things like early check-ins and large group cleaning gratuities. Let the airlines and hotel chains nickel and dime their customers with lots of extra fees.
Many of the changes I have made over the years have come as a result of positive feedback rather than negative feedback. When someone criticizes your way of doing things, it’s easy to ignore their comments or become so defensive that you can’t hear what is being said. But when you have a conversation with a happy guest and they ask if you can change something about your Inn, their room, their breakfast or its operation, it is so much easier to take their words to heart, because you know they are coming from a place of caring about you and your business and because they plan to come back!
My suggestion to anyone getting ready to rip into a business via an anonymous review would be to try speaking to the owner, innkeeper, or manager first. You may find that a few kind words go further than a scathing post on everything you hated about your experience or the product. If that doesn’t work (sometimes a request is out of the control of even the person in charge), then a post with objective information and suggestions for improvement will still probably go further than nothing but negative comments. Even humor goes a long way.
I wanted to share a couple of cards from guests I received recently. How many people sit down and spend a few minutes writing a card to another person, a business? And to receive two cards, one in March & one in April, was so touching that I felt the need to share with my readers and guests how much I appreciate them once they leave the Inn. This is the reason why people looking for a personal experience should consider staying at a B&B versus a hotel. We WANT to establish relationships with our guests.
The first card was sent just before Easter from guests who have been to the Inn 4-5 times over the past couple of years. I had not seen them since the fall so to receive an Easter card was thrilling. The guests wrote: “Thanks so much for remembering us with a gift certificate! That was so thoughtful of you and sweet! Spring has finally come to Indiana; February was our cold, snowy month. We just love you and Blake House and are looking forward to coming down to Asheville again in 2010.”
The second card was sent mid-April from a guest who had stayed here a couple of years ago and had come back to visit family in the area. She wrote, “Dear Leslie, Thanks for launching me into Spring 2010 in royal style. Loved my stay at your beautiful inn. I’ve tormented many with tales of your fabulous breakfasts. (The only attempt I’ve made at imitating was the baked grapefruit.) A success! Best regards. P.S. I’ll be back!”
As an innkeeper, I meet a lot of people; some are just passing through Asheville for one night and some stay for several days. My hope is that everyone enjoys their stay, no matter the amount of time. But if you don’t, you can talk to me and I will listen. If you do, I thank you most ardently for any kind words you say or write, whether you choose to share them with others via online review sites, or if you only share them with me in a sweet card or email.
I love Asheville! I love this Inn! And I love everyone who shares part of their life with me and this old house.
