FALL 2015 California Hotel & Lodging Association 13 Moscow, Russia. Guests can email questions or make requests which will be answered in five minutes to no more than 12 hours. And the communications are a two-way street: they will be “touched” by our inn’s communications an average of four times: 1) emailed confirmations; 2) reminders of their upcoming stay within 10 days of their stay; 3) after their stay, directly by the Beazley House; and 4) by Trip Advisor to rate their stay. Except for the review process handled by a completely independent organization, all of the communications are automatically generated by our guest management software. We do it all with high tech, but also “high touch.” it’s during these interactions that guests’ needs and preferences and special occasions are noted. This is when dinner and winery reservations are suggested and booked— bottles of wine are ordered and loaves of hot bread arranged, along with flowers ordered and special tours booked. Without the connectivity made possible by the computer and its software it would take a staff four times as large as ours to do even a fraction of what we do every day now. The evolution of Bed & Breakfasts to Boutique Inns over time and through our membership in the California Association of Boutique & Breakfast inns (CABBi) and CH&LA we have been introduced to the latest ideas and trends in the lodging industry. We met and hired our first, and latest, guest management software company. We learned about best practices in internet marketing, the god which is Google and our website builder Buuteeq (now owned by Priceline). We were trained on how to keep our websites up to date without depending on expensive web engineers. We stayed at the head of the lodging competition through the annual CABBI Innspire Conference with its peer networking, professional workshops and vendor marketplace. over the past 35 years we have literally invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in our 113-year-old mansion and property. We have gone from a “mom and pop” B&B to what would be called in Europe—and more and more in the u.S.—a “boutique hotel.” it is a reflection of a level of service given and expected by our guests. It has come with a responsibility to a dedicated staff and an equally loyal following of guests over the years. it has been a natural evolution as we learned lessons and traveled all over the world. As I said, we couldn’t have arrived here if we’d just stayed home and minded our own business. Carol and Jim Beazley opened the Beazley House as Napa’s first B&B in June 1981. They have taken it from an eight room “mom & pop” B&B to the 11 room boutique hotel it is today. The Beazleys are founding members of CABBI and currently serve on both the Innspire Conference committee and the CABBI board. Jim is a former CH&LA board member.
CH LA Lodging News Fall 2015
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