On April 10, 2000, we purchased the Woodley Park Guest House. We’ve loved hosting guests – and we’ve hosted a lot of them. Here’s a couple of fun things we’ve learned and experienced in 15 years.
How Many Pots of Coffee? – 5 Fun Facts
- 27,500 guests hosted; 10,000 guests hosted multiple times
- Guests from 6 continents; 118 countries; LOTS of Australians, Brits and Canadians!
- 5,250 breakfasts served; 26,000 pots of coffee brewed
- 4 Inaugurations – 8 years of Republicans and 8 years of Democrats
- 15 Cherry Blossom Festivals – 5 years early, 5 years late, 5 years on time
Start to Finish – 10 of the Major Changes We’ve Experienced
- Shabby but habitable rooming house to full gut renovation to stately old home with beautiful new interior
- Reservation book with sharp pencils and many erasers to streamlined online bookings
- Phone calls to email
- Directory listing to intro website to elegant new website(s)
- Desktop to mobile
- Guidebooks to Google
- Professional reviews to guest reviews
- Lonely Planet to Fodor’s to Trip Advisor
- Cable modems to high speed wireless internet
- Carbs to protein to gluten free to vegetarian to vegan. Don’t worry. You can still get carbs!
So You’d Like to Own a B&B – 5 Lessons Learned
- The greatest guests in the world come to B&B’s.
- An amazing number of B&B guests dream about owning their own B&B someday.
- Getting up early doesn’t get any easier. Coffee is your friend!
- Change is not an option. Even a tiny little B&B needs an IT department. (Ughhh!)
- We still enjoy meeting you at breakfast every morning – even after 15 years.
We really want to say that we are serious about this last item. We really love our guests. You guys have been a blessing to us in so many ways. We’ve enjoyed your company, your stories, your family celebrations, and your career successes. We’ve enjoyed shared laughter and more than a few shared tears. We can’t wait to see you all again. Come on back! Try out that new streamlined, online booking system we just mentioned.