General tips, hints and innovative ideas for successfully running a hotel or any other establishment in the hospitality industry.
A few years ago, weighted blankets were just a fad item. Now, they’re everywhere, with more than two dozen companies manufacturing them.
These blankets are typically weighted with plastic pellets or grains of rice or buckwheat and can weigh anywhere from four to 25 pounds.
Continue reading What Is a Weighted Blanket and How Do They Work? →
Accidents happen.
As an innkeeper, it’s a fact of life.
Drinks get spilled, kids get nosebleeds, and every so often, you find yourself having to figure out how to get urine out of a mattress.
We owe it to our guests to respect their privacy, but we also owe it to ourselves – and more importantly, to future guests – to make sure our rooms are cleaned properly.
Continue reading How to Get Urine Out of Mattresses: An Ounce of Prevention →
Sometimes all it takes to tie a room together is a good rug. Or a piece of artwork, or a smartly-chosen throw pillow.
Whatever the case, smaller items can make a huge difference to the overall look and feel of the décor.
Continue reading How to Decorate the Bathroom with the Right Bath Accessories →
As stains go, blood is one of the worst.
It’s easy to see a blood stain and feel like Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth, driven to the brink of madness by that spot that…just…won’t…come…out.
But getting blood stains out of hotel bed sheets doesn’t have to feel like an impossible task. Whether the stain is fresh or has had time to soak in overnight, there are numerous methods for restoring your sheets to pristine condition.
Continue reading How to Get Blood Out of Sheets →
There’s nothing quite like going to bed beneath a set of freshly washed sheets.
It’s a nice feeling when you’re at home, but something guests at your inn, bed and breakfast or vacation rental property will think of as a given. You check into an establishment, you expect to find clean, high quality hotel-style sheets.
But how do you keep those sheets clean and comfortable week after week, guest after guest? In this blog post, we’ll explore the best ways for you to care for bedding at your hotel, inn, bed and breakfast or vacation rental property.
Continue reading What’s the Best Way to Care for Hotel Sheets? →
Regular readers of our blog know that we believe there’s one key thing every innkeeper needs to offer their guests: a good night’s rest.
It’s been true as long as there have been inns and it will be true as long as people need a place to sleep.
But that doesn’t mean our industry never changes. Smart innkeepers know that guests’ tastes can change from season to season, year to year. Here are a few hotel industry trends you should keep an eye on in 2019.
Continue reading 10 Hotel Industry Trends for 2019 →
You’re a busy innkeeper. So busy, in fact, that while the rest of America was braving the crowds on Black Friday, you were at work, immersed in the busiest travel weekend of the year.
Now, with 13 shopping days left until Christmas, you’ve begun to feel the pinch. You need to buy gifts for your loved ones, but you just don’t have the time.
Continue reading Innkeepers Christmas Gift Ideas →
We all know Thanksgiving is a busy travel time, but this year’s Thanksgiving might be the busiest ever.
The federal Transportation Security Administration says it expects to screen nearly 3 million people a day in the stretch between November 16 and November 25. That’s to say nothing of all the people who will travel by car this holiday and that can translate to a busy time for your bed and breakfast. It might be a stressful few weeks, but it’s also an ideal time to impress your guests and keep them coming back.
Continue reading How to Prepare Your Bed and Breakfast for Holiday Guests →
There are fewer things more comforting than a blanket.
Charles Schulz didn’t just invent the idea of a security blanket – excuse the pun – out of whole cloth with Linus in the Peanuts cartoons. Children have long turned to blankets to provide a sense of well-being.
And while we may outgrow our need to keep our blankets – or teddy bears or whatever comfort objects we trusted – our need to sleep with a warm, comfortable blanket never goes away.
Continue reading What Are the Standard Blanket Sizes? →
Every vacation rental property is different. That’s part of their charm. You’re catering to people who want something that feels a little more lived-in than a hotel.
But there are some things that most vacation rentals – at least the good ones – have in common, things that make guests feel more at home. Let’s look at some of the things you’ll find at a successful vacation rental property.
Continue reading 10 Things Every Successful Vacation Rental Property Has →