 |
 |
| KRISTIE MOSS / Scroll |
|
| The Blue Heron Inn is one of over 29,000 bed and breakfasts that serve 55 million guests every year. |
|
You’re preparing to take a trip and are looking at hotels. But you’re sick of the squeaky beds and paper-thin walls. You’re sick of the loud traffic outside your window and the cranky night clerks. Have you thought about staying at a bed and breakfast?
Bed and breakfasts are places of lodging in which the owners (who most commonly live in the building) serve breakfast. According to www.bedandbreakfast.com, bed and breakfasts usually have one to 15 guest rooms and guest common areas.
Although hotels are better known and popular, the number of bed and breakfasts have been growing over the last 20 years.
According to Professional Association of Innkeepers International statistics, in 1980 1,000 bed and breakfasts served one million guests. By 2001, there were 29,000 bed and breakfasts serving 55 million guests each year.
David and Sharon Osgood, owners of the Greyhouse Inn in Salmon, Idaho, decided to start a bed and breakfast 11 years ago because they wanted to have their own business. Originally, they wanted to start a bed and breakfast in Boise where there are more historic homes, but could not afford it.
“The houses in Boise were too expensive,” Sharon Osgood said. “We had looked at other businesses [in Salmon], but not bed and breakfasts. So when we saw an old home for sale here, … we kind of jumped into it as the blind leading the blind. We had no clue. We never did a business plan, but it has worked out.”
Despite there being no business plan, The Greyhouse Inn has grown from three rooms to four rooms and 4 other buildings. This gives guests the opportunity to rent their own cabin instead of staying in just a room.
Dave and Claudia Klingler built the Blue Heron Inn in Rigby, Idaho, because they love people and they love cooking.
“I think we offer more personalized service [than hotels do],” Claudia said. “If honeymooners want to come to the inn and want breakfast in the room, we can do that. They can even choose what they want for breakfast.”
The innkeepers, usually the owners of bed and breakfasts are known to not only be more personal, but more knowledgeable about the community.
“Innkeepers are extensively involved in their communities, unlike hotel managers who move from one location to another. The personal commitment to the quality of the community by owner-innkeepers is very high and cannot be measured,” according to the Professional Association of Innkeepers International.
The Blue Heron Inn, selected by www.bedandbreakfast.com as the 2006 best undiscovered inn for romance, has a personal commitment to the community in offering BYU-Idaho students and faculty a 20 percent discount off their midweek stay and 10 percent off their weekend stay.
“I think one of the nice things about our inn that might not be necessarily true for all bed and breakfasts is that we have a lot of common areas that people can hang out in,” Claudia said.
The Blue Heron Inn has a great room and poolroom with a hot tub outside. Claudia said guests can also take walks along the river and go fishing in a wilderness setting.
“Bed and breakfasts have a more homey atmosphere,” Sharon said. “We’re 12 miles out of town, and it’s more rural. We have wildlife in the yard, and the river is in walking distance. It’s pretty quiet and laidback and people love it.”
