Blog

Noe's Nest: Where Vintage Charm Meets San Francisco Spirit

Nestled between San Francisco's vibrant Noe Valley and Mission District, Noe's Nest Bed & Breakfast stands as a testament to the power of personality in hospitality. Owned and operated by the indom...

Mountain View Lodges: Where Lake Superior's Magic Meets Heartfelt Hospitality

Nestled on the shores of Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Mountain View Lodges stands as a testament to the power of following one's dreams and the unexpected joys of hospitality. For 2...

From Silicon Valley to Napa Valley: The Kites' Journey in Hospitality

In the heart of Calistoga, nestled in California's renowned Napa Valley, two charming inns stand as testaments to a couple's journey from the fast-paced world of tech to the warm, personal realm of...

Blue Fish Inn: Where Guests Become Family

Nestled in the charming coastal town of Cape May, New Jersey, the Blue Fish Inn stands as a testament to the power of genuine hospitality and the enduring bonds formed between innkeepers and their ...

Exploring TikTok's Potential: Results from testing TikTok for our Tennessee lodge

As a relatively new lodge owner with over a decade of experience in tech digital marketing, I've learned that staying ahead in the marketing game means constantly adapting to new channels. Whether ...

Case Study: Executive Keys Condominiums & Comfortly

Background Ann Weisenburger has been immersed in the hospitality industry for over fifty years. After college, she recalls, "One day I was having lunch with the owner of the convention center I was...

Can your staff run your hotel without you there?

Sometimes, I remember to not be stupid on purpose. Here's lesson #1752 on why we document "how-to's" and SOPs for every process at the lodge: We had a power outage yesterday. No big storm. It just ...

Airbnbs and big hotels are laughing at your housekeeping papers

Imagine a day without the drag of administrative tasks (like printing out housekeeping sheets), a day where your focus shifts from mundane paperwork to providing such an incredible guest experience...

Your hotel is too small for software tools. Or is it?

In a landscape where giants roam, we as small hoteliers often find ourselves at a crossroads: cling to the familiar or embrace the new digital dawn. The march of technology waits for no one, and fo...

Paper is the enemy at your hotel. You just don't know it yet.

Imagine your hotel, a finely tuned orchestra where every note matters, but you’re stuck conducting with a blunt instrument: paper Paper is the enemy It’s the silent saboteur in your operation,...

Employee handbooks don't have to suck

An employee handbook. The first thing that went through your head is some big manual from some big company right? That's not what I'm talking about, though. Sure, that's what their employee handboo...

How we eliminated "paperwork" at our hotel

When Trae and I purchased Berry Springs Lodge in Tennessee, it was a paper-heavy business. Most things involving operations were printed out or written down: Check-out folios (every single one) Gro...

Replying to negative reviews is hard

As fellow hotel owners, we don't always agree with guest reviews. When Trae and I purchased Berry Springs Lodge, some long-time patrons were harsh in their reviews merely because the previous owner...

How our hotel collects website visitor emails

At Berry Springs Lodge, we spend a lot of time and money on sending NEW traffic to our website. We do this through organic channels (non-paid, like Instagram and TikTok) and paid channels (e.g. ads...

Make rezStream bookings easier by prefilling the promo code and arrival date

This is easy; nothing fancy! This trick will pre-fill the “Promo Code” and “Arrival Date” sections on your rezStream booking engine so people don't have to enter it themselves. And if you don't alr...

Shift Notes changed how our hotel staff communicates

At Berry Springs Lodge, we (as management) were lacking a way for our staff to easily communicate and summarize what happened on every shift. And because of that, important information like guest p...

How Comfortly changed our housekeeping

When Justin and I bought Berry Springs Lodge 2 years ago ( we had no idea what we were doing. We hopped in on a hope and a dream. So far, it's worked out...mostly. One of the biggest problems we ha...