At all of our Aspiring Innkeeper Seminars and Workshops, most attendees have viability as a relevant part of the profile of the Inn they are looking to purchase, especially if their intention is to leave the security of corporate paychecks. The location of that candidate inn usually determines the strength of its financial position.
But inns can exhibit viability (the business strength to pay all the bills…including the mortgage) having very different locations. Some are rural, some are urban…but they can have the same muscle a strong location affords, including:
- Close to population centers from which to draw guests
- A diversity of area attractions for the guests to enjoy
- Wow factor…and the room features and amenities those guests seek
Two inns that have recently come on market have VERY different locations and area attractions, but BOTH are strong financially. The Carlisle House, an urban inn in Pennsylvania, is within walking distance of universities, city festivals and auto extravaganzas, military museums, civil and revolutionary war history, hiking, kayaking and boundless corporate travel. With less volatility of occupancy throughout the year due to the diversity of its area attractions, this inn boasts strong mid-week and year-round revenues ideal for the aspiring innkeeper favoring such a schedule.
Solomons Victorian Inn, a seven room beauty, is quite different in that it has a maritime location on the end of the tourist-rich peninsula in the Chesapeake Bay, with easy access from the Baltimore/Washington megalopolis region and Northern Virginia populations. The diverse nature of its area attractions include such adventures as chartered fishing and boating tours, wineries and leisure water sports. But the inn also enjoys a corporate mid-week presence with the Patuxent River Naval Air Station and large utility corporations nearby.
Both inns have very different environments attracting a very different guest list…but near population centers, diverse area attractions, and positioned to be attractive to the travelers visiting those attractions…the very requirements for viability…and offering options of lifestyle interests from which an aspiring innkeeper can choose and enjoy.
