Frictionless Innkeeper Podcast

In the innkeeping world, it's often assumed that things need to be done in a certain way. From serving breakfast to continually socializing with guests, these are all great things to do – though this may not be the ideal path for all property owners.

For Jim Meade, the owner and operator of Bear Lodges, which is comprised of Bear Mountain Lodge, Bear Meadows Lodge, and 131 Main Street – three non-traditional B&Bs in the mountains of northern Pennsylvania – he chose to do things his own way.

He is also the author of "No Cooked Breakfast," a book that offers a practical guide infused with a personal narrative about his life before, during, and after opening his B&Bs. The book also offers guest feedback from their in-room journals – and it shares his philosophy about why he does not offer a cooked breakfast. The book also discusses how following your own passion can lead to success as an innkeeper.

Our podcast is presented by the Frictionless Guest App, the digital concierge that helps your guests live like locals. To learn more, visit frictionlessguest.com.

With various U.S. states launching new COVID-19 guidelines for businesses to re-open, many innkeepers are developing strategies for opening their properties for the summer season. Providing guests with the utmost confidence that their properties are clean, disinfected and safe is paramount for innkeepers. And, traditional cleaning strategies are just not enough in these challenging times.

As a pioneer in owning a chemical- and fragrance-free inn, Teresa Luttrell, the owner of Enliven Bed and Breakfast, provides a deep-dive take on what innkeepers can do to keep their properties safe for guests – from hard and soft surfaces, air, drains, and much more. Her kids have dubbed her the "Crazy Hygiene Lady" but we prefer to call her the "Queen of Hygiene."

Teresa also runs chemicalfreeinns.com, a new online information resource that provides information on the best cleaning and filtration products for innkeepers.

Our podcast is presented by the Frictionless Guest App, the digital concierge that helps your guests live like locals. To learn more, visit frictionlessguest.com.

While many people don't often think about bed bugs, they can be a tremendous nuisance for independent hotels and inns. And unfortunately, they are on the rise, with a logical reason for their exponential growth over the years.

Between 1941 and 1982, the U.S. government launched a campaign to spray pesticides like DDT to manage mosquito populations to drive down the spread of West Nile Virus. This campaign also helped to eradicate the U.S. bed bug population.

Unfortunately though, DDT had a negative impact on bald eagle populations, and the U.S. government halted this effort. As a result, between 1982 and 2001, there was a 500 percent increase in the population size, and during 2004 to 2011, we saw 13,000 percent increase.

This tremendous growth was also a result of bed bugs spreading from more people traveling, both internationally and domestically, due to cheaper airfares available in the wake of 9/11. With more people flying during this time, there were more people staying in hotels, inns and home sharing offerings, making the spread even greater.

Comprised of the top researchers and entomologists in this specialized arena, Bed Bug Advisor is the preeminent organization that provides the best informational resources for bed bug mitigation.

According to Brian Ontiveros-Kersch, with Bed Bug Advisor, there is no "best treatment" when it comes to bed bugs. In this podcast, Brian provides detailed insights into the history of bed bugs, the psychological impact of bed bugs, the best mitigation strategies for innkeepers, and much more.

Our podcast is presented by the Frictionless Guest App, the digital concierge that helps your guests live like locals. To learn more, visit frictionlessguest.com.

As the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown continues, innkeepers are presented with a rare opportunity to use this down time to enhance their marketing efforts to help expand awareness and drive future bookings.

In this podcast, Kent Schnepp, CEO of Odysys, provides deep-dive insights into how innkeepers can develop marketing strategies to ramp up their businesses as the COVID-19 pandemic winds down. Odysys offers a software-as-a-service (SaaS) marketing and technology platform that helps innkeepers and independent hotels to significantly reduce their guest acquisition costs.

Our podcast is presented by the Frictionless Guest App, the digital concierge that helps your guests live like locals. To learn more, visit frictionlessguest.com.

Founded in 2009 by Teresa Luttrell, Enliven Bed and Breakfast offers accommodations that are ideal for guests who are sensitive to chemical-laden cleaning and fragrance products. The idea for the B&B came about from Teresa's decades-long challenges with Lyme disease, when she decided to create a refuge for medical travelers coming to the Seattle area for their respective treatments.

The property offers highly filtered air and water, is annually tested for mold, and offers organic, non-GMO, gluten-free and dairy-free food for guests. Teresa also uses cutting-edge steam vapor systems for cleaning, and all bedding is made of organic and unbleached cotton.

In addition, Teresa is launching a new online resource called chemicalfreeinns.com, which will provide a list of all chemical- and fragrance-free in the U.S., as well as have information on the best cleaning and filtration products.

For episode #23 of the Frictionless Innkeeper podcast series, we speak with Teresa Molitor Luttrell, the owner of Enliven Bed and Breakfast. Located in Kenmore, Washington, Enliven Bed and Breakfast is a chemical- and fragrance-free inn, which is ideal for guests seeking out truly healthy accommodations.

In this podcast, Teresa provides insights into how she has created a safe haven for patients, and chemically sensitive guests.

Our podcast is presented by the Frictionless Guest App, the digital concierge that helps your guests live like locals. To learn more, visit frictionlessguest.com.

For many innkeepers, it can be challenging to balance day-to-day operations and be available to take all reservation calls from prospective guests. Missed calls can translate into lost revenue to competing lodging options.

John Smallwood founded ExpressRez to address this very issue – to serve as an outsourced call center for Inns and B&Bs by handling all reservations and guest inquiries. When a call is received, an ExpressRez reservation specialist answers with the B&B’s unique greeting, as if guests are speaking directly with the innkeeper, and they are immediately provided detailed information about the property on their computer screens, to be able to answer typical questions from guests.

The solution will officially launch this summer, is simple to use, and offers tremendous return-on-investment. Innkeepers only need to pay 89 cents per minute for the calls, and there’s no startup fees or long-term contracts. ExpressRez also has an easy-to-use software interface for innkeepers to provide details about their properties, and all invoices include the revenue generated each month.

In addition to booking revenue for properties, ExpressRez takes calls from current guests regarding their questions and needs during their stays. This ultimately helps to enhance the guest experience, and boost overall TripAdvisor reviews.

In this podcast, John provides more insights into the value of the ExpressRez service for innkeepers.

Our podcast is presented by the Frictionless Guest App, the digital concierge that helps your guests live like locals. To learn more, visit frictionlessguest.com.

As we noted in Part 1 of our previous podcast interview, Monique Greenwood is a highly regarded innkeeper who developed the Akwaaba empire of five properties, and has parlayed this experience into an OWN TV reality show called "Checked Inn."

While most of us will never know what it's like to have a reality TV show based on our work lives, Monique had this unique privilege with her Checked Inn TV show. Though this may seem glamorous on the surface, it actually required long hours of video shoots and Monique had to ensure that the televised content reflected the compassion that she truly has as an innkeeper, without allowing her guests to be used mostly for entertainment value.

As a result, Checked Inn is not typical of most reality TV shows, where producers create environments of drama and conflict to occur. On Monique's show, she often played the role of a therapist, and strove to continually help guests productively deal with their personal issues.

Checked Inn also had a celebrity guest when award-winning R&B singer Peabo Bryson appeared in an episode, which created a star-struck moment for Monique's husband Glenn Pogue.

Checked Inn created what Monique calls the Oprah "halo effect", where she says there was an increased interest and booking from guests wanting to stay at The Mansion at Noble Lane, where the show was filmed.

While the show only ran for one season, Monique's television career continues on today. She was featured on CNBC's "Five Day Biz Fix," on January 1st at 10 p.m. where she transformed the side-yard of her Brooklyn property into a luxury "glamping garden."

In part two of this podcast series, Monique discusses Checked Inn, and provides her philosophy behind continually offering the best experiences for her guests.

Our podcast is presented by the Frictionless Guest App, the digital concierge that helps your guests live like locals. To learn more, visit frictionlessguest.com.

It's not often that we find an innkeeper who has built a reputation to the level that attracted the attention of Oprah Winfrey. Monique Greenwood is a highly regarded innkeeper who developed the Akwaaba empire of five properties, and has parlayed this experience into an OWN TV reality show called "Checked Inn."

Prior to reaching these heights of innkeeping success, Monique started her career in journalism and achieved her dream of being the editor-in-chief of Essence Magazine. In 1995, she decided to move into the innkeeping arena, and realized that real estate investments were the key to success.

With her business plan tied to her overall lifestyle plan, she ultimately wanted to own properties in areas around the U.S. that she loved. She started with the first Akwaaba property in Brooklyn, and eventually used its increased equity value to help fund the acquisition of four other properties in the U.S. Today, there are Akwaaba inns in Brooklyn, NY; Washington, D.C.; Bethany, PA; Philadelphia, PA; and Cape May, NJ.

The property in Bethany PA, called The Mansion at Noble Lane, is the "crown jewel" for Akwaaba, and ended up being the location for the "Checked Inn" reality show. It was built and formerly owned by the Woolworth family, and carries significance for Monique that goes beyond its incredible architecture. As an African American business leader, owning a mansion that is connected to a company that would not serve her grandmother during segregation is a reminder of how much she has overcome and achieved in her career.

In this podcast, Monique discusses her background, the growth of the Akwaaba Bed & Breakfast Inns, her book titled, "Having What Matters: The Black Woman's Guide to Creating the Life You Really Want," and much more.

Our podcast is presented by the Frictionless Guest App, the digital concierge that helps your guests live like locals. To learn more, visit frictionlessguest.com.

Monica Edwards began her career as an innkeeper somewhat unexpectedly in 1997, when she and her husband opened the Morehead Manor Bed & Breakfast in Durham, North Carolina. Almost immediately, she chose to become involved with associations dedicated to helping the B&B industry and has continued to be a significant contributor to that cause ever since.

Monica continues to run Morehead Manor, while now also devoting her time to the African American Association of Innkeepers International (AAAii). Though only about one percent of all inns are owned by African Americans, AAAii is contributing to the success of existing owners and helping to build a community of aspiring innkeepers of color, with Monica at the helm.

In her 20-plus years as an innkeeper, she has learned that the guest experience is all about interacting with travelers through the entire booking process and sees herself as an ambassador for the Durham region. She excels at her craft, as is proven by her longevity and the fact that more than 90 percent of her guests book directly through the Morehead Manor website.

In this podcast, Monica discusses her career as an innkeeper, the mission of AAAii, how the role of B&B associations has evolved, and more.

Our podcast is presented by the Frictionless Guest App, the digital concierge that helps your guests live like locals. To learn more, visit frictionlessguest.com.

When people think of innkeepers, an image often comes to mind of a couple leaving the grind of the big city to own, operate and live at their property. While this is often the case, there has recently been a rise of investors/innkeepers that are purchasing and renovating unique properties, some of whom don't live on-site or manage the day-to-day work.

For individuals taking this path, many don't come from hospitality backgrounds, and need the right guidance for helping them make sound decisions to develop unique boutique/upscale properties that generate a solid return on their investment.

Linda Hayes lends her highly-experienced advice to these complex start-up ventures to enable investors/innkeepers to develop successful properties. She also provides consultation services to aspiring innkeepers searching for existing properties and existing innkeepers looking to improve operational systems, marketing, and the selection/development of support staff.

In this podcast, Linda discusses the various consulting services she provides, the rise of investors/innkeepers, and how the lodging arena needs to move beyond being "merchants of sleep" to focus on providing quality guest experiences.

Our podcast is presented by the Frictionless Guest App, the digital concierge that helps your guests live like locals. To learn more, visit frictionlessguest.com.