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Bed & Breakfast Owner

Hospitality: Brampton Bed & Breakfast Inn, Chestertown, MD
  Book This Career Mentorship
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Do you want to be a Bed & Breakfast Owner?

Hospitality: the kindness of welcoming guests or strangers. Is there always an extra seat at your table? Do you have a genuine interest in making people feel welcome and pampered? Are you a Renaissance man or woman who believes they can do anything – i.e. decorate, cook, clean, garden – all with a smile? Then owning a bed & breakfast may be the right match for your personality and skills. Check in with Danielle Hanscom, at the Brampton Bed & Breakfast Inn in historic Chestertown, Maryland, (just 1 ½ hours from Philadelphia, Baltimore or Washington D.C.) for a VocationVacations® career mentorship on how to become a bed & breakfast owner.

Danielle grew up in Switzerland and always loved to travel. She became a flight attendant for Swissair in the early 70’s and had the opportunity to travel all over the world. “I related to the hospitality side of my job as an attendant,” remembers Danielle.

After she stopped flying, Danielle met and married her American-born husband Michael and returned with him to San Francisco. “We wanted children, and we wanted to do something that would allow us to stay home with them and make a living,” says Danielle. The idea of owning a bed & breakfast sounded like a good solution. A move to the East Coast in 1987 resulted in their finding and purchasing the house that would become the Brampton Bed & Breakfast Inn.

The house dated back to the mid 1800’s and had fallen on hard times. With the approval of the National Historic Registry, Danielle and Michael used photos and oral histories to restore the original Antebellum design, and then added modern amenities. “The inn is unique in many ways, but particularly the large size of the rooms. The smallest is
14 ft. x 18 ft.,” Danielle explains.” The inn opened with two rooms, and today has seven rooms, two suites and three separate cottages. One of the cottages is pet-friendly, an unusual feature for a bed & breakfast. “This cottage has been very popular.”

Danielle’s European influence is found throughout the inn with its high ceilings, fireplaces and elegant furniture. “Ours is a romantic inn offering comfort and quality designed to help people relax, reconnect and come away refreshed,” describes Danielle. This luxurious inn is featured in the Select Registry and Karen Brown Guides.

“Michael and I work full-time even with a two full-time and four part-time staff,” says Danielle. Their job requires great people skills, flexibility and the willingness to deal with anything even if it is 11 p.m. Danielle also believes it is important to be a part of the community and earn their support and respect. “You need to know your community and become involved,” explains Danielle. She has been president of the county lodging association, is involved with the local Literary Club, hosts luncheons for groups and assists with the Christmas home tour.

“The bed & breakfast industry has evolved tremendously since we opened more than 20 years ago,” believes Danielle. “Bed & breakfasts are no longer an extra room in the house with a bathroom down the hall. They are much more sophisticated in response to the demands of travelers for more and more amenities.” However, she does not feel there is a real competition between bed & breakfasts and traditional hotels as they offer different experiences and appeal to different audiences. “But what is interesting, is all the hotels that have started including breakfast with their rooms.”

Becoming a bed & breakfast owner was the right choice for Danielle and Michael. “But, it would have been great to have had a mentor when we first started out,” says Danielle. Now, with more than twenty years experience, Danielle wants to be a mentor for others interested in discovering if a bed & breakfast is the right choice for them, too.

While on your Bed & Breakfast Owner VocationVacations® career mentorship with Danielle Hanscom at the Brampton Bed & Breakfast Inn, activities will include some or all of the following:
  • Consider your personal mission, expectations, limitations and finances
  • Learn how to match your temperament and energy level to a hospitality style choice
  • Learn strategies to balance personal life, time, family and friends, working with a spouse, and maintaining your health with a 24/7/365 occupation
  • Discuss emotional elements of the job, innkeeper burnout risk factors
  • Interact and serve inn guests – the most important and most enjoyable aspect of the job
  • Learn professional concierge skills, how to make effective and engaging small talk, phone sales techniques and strategies for dealing with difficult guests
  • Hear hilarious guest stories – many lessons learned
  • Learn hands-on food preparation and meal service – menu planning, grocery shopping strategies, food handling requirements, cooking and baking skills, food presentation, food trends, dietary restrictions table service
  • Participate in a round of housekeeping – learn bed making, laundry and closet management, stain removal, etc.
  • Experience immersed interaction with staff as “family” – learn the ethical responsibilities in hiring, training, motivating, insuring and firing
  • Full tour of facility systems, i.e. telephone, wireless internet, plumbing, heating and cooling, electric, hot water, food and supply storage, etc.
  • Discuss interior design options – learn some tried and true decorating tips. Learn techniques to minimize guest damage to furniture, walls, beds, appliances, etc.
  • Hands-on computer training with reservation software – learn about online reservations, other sources of reservations, i.e. Travelocity
  • Learn typical office organization, view useful internal forms
  • Discuss examples of typical inn policies, i.e. late cancellation, smoking, etc. and learn techniques to enforce them
  • Discuss website creation, maintenance, web tracking. Discuss Web-based marketing strategies, advertising and promotion. Consider brochure options
  • Discuss business issues, licensing, safety, cash flow, credit card rules, taxes, insurance, budgeting, tracking and forecasting
  • Discuss the pros and cons of specific locations
  • Learn about networking opportunities, essential local, state and national associations, and innkeeper training seminars
  • Consider how to be a “green” inn, recycling, reduction of paper use, etc.
  • Seize the opportunity to make a lifelong friend and business mentor
The Bed & Breakfast Owner VocationVacations® career mentorship with Danielle Hanscom at the Brampton Bed & Breakfast Inn:
  • Two days of one-on-one mentorship in your dream job as a Bed & Breakfast Owner
  • The opportunity to participate in a total of one hour of pre- and post- VocationVacations career coaching from an accredited, affiliated VocationVacations career coach
  • Light lunches with your mentor

Available: Based on mentor's availability

Price: $899 Per Person

Book This Career Mentorship



Required Accommodations

Brampton Inn

(Minimum two-night stay required, not included in the price of the VocationVacations® holiday)

Other activities and tourist destinations while on your VocationVacations® adventure:
Reservation, Cancellation and Rescheduling Rules and Conditions:
Each requested date for a VocationVacation is 100% dependent upon the mentor’s approval of dates.  Each Vocationer is required to sign a liability release stating that they are 18 years or older, 21 years or older if the VocationVacation involves the production or serving of alcohol.  Full payment of the VocationVacation is required to make a reservation. A $100 non-refundable fee is assessed if a VocationVacations experience is cancelled or rescheduled prior to 14-days of the scheduled VocationVacations holiday, based on the approved availability of the mentor to reschedule. A VocationVacation cannot be rescheduled and is non-refundable if cancelled within 14 days of the scheduled VocationVacations holiday. Written notification of cancellation or rescheduling is required in all cases.  Grounded Nomads, LLC dba VocationVacations encourages all customers to acquire travel insurance to cover any unforeseen expenses due to cancellation or rescheduling.