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Bed & Breakfast Owner

Hospitality: Rookwood Inn, Lenox, MA
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Do you want to be a Bed & Breakfast Owner?

Looking for a career in hospitality that is high touch with high satisfaction? Are you truly a “people” person no matter if that person is Type A, B or XYZ? Are you a multi-tasker who can wield a hammer, navigate a computer program, mix up a great omelet and not break a sweat? Then there may be a “vacancy” for you as the owner of a bed and breakfast. Amy Lindner-Lesser, owner of The Rookwood Inn located in The Berkshires just 2 1 /2 hours from both Boston and New York City, has the welcome mat out for you. Join her for a VocationVacations® career mentorship to learn how to become a bed and breakfast owner.

Owning a bed and breakfast was a long-time dream of Amy Linder-Lesser and her husband Steve. Both Amy and Steve grew up in New York and vacationed in the nearby Berkshires. That was one of the things they had in common. They also had both chosen social work for their careers, and that was how they met.

But, as is often the case, they decided to put their dreams of owning a bed and breakfast on hold until after their daughters were out of college. They went on to spend 20 years in the field of social work. However, when they received an inheritance when Steve’s mother died, they reconsidered their plans. “We decided to stop thinking about it and do something about it,” says Amy. “You never know what the future will hold.”

Amy and Steve began researching and taking classes on operating a bed and breakfast. Their early childhood experiences in the The Berkshires drew them back to the area and resulted in their discovering the historic Rookwood Inn. Their mutual love of Victorian architecture made the inn a great choice. “We knew it was meant to be when we realized the red and green paint we had used on our own Victorian home in Philadelphia was named ‘Rookwood’,” laughs Amy. “Then it turned out the day in 1996 we finalized the purchase of the inn, would have been Steve’s mother’s 70th birthday.” Her legacy had turned their dream into a reality.

The 19-rooms at The Rookwood Inn are furnished with English and American antiques, Oriental rugs and period wallpapers. The exterior of the inn reflects a multi-color Victorian palette. “The inn is very Victorian in looks, but very ‘unstuffy’ in practice,” describes Amy. The inn’s Berkshire location provides guests easy access to a wide variety of cultural and natural attractions.

Owning a bed and breakfast is both a physical and intellectual challenge. Amy has one full-time employee and two to four hourly employees depending on the time of year. With limited staffing, Amy stresses the importance of cross-training all employees as much as possible. Unlike many bed and breakfasts, The Rookwood Inn accepts children. “Children are our future guests. Plus, I enjoy giving children the chance to learn about and appreciate antiques,” explains Amy.

As an innkeeper, Amy stresses the need to always maintain your composure, not take things too personally, be a “Jack of All Trades”, and be able to do a good job at selling your community, your property and yourself….and make all of this look easy. “An innkeeper should look like a duck gliding effortlessly on the water. But if you look beneath the surface, you find they are paddling as fast as they can,” laughs Amy.

Unfortunately, Amy’s husband Steve passed away a few years after the couple purchased the inn. But, Amy has continued to successfully operate the inn and remains committed to providing a special experience. “We want our guests to feel like they have entered a fairy tale, kind of a Cinderella castle retreat that magically takes all their stress away,” Amy says.

Maybe it is time for you to discover if owning a bed and breakfast is your own fairy tale come true.

While on your Bed and Breakfast Owner VocationVacations® career mentorship with Amy Lindner-Lesser at The Rookwood 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 within 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, strategies for dealing with difficult guests. Hear hilarious guest stories, many lessons learned.
  • Participate in hands- on food preparation and meal service, learn 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, and learn to spot check a room, etc.
  • Experience immersed interaction with staff as “family”, learn the legal and ethical responsibilities of hiring, training, motivating, insuring, and firing.
  • Receive full tour of facility systems, i.e. telephone, cable TV, wireless internet, plumbing, heating and cooling, electric, hot water, food and supply storage, security systems
  • Discuss interior design options; learn some tried and true decorating tips. Learn techniques to minimize guest damage to furniture, walls, beds, appliances, etc.
  • Receive hands- on computer training with reservation software, learn about online reservations, other sources of reservations. 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. Learn how, why and when to write a press release. Discuss Web-based marketing strategies, advertising and promotion. Consider brochure options.
  • Discuss aspect of a business plan to submit to a lending institution subject to particpants’ time, interest and ability. Discuss business issues, variable mortgages, cash flow, lines of credit, credit card rules, taxes, insurance, accounting, bank account management, budgeting, tracking and forecasting.
  • 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.
  • Tour other local B&Bs, meet the innkeepers, experience varied marketplace and hospitality options. If scheduling permits, participate in a relaxed “social hour” discussion of your inn keeping concerns with a panel of experienced innkeepers.
The Bed and Breakfast Owner VocationVacations® career mentorship with Amy Lindner-Lesser at The Rookwood Inn includes:
  • 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
  • A pocket-size VocationVacations journal so you can document your dream job coming to reality
  • Light lunches with your mentor

Available: All year based on mentor's availability

Price: $799 Per Person

Book This Career Mentorship

This VocationVacations Mentorship has the following options available:
2 days - $799
3 Days - $1049
4 Days - $1299


Required Accommodations

Rookwood Inn

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