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Life as an innkeeper

More Americans trading corporate jobs for hospitality = business

The Sea View Inn on Pawleys=20 Island, South=20 Carolina

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BOSTON, Massachusetts (Reuters) -- = Trading a=20 powerful corporate job for fixing toilets is not everyone's idea = of=20 personal improvement. But for Brian Henry it also meant swapping = clogged=20 highways for empty beaches and managing his own business.

Worn out after 12 years as an executive at Coca-Cola and = Andersen=20 Consulting, Henry, 38, changed course four years ago and moved his = young=20 family from Atlanta, Georgia, to Pawleys Island, South Carolina, = to run=20 the decades-old Sea View Inn.

The electrical engineer is among a growing number of Americans = longing=20 for a slower pace of life who elect to stay home as innkeepers, = embarking=20 on second careers that can be as tough as any job but often more = fun and=20 fulfilling.

"This is a full time job that is very physical because you are = on the=20 front lines managing, marketing and sometimes even washing = dishes," Henry=20 said. "You can't be an innkeeper and just manage. You have to do = it."

Already half of America's estimated 22,000 small inns provide = the=20 primary income for their owners and industry statistics show that = more and=20 more younger couples are digging into savings to buy existing = properties=20 or build from scratch.

Nancy Stowell White, 43, quit as admissions director at a small = private=20 school to buy the Sudbury Inn with her husband, Bill, in Bethel, = Maine.=20 Deb and Ken Withrow traded working at large hotels in New York for = running=20 Nantucket's Union Street Inn, fulfilling a lifelong dream to own = their own=20 hostelry after an exhausting two-year search for the perfect = property.

"Innkeeping is a profession that offers a sense of the human = touch and=20 contact with people, and it is an alternative career to working = for a=20 large corporation," said Nancy Novogrod, editor in chief at travel = magazine Travel + Leisure.

It also offers owners perks like squeezing in a swim or hike = instead of=20 battling traffic home after work.

Growing competition

But as Americans fit more relaxation into less time, innkeeping = is=20 becoming a competitive and sophisticated segment of the $113 = billion=20 lodging industry, forcing owners to make business plans and spend=20 thousands of dollars to woo guests.

"Today's owners are making a big investment in running a = business,"=20 said Pam Horovitz, president of the Professional Association of = Innkeepers=20 International, a trade group. "The days of renting a spare room = are pretty=20 much gone."

The group does not keep statistics on average room rates or how = much=20 prices have climbed, but a handful of owners said they have been = able=20 charge steadily more over the last five years with several = reporting rate=20 increases of up to 40 percent.

Indeed, inns like Nantucket's Union Street Inn and the Inn at=20 Stonington are often booked solid in summer months when visitors = pay more=20 than $400 per night for a room cooled by ocean breezes near sandy=20 beaches.

On Maine's remote Isle au Haut, reachable only by boat, = visitors are=20 lured by the ocean and other intangibles. Owner Jeff Burke isn't = shy about=20 listing what his popular Keeper's House Inn does not have: No = Television,=20 No Fax, No E-mail, No Internet and No Electricity.

But he recently bought a generator-driven desalination machine = to=20 remove salt from ocean water for use at the inn.

"Finally we have good water here," Burke said, adding he also = succumbed=20 after years of avoiding computers and installed a Web-based = reservation=20 system. "What people like is the duality we offer between the = primitive=20 and the supreme."

Going upscale

At Henry's Sea View Inn in South Carolina, a new roof, fresh = paint and=20 attentive housekeepers keep the inn looking fresh. "The area = prides itself=20 on being arrogantly shabby but we don't want to take it too far at = the=20 inn," he said.

Other owners, competing to deliver the luxuries guests get on = business=20 travel, hire decorators and top chefs to offer memorable vacations = on a=20 smaller scale. And nearly everyone is label conscious about towels = and=20 sheets with men and women alike boasting about thread counts, or = the=20 number of vertical and horizontal fibers woven in one inch of=20 material.

"The thread count wars are definitely on in the inn business," = said=20 Withrow in Nantucket, describing the elegant sheets and towels = used at the=20 Union Street Inn.

Every winter, when their inn closes for a few weeks, the = Withrows=20 renovate three rooms, working with an interior designer to choose = new=20 fabrics and color schemes. "The trend in inns lately has been to = go=20 upscale," Withrow said.

The Inn at Stonington, located on the waterfront in the fishing = village=20 of Stonington, Connecticut, even accommodates guests arriving by = yacht,=20 offering space at the inn's dock.

Manager Anne Starzec said visitors enjoy the hotel's intimate = yet=20 elegant atmosphere, including gas fireplaces and marble bathrooms=20 outfitted with Frette towels and Jacuzzis. "People definitely like = the=20 amenities."

Owners who run these inns often do not count on making great = riches=20 themselves, at least at first. But as the business picks up many = find this=20 is a good way to make a living.

The Whites of Maine bought the Sudbury Inn when it lost $80,000 = every=20 year, but after 5-1/2 years of hard work, including roughly = $100,000 in=20 property improvements every year, the couple now have $300,000 = available=20 for debt service.

And they've fully funded their retirement plan every year since = buying=20 the inn. "It is a comfortable lifestyle in a region of the world = we both=20 want to live in, and we now own an asset that is producing = revenues that=20 are three times larger than when we bought it," Nancy Stowell = White=20 said.

"We were prepared to make less money than in Atlanta," the Sea = View=20 Inn's Brian Henry said, adding "But every year the occupancy rate = has gone=20 up and we didn't take a pay cut."

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