It should come as no surprise that my closest friends are innkeepers. Right now, most of them are at the Innkeeping Conference put on by PAII (Professional Association of Innkeepers International) in Little Rock, Arkansas. They’re posting on facebook, and sending me email, and telling me what I’m missing… as if I didn’t know!
At last year’s PAII convention, in Charleston, I took reams of notes. Everything from wedding contracts to food photography was covered, including all the stuff you expect to see about internet presence and good website design and stain removal and breakfast recipes. There was an astonishing amount of information – far more than I could absorb – and I’ve still only put about 20% into practice. (Isn’t that always the way?) So I really didn’t have an excuse to spend the thousands of dollars it would have cost to attend the conference this year. Cardinal rule: All Expenditures Must Be Justified. And I couldn’t very well justify it as play time, since we just spent the first part of a week in New Orleans with a dozen of us, and then a bunch of us went sailing to the Caribbean. Oh yes, I qualify for the ‘plays well with others’ t-shirt.
Lots of information from the conference is online for me, and we have friends/innkeepers in attendance who are coming to visit us when it’s over, and I’m sure they’ll be bubbling over with insights and new products from the vendor floor. And still… I am sooooooo jealous. I want to hang out with my buds! I want to take reams of notes! I want to try new stuff! I want to… um… sleep on substandard hotel sheets with flat pillows and get up predawn to drink hotel coffee with powdered creamer from a styrofoam cup and hike to the convention floor… no… wait… (Oh baby, B&Bs have spoiled me rotten for the good stuff.)
[SIGH] Ok, that’s the stuff you put up with to go to the conference. But it’s worth it. It is. And next year, I’ll be back at the PAII conference.
That is, unless I can get ten besties onto another cruise ship.
Now: If only we could convince the cruise lines to make a wonderful breakfast…
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