We are very sad to hear that you were disappointed with your stay. Customer service for guests staying in our home is our number one priority, and for this reason we overstaff our family owned and operated facility to strive to make certain that any needs of guests while in our home are met.

It is a painful setback for us to discover that some guests do not feel that we have done enough. Indirectly, it is our guests that dictate how we have come to run our bed and breakfast. Through years of close interaction with our return guests, we have been able to form long-lasting bonds and friendships. Through email and guest satisfaction/improvement surveys we make available to everyone, we have tailored our operations as best as possible to balance a level of interaction that would foster the most satisfaction for our valued guests, in respecting their privacy and providing full enjoyment of the relaxing environment that they are seeking. This balance, as this critique demonstrates is not always easy to find. We do know, however, that those who interact with the staff during breakfast and engage them throughout their visit have the highest level of satisfaction. In an intimate setting like a bed and breakfast however, privacy seems to be the biggest concern. In response to that, we established the policy of honoring our guest’s privacy by not entering the guest’s rooms while they are with us (outside of an emergency) unless they request for us to do so. It is our intention to stress to the guests during orientation at check-in that they may decline this offer. If a guest would like the housekeeping staff to refresh the room on a daily basis, we are more than happy and ready to do so, as the staff is eager to please. Special attention to the room can be requested at any time. Usually guests take this opportunity at the breakfast table if they have changed their minds about servicing the room since check-in. Additionally, there are many staff members on-hand during the day and night should any needs arise, and they can be reached on the phone at any time. The phone number is provided in all of our written materials and posted throughout the hotel. There is also a courtesy phone on each floor. It seems however that we may have overlooked the fact that some guests, like yourself, choose to skip breakfast and otherwise choose not to engage the staff may also be reluctant to ask for additional services, mistakenly thinking that the staff is seeking to avoid their duties. We can assure you that this is not the case. Therefore, we are devising a plan whereby all guests may tag their doors with a hangtag that will be provided so they can communicate to the staff through nonverbal means of a desire to have room service.

The goal of the hotel is to provide a historic bed and breakfast experience for our guests, along the lines of a living museum. We believe that it is crucial that the guests come to understand the circumstances surrounding the unique facility and the community that it serves. We have chosen for the hotel atmosphere to be as close to the original ambiance of the late 1920s as can be reasonably recreated today, and hope that we have brought back an experience that imitates what would have been practiced in hotels near the close of the roaring 20's. To this end we furnish the rooms and hotel with antique and antique-style furnishings, many of which have been part of the local culture since that time, often coming out of the homes of multigenerational families from our wonderful community. This furniture has been accumulated from local antique shops, estate sales, and many pieces have been donated to the facility from private collections of local residents who wish to preserve the family history. Every piece has been hand selected to be in a particular room with great care, then is lovingly and thoughtfully cared for and restored on a regular basis. We love the rooms, we love the history of the furniture, and we take great satisfaction in displaying them at their best. As a result every room in the facility and every piece of furniture is painstakingly rejuvenated approximately every three years. Through meticulous study of the hotel’s original furnishings and those of that era, we also strive to locate the original pieces from the facility (as is the case in two of the three rooms you occupied) that fulfill this purpose of an appropriate recreation of the time and place. Not all of the pieces therefore are national treasures, but many are local treasures having a deep and rich history that connect them directly to the building or the community, and we are grateful to honor the descendants of the families that sought to find a safe home for them. Additionally, the towels and linens are updated on a regular basis. They may seem a little stiffer than you may be accustomed, as the Hotel does not use fabric softeners or harsh soaps. However, the Hotel will specially treat the towels and linens in your room at no additional cost, at your request. If you would prefer virgin towels, they will be provided for you. In addition, hotel guests can request that their sheets, blankets and towels, after sterilizing be rinsed and air-dried on clotheslines, which is the only process we use for some of our finest handmade Amish quilts. Our cleaning staff takes great care in evaluating the condition of the room items to make sure they are of a standard appropriate to our guests. Should they need to be retired before the end of their natural cycle, they are removed from hotel use and used by the staff. A good deal of the rooms now feature the hand-made Amish quilts, which were hand selected by our staff members and brought to the facility from New York. They are of the highest quality. We know the quilters personally, and we do take pride in being able to talk about their history and also to provide them to our guests for use. Likewise, the beds and pillows are also checked and refreshed on a regular basis. Our guest’s comfort is our greatest concern. Although all of the mattresses are new, they are custom made. We know from experience that custom mattresses are not an exacting science, and as a result some are firmer or softer than others. They are often as unique as the guests that sleep on them. If there is a room with a bed or pillow that does not provide a comfortable night’s sleep, we ask our guests to let us know while they are here to allow us to address that bed’s eccentricities so as to ensure their comfort now and for future guests. Guests can opt to move to a different room if one is available. We will also change the mattress, if possible, or add a feather top.

The antique elevator can only be operated by the staff. This is by order of law, and we agree that it is the best for everyone’s safety, as only the staff is trained to safely operate the antique lift. Historically, this elevator has never been operated by a member of the public, but rather has always had a trained elevator operator. Maintaining the operation of our 1926 Otis Elevator is a huge part of the historic restoration and ambiance, and we both appreciate and greatly treasure it. We do understand that for those who cannot use the stairs, calling the staff can be an inconvenience for the guest or seem like an inconvenience for the staff member. However, we love operating the elevator and there is always someone nearby eager to take you on an adventure in one of the country’s last remaining elevators of its kind. The wait is usually no longer than that experienced by pressing an elevator’s call button at modern facilities.

The choice of breakfast that we offer is the same as was provided in the original era of the hotel. The price we charge for the accommodation is reasonable and therefore it is fitting that a traditional breakfast is what we have chosen to provide. This is not the breakfast that you would find at most modern B&B's, but neither is the reasonable affordability of the accommodation. Your eggs are still cooked to order, in the same manner as a bygone era. In addition, there are hand-mixed pancakes and waffles, waiting to be smothered in genuine New England Maple Syrup. There is also sausage, crispy maple-glazed bacon, oatmeal and "Southern grits" available. Additionally, bagels, toast, cereal, yogurt and coffee are available without wait during breakfast hours. If anyone has special needs, we will always do our best to accommodate them, but we ask that these requests, if possible, be made one day in advance. We will be including with all future confirmations of reservations a tip sheet that will let people know what to expect and how to make the best of their stay at the facility, and to allow them to tailor some of the special needs that they may have such as choice of breakfast. However, we are very sorry that you chose not to accept the hospitality that was offered at breakfast and to have given us the opportunity to have a meeting of the minds and to reach your needs. As far as the coffee cups, we generally direct our guests when they are finished with their coffee cup to leave it in the lobby sink, so we know that they are finished. Our staffer said you asked where to put the cups, and the sink, which was eight feet away, was suggested. It seems to be a convenient location next to the coffee station for guests to deposit them, and cups are removed from the guest sink on a regular basis for cleaning in the bed and breakfast kitchen. While we are always more than happy to pick them up from any location that is convenient for our guests, we suggest the sink so that the common room tables and furniture remain clear for use by other guests entering into the breakfast area. Leaving coffee cups outside the guest's rooms and not carrying them to the breakfast area is also a viable option for our guest’s convenience.

We are constantly experimenting with different forms of soundproofing. Despite our best efforts within the law, there are noises from the outside that do intrude sometimes. The interior rooms are much quieter than the exterior rooms. The interior patio and roof of the hotel is connected to the hotel’s fire escape stairs on the back of the building, providing an access for wild cats to occasionally enter. It is unusual for a cat to howl in the middle of the building, especially for any length of time without staff noticing it or guests contacting us of the disturbance. If any noise does persist, guests are always invited to contact us so that we can handle it appropriately, and to the satisfaction of the guest. We ask anyone if there is such an occurrence to call us to allow us to deal with it at the time and diminish any negative experience you may be experiencing that is within our control. It was recorded on our rear alley security camera that a cat briefly "howled" prior to the city curfew of 10 P.M. on the first night of your visit and was seen on camera entering and immediately exiting the fire exit area. There were no further disturbances recorded by security that night or for the rest of your stay. We did put an enclosed cat box on the interior roof for those occasions when cats do get into that area. It is our hope that if they need a “facility” they will use the box rather than the roof area or patio furniture. This box has helped in our efforts in this area. The interior roof and box are checked and cleaned on a daily basis to ensure the cleanest possible environment for the guests. In addition, the wild cats are spade, neutered, given shots and treated for fleas and mites by many concerned citizens in the area. They provide an invaluable and effective service of rodent eradication, as living so close to the lake would normally be a problem, and for that valuable service we feel somewhat obligated to offer them at the very least ample food and clean restroom facilities.

When the hotel was constructed in 1926, indoor plumbing was still in its infancy by modern standards. There are intricacies inherent with the original plumbing that were later corrected by modern technology and new apparatuses. In keeping with the full restoration of the facility, the eccentricities of the restored plumbing are an inherent part of the 1920's experience, when indoor plumbing was a new marvel. However, we are aware that camping for some means a travel trailer and not a tent; therefore there are rooms that can be provided that have modern plumbing when available. When the rooms are cleaned and refreshed, all of the plumbing is checked to ensure that the showers function, the toilets flush, and the sinks are working without drips. However, sometimes these things do occur. If we are advised of an issue, we can do our best to correct the problem on the spot to the best of our ability. We also have a plumber at the hotel on an almost daily basis to correct any fittings or fixtures that need replacement due to normal wear and tear. Water conservation is a huge concern for us. As a result, a plumber regularly services all of our plumbing fixtures. We rarely find leaking plumbing due to his diligence and preventative measures. The staff and the plumber failed to find any plumbing issue in the rooms you occupied. Upon inspection of the entire facility, there were no dripping faucets or showerheads found. We are therefore much at a loss to explain your experience.

Again, we are sorry that during your stay, we could not live up to your expectations. We do wish that we would have been advised of some of these issues during your stay to allow us to mitigate the annoyance and make your stay the best that it could have been. We welcome all comment and input to help make us better. Thank you for taking the time to offer a critique on these areas. It allows us to meet and evaluate and have serious discussions over all these issues to see where we can do better for the next guest. If there are additional ideas that you or anyone has to help us to provide greater customer service for our guests, we would greatly appreciate any further input you have on the subject. We can be reached by phone or e-mail at any time. Thank you again for helping us to provide greater service to our guests.