We are very proud to be hosting a group of travel writers from England this weekend, representing Sky Travel UK, Prima, and the UK representative of the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism.

The group will also be touring the Berkshires for three days, including visits to Cranwell, Tanglewood, Stockbridge, The Norman Rockwell Museum, The Red Lion Inn, Prime Outlets, Firefly Restaurant, Ventfort Hall Museum, Williamstown, The Clark Art Institute, North Adams and MassMoCa.    The tour is being coordinated by the Berkshire Visitors Bureau.

Press visits to Hampton Terrace have resulted in very positive exposure, including articles in USAToday, The WAG, BedandBreakfast.com and regional newspapers.   

We have so many interesting guests here at Hampton Terrace that it occurred to me that it might be fun to share some stories here in my blog.   Of course, everyone is special in his or her own way…..but let's limit this to those you might want to read about.

Several weeks ago Debra and Fred Zeller stayed over a weekend.    My background includes music promotion and the subject of music came up at breakfast..   It turns out that Fred has been a sound engineer at NBC, 30 Rock, for almost 30 years….about 10 as the sound engineer for Conan, and the last year doing the same for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.   Over the years he has met and worked  with virtually every celebrity and musical guest on the planet.    We talked about Macon, GA, my hometown, and the Allman Brothers, Marshall Tucker Band, etc.    I produced an Allman Brothers reunion in 1986 which turned out to be pivotal in reuniting the band after a 10-year break.

I get an e-mail a week later from Fred saying that The Allman Brothers were playing the Fallon Show on March 9th and he would hold tickets for me.  So Susan, my sister-in-law, my daughter and I went to New York to spend the day with Fred.    Fred got me in about 11 am for equipment set-up and sound check.   I was able to spend a couple of hours backstage and reconnect with some of the Allmans:   Jaimoe and Butch Trucks, the drummers.   Derek Trucks and Warren Haynes, guitarists.     Fred was old friends with some of their tech guys so we spent considerable time listening to road stories.   It was great.     I watched the band do a couple of noon run-throughs….and even though the technical crew at the Fallon Show had seen just about every act there is….they applauded the sound check.   This band has remained vibrant, fresh and tight, in spite of a 40-year career.  Their line-up changes have been careful and deliberate.

While Susan, Lynn and Lauren sat in the live studio audience, I got to sit in the sound production room with Fred.  The layout is not too much different than the cockpit of the space shuttle.    This guy is the ultimate multi-tasker.   His hands fly all over the board, flipping switches, pushing slides, punching buttons.   His chair rolls around his work space methodically as he moves from panel to panel.    I am hearing the director cueing cameras, sound augments, props.     Although I had seen an earlier run-through for the show (with a Fallon stand-in), it turns out the live production is pretty much like Saturday Night Live….theater on the fly.    They know that a really bad screw-up can be edited out before the evening show, but much is left in.   A spontaneous-looking performance is the goal.

And screw up this show did.   A national headlines-type screw up.   Jimmy had challenged guest Chelsea Handler to a martini making contest.   The goal was to make 3 martinis, grab them and race around the audience, return to the stage and dump them in a container to see who could spill the least over the contest.    Chelsea got back first, but the mess they both made had soaked the stage.   As Jimmy was running back to the  table his feet went straight up the in the air and he crashed on his back, breaking all three glasses.    When he got up, he was bleeding profusely from his hands.    It turned out not to be serious…. but it was terribly funny because with his Saturday Night Live experience, Jimmy was not stymied by the moment…and Chelsea Handler was so quick that she had two great one-liners within seconds.   The perfect guest for the moment.

I had the extra thrill of hearing and seeing the way the production booth handled the mishap.    Close-ups.   Slow motions.   A running gag for the rest of the show.    The injury turned out to be just minor cuts and Jimmy had the hand wrapped for the rest of the show.    It was not wrapped the next  night.

The Allmans, meanwhile, were fabulous.    I cannot thank Fred Zeller enough for giving us this unforgettable experience at 30 Rock.    Owning an inn has many types of rewards.

If you think this is the only guest story I've got….just wait.

For more than eight years, off-season weekend visitors to Hampton Terrace have visited Nejaimes Wine Shop in Lenox with a $30 Gift Certificate in hand, compliments of Hampton Terrace.

For the balance of March, leverage your $30 by taking advantage of their annual wine sale.    Many of their cases are marked down as much as 30% and many individual bottles are 50% off.    Why?    Makes no sense to me.   This store has become a destination for many from all over the Northeast.

The official excuse is that it is their 40th Anniversary.    But they do the same every year.    They also are hosting wine tastings every Saturday in March.   And on display are their large selections of cheeses, breads and complements.

A 2-night, off-season, weekend stay at Hampton Terrace includes the $30 Gift Card, full breakfast buffet, and 30% discount on a 3rd night.   We have 14 rooms, most featuring fireplaces and Jacuzzis.   #1 on Trip Advisor in Lenox.     We look forward to seeing you.

Iconic dance festival, Jacob's Pillow, in its 78th Season, announced it 2010 schedule recently and tickets are on sale today, March 1.

Beginning June 23rd, the line-up includes Nina Ananiashvili, the Dance Theatre of Harlem, Le Ballets de Montreal, Camile A. Brown, Barak Marshall's "Monger," Shantala Shivalingappa, Armitage Gone!, Pichet Klunchun, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company, Jacoby and Pronk, CND2, Monica Bill Barnes & Company, Trey McIntyre, Yin Mei, Les Ballets Trockadero, Kyle Abraham, The Goteborg Ballet, Lucy Guerin, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and the Vanaver Caravan.   For information or tickets, CLICK HERE.

An insider's tip.   Enjoy Jacob's Pillow performances mid-week and save up to 30% at Hampton Terrace in Lenox.   CLICK HERE to learn about our mid-week discounts.

We are very proud at Hampton Terrace of our loyal customer base.   There are more than 4,000 couples who remain on our newsletter list, even though opting out is one click away.    We are equally proud that our summers fill each year with more than 50% repeat visitation.

We are careful about sending out our e-mail newsletters, knowing that an abuse of our valuable e-mail list will result in more opt-outs.  So we limit our newsletters to about three per year….two of them pertaining to important dates involving Tanglewood.   The third features off-season specials.

So we see Facebook as a terrific opportunity for those guests who want to hear more from us to voluntarily do so.    Through Facebook we will be offering last-minute specials, discounts and values….and as importantly….we will keep you in touch with interesting Berkshire activities….for example…last night was the inaugural lighting of the new Westinghouse Street Lights in the village.    A little known fact:   Lenox was among the first towns in America to have electrically lit streets, due to the fact that George Westinghouse's wife did not like the dark ride from her summer home into the village.   He was in  the process of installing street lights in downtown Niagra Falls, so she leaned on him to  throw a few around Lenox.    Now, 100 years later, there are still a few of the original (although non-working) lights around town, which served the role of allowing us to make exact replicas for the newly restored Lenox streetscape.   

The town leaders turned out last night, dressed in full turn-of-the-century formality, to flip on the new lights.   You could have been here.    Future Facebook fans of Hampton Terrace will hear about such fun opportunities.  CLICK HERE!

Every year we schedule major upgrades at Hampton Terrace, and this year involves all new flooring  in our Wynnstay Cottage.    Our Living Room area (shown) now has a durable hardwood-style planking with area rugs to aid areas that have always had too much traffic for carpet.

And the guest rooms, as of yesterday, are newly carpeted with some bold new color changes.    All-in-all, a hugely positive experience for us…a chance to rebuild all of the beds to make sure they are solid, clean behind and under furniture which has not been moved in a while…    We get a lot of repeat visitation in our Wynnstay Cottage (6 guest rooms, all with gas fireplaces and Jacuzzis) and I cannot wait to hear the reactions.

Last night we were fortunate to be invited by our friend, Elizabeth Aspenlieder, to the premier of "Les Liasons Dangereuses" at Shakespeare & Company, located just two blocks from us.   She was playing the lead role, Marquise de Merteuil, in what has become a theater classic.

Beside being a wonderful and intimate production (no different than other quality offerings from this well-established presenter) we were reminded how lucky we are in the Berkshires.   And I speak not only as someone who lives here, but also from the point of view of our visitors.   In a pre-show welcome, director (and founder of Shakespeare & Company) Tina Packer offered that a mid-winter presentation was S&Co's contribution to the effort to turn the Berkshires into a four-season cultural destination.    This is a fully costumed production of 12 actors.    Not a low-risk proposition.

That is not to say that we have not always attracted skiers, outdoor enthusiasts, and those who enjoy a nice inn with fireplaces.    But to offer theater such as this, on cold winter weekends, is to up the ante with all those who want to grow the "Berkshire Creative Economy."

It is our pleasure and obligation to help make that effort pay.    So if you are considering a trip to the Berkshires between now and March 21, know that you have four opportunities to see "Les Liasons Dangereuses" per weekend:    2 evening performances and 2 matinee performances.    Tickets are available for $12 to $48 by calling 413-637-3353, or by going to Shakespeare & Company.

And consider a stay at Hampton Terrace.   Our Romantic Weekend Package applies…which includes a $30 gift certificate to the local wine/gourmet food shop in town.   Imagine a glass of wine and some cheese in front of our living room fireplace, and then an evening immersion with scheming 18th century aristocrats.    That is what we did last night.   

Before Marti Mayne of BedandBreakfast.com visited Hampton Terrace a couple of years ago on a tour of Berkshire inns, she checked out our website.   I had always been told that we had a good website, but deep down I was not so sure.

After her stay, she volunteered that our inn photography undersold our inn, and that we should give serious thought to an upgrade.   She put me in touch with Mark and Matthew of Jumping Rocks Photography and the rest, as they say, is history.   In November 2008, they spent a couple of days shooting all of our guest rooms, and by January 2009, Kathy Barto and I had created a whole new website to showcase our pictures.    The impact was immediate and profound.

Our 2009 occupancy was 25% higher than 2008, in spite of the economy.   Most impressively, our off-season occupancy (all months except July, August and October) was up 60%!     The power of good images.

This increase got us noticed by USAToday as well.  

So next month in Austin, Texas, when PAII holds their annual convention, Jumping Rocks has asked permission to use Hampton Terrace as an example of the impact of good photography on a website.    Could not be more pleased to help out the guys who so profoundly helped us.

We are pleased to share that you can now  be a fan of Hampton Terrace, with a special set of benefits to be associated with that.    By following us on Facebook (and soon Twitter) you will be the first to know about special events here and in  the Berkshires, last-minute availabiilty, associated discounts, and other items of interest.  

CLICK HERE to register as a fan.

Last week, Hampton Terrace and Lenox MA were featured by USA Today in a centerpiece story about the bed and breakfast industry.

A stay by Travel Editor Laura Bly was predicated by a Professional Association of Innkeeper's Survey which indicated that in spite of the current economic environment, inns and b&bs nationally were not only surviving, but bucking trends that were causing the lodging industry in general to be down almost 30% in 2009.    Most inns are showing flat to slightly negative trends….and some, including Hampton Terrace, are demonstrating significantly higher revenues as more travelers take vacations within driving distance of their homes.

Ms. Bly contacted BedandBreakfast.com, the largest on-line inn directory, to inquire what US destination might best exemplify this trend, and they recommended Lenox, Massachusetts as one of the best concentrations of upscale inns in the country.   They went on to single out Hampton Terrace, sharing that our 2009 numbers through June were 60% above comparable 2008 dates.    Our summer also continued this trend, with revenue up almost 20%, in spite of the fact that we did  not raise our rates, and it is hard to squeeze more room nights in when you are already almost sold out.

To see the actual article, CLICK HERE.

We credit our success at Hampton Terrace to many factors, not the least of which is our loyal base of returning guests…..friends who consider us a "home away from home."   As a matter of fact, Sandra Aplin of Boca Raton, Florida said exactly that  in the USA Today article.    Another factor is our attention to guest reviews, especially on Trip  Advisor.    Before check-in, we e-mail every guest to let them know that they should alert us of any issues or improvements to their stay WHILE THEY ARE HERE, so that we can address them.   Then immediately upon their departure they get another e-mail from us asking how things went.    This is important because most negative Trip Advisor reviews result from unaddressed guest issues….and we do not want there to be any at all.   So we have spent most of the last two  years sitting at the top of the Trip Advisor rankings for Lenox..    With more than two dozen inns, that is an important accomplishment.

Finally, to distinguish ourselves from a plain vanilla hotel stay, we make  sure we communicate that staying at Hampton Terrace is an EXPERIENCE.    A chance to "Turn Back the Clock to the Gilded Age."   And we price our rooms to make people feel they have received a good VALUE.    Ms. Bly wanted to know how much we were discounting in order to maintain our revenues this  year.   Our answer is that we have not  had to discount at all….other than our normal price breaks for off-season and mid-week.   That is contrary to the deep discounting trends that are haunting the lodging industry in general.  

When your hotel room looks the same in Tulsa as San Diego, and when a traveler has the option of getting off Interstate Exit 89 or 90, then price does play a role.    An experience at Hampton Terrace?    Priceless.    Well, not really, but you understand the concept.