Small Business Continues to Rise Against Big Competition: Scarborough Fair B&B Wins TripAdvisor's Fourth Consecutive Certificate of Excllence

I thought you might be interested in hearing about a six room bed and breakfast in Baltimore, Maryland that continues to come out on top of the accommodations industry, despite the amount of competition posed by the big competition of big name properties such as the Four Seasons, Kimpton Hotels, Marriott, and many more. 

Scarborough Fair Bed & Breakfast is owned by Barry Werner and his husband Jeff Finlay.  From the time Werner and Finlay purchased the property from the former innkeepers, a short seven years ago, they have seen a steady increase in brand recognition, reputation, and customer loyalty due to their fresh and relaxed approach to the industry.   Their non-traditional urban bed and breakfast has just been awarded TripAdvisor’s prestigious Award of Excellence for 2014, making this their fourth consecutive year receiving the honor.

“TripAdvisor is pleased to honor exceptional hospitality businesses for consistent excellence,” said Marc Charron, President of TripAdvisor for Business. “The Certificate of Excellence award gives top performing establishments around the world the recognition they deserve, based on feedback from those who matter most – their customers. From Australia to Zimbabwe, we want to applaud exceptional hospitality businesses for offering TripAdvisor travelers a great customer experience.”

“We like to think that we are offering something unique in the accommodations market, providing
surroundings and experiences that are comfortable, approachable, beautiful and fun,” Werner says. Gone is the stereotypical stuffiness of a traditional B&B.  At Scarborough Fair you find rooms that are more akin to what you would have in the home of great friend you wished you had.  High quality linens in both bed and bath have created such a buzz with guests that Werner and Finlay now offer the sheets for purchase.  Well thought out decor that is different in every room of what was once three separate row homes dating back to 1801 in the Federal Hill neighborhood is relaxed with just enough luxury to create the feeling of being pampered while never being fussy.  With the Edgar Allan Poe Suite, Brothers Grimm Room, and F. Scott Fitzgerald Room, half or their guest rooms give guests the opportunity to have an escape that moves literary inspiration from the pages of well known books into the reality surrounding them.  Rooms inspired by the life and works of Agatha Christie, Jules Verne, and Victor Hugo are to be completed within the next few years; making them the most well read accommodations where guests can literally get booked.

Werner’s care for his guests stems from the many years he spent learning the finer points of gracious hospitality, food, decor and the like from his grandmother when they would play bed and breakfast when he was a child.  He would make mock brochures with his crayons and markers and pretend to check his grandmother into her room. Then they would make up a batch of pancakes to share.

 “Genuine care for our guests combined with unique homemade breakfasts and a high level of cleanliness has become the hallmarks of a stay with us and this is reflected in our online reviews and repeat guests.   We also get calls from people begging to have breakfast with us without the need to spend the night,” Werner adds.  Offering such imaginative menus as double chocolate bacon waffles with briar berry sauce, lemon poppy seed waffles with homemade limoncello sauce, duck egg frittatas with farmer’s market tomatoes and zucchini and much more ensures guests seldom leave the breakfast table hungry.  The kitchen at Scarborough Fair is constantly creating new recipes featuring locally sourced goods that transform
breakfast from a meal that is needed to one that is craved.

Winning the Certificate of Excellence is no surprise when you read Scarborough Fair B&B’s many perfect reviews on TripAdvisor’s website.  Only two other accommodations have more perfect scores on TripAdvisor than the petite &  unpretentious accommodations of Scarborough Fair, both having far greater number of rooms and marketing dollars to spend per guest.  “Despite our literally being the small guy on the block, our rooms are so much larger than any guests ever expect.  We are so grateful that our guests love us as much as we love them,” Werner says.  With 430 perfect reviews, most mentioning Scarborough Fair’s whimsical and delectable homemade breakfasts/afternoon snacks, high level of cleanliness and grand hospitality, their continued growth and rise in the accommodations markets is nearly assured.  Maintaining their reputation as the most award winning Bed & Breakfast in the city of Baltimore seems a given once you have enjoyed the creative and satisfying food, hospitable nature, and relaxing rooms of Scarborough Fair Bed & Breakfast for yourself.

Please let us know if you would like any more information, photos or recipes and we will be happy to oblige.

Thanks so very much for your time.

It's another great day here in Baltimore,

Barry
Visit a Neighborhood, Not a Hotel

Scarborough Fair Bed & Breakfast
801 South Charles Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21230
(410)837-0010
barry@scarboroughfairbandb.com

The most award winning B&B in the city:
Awarded The Certificate of Excellence for 2013, 2012 & 2011 by TripAdvisor.com
Winner: "a Best Bed & Breakfast 2010" -Baltimore Magazine
"Best Urban Inn 2009-2010" -BedAndBreakfast.com
First B&B in the city awarded membership to Select Registry; Distinguished Inns of North America

ONLY 17 MORE FACEBOOK PAGE LIKES TO GO Until we have our First WINNER!

 
Would you like a Free Night's Stay at our B&B?

We are starting a new contest for Facebook Fans ONLY! And the winning is EASY!

All you need to do is: a) Be a fan of our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/Scarboroughfairbandb, b) Like the post that reads much like this one  & c) Share that same post in Facebook. 

Every time we gain 100 more likes for our Facebook page we will draw one winner at random from those who have done all of the 3 above to win a one night stay!

Sound good? Then get to liking, and sharing folks because this contest ends on June 19th!

Top List of the Best Kids' Actvities and Things to do with Children in Baltimore City, Maryland

Thankfully, at Scarborough FairBed & Breakfast, we get many more families than you might expect.    Perhaps most surprising of all is not how much we love having the little ones stay with us, but how greatly they enjoy staying in a B&B!  Some boys have said it is like   being in a Harry Potter Book; other tikes have loved staying here so much because they simply felt what the adults feel, incredibly and completely comfortable.  Having hot cocoa and cookies at the ready every afternoon certainly doesn’t hurt either. 

One of the most often asked questions from our family guests is what we suggest for is to do in the city.  Below are our top picks for kids’ activities in Baltimore City.

The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore: www.marylandzoo.org/. 

Who doesn’t love seeing thousands of animals?  Feed giraffes, groom the goats, enjoy a scavenger hunt trough the park and even chat it up with real zookeepers!  Sounds like a day full of learning and fun to us! 

The National Aquarium in Baltimore: www.aqua.org/.

Learn about and watch thousands of aquatic creatures, big and small.  Walk through an Australian river gorge.  Explore the Black Tip Sharks as they swim in their small school around beautiful coral.  Discover unusual varieties of jellyfish.  And this is just a bit of what awaits you in this amazing aquarium.

Port Discovery Children’s Museum: www.portdiscovery.org/.

Here they invite you to “Play with Purpose.”  What better way for the little ones to learn than by experiencing this first hand.  With an array of permanent exhibits and fantastic visiting exhibits, children will have so much fun learning they won’t even realize all the knowledge they are soaking up!  Port Discovery, the Children's Museum in Baltimore offers three floors of educational and interactive exhibits, programs and activities for children ages birth to 10 years old. Ranked among the top five children's museum in the United States.

Maryland Science Center: www.mdsci.org/.

The planetarium, IMAX Theater, Science Encounters, exhibits and much more.  This is another great way to entertain their brain with the added bonus of fun.

The Walters Art Museum: www.thewalters.org/family/.  

Teach your kids about the importance of creativity, history and other cultures with a visit to this astounding museum.  They offer several special ways to heighten your children’s experiences to get the most out of your next visit.  Experience 55 centuries of art featuring Egyptian mummies, medieval armor, illustrated manuscripts, Asian art and European masterpieces, plus an audio tour and Saturday children’s activities.

Fort McHenry: www.nps.gov/fomc/index.htm.

Explore where the Star Spangled Banner was written and the history behind our National Anthem.

Reginald F. Lewis Museum of African American History and Culture: www.rflewismuseum.org/.

A major Inner Harbor tourist destination, this museum highlights the history and accomplishments of Maryland’s African American community.

Anna Leventis: a Great Person You Should Know When Traveling to Baltimore

It has been said that it takes a village to raise a child.  We have found it also takes a neighborhood to host a traveler. If you are lucky, you might run into some of these great souls when you next come to stay with us and experience why neighborhoods are so very much better than hotels.

In the first of our continuing series on the best people you should know, we introduce you to Anna Leventis.  Anna is the owner and manager of the fantastic restaurant, Sobo Café.  After leaving her career in Health Care/IT a few years ago, she bought the restaurant from the former owner.  Sobo Café has always had a great local following, but its hand written menus had seen better days, as had the dark interior.  The place was in great need of an infusion of vibrant vitality.

In a very short time, Anna and her wonderful fellow Jim have reinvented the place into the perfect neighborhood hang out.  The introduction of live acoustic jazz on Tuesday nights is one great way they have enlivened the place. They have also given it an updated appearance with warm cozy colors and re-imagined the food via an ever changing menu that features nearly everything homemade right down to the stocks, mayonnaise and even the breads and buns that they also sell for locals to take home.  The  

dining is comfort food with a modern twist.

Some of our favorite items are the smoked chicken salad, the BLT on a fresh biscuit and any of their decadent desserts to name but a few.   Jim has followed Anna’s creative lead by concocting an extensive cocktail menu utilizing only beers and wines as the main alcohol ingredients.

Anna’s love of her restaurant is very apparent in everything she does.  Her hobby for years has been food.  Whether reading about it, experiencing it while on her travels or through cooking and entertaining at home, she adores food.  Now her love has subtly shifted from the food itself to her innate ability to make others happy with what is created in her kitchen.  Actually, making her customers and guests happy is her favorite part of the job. 

Her guests’ happiness is rather evident in the numerous awards Sobo Café and Anna have won.  Fifteen Favorite First-Date Restaurants in Baltimore - October 2013 - The Baltimore Sun, Top 10 Restaurant Week Menus - July 2013 - The Baltimore Sun, and the Best of Baltimore Award - August 2012 - Baltimore Magazine are but a few honorable distinctions.

 

Anna finds inspiration from several sources.  She eagerly tries her fellow restaurateurs’ latest offerings and is always reading up on new food trends and techniques and travels widely to try inspired international fare.  Her favorite items from her own menu change as readily as the seasons do since they cook according to what are locally the freshest ingredients.  Currently on her menu she is a little in love with the Korean Chicken Fried Steak with kimchi collard greens, soy-garlic mashed potatoes and ssamjang gravy.  She also is partial to the Mushroom Stroganoff of house made egg noodles, accompanied by Swiss chard and crème fraiche.  Another favorite is the Seared Salmon with white bean puree, mushroom ragout and spinach finished with a red wine-mushroom jus.

Anna is having yet another love affair with the city of Baltimore itself.  She has always loved the civic pride felt within the city and its' great neighborhoods. Perhaps this is why so many refer to Baltimore as Smaltimore since it feels like a collection of small towns rather than a city. She also loves that you can walk away from the harbor in any direction and are able to explore some beautiful

neighborhood filled with boutiques and shops, taverns and restaurants.  Her favorite time in the city is autumn, when the weather turns crisper after the long hot days of summer, ushering in the abundance of local fruits and vegetables. 

Anna’s most proud of taking the risk to leave her comfortable corporate career to work the many, many long hours in developing a very successful restaurant.  Many of us are also glad she took the chance to follow her childhood dream of being a chef/restaurant owner.  We are certain you will applaud her adventuresome spirit as well from the very first bite you take at Sobo Café.

You can try the food yourself by adding an amazing picnic to your stay with us at Scarborough Fair Bed & Breakfast, the smae picnics many of our guests have raved about, as created by Sobo Café or just walk the few minutes down the block from our front door to where it is located at 6 W Cross Street, Baltimore, MD,  (Phone: (410) 752-1518). 

Coming Soon: Some of the Best People We Think You Should Know

Owners & Hosts: Jeff and Barry

You may have noticed that here at Scarborough Fair Bed & Breakfast, our slogan is “Visit a Neighborhood, Not a Hotel.”  The reason for this slogan is that a big part of why we have the highly acclaimed bed and breakfast that we do is the great people we have come to know and appreciate in our neighborhood and the larger city of Baltimore beyond.  When you stay with us, you are not only welcomed by innkeepers, but you are welcomed just as much by everyone in our captivating neighborhood of Federal Hill.

Now that we are approaching our seventh year as innkeepers, we have gotten to know some great people due to what they create, what they do, or even what they stand up for.  We like these people so much that we want to share them with the world. 

The goods we procure to use in making your stay so very memorable are sourced from as many local businesses as possible.  Quality is always our number one priority, followed right behind with whether something is available from a local merchant.  We hope to share some of these merchants with you as well as some of our local artists and the folks that shape our day to day existence into a much happier life.

It has been said that it takes a village to raise a child.  We have found it also takes a neighborhood to host a traveler.  If you are lucky, you might run into some of these great souls when you next come to stay with us and experience why neighborhoods are so very much better than hotels.

The Best Hotels and Places to Stay Near the Baltimore Convention Center

When traveling for business it is always a great idea to try to soak up the local culture and feel of things that make where you are as important and interesting as what you are there for.  To have a truly authentic experience that offers you comfort and surprises we suggest you reserve your stay at some of the places listed below that offer uniqueness and quality.

Being a leader in the Hospitality Industry for over six years and having my expertise featured in TV, Magazines, The Wall Street Journal  and on podcasts, and running a B&B with over 400 perfect scores on TripAdvisor, I know more than a little bit about what make good accommodations great.

Naturally there are a large number of accommodations near the Baltimore Convention Center.  Most of these places to stay offer what you would normally expect.  These are most often the same offerings that you find in any of their other rooms around the world.  If you need parking, it costs you a bundle, usually starting around $35 per day or in some cases, for each time you move your car.  All sodas, waters, snacks are extra, as is wifi.  And your room looks exactly the same whether you are staying in Tokyo, Calgary or Baltimore.  Many traditional convention hotels are overly sterile where they shouldn’t be, (lack of genuine care for you as a person), and are not sterile enough where they should be, (cleanliness should be standard not an unexpected bonus.)   

Below are a number of fantastic places to stay that are within walking distance of the Convention Center that are not your cookie cutter experience and honesty care about you as a guest.  They can also make personal recommendations on what to see and do and where to eat and explore.

Here are a few hotels and bed & breakfasts to consider that are less than a mile from the Baltimore Convention Center and for when you want to shake off the mundane business trip and turn your work into a true traveling experience!

Wait!  I know what you are thinking.  Why on earth would I even consider a stay at B&B for business?  I am not having a romantic getaway or looking to stay in someone’s spare room.  Besides, bed and breakfasts are too expensive for my company to accept on my expense report.   And you are wrong on all fronts.  

B&Bs now offer you first class rooms with gourmet foods and most have parking, beverages, snacks, wifi and more included in the rate.  Many guests see a value of over $40 per stay in what is included in their bed & breakfast stay compared to a stay at a hotel.  Many Bed & Breakfasts also offer business rates and are ready to work out a special customized rate if your company has frequent guests staying in town.

We like to think that we here at Scarborough Fair B&B are the very best choice for your business stays with our homemade breakfasts, oodles of complimentary additions to stays and being only 9 minutes by foot from the Baltimore Convention Center.  We also know we might be more than a little biased.  So here are the choices for best authentic Baltimore accommodations which are filled with hospitality, great foods and comfort.

•  Rachael’s Dowry Bed & Breakfast, only 9 minutes (. 4 miles) from the Baltimore Convention Center, “offers 21st-century comfort in an 18th century home. Conveniently situated and beautifully appointed, this Baltimore Bed and Breakfast is the ideal "home away from home" for business travel.”  They are consistently ranked highly on TripAdvisor.com and offers freshly prepared breakfasts.

•  Then 1840’s Carrollton Inn is just .7 miles from the convention center and is long on style and short on…well not much that we know of.  As their website says, “The 1840s Carrollton Inn, a boutique bed and breakfast comprised of a series of interconnected rowhomes, some dating back to the early 19th century, surrounds a central courtyard adjacent to the 1840s Plaza. This luxurious inn boasts historic quality antiques and decorator furnishings.”  High class all the way!

• Blanc Noir is .8 miles from the convention center and is a thoroughly modern B&B.  Located in the heart of Little Italy, you are also steps from some amazing food.  The four guest rooms are each themed for a major bustling city in the world. 

•  The Hotel Monaco is a fairly new member of the Kimpton Hotel Brand.  It offers lovely staff, very nicely appointed rooms and is only 6 minutes from the convention center.  As their website says, “At Hotel Monaco Baltimore, we put you on the fast track to fun, comfort and urban adventure. It's no wonder: Our 202-room boutique hotel resides in the historic B&O Railroad Headquarters in downtown Baltimore near the beautiful Inner Harbor Waterfront. At one time, our 1906 Beaux Arts building buzzed with the comings and goings of the gilded age's power players”

No matter which choice you make from the above accommodations, when you choose a unique place to stay your business trip is sure to be more enjoyable and memorable than many others you have had.

What do you serve for breakfast?

Our next installment of our Blog series of most frequently asked questions is: What do you serve for breakfast?  This is one of the questions we are most commonly asked and potential guests.  They ask it for a number of good reasons. 

Some are worried that we will not be able to meet their dietary needs.  Some fret that we will serve only continental breakfast of dried up bagels and stale cream cheese and maybe some generic cereal if they are lucky.   (It is a little known fact that what B&B’s offer is most commonly dictated by what the Health Department allows in their jurisdiction.  Many health departments are very specific in what they allow to be served with some only allowing pre-packaged foods if the property does not have a full commercial kitchen.)  Others fear we will serve things that only we would normally eat and are not very gourmet.  Still some guests are afraid we will be overly fancy and give them something they would never want to eat to begin with.

Here at Scarborough Fair Bed & Breakfast we take a great deal of pride in the great food and the whimsical eye we turn toward breakfasts during your stay.   We create handmade foods that are distinctive yet in many ways, familiar. 

Let me start with the breakdown of what we offer in the most general sense.  

Nearly everything is made from scratch by our own hands.  You tell us what time you would like to eat.  We always have continental offerings out on the buffets so people can serve themselves.  We can have this set up as early at 7 AM with notification, but more commonly we set this up upon arrival of our fist guests for full breakfast service so the freshness is preserved.  Full breakfast is served anytime from 8 AM until 9:30 AM with the last seating at 9 on weekdays and on weekends until 10 with the last seating at 9:30 AM.  

For those that need to get out especially early, or those that prefer to sleep in as late as possible, yet still have some breakfast, we have a grab and go option.  We choose the best of our continental offerings and bag them up for you with some yogurt and orange juice and to-go cups for coffee or tea.  We are happy to pack this up, and place it in the guest fridge for you to partake of whenever your schedule best allows.  Many business guests love doing this when they are here for conferences because they can sleep in as late as possible and nibble on homemade goodies while at the conference itself.

We have a smaller table which seats two to four for those that like a bit more solitude during breakfast, as well as a large table that seats up to eight for those that like to chat with fellow guests about their adventures in Baltimore.   We also allow one free breakfast for those who are visiting friends or family and want to share the bountiful breakfast with them.  For other guests it is an additional $10 and space for these is extremely limited.

Now what do we actually make as part of our continental breakfasts?  We always have a seasonal variety of homemade biscotti.  In the autumn we have our amazing pumpkin biscotti of pumpkin, of course, and white chocolate, dried cranberries, pecans, crystallized ginger and other spices.  For the holidays we offer our Holiday Joy biscotti with the best of rum filled fruit cake and eggnog flavors combined.  In the spring and summer we often have our apricot white chocolate macadamia nut biscotti.  We also serve our homemade granolas.  One is a maple, walnut, cardamom blueberry variety and the other is cranberry, honey, coconut, oat and almonds.  We also make our own pasties dictated by the season.  Sometimes pumpkin or sweet potato bread, gluten free banana bread,  blueberry breakfast cobbler, gingerbread,  sticky buns, so many types of muffins, the possibilities of what we may have made are almost endless.  We also have hot tea; freshly brewed coffee roasted locally, orange juice, cranberry pomegranate juice, and 1% milk.  If needed, we can have almond or soy milk for those with dietary restrictions.  Oh, and of course we have half & half for the coffee too.   Fresh fruit can be found in a bowl in the dining room during breakfast hours and throughout the day.

For our full breakfast we rotate between sweeter breakfasts one day and more savory ones the next.  We alternate this way so that you are not stuck with only eggs or only pancakes.  We also do our very best to never repeat the same dish twice during your stay.  With prior notification, we can prepare delectable breakfasts to meet nearly any dietary needs.  

It is difficult to pin down what we offer for our full cooked breakfasts because we make a wide range of good eats. 

When we do a savory main dish, we begin your meal with a starter.  This could be a concoction of fruits, herbs and wines made into a wonderful chilled soup, a mixed salad of seasonal fruits,  baked pears topped with sour cream and crystallized ginger,  berry and yogurt parfaits,  pumpkin maple buckwheat porridge, watermelon basil and feta salad and many, many other possibilities.  Then we move onto the main attraction.

We do frittatas numerous ways, stratas with differing layers of flavors all dependent upon what is in season and what is best at the markets, both conventional and those of the Farmer’s Market variety.  We use duck eggs and chicken eggs.  We use many types of cheeses, feta, Gruyere, Italian or Mexican combinations.  We do roulades of asparagus, sundried tomatoes and cheeses.  We make crustless crab quiches with bubbling old bay spiked cheeses and panko crumbs on top.  And this is just off the top of my head.  All of these are normally served with an accompaniment of vegetable or fruit side and a starch dish of one kind or another.  It might be biscuits.  Or maybe we will serve jalapeño cornbread or our newest take on it with sautéed apples and onions baked right into the top.  The sides we create are just as varied as what the main entrees might be.  We then finish off your plate with an additional protein.

Days where we feature a dish with a sweeter flavor profile, you have your entrée paired with fruit and a protein, normally a sausage, bacon or the like.  Again what we give you is dependent upon the seasons and what is best.  If it is summer time, then banana cornmeal waffles smothered in a mountain of fresh berries with real Pennsylvania maple syrup might be what you find on the menu.  In the fall it might be pumpkin spice pancakes with toasted pecans and maple whipped cream or our rosemary sweet potato waffles topped off with apples and dried cranberries sautéed in lots of butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and a hint of vanilla.  Winter allows us to make pantone eggnog French toast or our double chocolate bacon waffles with blackberry/raspberry sauce.

When you ask what we serve for breakfast, the answer is a cumbersome one.  Nearly everything is homemade.  Our menus are planned no more than a week in advance to take into consideration what is at the peak of its seasonal freshness and what is the best possible quality at the market, as well as to plan around any guests’ dietary needs or preferences.  

When we ask if you have any dietary preferences or needs, please tell us.  We cannot do the very best at our jobs if we do not have the information required to give you food in the way you will most enjoy it.  If you are not into sweet and savory mixed together, then we will choose something other than double chocolate bacon waffles for the menu.   If you are gluten free we will make gluten-free pastry for you to enjoy with the other guests.

So, we serve more than you might ever imagine for breakfasts and as you have probably read from the multitude of TripAdvisor.com reviews discussing our food, you are going to love it.

Completely booked?  Frequently.

We have been getting many phone calls lately from people who are disappointed that we’re sold out for the dates they  were planning for their vacations, romantic getaways and reunions with friends.  The absolute disappointment in their voices when they call is undeniable.  This is just those that happen to call hoping that our availability calendar on our website at scarboughfairbandb.com is wrong.  I imagine there are many more that try to book on our site and realize too late that they needed to reserve their say much sooner than they ever anticipated. 

With the bed and breakfast being full once again Thursday, Friday and Saturday of this week, I am reminded how at times we can sell out so very quickly for specific dates and yet be nearly empty for others.  This brings to mind one of the most commonly asked questions we get at Scarborough Fair Bed & Breakfast: How far ahead should I make my reservation?

When asked this question, I really am at a loss.  There are so many overriding factors that go into why we often sell out so very quickly. 

Unlike most vacation spots, an urban bed and breakfast or inn has many more people trying to stay in the limited number of rooms than say in the country over all and here at Scarborough Fair B&B it is even truer with each passing year.  This is due to a number of factors, including having over 400 perfect scored on TripAdvisor.com, earning us the Certificate of Excellence for the third year in a row.

Our guests are of mainly three groups. 

Group one are those that have no direct ties to Baltimore, and are coming mostly as a tourist or sports enthusiast to experience the city, sample our ever growing gourmet foodie culture and delve into the multitude of historic sites, cultural events and first class museums and theatrical or musical performances.  These wonderful guests tend to come mostly on weekends, but can also be found making reservations nearly anytime as their travel plans usually encompass an event or a particular list of things they want to explore while in the city.  (We have already had several people asking about the Star-Spangled Spectacular Celebration September 6^th through 16h, 2014!)

Group two are comprised of business travelers.  They are traveling for a convention or conference or are visiting the home office of any number of the local businesses whom we have worked with to create unique rate plans based upon the number of nights they will be having their employees stay with us per year.  Many times we can be sold out months in advance if a large conference is taking place.  Businesses are learning that bed and breakfasts and inns are a much better value than traditional hotels due to the amazing perks their traveling employees get free of charge while spending time (breakfast, WiFi, parking, snacks, beverages, etc) in the property and the employees feel much more valued by their company when they get to stay in place that seems centered on them and not on as much on their credit card.  And if any issues arise, for the business or the traveler, they can easily talk to a real person that genuinely cares about their experience, often times the owners themselves, face to face!

Lastly, the third group of travelers we get are those coming to Baltimore to visit friends and family. 

Our neighborhood’s homes are highly desirable real estate due to our proximity to nearly everything you could want allowing you to be in walking distance of all the main tourist attractions, great locally owned restaurants & boutiques and many entertainment and sports venues.  However, the homes are also relatively smaller in scale, meaning Scarborough Fair Bed & Breakfast has quickly become Federal Hill’s spare guest room of sorts.  This means that we can quickly fill all six of our rooms with one family when a baby is about to be born or christened, if someone is having a milestone of birthday, or it is in the family rotation to spend Thanksgiving/Christmas/Hanukkah in the city this year.

 

Thankfully, all of the above means we are very busy most of the year with people staying in our home, literally, from all over the world!

So back to the question:  When should potential guests book their stay with us?  As soon as you have all of your travel details worked out.  The more lead time the better so that you can get not only the dates you need but the room you most want to stay in while you are here as each comfortably luxurious rooms  is as uniquely individual as our guests.