Aldrich Guest House
After becoming the sixth owners of Aldrich Guest House, innkeepers Robert and Douglas have made Galena, Illinois their home while creating a “home away from home” for their guests. Last month, we featured the lovely couple for our Innkeeper Interview series in our November Guest Newsletter. And since these guys are so much fun to learn about, we’ve included a few more responses from their Q&A session for our blog readers to enjoy!
Q: Do you have a favorite movie or TV show based on hospitality/travel?
A: Hotel Babylon is wonderful – it does a great job of capturing all of the excitement, craziness, and glamour of travel as well as all of the fun that we have as staff. Coming from years in the ultra-luxury lodging industry in Chicago, this show speaks to us even more as with a larger staff and hundreds or thousands of guests a night, there’s often more opportunity to get up to some pretty ridiculous high jinks!
Q: What is the best compliment you’ve received from a guest?
A: One of the biggest compliments that we can get from a guest is simply their return or sending their friends or family to stay with us! One of the things that we’ve always believed is that being in the service industry is a privilege as our guests have lots of options and they’ve chosen to spend their time with us which is something that can’t be gotten back. In addition to that, we love when our guests tell us that when they come here they feel like they’re right at home and that we feel like family. On two separate occasions, guests have literally cried at breakfast! They said that they felt so well taken care of and pampered which made them feel so special that they couldn’t help but cry!
Q: If there was a movie produced about your life, who would play you and why?
A: I’m horrible at this, so Douglas had some flattering insight on this question! He said that Daniel Radcliffe would play me since he’s quick and witty and would be fast on his feet like I am when it comes to taking care of things that guests can sometimes toss at us. He felt like he’d be played by Felix on Orphan Black – not the actor playing Felix, but Felix himself as they share a similar attitude and an appreciation for all things artistic and glamorous.
Stay tuned for many more Innkeeper Interviews to come! Next, we’ll feature Erika, innkeeper of Abbey’s Lantern Inn in Ledyard, CT.
