Colin Pearson

Owner & innkeeper @stantonhouseinn in Greenwich, CT. Notes on hospitality, small business & making people feel welcome. Former farmer & Peace Corps volunteer.

[Colin Pearson @colpear]

I run a 21-room inn in Greenwich, Connecticut. My parents started it in 1985.

I'm using this account to share what innkeeping teaches me about small business, marketing and making people feel at home.

Less polished advice. More things I've actually tried.

[Colin Pearson @colpear]

We held an event at the inn recently. People kept walking up and saying the same thing:

"I get your weekly emails."

Email filled the room.

[Colin Pearson @colpear]

For years, nobody was on site at our inn after about 3:30 in the afternoon.

Guests managed. But "managed" isn't what anyone travels for.

[Colin Pearson @colpear]

Don't cut your rate because next week looks half full.

A lot of our weeks go from half full to almost full in the final 7 days or so. Guests book late.

[Colin Pearson @colpear]

Hotel and inn owners: do you budget room updates as maintenance or as marketing?

[Colin Pearson @colpear]

Pick one number that ends in money and watch it every week.

For us, that's leads. Followers don't book rooms.

[Colin Pearson @colpear]

Before you ask AI anything about your business, clean up your data.

If it's messy, that's on you, not the tool. (I'm saying this to myself.)

[Colin Pearson @colpear]

What's one task you kept doing yourself long after you should have handed it off?

[Colin Pearson @colpear]

I want our inn to be an amenity to our neighbors. Something that makes living near us better.

If you run a hotel, ask: what would make the neighbors glad you're here?

[Colin Pearson @colpear]

Planning bar service? Start by counting seats.

How many places do people have to sit down? That tells you how many hands you need.

[Colin Pearson @colpear]

@HypergrowthSI Actually, yes. Quite a few

[Colin Pearson @colpear]

I run a 21-room inn in Greenwich, Connecticut. My parents started it in 1985.

I'm using this account to share what innkeeping teaches me about small business, marketing and making people feel at home.

Less polished advice. More things I've actually tried.

[Colin Pearson @colpear]

@arturnow I mean, you do you, man.

[Colin Pearson @colpear]

AI will happily tell you you're brilliant.

Don't trust AI. Trust, but verify.

[Colin Pearson @colpear]

@HypergrowthSI That's literally what happened to me earlier this year! Good tip, thanks!

[Colin Pearson @colpear]

I always work from a position of redundancy. Several channels, never one basket.

The catch: when one quietly breaks, the others cover for it. Nobody notices.

Redundancy isn't the fix. Watching each piece on its own is.

[Colin Pearson @colpear]

@createwithima Sometimes, mine's turning into a teenager.

[Colin Pearson @colpear]

You cannot build staying power on burnout.

I learned that one the slow way.

[Colin Pearson @colpear]

Innkeepers and hotel people: what's one small thing guests never notice, but would miss right away if you stopped doing it?

[Colin Pearson @colpear]

The question is rarely "where's the best food in Greenwich?"

It's "what kind of night is this?"

Pick the night first. The restaurant gets easy.

[Colin Pearson @colpear]

My parents started turning our family home into an inn in 1985. Now it's my turn.

Inheritance is not a trophy. It is an obligation.

[Colin Pearson @colpear]

Half the vendor quotes I get are priced for a 300-room hotel.

My most-used reply: "Nah. I'm a 21-room inn. I'm not paying that."

[Colin Pearson @colpear]

Real standards turn into habits. Fake ones remain performances.

You don't perform hospitality. You live it, every day nobody's watching.