Keys to Running a New Orleans Bed and Breakfast

Bedspread in Les Saintes Suite

Based on how many people read this blog (Hi, Mom!), it seems there is a demand for detailed information about all the things that make a New Orleans bed and breakfast colorful.  There are angels in the details.  We choose everything with care.  As innkeepers, we are very intimate with our inn.  Just ask me, I'm the handyman.

If recent reader traffic (Hi Mom!) of our recent bedspread tour is any indication, no detail is too mundane to be the subject of a New Orleans bed and breakfast blog.  People want to learn what makes La Belle Esplanade la belle de l'Avenue d'Esplanade.  Ask any innkeeper, and they'll tell you the same: "Little things mean a lot."

Our first key fobs

Like most Creoles, our handyman keeps a lucky alligator foot on his keyring.   It scratched me one day, so I went down to the French Market and bought five lucky alligator foot keychains for our five suites.  When I brought them home, Frau Schmitt was less than impressed with my stroke of ingenuity.  "You are going to take people into the romantic Les Fleurs Suite, and then you're going to press this dead claw in their hand?" she said.

She is usually right about these things, but she decided to indulge my fondness for ticky-tacky, tchotchkes and taxidermy.  

The lucky alligator feet lasted for about a month.  They kept scratching people through their pockets, which didn't bother me because everybody remembered their keys.  Then, the fingers started breaking off. The gestures the claws started to make bothered me.

Replacement keys

So I went to Lowe's and bought a bag of plastic key tags, ten to a bag.  They weren't pretty, but neither is a lucky alligator foot.  They were utilitarian.  I could tell the difference between the key for 2B and the key for 3C, even if one was upside down.

Our locksmith gave the suites their alphanumeric designations.  They follow the order he rekeyed the locks.  It's not how I would have done it, but I've grown accustomed to his system.  I use the master key all the time.  I've never liked those plastic tags from Lowe's, though. 

I was at Mike's Hardware the other day and noticed they have blank brass tags.  I wasn't surprised.  They have everything.  They have a new engraving machine.  I asked Pierce if he could engrave some of the brass tags for me.  Of course he could.

Three keys

A Canadian and a Swiss walk into a dining room.  This isn't a joke, it really happened.  I asked for their key.  The Swiss poured cream in her coffee while the Canadian handed over the key.  I swapped out the plastic tag from Lowe's with a brand-new bright, shiny brass tag from Mike's Hardware in-store services.  When I handed the key back, the new tag dangled between his hand and mine like a dew drop of honey.

The new tags are engraved with the locksmith's designation for each suite, as well as what we call them.  Now, all you have to do is look in your pocket to know that 2B is La Pelican Suite. They are much better than what we were using before.

I swapped in the brass tags for every suite.  "That's much better," Frau Schmitt said when she saw keys 2B, 3C, and 5F on the lobby desk.  She is usually right about these things.  

Then, the Roman Candy cart stopped in front of our house.

The Roman Candy cart

It was a very good day.

A votre sante,
La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.