Skiing! Vermont! Deals! Stowe! Really!

There’s a great scene in the Mike Myers movie So I Married an Axe Murderer where the father of the Mike Myers’ character, Stuart Mackenzie (also played by Mike Myers, foreshadowing his multi-character talents later in the Austin Powers movies) decries Cololnel Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame as one of five clandestined super-powers (called the “Pentaverate”) who control all aspects of our lives. (The others? The Queen of England, the Vatican, the Gettys, and the Rothschilds, of course.)

The best line in the scene occurs when Charlie Mackenzie (Mike Myers) asks his father, Stuart Mackenzie (also played by Mike Myers), “Dad, how can you hate the Colonel?” To which Stuart Mackenzie replies, nearly howling, “Because he puts an addictive chemical in his chicken that makes you crave it fortnightly, smart ass!”

Sometimes, that’s how I feel about advertising: just like Stuart Mackenzie.

The most recent conflict arose this week, when we had a cancellation before the Martin Luther King three-day weekend. This has traditionally been a strong weekend for innkeepers and ski resorts, but this year we’ve been hearing that things are a little soft. That may be because there’s no snow from about Bethel, Vermont, south, meaning that our traditional drive market--folks in suburban Boston, Connecticut, and New York--don’t have skiing on their minds.

The question isn’t “Should we get the word our about our unexpected vacancy?”; rather, it’s “Which way should we advertise our openings?” Facebook, Twitter, et al, are the logical choices, for their immediacy. But there’s also the question of this blog space, which has been a respite from the blatant and vacuous commercial applications found in other lodging blogs. This blog is a spot for me to honestly explore my experience as a writer and innkeeper, not to drop in obvious keywords about Vermont and ski specials and lodging and Stowe and winter activities and Vermont--did I mention Vermont yet?

Anyway, I think I’ll stay closer to the spirit of Charlie Mackenzie, and I’ll interpret his vision of the Colonel as the kind of crass commercialism that I believe has gutted the original spirit of innkeeping: “I hated the Colonel, with his wee, beady eyes! And that smug look on his face! ‘Oh, you’re gonna buy my chicken!’” Or rent my rooms. Oh, ohhhh.