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Categories: Harvard Square News, Irving House Gazette, Small Business Rising

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briana pearson

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24.12.21

“This is the solstice, the still point of the sun, its cusp and midnight, the year’s threshold and unlocking, where the past lets go of and becomes the future; the place of caught breath.”
~Margaret Atwood 

Hello Dear Readers,

Apologies! I have been writing this all week and then didn’t “schedule it to send”. If anything that pretty much  sums up what a year it has been. Whenever someone asks how I am doing, I tell them that it has been a year of learning. Some of these lessons have had a very steep learning curve but I have generally felt very accomplished and proud that I have been able to keep Irving House running as it has been for almost 35 years. I attribute this to three things. First of course to my mother who built a strong business foundation. As the story goes, she had never stayed in a hotel until she owned one and had never had a credit card until she was a merchant. Against all odds, (including a pandemic!) she was a force. Secondly, to an incredible staff who have been so supportive and dedicated during this transformative year. Third, but really a tie, our guests. It has been truly amazing and restorative to speak with long time, returning guests, who knew my mom and had lovely conversations with her over the years. When returning guests pop in to say hi or new guests stop to let me know they really love it here, I know we are not just surviving we are truly succeeding. As an independent and local business this no easy feat. (More on that later)

In the last winter solstice edition my mom wrote, “Though I have not been able to muster a full belief in angels, I love to imagine they hover at some great, all-seeing heights; they care; they inspire hope; they send love.  Their power might be in the flicker of a butterfly’s wing beginning a cascade of events that changes a whole world.  They might be silvering the lining of the dark clouds over us now.  They are circling the square and squaring the circle.” She certainly had a way with words. I know her spirit glows when I bake cookies with my youngest, navigate the preteen years with my middle child or have mid day chat with my eldest.  At work many of my days are so full of questions I have to imagine she is there, hovering “at some great, all seeing heights”….laughing at my mistakes but proud of my growth.

       I will not let these long shadows of winter or big shoes of business ownership hold me back! Everyone at Irving House wishes you and yours a new year full of hope, good health and great success!

Briana

For Thanksgiving we continued the tradition of being a “Pie Pick up Site” for Community Servings. Every year Community Servings sells pies for you to bring to your Thanksgiving dinner to benefit “Thousands of people across Massachusetts and Rhode Island experiencing a range of critical and chronic illnesses”.
Irving House has supported this organization for many years now.  Next year if your plans bring you to the area, and you stay with us, we will even buy a pie for you to bring to your Thanksgiving dinner! Check our “Specials” page for detail on that! 

Our next generation proudly took over the pie pick up job this year! 

While I have your attention on my sweet son helping out at pie pick up…

         I wanted to circle back about what it means to make reservations directly with us. This actually goes for any small, independent business renting rooms, posting menus or selling actual products on a much bigger website. When a small business decides to list their product on these websites they promise to pay a percentage of those sales to said massive marketing website. In a perfect arrangement the big marketing website would bring unique customers who, if they are happy, would return and make their future “purchase” directly with that business.
While online travel sites can get our name out to many more people, listing also comes at a great cost to both the business and the guest. When we advertise our rooms on a travel site we are constrained by the sites narrow choices of descriptors. This works against our big quirky house. Irving House can’t fit into the “boxes” so guests sometimes arrive having compared us to a big chain hotel, which we just aren’t.  Furthermore, communication between hotel and guest is constrained as much as possible which makes it hard to convey anything about discounts or special rates we could offer. This is all to ensure the travel site doesn’t lose “their” sale.
Worse than that (forgive the rabbit hole here) the travel sites then have interest in selling our rooms for their own profit and therefore will work hard to try to get a spot above our own listing. Think, “sponsored” links above the thing you are searching for when you enter your search words.  Another way they ensure they are get the sale is to keep your credit card on file so its easy to rebook next time. Meaning you are more likely to book through them every time and we will have to pay that percentage to them every time. The big business travel sites also have the wherewithal and technology to offer points, “genius”, and other reward programs. These are also ways to ensure income for the massive marketing website and not directly to the local economy.
I get it, if I am looking for a place to stay near my ultimate destination I want to know what my options are and compare rates. Absolutely do the research, but please make sure you land on the businesses own website. Whether you are checking in at a big chain hotel or an independent property, I can tell you that at the very least the communication will be better. Recently I have had a long conversation with a guest who found us listed on a travel site and had to pay added fees for “human support”. The number given was bogus, no support, and the wording on her confirmation page further confused the situation by stating “payment in full” (we charge a first night deposit).  The website she landed on passed her info to an even bigger travel site which charged us that percentage of the sale.
This is all to say, for direct communication, most generous cancellation policy, most available room types and to just feel good about putting money back into the local economy please consider making your reservation directly with us.
Call 617-547-4600, email [email protected] or on our own website, Irving House

We have to mention Revels incase you will be in the area from now until December 28th!
REVELS is within walking distance of Irving House and a wonderful way to celebrate with singing and dance to warm you on these long cold nights.About This Year’s Production
In a small fishing village off the shores of Galway Bay, a community gathers in the local pub to celebrate the season. A child enters looking for a package that may have been delivered for his mother, who comes from another coastal town – in Cabo Verde. Songs and dances are shared, and the pub dissolves into a portal for fantasy with a transformative retelling of the Selkie story, a Celtic myth about living between two worlds. Irish songs, jigs, and reels share the stage with dance, drumming, and traditional songs from Cabo Verde. In the Revels tradition, new community is catalyzed, and with it hopes for a new year.

And welcome the new year with Boston’s biggest party,  First Night!

As always when visiting our fair cities in the winter:
bring layers of clothing and comfortable, waterproof footware!

Hasty Pudding Theatricals is a great way to cozy up for a winter break.

Hasty Pudding’s 176th annual musical comedy spectacular: 101 DAMNATIONS!

Also coming right up Club Passim is presenting the Boston Celtic Music Festival! Heres the line up and details: BCMFest