Abbington Green Bed & Breakfast Inn’s Nineteenth Anniversary is today! And so now, our 20th Year begins!

   When I started this bed and breakfast in Asheville, NC in 1993, renovating this grand historic home from top to bottom ( that had been designed by Biltmore’s Supervising Architect) and then winning the prestigious Griffin Award for Historic Preservation, nine other bed and breakfasts were already open in the Montford Historic District here in Asheville…Abbington Green Bed & Breakfast Inn was the 10th one to open. Today all the others are still here, but only one has the original owner/ Innkeeper…and that is Abbingotn Green!

  I remember that one of the other Innkeepers asked me in 1993 how long I expected to stay in Ashevlle as a bed and breakfast Inkeeper. I replied, “I’m in this for the long haul…whatever that turns out to be.” Even I probably would not have guessed that I would be here to start the 20th year today! But here I am, and still pleased to be here! 

 So many things have happened since 1993 to change the way our guests find and choose where to stay.It’s hard to believe today that there was a world of bed and breakfasts without cell phones, very few personal computers, no real internet, no “apps”, no blogs, no twitter, no facebook, no Utube. But that was the world where we started in 1993.  Guests found b&b accommodations using books purchased at the local bookstore.

   For a portion of my ‘previous lifetime’ as a banking executive, I was product manager for telemarketing, ATMs, debit cards and “PC Home Banking” – from 1988-1993!  That was all new technology in search of a market.  While well-established in Europe, it was virtually non-existent here in the U.S.  But at Abbington Green Bed & Breakfast Inn in the Spring of 1996, when I asked guests who had booked a reservation, “How did you first hear about us?”…the answer started to be, “I found you on AOL.” I thought, “Ah-ha! We’ve finally reached ‘critical mass” for the internet!”  And so we had.

  Many other things besides technology have changed since 1993…including many lovely updates to Abbington Green  … all King beds, all fine whirlpools/showers, all with fireplaces, all with flat screen TVs (including one suite with 55″ 240Hz LED 3-D HDTV), all with WiFi, all with luxurious fine linens and glorious fabrics….and also an elegant, mainly organic breakfast served on crystal and china each morning at 9am! 

  But some things you can be sure will never change: our lovely historic Inn; our award-winning gardens; and a place where you’ll experience welcoming, relaxing, luxurious and gracious surroundings that will  be truly memorable… and a genuinely friendly atmosphere that are all part of our “bit of Britain close to home.”

Happy Anniversary, Abbington Green Bed & Breakfast!