TBAI Sponsors Successful B&B Training

When thinking of generating income have you ever thought of turning those spare rooms in your home into rental as a bed and breakfast? There were 18 people present during a B&B Seminar sponsored by TBAI and held at the Kimball War Memorial. These attendees came from Iaeger, War, Welch, Bramwell and Bluefield , Virginia . Some were already in the process of developing a B&B in their home.

How can an “Empty Nest” equal income? The facilitator of the Seminar was Kathleen Panek who is a member of MountainState Association of Bed and Breakfasts, serves as a Regional Director on the Board and is owner/host of Gillum House Bed & Breakfast in Shinnston , West Virginia . She explained how she took the now-empty bedrooms in her home and turned them into income. With ten years of experience, she was well qualified as a trainer of the No-Nonsense Guide to Operating A Bed & Breakfast . The Small Business Administration named Panek 2006 Home-Based Business Champion of the Year.

Panek turned her home into the Gillum House Bed & Breakfast, a three guestroom B&B in 1996. No one knew Shinnston was a tourism destination until she spread the word. Panek specializes in low-fat, low cholesterol homemade food and Special Diet needs and offers a variety of packages. She shared her knowledge of start-up, operating, packaging, and marketing a bed & breakfast in this seminar.

“The prospect of tourism coming into the area with the opening of the Hatfield McCoy Trail will stimulate the need for additional places for the visitors to stay. This tourist development was the reason that we planned the training,” stated TBAI Executive Director Sharon Walden. Travel Beautiful Appalachia, Inc. (TBAI) is a non-profit organization with the mission to promote economic development for McDowell , Wyoming and Mercer counties with the focus on the unemployed or under-employed residents.

If you are interested in learning about ways to generate income in areas such as B&B development, food production or handmade product development, call TBAI located in the Ashland Company Store at 304/862-4800 or 862-3364.

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