IN THE MARKET FOR AN INN

Web-based promoting is what works for former circus employees' bed-and-breakfast.

BY VICTOR REKLAITIS
223-5682
August 8, 2006

WILLIAMSBURG -- When Art Ricker first got into the bed-and-breakfast inn business, he heard an industry expert stress that the key is marketing - not restoring a historic house or filling it with antiques.

Coming off 28 years in sales and marketing for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, Ricker said his reaction was: "Jeez, that's right up my alley."

Tourist-dependent Williamsburg has about 36 bed-and-breakfast inns, mostly on designated corridors, with owners bringing a range of backgrounds to bear in running their B&Bs. None have Ricker's experience of selling the so-called "Greatest Show on Earth."

But his approach for promoting his product - nowadays a B&B on Jamestown Road called The Legacy of Williamsburg - differs from when he started working for the circus decades ago.

"My marketing philosophy is you have to do the Web," he said.

The Legacy has an extensive Web site, www.legacyofwilliamsburgbb.com, and a presence on a site billed as a local B&B network, www.bandbwilliamsburg.com. Ricker said about 70 percent of the inn's customers come from the Web and about 20 percent from word of mouth.

"The key is to be accessible on the Internet in as many places as you can be," said Joan Ricker, who co-owns the Legacy with her husband.

In the past, she often joined him on the road with the circus, and at times worked in ticket sales or other circus operations. Their interest in B&Bs was natural, she said.

"We stayed in hotels with the circus for 28 years, so we figured we knew how to run a hotel," Joan Ricker said.

The Rickers follow up their marketing efforts, they said, by focusing on comfortable beds in each room, cleanliness and good lighting. The Legacy also aims for the feel of an 18th-century tavern.

At times, guests really get that centuries-old feel, like during a power outage last week at breakfast time. But Art Ricker said he's learned from his experience with Washington, D.C.-based Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey. The work included a stint entertaining a crowd at the Hampton Coliseum in 1972 when a train derailment delayed the circus.

"With a career in the circus, I was into everything. So I'm pretty easy when something comes that's unusual," he said.

Art Ricker left the circus in 1997. After first running a seven-room lodge in Petersburg, W.Va., the Rickers decided three years ago to downsize and buy the four-room Legacy, which is assessed at $660,700, according to city records.

Joan Ricker said the B&B business is about a "lifestyle change."

"You don't get into a B&B for the money," she said. "You're going to earn a nice living, but you're not going to be rich."