The CIA History...         CELEBRATING 24 YEARS AND STILL GOING STRONG

After being in the B&B business for about a year, the Hugging Bear Innkeepers found that it was a fairly isolating experience.  Most B & B's are family run operations and quite confining.  All work and no play is not fun!! 

In 1984 they invited all the B & B's in Chester to a pot-luck supper and formed the Chester Innkeepers Association - the CIA - jokingly referred to as an undercover organization. The original purpose was to end the isolation by getting together at a different Inn each month for supper and to share experiences, concerns and ways we could work cooperatively.  

As a group CIA wrote letters to the legislature about opposing a raise on the State rooms and meals tax and other legislation that affected the lodging industry. Occasionally the inns purchased products cooperatively and did coop advertising.  It was a very loosely run group in the beginning, but the inns did their best to be supportive of each other.  During busy times a coordinators list of the inns was used to refer customers to those who had vacancies in order to keep tourists in Chester. We took turns being coordinators. Inns  with rooms would call the coordinator and get referrals.    

Overture to Christmas was one of the first events the CIA worked on when Jack Coleman from the Inn at Long Last, now the Fullerton, suggested the idea.  It was one way the inns could be involved  in the community as well as promote it.    We wanted to "give something back." The small info booth that had been inoperative for a long time was resurrected by the CIA and volunteers from the town helped greet visitors. In 2000, The newly formed OVRCC took over the info booth and constructed a new building with the help of the chester innkeepers, merchants and businesses. The Inns rotated chairing the responsibility of the CIA  and every 6 months changed leaders. We soon included a secretary to record our activities and write letters. After a few years we started to charge dues and have a set of officers for a year or more.  As more Inns opened up in Chester a more formal organization developed in an effort to be more businesslike and do joint marketing.  Everyone had a lot of ideas and we had our ups and downs, but a core group kept it running.

We knew we had the potential to accomplish a great deal for Chester. We developed our own website www.chesterlodging.com which listed the inns, town events and other businesses. A joint rack card was created and distributed  to the welcome centers. As the economy slowed and tourism decreased after 9/11 we realized we had to get serious about how to keep the town businesses viable and to let prospective visitors know how delightful Chester is.  

Chester is a town to be enjoyed, to see and stay. That we are a town concerned with our world and the earth and wish to be good caretakers of it.  The Inns over the years have raised money for Boy/Girl scouts, school groups, recreation programs and the town "Skate Park" (enjoyed by over 1000 area youth).  We assisted in May Town Clean-Up Day, and have run some of the Town Events, as well as active volunteering in many organizations. Some of the Inns have run events to raise donations for cancer research (Motel in the Meadow),  and the list goes on and on...  Certainly there are many wonderful stories in between, 24 years is a long time and lots has happened.    


Georgette Thomas
Chester Innkeepers Association Founding Member
Proprietor, Hugging Bear Inn and Shoppe
 
info@greenlodgingvt.com
info@greenlodgingvt.info
Chester Innkeepers Association Members at the Green Hotels Ribbon Cutting Ceremony April 7th 2008 with Honorable Governor James Douglas and Madam State Representative Kathy Pellet. Photo: Donald Dill.
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