Before her role as innkeeper at Newport’s historic Admiral Fitzroy Inn – a job she took in 2004 – Angela Craig and her husband, Peter Gagnon, had what Craig calls a “learning experience,” a cautionary tale for other small-business owners.
They bought The Villa Bed & Breakfast in Westerly, a transaction she made happen in part by selling her mother’s wedding ring, she says. Led by their hearts, they were young and determined, but there were factors working against them, Craig said. One of those factors: the property only had seven rooms to rent at that time, not enough to generate sufficient revenue. Also, the couple didn’t have much to invest back into the property.
“We didn’t have very deep pockets and were trying to make a living as innkeepers,” she said. “We did get a [U.S. Small Business Administration] loan but couldn’t make it without doing other jobs as well. We thought we would be there for the rest of our days, but we were leveraged off the charts,” Craig said.
Craig found that maintenance was one of the most challenging parts of innkeeping: a combination of ongoing tasks, repairs, upgrades and the downtime needed to get all work accomplished.
“You have a punch list, but in the meantime, something else happens so your priorities get pushed down on the list,” she said. “There are so many things that can go wrong. But we have no maintenance department, so we do what we can ourselves to try and keep the bottom line under control.”
‘Angela was key to the survival of the business.’
BRIAN FITZGERALD, Admiral Fitzroy Inn owner
The couple owned the property for four years, ultimately realizing that they would have needed more money upfront to have made the business a success.
“We ended up selling,” she said.
Craig and Gagnon hadn’t gone into the venture totally inexperienced. Craig had apprenticed at an inn in New Hope, Pa., before the two were hired as co-innkeepers at Church Point Manor in Virginia Beach, Va.
However, the experience at the Villa became a crucial element of the overall value of Craig – who dove in head first, only to realize she preferred being an operator more than an owner. She moved on to work as a front desk associate at Castle Hill Inn, the sister property of the Admiral Fitzroy Inn.
Nine months later, the hospitality talents she then brought as innkeeper of the Admiral Fitzroy – the 18-room, Thames Street inn on the National Register of Historic Places – included resourcefulness, patience and knowledge honed over years in the business. Gagnon was part of the package.
By this time, the two were a well-oiled machine.
“Peter was the back of house; I was front of house. We had great teamwork,” Craig said. Gagnon took on maintenance and supply issues, with Craig handling the guests and overseeing staff. Their work was just like what they did at the Villa, without the financial stress.
“We cooked; we handled housekeeping, front desk, breakfast, bookkeeping – we did everything we were doing when we owned an inn ourselves except pay the mortgage,” she said. “We took on the Admiral Fitzroy like it was our own, as we came in knowing more than the owners.”
When the inn was purchased by Brian Fitzgerald and his wife, Dawn, in 2007, Craig and Gagnon negotiated a deal to stay and continue running the place.
Even after Gagnon died in 2013, Craig soldiered on.
It was an especially difficult loss, she says, as he was not only her husband but her partner in the workplace, with so many memories right there at the Admiral Fitzroy.
The industry is a labor of love that also requires a strong work ethic, she says.
Fitzgerald said there was no clearer representation of this than the leadership Craig displayed during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Angela was key to the survival of the business as COVID devastated the industry last spring,” he said. “She handled numerous customer cancellations with grace. She also negotiated supplier agreements so as to preserve cash flow. She made tough yet compassionate decisions on employment of staff such as to assist them through difficult times.”
Craig said that there was no rulebook for handling COVID-19. The team had to do its best.
“We knew all our calls were going to be cancelations. We didn’t have money to refund, so we were putting people on a waitlist and seeing if they would take vouchers for future stays to help us out after COVID-19 passed,” Craig said. Many guests helped in this way and understood the circumstances, she said.
The pandemic meant not seeing the inn’s guests, many of whom stay year after year, she said, whom she missed. To help feel grounded, Craig said she still came to the property each day.
Just as regulars have started to come back, Craig has winded down her work schedule at the inn now. She officially retired from the day-to-day operations of the Admiral Fitzroy in April and there is a new innkeeper, but Craig is still a regular presence each week, offering wisdom where she can – the kind that can only be gained from withstanding difficult times over decades in the field, with success.
Susan Shalhoub is a contributing writer for Providence Business News.
