During the winter months at the Inn, we have more time to fuss over the Inn and think about how to improve and maintain this beautiful house and care for the grounds. This time of year, we are thoroughly reminded of the importance of having a dedicated and talented staff as well as a trusted group of local contractors and vendors. We are lucky to have a great group of both! Our internal team is spectacular, and Waynesville has a thriving small-business community full of talented contractors, specialists and just good folks who do good work. Our culture here in Waynesville is supportive and positive and we are thankful for that every day.
We wanted to take this opportunity to send our appreciation to our team, both internal and contractor, since so many people have helped us over this past year and a half. Many of those people worked at the Andon-Reid well before we took over in 2022. Some have even been working on the Inn since the days of Ann and Don in the late 90’s!!!
Starting with our staff, we are so very fortunate to have Shelly and Bob on our team. Shelly is our housekeeper and has been with the Andon-Reid for 7 years. She’s hard-working, dedicated, creative and is truly the driving force behind the Andon-Reid’s reputation as a clean, comfortable and unique place to stay where attention to detail is paramount. We are so glad Shelly decided to stay with us when we took over the Inn; it is a blessing to have her as part of the family and we are thankful to Shelly’s family for loaning her to us each day.
And where would we be without Bob! He does a bit of everything here at the Inn and is an amazing resource for the Inn and our guests. He really does have a knack for understanding how things work and he enjoys spending time with guests in the evenings as he’s checking on the Inn and locking up. It’s great to have such a versatile person on our team (and of course he’s an amazing brother and uncle!).
We’d also be remiss if we didn’t mention the youngest members of our team, Claire and Elliott (our children)! Some of our guests might have seen them in the mornings on the weekends filling candy bowls, restocking cups and glasses, feeding the birds, stocking the refrigerator and helping set the tables. We are really looking forward to seeing them both grow up around our Inn!
And one of the things we knew going into this adventure, but really didn’t understand fully until now, was the importance of establishing strong relationships with local contractors and businesses. We are blessed to live in a town with a strong culture and a great work ethic. During January and February, we lean on our local partners to help fix, maintain, and care for our 1902 home. In particular, we’d like to give a shout out to Matt Romano (electrician), Kris Antczak (handyman), Western Carolina Plumbing (been working on the Andon-Reid for 25+ years!), KB Lawns, Asheville Painting, Terminix Service, WNC Pressure Washing, and Clean Sweep Fireplace Shop. We rely on these partners for so much, and they are all reliable, trustworthy and wonderful community members.
And nowadays, some of the folks that don’t get enough credit, but help make the world go round, are the delivery drivers and postal workers who help keep us supplied and stocked. We wish we could shout them all out personally, but we want to give special credit to our postman, Vinny, who is a friendly face each day and an incredibly hard worker and beloved by the community. He’s also a super talented artist! Check out some of his work on Instagram!
It really does take a village to manage an Inn! One of the most rewarding things about being entrepreneurs and innkeepers are the relationships you build in the community and the feeling you get being a part of a vibrant small-business culture. It’s one of the things we both yearned for in our prior careers and have found in Waynesville.
As guests, we hope you can feel how much behind-the-scenes work goes into making the Andon-Reid an incredible experience. We are thankful every day that we are woven into the fabric of this vibrant Appalachian community and that we have such a fantastic team helping make this small family-owned business succeed and thrive.
Your Innkeepers,
–Brenda and Peter
