A True Inn or a true idiot

My great grandfather, William Henry Cassell, was a banker in Lexington, Kentucky. The house he lived in was on Second Street. I have a photograph of him sitting on the front porch holding a two year old girl on his lap. The photo was taken about 1913; the two year old girl was my mother.

When I moved to Cincinnati in 1995, my daughter and I drove down to Lexington to see if we could find the house, if it still existed. Starting from one end of Second Street, we drove slowly down the street with my mother's old photo album opened to that page. We found the house and it appeared to be in pretty good condition. We rang the doorbell, but got no answer, so we took a few photographs and drove back to Cincinnati. I later learned that the house had been converted into a Bed and Breakfast and that the side door was the door normally used.

A few years ago when my mother's sister came out with her granddaughter to visit Judy and me, we made arrangements to stay at that B & B. We found that the name was "A True Inn," named apparently for the owner, a Mr. True. It was a great experience for us all, especially for Aunt Margaret, my mother's sister.

Fast forward about ten years. My mother and her two sisters are now gone, as is Judy. I have recently remarried, and Ginger, my new stepdaughter is going through a difficult time. Because of the good experience that I had previously enjoyed, my wife and I thought it would be a nice idea to treat her to a night at that B & B. 

I found the website, http://www.atrueinn.com and did some preliminary research online.We would want two rooms and the going rate for those that we wanted were $189 and $159. But the minimum stay was two nights. OK then, 2 times that and it comes to $696. The $189 room was the room that I had previously stayed in and is the most expensive. We noted that there was no smoking allowed. Ginger is a smoker so we called their number to ask if there would be an area where she could have a smoke. Yes, there would be an area available for that. Great. 

Next day we called Ginger to arrange a couple of days to do this - next Monday and Tuesday would work for us. I called the B & B to make the reservation. I explained the rooms that I wanted and the dates. The gist of the conversation follows.

"Oh, Monday and Tuesday is not available." 

"OK, when would they be available?" 

"Well what weekend would you like and we will see if they would be available." 

"Could you just tell me when those two rooms would be available and we will arrange our schedule."

"What weekend would you like?"

"What dates are available for those two rooms?"

"Oh, that $189 room is not normally available."

"Huh?"

"We don't use that room unless all of the others are already filled."

"You don't use that room? That's like the highlight of the inn."

"No, we don't want to use it unless the others are already occupied."

Sounded to me as if he really didn't want any guests at all. Perhaps if he knew who I was, that I was the great grandson of one of the early owners and had previously stayed there we might break the ice. So I explained.

Nope.

All I could think of was "What a way to run a business." 

We found an alternate B & B in Versailles, Kentucky and will be staying there Monday and Tuesday. A two room unit, $393, including home cooked dinner for three on Monday.