Bed-and-breakfast owners earn recognition as top hosts

Big news broke in little Edenton. "I was shocked," said Giuliano Giannone. So was his business partner, Michael Scalpi.

Scarcely 12 months after buying a bed-and-breakfast in this small North Carolina waterfront town, Scalpi and Giannone were named 2011 Innkeepers of the Year.

The distinction for The Pack House Inn came in January from Pamela Lanier's Bed and Breakfast Directory, an online and print encyclopedia of B&Bs around the world.

The inn received the most votes out of 8,500 properties in the running for the award. Votes are cast by former B&B guests and visitors to the website.

In bestowing the honors, Lanier praised the Edenton innkeepers' "exceptional hospitality and effort to go that extra mile."

Scalpi and Giannone know the hospitality business.

Scalpi, who still jokingly calls their Edenton venture "the new broom in town," made his reputation by founding the Plumbush Inn & Restaurant in Cold Spring in New York's Hudson Valley. While the grand Victorian was in Scalpi's hands, The New York Times awarded it five stars.

Most recently, Giannone owned The Barn in Fayetteville, N.C., a fine- dining establishment where he featured Italian dishes, steaks and seafood. He is a second-generation chef.

Introduced to each other by Scalpi's son, Giannone and Scalpi became business partners when Scalpi bought the North Carolina inn in June 2009. They remodeled and opened that year on Sept. 15.

The first thing they did was throw out rules.

"The key to our success is that we're flexible," said Scalpi. "That's the key in today's market. We allow children. We have two pet-friendly rooms and a handicap suite. We book whole weddings for whole families, several generations."

They adjusted the cost of a night's stay, creating tiers of room rates. Some of their enormous bedrooms, filled with large four-posters, rent for as little as $99 per night, less if part of a package.

Last year, their efforts paid off; the men turned away 500 potential reservations for lack of room.

Their partnership showcases each person's strengths.

Giannone, an energetic 45, is the chef.

"My hours are 7 to 11. To be a successful innkeeper, you have to live the long hours and be a people person," he said.

He cooks dishes from scratch and is a stickler for detail, insisting that bed linens be pressed and that Christmas decorations be cut fresh.

"I love a challenge," Giannone said. "I'm a busy person, and cooking is really my passion."

He serves breakfast just steps across the lawn inside the cozy Tillie Bond House, circa 1879, the former home of the one-time owner of a town landmark, the Cupola House.

If guests ask for food that is gluten-free, nut-free, egg-free, Giannone obliges.

"I always ask about dietary needs, and people appreciate that," he said.

He whips up three-course breakfasts that start with fresh fruit and juices, entrees such as eggs Benedict, tender egg and cheese souffles filled with Canadian bacon, or quiche. He ends with a sweet cake like lemon pound, pomegranate or warm walnut spice.

For business travelers, he jump-starts the usual 8-to-9:30 a.m. breakfast hour to begin at a travel-friendly 7, or offers breakfast to go.

Scalpi, pensive and moderate at age 68, said: "I'm the balance. His theory is 'more is better.' Mine is 'less is more.' I look forward to making money. I pay the bills. That's why I have a worried look on my face."

He stays out of the kitchen, claiming, "That's out of my system." But he pitches in to pour coffee and serve tables.

Scalpi has a keen eye for quality restoration, a compliment to the old property, which glows with original plank flooring and coal-burning fireplaces. The Pack House dates to 1915. It was lovingly and respectfully brought into good condition.

"He's over the edge when he restores something," Giannone said. "The maintenance; he goes too far with it. I'd put Bondo here and there and keep on going, but he replaces cedar with cedar."

Scalpi has his reasons: "My father always said, 'If you can't do a job right, don't do it at all.' "

For all the differences in their business approach, the men walk the same path.

They pride themselves on the armoires in each room stocked with cotton bathrobes, a choice of pillows, irons and ironing boards, TVs and luggage racks, resort-style towels in the bathrooms and matelassé coverlets on the beds.

Each room has a desk and wireless internet. Guests are treated to splits of wine on check-in; a DVD library; a guest kitchen stocked with espresso, coffee, gourmet teas, juices and small snacks; and a common area that is both library and music room.

If love is in the air, there's the romance package with roses, chocolate-covered strawberries, and champagne or wine.

Hands-on in every aspect of what it takes to run an inn, except for the help of a small housekeeping staff, both hosts tread lightly near their guests.

"Some people come here and they just don't want to bother. They just want to sit on the porch. I respect their privacy and if they want to have a conversation or not," Scalpi said, then nodded toward his partner, "He has a story for everything in the place."

If asked, Giannone offers museum curator-style talks.

The Pack House Inn was built as a place to dry and pack tobacco, and was located on a plantation a mile from where it sits today. Moved there in 1987 by former owners of The Lord Proprietor's Inn, just a few steps away, The Pack House became a B&B in 1988.

It is filled with carefully collected and displayed art and artifacts, antiques, reproductions and locally made furnishings that nod to its former purpose, owners and occupants.

In the beginning, Scalpi and Giannone offered formal tours every day, but they had to stop when they got too busy.

"I enjoy that," Giannone said. "You have to be a storyteller. I'll give customers a tour and tell them about each painting. But I don't get over the top. I don't get into where people are from. We're not intrusive."

In the short time they've owned it, the B&B has proven to be not enough of a challenge.

So Scalpi and Giannone recently acquired the adjacent property, The Lord Proprietor's Inn on Broad Street. They'll rename it The Proprietor's at The Pack House Inn.

It was Scalpi who wanted a larger business enterprise, and, uncharacteristically, it was Giannone who was reluctant.

Now, swept up in the project, Giannone showed off freshly painted and decorated rooms and a foyer with charming Victorian fretwork. Four weddings and various corporate functions are already booked.

They plan two gift shops. One, in a former smoke house, is where Giannone plans to sell jellies and wine under their own label, another, in a former carriage house, will feature local art.

And, in a third quaint building with Palladian windows peeling with glacial layers of paint and still pocked with rotted sills, there will be a restaurant with outside seating, Giannone's idea.

In the garden, he envisions people enjoying dinner alongside their pets. He's already digging and planting the courtyard and has his eye on a huge fig tree that'll provide fruit for cooking. He'll have room for 45, and 25 more outside; do dinner only; feature small menus with daily specials, local ingredients and entrees for $20 or less.

"And that's it," Giannone said. "That's it. That's all I want. We'll keep it small."

"Small," though, is not what got The Pack House Inn noticed.

Krys Stefansky, (757) 446-2043 krys.stefansky@pilotonline.com