I used to be on the band wagon of "where there is a will, there is a way". But I'm not anymore. I've seen too many innkeepers give up their inn, or even lose it, because they didn't have enough capital. Being under capitalized is the major reasons businesses go under.

That said, you have a few options to you that will let you be innkeepers, though maybe in a different format than you would ideally like. 1.) You could be managers of an inn -- you get the joys of being innkeepers without the pressure of owning. 2.) You could bring in partners -- you'd be innkeepers but not own 100% of the pie; some of the pie is better than none, in my opinion. 3.) You could scale down your dream and buy a smaller, less expensive inn and grow it over time. 4.) You could be innsitters, moving from situation to situation -- giving you variety, experience, and flexibility.

Anyone else have ideas?

Thank you for your input! Two of your suggestions are ones we have been leaning towards - partnering and scaling down. We have a very specific market niche that is our passion so we aren't sure that innkeeping for someone else's dream is the way we want to go. In regards to scaling down, our original plan was for 12 suites, with my research on other inns, it seems that B&B's with 5 rooms or less tend not to do so well. Is this a misconception on my part?

Regarding working for someone else; you could possibly make it happen with enough searching. You could find an innkeeper who shares your passion and who has the money to make it happen but not the time or energy. Maybe you'd have to settle for a modified market niche to be an innkeeper. Part of the test for this option is to ask yourself if you'd rather work for someone else following their dream or not innkeep at all. The answer to that question will tell you lots.

Now, as far as your research about the number of rooms it takes to be viable, it's true that conventional wisdom says you need more rooms to succeed. But it doesn't always work that way. There are lots of variables impacting success. And just because you start small doesn't mean you have to stay small. Just because small doesn't work in some situations doesn't mean it won't work in any situation.

By your description, you don't have the money to follow your dream. You have to make changes to the dream. You may be able to get by with less than 30% down, but I don't know of any lender who will help you with essentially no money down.

It goes back to that pie discussion -- would you rather have a piece of the pie or none? I totally understand your frustration; I've been in your boat. But it takes money to get into the innkeeping world -- and stay there -- unless you work for someone else. You have to realistically figure out how that's going to happen.