Rising Stars: Meet Elise Tyler

Today we’d like to introduce you to Elise Tyler.

Hi Elise, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
This dream was born at the bottom of a pint of beer just down the street of The Colonial Inn. I had just moved to North Carolina and my very best friend from college had moved to this area and worked at the restaurant on the corner, a stone’s throw from the decaying Colonial Inn.

I had few friends transplanting from a small town (much like Hillsborough) on Cape Cod in MA, so I frequented her workplace to grab a beer and always parked West of the inn on King St. to walk past, peek in, and dream about the impossible, to someday buy the inn and restore it. Fast forward a decade, a lifetime of professional career shifts, a husband and a baby on the way, and here I was working in construction, my company partnering with one of the best structural engineers in the nation. While meeting on an unrelated historic restoration project, we threw out the hail mary.

One sentence that piqued interest and was the catalyst for 9 investors, 3 years, 5 million dollars, and a now rebirthed historic treasure: The Colonial Inn. There’s a story for almost every day during construction and two for every day since we opened, but that was the beginning, and boy was it the beginning.

When the deal was signed on January 8th, 2018, we had no idea what we were getting into from a construction standpoint, and then there was COVID, affecting our three-part business in the areas hardest hit by the pandemic, travel/hotel, events, and food and beverage. Somehow we’re still here telling the story and excited for the many years ahead when we’ll look back, laugh, and wonder how we survived.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
You name it, we had it…

• Town restrictions, relentless building inspectors during the biggest historic reconstruction Hillsborough has seen in maybe ever.
• Shipping delays.
• Material price increases.
• The physical state of the structure (some parts being far worse and some far better than we could tell before purchasing) this one could have its own book!
• Weather, weeks of rain flooding the construction area, including a monsoon on grand opening day.
• Construction delays forced us to put the entire hotel furniture, fixtures, mattresses, headboards, rugs everything… into 9 storage units for 10 months.
• Covid… three separate waves… employee exposures, short staffing, guest fear, canceled events.
• Lack of grants because we didn’t qualify (no record of business done before the pandemic because we opened at the height of it).
• Employee personal challenges (we had our head chef diagnosed with terminal brain cancer and has since passed, we lost two employees due to addiction, another head chef rushed into emergency surgery because of a torn colon and had to have 12″ of his large intestine removed, and we, my family, lost my father-in-law).

Lots and lots… and thankfully an equal number of triumphs in my opinion!

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
We are (and I am) innately positive, hospitable, tolerant, and kind person/people. We specialize in people-focused, heartfelt hospitality that makes The Colonial Inn’s experience so very magical.

I am so, so proud of our team, which has become family, and their devotion to specializing in each person’s stay is unmatched. If a guest is willing to share anything with us, we take that nugget and run! If a guest is coming to meet their grandchild for the first time, there will likely be a bouncy baby toy in your room from the inn.

If you’re coming for a romantic anniversary, expect a card and offers for champagne and dinner service. Anything we can do to make your stay extra special is what we hope to learn and execute, it’s truly what sets us apart.

Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
Honestly, we’re just starting out! Who are we to dish out advice? However, we have learned SO much in our first year.

I think the biggest thing I would tell myself if I could talk to that eager, fresh gal who was not yet beaten down by the pandemic, would be that the challenges will be immense. So big and so frequent that it may seem like it won’t end, but stay positive, believe in your purpose and ability, rely on your team and know in your heart that you can do it.

I wish I had known all the things that are impossible to know ahead of time… about the pandemic and how long, hard, and relentless it would be on our business. I wish I had known all of the obstacles I would face so that I could prepare, mentally, physically, financially, for going to “war” to save the inn.

Pricing:

• Room rates between $150.00-$295.00 per evening
• Weddings between $750.00-$6,000.00
• Food and Beverage entree range $6.00-$40.00

Contact Info:

• Email: thecolonialinnhillsborough@gmail.com
• Website: www.colonialinn-nc.com
• Instagram: @thecolonialinnhillsborough
• Facebook: @thecolonialinnnc

Image Credits
Fancy This Photography, Nikki Whitt Mina von Feilitzsch Photography, and Mina von Feilitzsch