Going Victorian? Fire Up an iPad

When visitors crave high-tech and modern conveniences in planning a stay in  Healdsburg, their next thought is not usually to look for a Victorian bed-and-breakfast inn.

But they’d be wrong.

Healdsburg’s at 211 North St. recently became the first accommodations in town to offer iPads for guests' use in the inn’s nine rooms.

owner Lucy Lewand said the iPad is the most recent in a series of high tech upgrades she has made over the last five years.

Lewand said she decided five years ago, in anticipation of her family’s 30^th anniversary at the inn, to update the entire inn experience for the contemporary Healdsburg guest. The rooms were renovated to offer a "knick-knack- and doily-free" clean modern look by merging the best of the modern with the charm of the bygone era.

Wi-fi, MP3 docks -- and now iPads -- are all available for today’s guest.

“With the iPads, we are providing a personal concierge service to each of our guests,” says Lewand, who calls the Apple tablet an "essential gadget" along with the other electronic tools.

“They can make reservations, look up directions, checkout specials, check on their flights, look at the latest weather information, explore the area and plan their adventures in Wine Country --all from the iPads," she adds.

The iPads have been preloaded with information to provide guests with enhanced maps and directions, video recommendations, the Healdsburg App, and instant booking confirmations for local restaurants, theater performances and attractions.

Wine Country guidebooks that feature information from journalists that have stayed at the inn have also been uploaded. In addition, the iPad 2s provide more communication functionality for the inn with the front and rear facing cameras and face-to-face video calls that enhance the inn’s allure for business travelers.

Even an app for where the cheapest gas and traffic conditions in the area are loaded on.

With all the electronica, however, Lewand says she will not lose the human  touch at the inn.

“It is to simply provide more choices — if you want to use the iPad, you can do so,” Lewand says. “If a guest wants my personal recommendations, that’s still part of what I do for guests.

"If they want to be left alone to plan their own adventures, that is a choice, as well," she says. "By putting the iPads in the guest rooms, we are bringing a valuable technology to everyone’s fingertips but not changing the overall inn experience."