Marvin and Anita Johnson know who they are – a married, middle-aged Black couple who own a bed and breakfast in the Atlanta suburb of Stockbridge, Georgia. They also understand that when some guests arrive, it may be the first time they spend the night with Black hosts.
So when people peruse the website of Stockbridge Lakes Bed & Breakfast, they see images of a picturesque lake, lush landscaping and elegant bedrooms. They learn about the gourmet breakfasts, the sleeping porch and the paddle boats that guests are free to use. But they won’t find any photos of the innkeepers.
“We knew when we opened our doors who our market would be – mostly white people,” said Marvin.
Fearing their Black faces might deter potential guests, the Johnsons designed their website to promote the property’s serene surroundings and amenities. “That was on purpose,” said Anita. “We didn’t want to advertise that we were African Americans, and we didn’t want [our clientele] to be limited to African Americans.”
According to a 2024 report from IBISWorld, traditional bed and breakfast lodging in the US is a $1.04bn industry, a sliver of the nation’s $239bn hotel and motel market. Over the last decade, the rise of Airbnb and other short-term sublease rental platforms slowly ate away at traditional bed and breakfast businesses. But more recently, news of hidden cameras and hidden fees, and a slew of local regulations cracking down on short-term rentals, are breathing new life into the traditional bed and breakfast world.
Anita, 57, grew up in Hawkinsville, Georgia, where her father was a pastor for the Church of God by Faith. As a teenager, she coordinated church events and trips. She eventually started a travel agency, handling group and corporate getaways. Meanwhile, Marvin, 65, had more than 35 years of experience in the automotive industry, including two decades in car dealership management and nearly as many in automotive financing.
The pair married in 1998. In 2002, they participated in a Bible study on Rick Warren’s best-selling book, The Purpose Driven Life. That’s when they recognized that every job they had held – Anita in human resources, hotel management, travel companies; Marvin in criminal justice counseling and sales – put them on the path for a certain type of entrepreneurship.
In 2003, the pair founded JS Venue Plus, a 20,000 sq ft event center in Morrow, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta. The Johnsons see the bed and breakfast, which they opened in 2018, as an extension of their first co-founded business.
Their inn, which is about a half-hour drive from Atlanta, is in a southern colonial-style house that sits on four acres with a lake stocked with bigmouth bass, catfish and turtles. Converting the home from a residence to a bed and breakfast was a two-year-long undertaking. The Johnsons had to add bathrooms to a couple of bedrooms and fix up a damp basement, which now offers 1,600 sq ft of recreational space.
“Not much transformation was needed in terms of the home itself,” Anita said. “Some renovations were needed to add our touch and become [accessible to people with disabilities].” The biggest hurdle, she said, was working with the county to establish the first bed and breakfast in the area. “They didn’t know how to categorize or regulate us,” she said. “Now we have become a staple of the community.”
With the dominance of Airbnb and hotel booking sites, why did you start a traditional bed and breakfast?
Marvin: When we traveled, we always enjoyed the bed and breakfast experience. So we always liked meeting people. But not just the part of meeting people; we also liked what would happen, the attention that we would get and the service that we would get in that type of environment versus a hotel.
You’re starting to see some real pushback [against short-term rentals like Airbnb], especially from people who have their privacy exposed by hidden cameras.
According to reports, most frequent visitors to traditional bed and breakfasts are over 55. How would you describe your clientele?
Marvin: Our guests arrive to us twofold. Traveling guests are mostly white, over 45 and slightly more familiar with the bed and breakfast concept. Our local guests experiencing the B&B for the first time trend younger and are of mixed demographics.
Your bed and breakfast is near Atlanta, which has a significant African American population. But your pictures aren’t on your website. Why not lean into being Black-owned?
Marvin: It didn’t make sense to promote our business as Black-owned or the first Black bed and breakfast in the county. Well, we’re the only bed and breakfast [in the county], and we did not need to do all that. We need to promote the bed and breakfast, our service and all we have to offer.
How much of your decision not to reveal your ethnicity was influenced by the region in which you live?
Marvin: We cater to travelers, so we need people from all over the place. We’re in the south, so we know where people are driving from; that’s the Panhandle of Florida, out of Alabama. These are also people who like to stay at a bed and breakfast. And we expect those kinds of people to be Caucasian. The question is what they will expect when they walk through the door.
Has there ever been an issue in which guests have arrived and been shocked that you were Black?
Marvin: It’s always, always an issue. It comes up, but we’re prepared to handle it. If you see our reviews, we get five stars.
