Maribeth Ryan Brings New Life to Riverside Gables Bed and Breakfast

Walking into Riverside Gables Bed and Breakfast, guests will see Maribeth Ryan, the owner of the inn, engage with everyone who walks in, creating a relaxing experience alongside a beautiful waterfall and a relaxing firepit. Ryan has always had a passion for hospitality, and you can tell by just a glance that she loves working with people and understands their needs.

“Making that connection, meeting different people all the time, was something that really drew me toward it,” Ryan says.

Riverside Gables has been an inn for 14 years, but Ryan took over the place in November of last year. Ryan used to work in hospitality in her college years, then decided to go into corporate. After 22 years of working for GM Financial in Detroit, she realized she wanted to return to hospitality.

Ryan’s responsibilities are very different from her GM days. At the inn, she does everything from cooking and cleaning to taxes and marketing, having to adjust to these immense changes.

“Coming from corporate and going into an inn being an entrepreneur in and of itself is very challenging,” Ryan says, “I don’t think that I realized how much I actually had to do until I had to do it.”

While running a business came with its natural challenges, her background in psychology helped her understand how to interact with guests. It is easier for her to tell which guests want to talk and which would rather not be bothered.

Many guests think that Ryan’s duties end with cooking and cleaning, yet this is only one part of her many obligations. During the day, Ryan often works on building connections with local businesses in Berea and with Baldwin Wallace University.

One of her biggest goals is to make the inn more well-known through marketing, as she feels there are not as many people who know about the inn as she would prefer. She began advertising by making a Facebook page for the inn and creating a website where people can book rooms digitally.

The most effective way to promote, however, is through face-to-face connections, as Ryan learned when she recently attended a wedding expo and introduced many to the inn. She hopes to have more of these events in the future to promote the business.

Alongside all of the entrepreneurial and hospitality aspects of owning an inn, Ryan also made some major changes to help improve the image of the inn. For one, she completely refurbished the barn outside, gutting it and adding a sound system and a television.

Because the inn takes up so much of Ryan’s time, she must find a way to enjoy herself during these long, busy days. One of these outlets is exercise. So, another change Ryan made was implementing a fitness room into the inn with a Peloton bike. 

One of the smaller changes Ryan has made with the inn is changing the landscape, ensuring that the atmosphere is cohesive and gives visitors a homey feeling.

Ryan’s goal with Riverside Gables is merely to give people a sanctuary that they want to return to.

“I just want them to come and enjoy their time here and realize that I’m going to do all the cleaning up,” Ryan said, “I have it all taken care of, so they don’t have to worry about it at all.”

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