Our Charming Blog

It’s an exciting time at Charming Inns of Charleston— a time of opportunity, recognition and growth. This fall we celebrated and honored two generations of strong women within the organization. Our Vice President of Sales and Public Relations as well as member of our Concierge Staff, were recognized within the hospitality industry both state and world wide. We are incredibly delighted to share their accolades.

Linn Lesesne is the Vice President of Sales and Public Relations for Charming Inns. Linn represents the company’s impressive collection of holdings including the award-winning Wentworth Mansion along with the John Rutledge House Inn, Kings Courtyard Inn, Fulton Lane Inn, and two restaurants, Kitchen 208 and Circa 1886.

Linn was a Nominee Finalist for the 2018 Historic Hotel Awards and Excellence. The Historic Hotels Awards of Excellence recognize and celebrate the finest historic hotels and hoteliers from across the nation and from around the world. Nominee Finalists were selected from nominations received from historic hotels, historic preservation supporters, prior award recipients, community leaders, and leadership from Historic Hotels of America and Historic Hotels Worldwide.

Additionally, this October, Linn was member of the Condè Nast Travel Specialist Summit Panel. Linn was joined by Christy Turlington Burns (Every Mother Counts), Sophy Roberts (Contributing Editor to Conde Nast), Sofia Sanchez de Betak and Maita Barrenechea (Creative World Travelers).  When asked about her recent experience, Linn says “It was a huge honor to serve on this panel with these women who have all made inspiring impressions of their work and travel around the world. We all agreed that traveling with families, our own children specifically, provides us the opportunity to shape our children’s futures by exposing them to many diverse cultures, different geography and of course tasting the cuisine from around the world and just as importantly in our own beautiful country!”

Alexis Ryan is a member of the Charming Inns Concierge Staff and also serves at Kitchen 208. With her contagious smile and pure love of hospitality, our organization feels very lucky to have her as an irreplaceable member of our team. 

As a direct reflection of her love of hospitality, Alexis recently won the South Carolina Tourism Student Award. Only nine South Carolina college students from hospitality-related programs were given Tourism Student Awards  during a ceremony at the Lace House in Columbia. The students were recognized for outstanding academic achievement related to hospitality and tourism in South Carolina, including culinary studies. Sponsored by the South Carolina Travel and Tourism Coalition, the Tourism Student Awards recognizes students who were recommended by faculty for exemplary work. Scholarships are provided through the Fred Brinkman Memorial Fund, which is funded through a silent auction held annually at the Governor’s Conference on Tourism & Travel. 

It’s safe to say when women support women, incredible things happen. Charming Inns is privileged to have generations of strong, intelligent and hospitality driven women within the organization. Congratulations from your family at Charming Inns and cheers to continuing to make incredible things happen in the hospitality industry for generations to come.