Shakespeare Welcomes New Communications Associate

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LENOX, Mass. — Greg Hughes has joined the communications team at Shakespeare & Company as associate director of communications.

He replaces Allissa Wickham, former communications associate, who is pursuing other endeavors in the greater Boston area.

Hughes has a long history with the company, having worked as a house manager for several summers while attending college. He holds a bachelor of fine arts in dramatic writing from the State University of New York at Purchase, where he was the recipient of the Chairman's Award for academic excellence.

He will be working alongside Director of Communications Elizabeth Aspenlieder on all matters of publicity and communications as well as Director of Marketing Enrico Spada and Director of Sales David Joseph.

"Greg first came to us several years ago as one of our ace house managers, working primarily during our busy summer months," said Aspenlieder. “His time with us proved invaluable as he gracefully welcomed, hosted and took care of countless thousands of patrons and their needs – without breaking so much as a sweat! We actually took a tally and can safely say Greg gave upward of 800 curtain speeches during his time here. Needless to say, his communications and customer service skills are peerless. At a time when we're gearing up for one of the most expansive and exciting seasons to date, it is quite a relief and a boon to have someone of his vision, energy and expertise on our staff."

Hughes has been at Shout Television in London, where he researched and wrote scripts for "Planet Golf," a destination golf show that airs on the Travel Channel in the U.K. and Asia-Pacific markets. He also covered the world of golf for Shout and spearheaded the media-based website "Click on Golf," which aims to unite businesses and consumers with product and instructional-based video content. While in London, Hughes co-directed the short film "Crossharbour," which recently premiered at the Albuquerque Film Festival and was among those short listed in the San Diego Short Film Festival’s Best of the Festival.

He can be reached at ghughes@shakespeare.org and 413-637-1199, Ext. 145.

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A Boutique Hotel is Bringing Guests a Luxury Stay in Lenox

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff

LENOX, Mass. — A new Inn is bringing a boutique-style stay for visitors and locals to enjoy.

Owners, Sullivan Capital LLC, purchased the property, located on 135 Main Street, in 2024. After a year or renovations, Garden Gables Inn is open for business. 

"Garden Gables started off as one of the many Berkshire cottages, 1790 was the date on that, and it's always operated as an inn," said Hospitality Manager Yvonne Walton. "It's just a great gathering place and relaxation spot for people to come and get the feel of Lenox, and just slow down and enjoy the nature and the surrounding area...get culture and art and see some great concerts. I think it'll be a wonderful place, definitely does more of the upper-scale hospitality." 

Owners Niko Giallouis and Eric Sullivan bought the property from the former owner. Sullivan had his eye on Lenox since attending a wedding almost 10 years ago.

"I came to a wedding in Lenox, probably six or seven years ago. Personally, just kind of fell in love with the area, and I guess that's kind of how it got on my radar. So you know from that perspective, as we got into the hotel business out towards an area, it was a place I was kind of monitoring and waiting for the right property to show up."

After purchasing the two underwent a full renovation, a project that cost around $1.5 million. The building, first built in 1780, required some TLC. Sullivan's wife, Jessica, who owns Jessica Sullivan Design, designed the inn.

Sullivan said they installed a new roof, repainted everything, renovated the bathrooms, installed new floors, a new HVAC system, and new plumbing.

"We really touched everything from the outside...I mean, all the aesthetics and layouts changed a bit," he said. "As I said, put about a million and a half into it. All new furniture, fixtures, everything. The design's completely different. It wasn't a full gut, but it was a heavy, heavy renovation."

The two like to collaborate with local businesses, and they make a point to direct visitors to local restaurants, businesses, and attractions.

"If guests are asking for recommendations, our customer service team, our guest services team, will relay that kind of information. Even if we can call and make a reservation for somebody, happy to do it," he said. "We aren't doing breakfast, but what we do is we have partnerships with a lot of the breakfast places downtown. We actually purchase a gift certificates for each person each day, so that they can use that to go downtown."

Sullivan hopes that guests don't see their inn as just a place to sleep and dump their bags, but make it an experience for anyone who stays.

"We really focus on kind of the experience side of things, so again, we want to give you the best experience you can have here...and we want that not just to be the place you put your bag and go do things. It's important to think of everything," he said.

Sullivan said partnerships are important to their business and are a way to connect with locals.

"The local partnerships, I can't stress that enough, because no matter how much and how great the room is, people are still going to want to go do other things," he said. "So, I think it just benefits everybody if we're all working together and so forth, and supporting the community, being neighborly too, because we are surrounded by residential homes...But we really try to put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, a lot of love into the building, all the details, really care about the senses," Sullivan said.

The Inn's check-in and reservations are completely online. When guests arrive, all they have to do is check in online and receive their code that they will use to enter their room. Sullivan hopes this helps create less stress for guests and gets them to their room as fast as possible, especially after a long trip.

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