To: Welcome Centers, Tour Companies, Hotels, Concierges, Industry Partners and Friends
From: Joseph Dunn, Director of Sales and Marketing
Re: Laura Plantation: What to say to potential visitors
In an effort to help you respond appropriately to visitor questions, and to
give you some talking points regarding the fire, restoration and continued offering
of tours at Laura Plantation, we have created a FAQ, or Frequently Asked Questions
sheet. Please use the suggested responses to POSITIVELY encourage potential
guests to visit with us. I would also ask that you share this with EVERYONE
in your workplace who is in a position to interact with guests looking for information
about Laura Plantation. This includes:
Drivers
Escorts
Front Desk Staff
Salespeople
Housekeepers
Wait Staff
Managers
As always, thank you for ALL THAT YOU do to make Laura Plantation a success. Thank you especially for all your heartfelt words of sympathy and encouragement. But most of all, THANK YOU for continuing to believe in us and trusting us to offer your guests the “Best History Tour in the United States.”
Even as a devastating fire still blazed on the night of Monday, August 9, the decision was made to open Laura Plantation for tours the following day.
FAQ- Frequently Asked Questions
Is Laura Plantation still open ?
Yes ! Yes ! Yes ! Laura Plantation is still open for tours.
How much of the house was damaged ?
60-70 percent of the house was damaged. The façade, floors, walls and
basement
remain standing and form a solid basis for restoration to begin as soon as possible.
(Please say “damaged by fire” and NOT “burned down.”)
Can we go in the house ?
At this point, visitors are not allowed in to the house. Once an assessment
is done
regarding the stability of the building, tours will go through parts of the
house and
guests will experience the restoration process as it progresses.
If we can’t go in the house then why should we go ?
The tour at Laura Plantation has never been about the house and the furniture.
They simply served as a stage for the stories about THE PEOPLE who, for 200
years, made this farm their home.
What will we experience ?
Combining elements from the “Creole Family Tour” and the “Slavery
in Creole
Louisiana Tour”, real-life stories of this plantation’s men, women,
children,
slaves and workers transport guests into the fascinating world of Louisiana’s
Creole culture. The 45-minute tour begins in front of the Big House, where
discussion centers on the origins of Creole, the history and architecture of
the
Big House, and the plantation’s founders. Visitors are then escorted to
the 1840s
slave cabins, where classic storytelling techniques are used to illustrate the
Creole
culture that even today sets Louisiana apart from the American mainstream.
Laura Plantation has been described as “the Best History Tour in the
United
States” (Lonely Planet, 1998). Fodor’s writes of Laura, “Nowhere
else on River
Road will you get a more intimate, well-documented presentation of Creole
plantation life than at Laura Plantation.”
The Laura Plantation staff is committed to offering visitors the exemplary
standard of tour product for which the site is internationally respected.
Tours begin daily at 9:30 a.m. and continue every 20
minutes throughout the day
until 4:00 p.m. Please call the plantation directly
at 225.265.7690 for additional information.