A brand new Innkeeper remarked to me that they had spent a lot of time prior to buying the Inn discovering why people came there.  With that knowledge, they were going to change their marketing plans to try to attract as many of those people as possible.  As he said, “People can read a book anywhere.  We have to know why they want to come to our Inn.”  This struck me as being on the right track.  Now he needed to expand this planning process to include all of the questions necessary for Innkeepers to devise a comprehensive marketing plan for their Inn.  This topic will explore these five marketing questions in greater depth with the hope that it will help Innkeepers to discover the information that is critical to marketing planning. Continue reading The Five Marketing Questions for Innkeepers

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We are very happy to announce that we have sold the Run of the River Inn and Refuge in Washington.  This is a lovely 7 room bed and breakfast that is known for its excellence in providing a refuge for its guests from their busy lifestyles.  The Inn was owned for 23 years by Monty and Karen Turner and we congratulate them on their retirement.  We represented the seller in this transaction, but also assisted the buyer with regards to all closing details including obtaining financing and an SBA 504 loan. 

Join us in welcoming Stephen and Janna Bollinger as of the new owners of Run of the River Inn and Refuge!

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When buying a Bed and Breakfast there is much to learn, especially during the first year.  We have seen new Innkeepers purchase their Inns and think that they completely understand innkeeping, even when they have never experienced it.  Add a restaurant at the Inn on top of this, and it is even more complicated.  As a past Innkeeper with a dining room, I completely understand the dining room concept and the complications.  It usually takes  about five years for Innkeepers to reach out and ask for help, and unfortunately in many cases it is just too late.  Maybe our Innkeeper friends can help us in stopping this trend, and that is just what I am asking for. 

So let me set the stage.  Most buyers do not have previous experience and if so it is usually minimal, as in a part-time job.  Add to this equation, a dining room.  How can they be successful without any education of running a dining or Inn especially if the previous owner does not participate in the transition?  What would you suggest that they do to make sure they are successful? 

Help us, help them by submitting your comments!

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The one true factor in tough economic times is that most businesses, especially Innkeepers, need to increase their marketing budgets to retain market share and hopefully maintain or even increase revenue.  No question that this is getting harder to do as more internet companies shift from “free services” to business models designed to produce revenue.  Simply put, in this world of ever more complicated electronic marketing outlets, it is more important than ever to stay connected and at the cutting edge of all of this technology.  This means a commitment of time, and since Innkeepers have little available time, this means more marketing spending.  What follows are some thoughts on putting planning behind this effort rather than chasing ever more expensive trends. Continue reading Innkeeping: Planning your 2010 Marketing Budget.

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The comments to our recent blog post on maintaining conversations with bed and breakfast guests on Twitter really helped to expand the discussion.  Both Karen Thorne from the UK (@HoptonhouseBnB) and Heather Turner (@forfeng) added several suggestions for Innkeepers to try to expand the return on investment of their Social Media Marketing efforts.  In this post, I am going to summarize all of these comments into one “Best Practices” post for reaching your guests via Social Media Marketing. Continue reading Best Practices for Reaching your Guests on Social Media

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A lot of Innkeepers have found out that Social Media like Twitter and Facebook are great ways to reach your customers.  Social Media Marketing is all about conversation and trust with your customers, i.e. your guests.   Many Innkeepers who are on Twitter and Facebook have many followers or fans who are other Innkeepers.  In fact, the Innkeepers on these social media sites have consistently grown to a large and thriving community.  This business-to-business community is a great way to explore the many issues and challenges of Innkeeping, but does it really drive business to the Inns?  We each have to test all of the time spent on Twitter and Facebook against the real return on investment like any other marketing methods.  In other words, are the guests or prospective guests listening to you?  This post will explore how to improve the conversation with your guests on Social Media, and how to create specific goals for this marketing effort.    Continue reading Twitter Conversations with your Inn Guests.

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HOTELMARKETING.COM recently published an article by Daniel Edward Craig, a hotel consultant, entitled “The Guest is always right, and why it sometimes pays not to respond to guest reviews.”  This article clearly has relevance to Bed and Breakfast Inns as well.  Craig’s premise is that word of mouth reviews from guests have “. . . been usurped by word of mouse.”  On-line reviews can inflict much more damage to the reputation of a business, especially a lodging establishment.  So let’s explore this in more detail to see whether the guest really is always right and what management of Inns and other lodging establishments should do about it. Continue reading Reputation Management: Is the Guest always Right?

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Innkeeping can be a very rewarding career for individuals who enjoy people and want to be self employed.  However, Innkeeping is not for all people.  To truly understand Innkeeping we suggest that education be on the top of the list before taking the plunge!  

Education happens by speaking with current Innkeepers, staying at Inns, and keeping a list of things that you do want to have included at your Inn and especially what you do not want to have included at your Inn.  Then take this information and utilize it at one of the many Innkeeping Seminars that are available across the country.  We view Innkeeping Seminars as a tool to build the foundation to a very solid Innkeeping career.  If an Innkeeper Seminar is conducted correctly, they should educate future Innkeepers on all aspects of becoming an Innkeeper while pointing out the positives and negatives of being an Innkeeper.  Additionally, they should touch on all operations of running an Inn.    

Now for a word of caution.  There are many companies that provide seminars for future Innkeepers.  Make sure that they are there to property educate you about Innkeeping and not to just try to push you into purchasing an Inn which they represent. I do not mean to sound cynical, but it happens and this causes problems in the future.  To be successful as Innkeeper, the Inn truly has to be a good match between your skills, desires, and a location you desire.  It takes time to find an Inn that meets an individuals special criteria. 

Innkeeping is a wonderful career, but it is not for everyone.  The statistics are that only 10% of the individuals attending our Innkeeping Seminar which actually become Innkeepers.  Great!  We must be doing our job on providing them with the reality of Innkeeping and have given those that have purchased an Inn the proper tools in which to do so! 

Happy Innkeeping!

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On September 23, 2009, Rebecca and I attended the first annual Social Media FTW Conference in Portland, Maine.  This was a collaborative effort of several social media savvy people from Maine who put together a great collection of speakers presenting to a sold-out crowd at the University of Southern Maine’s Abromson Center.  While mostly dedicated to teaching the Social Media basics, this was a great time to think about the purpose of all of this activity and the best practices to achieve success.  For me, being on Twitter is all about building personal trust for our business.  Here is my take on the programs that I attended during this half-day conference. Continue reading Social Media FTW Conference was a huge success!

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In our last post about Twitter we explored the concept of finding your unique voice.  Many writers and social media experts are trying to figure out what’s next with the various social media outlets.  This post will explore some of these ideas and relate it to what you should be doing to anticipate, and hopefully participate in, these new strategies as they unfold. Continue reading What’s New with Social Media like Twitter?

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