In our last post on this subject, we explored the concept of adding value to keep bed and breakfast packages attractive to guests.  The whole idea was to package room nights with additional services and experiences in such a way that the brand identity of the Inns was not impacted by the built-in discounts.  The fact is that Value Added Selling is the key method to preserve your brand.  After that post, I realized from the questions that we received, there is a clear misunderstanding in the Innkeeping Community about Selling Value.  So let’s explore this a bit further.

Hopefully as a baseline, we can all agree that discounting on its own is a lose-lose proposition, and impacts brand identity.  If you are always selling your rooms at a discount, your loyal, repeat guests are never going to pay full price, and you have therefore devalued your brand.  In tough times, however, it is very hard to charge full rack rate for your rooms, and there is ample incentive all around you from the discounters to lower your prices to compete.  You want to show that you care about the troubles facing your guests in this economy, but you also know that the bottom line is important for you as well.  Quite the dilemma!  Here is the Value Added Approach.

In Value Added Selling, you stop talking about discounts and start broadcasting to your guests why your Inn is such a value.  Talk about all of the things that are part of your everyday service at the Inn, like your concierge service, your caring staff, your broadband wi-fi connections, your fabulous breakfast, your incredible beds and high thread count sheets, the afternoon cookies or evening hors d’oeuvres, and the fantastic gardens of your Inn.  Most of all, your guests want to know that you care about them and their experience at the Inn.  The list is endless, and all of it is included in the price of a room.  So you are modest, and don’t like blowing your horn too much, but this is what is exactly needed to convince your guests that they should stay with you as opposed to the “cheaper” discounted alternative.  You need to change the conversation to how you compete on value not price, and it is now time to shout it out rather than being discreet about what you have to offer.

As previously noted, packages are the essence of Value Added Selling.  You are able to combine a small discount, if you choose, with a series of added services which do not cost you their retail value.  This should always be combined with a meal if you are a dinner service Inn, and in every case with an adventure that would attract the guest an differentiate your Inn from the others.  Thus, a Whale Watching Package or a “Mountain” Climbing Package are great ways to selling value and getting heads in beds.  It is the experience that adds value to the stay at your Inn and converts new guests to loyal repeat customers.  One of the greatest examples of this concept is the Biltmore outside of Asheville, NC.  This incredible mansion has been attracting guests for a long time, but it brings them back again and again because it changes its experience packaging frequently.  Sometimes it is a food or wine-based theme with cooking classes and tours of the gardens.  Other times it is the educational programs at the learning center.  Clearly there is a lot going on there, but every Inn has many, many experiences happening all around them.  Just last week we learned of an Inn packaging a farm tour with a loaner GPS to help get around to all of the locations providing food to this great Inn.   This is the essence of value added selling which will reverberate with the guests and counter the efforts of those who wish to compete only on price.

So here is the bottom line.  Make sure that your guests and prospective guests understand what your value is.  Let then compare that to those places that want to sell only on price.  Not all will choose value over price, but many will, and by doing so you both preserve and enhance your unique brand. 

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