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 [...]

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.  [...]

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 [...]

In this new world of expanding Electronic Marketing and Social Media for Inns, it is easy to overlook one goal that has not changed with time.  Good old fashioned hospitality and excellence of service combine to keep your guests happy, and most of all, to get them to come back for a repeat visit.  This [...]

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 [...]

As we travel to work with Innkeepers this spring, we are hearing the same from everyone. Advance bookings are down. So, what are we suggesting that Innkeepers do? It gets back to the basics. We all know what they are, but it does not hurt to step back and think about them again:
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The only way to improve your Bed and Breakfast or Inn business is to effectively track where you are today and to make realistic goals for the future of your business. At the 2008 PAII Conference Howard Levitan of Quantum Hospitality Group will be discussing the best methods to track where your [...]

Arden Dale writes in a compelling article published in the Wall Street Journal on January 8, 2008 that “Want to Sell a Business? You May Not Be Ready.” Ms. Dale goes on to state quite cogently that many small business owners are relying on the ultimate sale of their business for their [...]

When a call reaches the front desk of an Inn, many times it is just thought of as a telephone call and a potential guest for the Inn. In reality, the front desk is a full powered sales position. This is nothing to shy away from. The sooner that this is acknowledged [...]

I was looking at the December 2006 edition of PAII’s Innkeeping this morning, and had a thought that I wanted to pass on. Clearly this falls in the range of “for what it is worth.”
I have heard Bill Carroll talk several times on Yield Management, including at last year’s PAII Conference. He [...]