We were down for 2013

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JBloggs

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I ran the reports, down. Not a huge drop off, but thanks to the gvmt shutdown and cancellations we lost revenue during our busiest time of the year, October.
With all the marketing I do for our B&B it looks bad to go down and not up. If we didn't heavily market this place we would have VIRTUALLY NO GUESTS. I am 100% sure of that.
 
We are down, maybe 10% over last year. Well, the good news is that the government will be down their share as well and they deserve it... not going after those who aren't licensed.
 
The long-terms and the elopement put me over for 2013. That is good.
Now I have to hope to better that - Let us pray...............
 
Happy to say this was our best year ever! Seriously. Even with an almost empty Dec. We were quite surprised in running the numbers for the end of the year.
 
Happy to say this was our best year ever! Seriously. Even with an almost empty Dec. We were quite surprised in running the numbers for the end of the year..
Madeleine said:
Happy to say this was our best year ever! Seriously. Even with an almost empty Dec. We were quite surprised in running the numbers for the end of the year.
Congrats! Can you attribute it to anything in particular? Your new website??
 
Happy to say this was our best year ever! Seriously. Even with an almost empty Dec. We were quite surprised in running the numbers for the end of the year..
Madeleine said:
Happy to say this was our best year ever! Seriously. Even with an almost empty Dec. We were quite surprised in running the numbers for the end of the year.
Congrats! Can you attribute it to anything in particular? Your new website??
.
Breakfast Diva said:
Madeleine said:
Happy to say this was our best year ever! Seriously. Even with an almost empty Dec. We were quite surprised in running the numbers for the end of the year.
Congrats! Can you attribute it to anything in particular? Your new website??
I'm sure that helped but of course there is no way to know for sure as many people liked the old one. I still have just as many phone reservations so either I still haven't hit the right layout or my guests just want to call.
My guesses: we take one night reservations where other inns do not. I worked on pricing reducing one room and increasing the others so there was a bigger difference between the lowest room and the next level. The lowest room booked a lot faster and a lot more often than before. Which left the 'better' rooms for the last minute people.
So, the rates were higher and that helped. Occ was down but income was up.
I think the reno work has helped. The rooms look better in the photos. Less busy with the wallpaper gone.
FB? Probably not, no one ever mentions it. The blog? Rarely. All of the directories have fallen off including the one right in town.
I will say I think the state website is working for the pkgs I list. Altho we had our worst year in re our best pkg.
 
Happy to say this was our best year ever! Seriously. Even with an almost empty Dec. We were quite surprised in running the numbers for the end of the year..
Madeleine said:
Happy to say this was our best year ever! Seriously. Even with an almost empty Dec. We were quite surprised in running the numbers for the end of the year.
after all the belly-aching! O brother...where art thou
cry_smile.gif

 
Happy to say this was our best year ever! Seriously. Even with an almost empty Dec. We were quite surprised in running the numbers for the end of the year..
Madeleine said:
Happy to say this was our best year ever! Seriously. Even with an almost empty Dec. We were quite surprised in running the numbers for the end of the year.
after all the belly-aching! O brother...where art thou
cry_smile.gif

.
Joey Bloggs said:
Madeleine said:
Happy to say this was our best year ever! Seriously. Even with an almost empty Dec. We were quite surprised in running the numbers for the end of the year.
after all the belly-aching! O brother...where art thou
cry_smile.gif
Apologies! I do get depressed in Sept and it all seems so dismal at that point. Plus, no help this year and the cranky guests who get me down when I'm exhausted.
I can look back now and thank my lucky stars we muddled thru it and now have the reno $$$.
 
So while visiting the great PNW I went to one of their B&B conferences. The speaker said to raise our rates to all end in 9. He said it was a psychological thing and guests don't see the increase. So I thought, what do I have to lose. I did it. And raised my rates just slightly (still lower than competitor down the street). My occ was slightly down, but my income was up considerably.
 
So while visiting the great PNW I went to one of their B&B conferences. The speaker said to raise our rates to all end in 9. He said it was a psychological thing and guests don't see the increase. So I thought, what do I have to lose. I did it. And raised my rates just slightly (still lower than competitor down the street). My occ was slightly down, but my income was up considerably..
Sunshine said:
My occ was slightly down, but my income was up considerably.
Yes it's well known in business that there is a happy place where the higher rates cause occupancy to go down a little, but the higher rates from the guests who DO come more than offsets the lower occupancy rate. So you work less, buy fewer supplies, have lower utilities, but make more money. Perfect!
Sunshine said:
...raised my rates just slightly (still lower than competitor down the street).
But ideally you should not strive to be the cheaper alternative. You should strive to be the better alternative (which from what I have seen, you already are). Let people know why you are the better choice, not the cheaper choice.
In fact, you might want to raise the rate to equal the competition. Otherwise, people who see you as looking better than the competition might question why, then, you have to charge less. They'll suspect a hidden problem.
 
So while visiting the great PNW I went to one of their B&B conferences. The speaker said to raise our rates to all end in 9. He said it was a psychological thing and guests don't see the increase. So I thought, what do I have to lose. I did it. And raised my rates just slightly (still lower than competitor down the street). My occ was slightly down, but my income was up considerably..
Good Lord Sunshine...I just now looked at your site I hadn't checked back since the tea room opened. Wanted to see your menu. How can you do all of that???? Are you working yourself to death? Do you have help with food prep???
Please...RAISE YOUR ROOM RATES :)
 
So while visiting the great PNW I went to one of their B&B conferences. The speaker said to raise our rates to all end in 9. He said it was a psychological thing and guests don't see the increase. So I thought, what do I have to lose. I did it. And raised my rates just slightly (still lower than competitor down the street). My occ was slightly down, but my income was up considerably..
Sunshine said:
My occ was slightly down, but my income was up considerably.
Yes it's well known in business that there is a happy place where the higher rates cause occupancy to go down a little, but the higher rates from the guests who DO come more than offsets the lower occupancy rate. So you work less, buy fewer supplies, have lower utilities, but make more money. Perfect!
Sunshine said:
...raised my rates just slightly (still lower than competitor down the street).
But ideally you should not strive to be the cheaper alternative. You should strive to be the better alternative (which from what I have seen, you already are). Let people know why you are the better choice, not the cheaper choice.
In fact, you might want to raise the rate to equal the competition. Otherwise, people who see you as looking better than the competition might question why, then, you have to charge less. They'll suspect a hidden problem.
.
Arks said:
But ideally you should not strive to be the cheaper alternative. You should strive to be the better alternative (which from what I have seen, you already are). Let people know why you are the better choice, not the cheaper choice.
In fact, you might want to raise the rate to equal the competition. Otherwise, people who see you as looking better than the competition might question why, then, you have to charge less. They'll suspect a hidden problem.
Totally agree. Whenever someone balks at our prices (mid level) and I send them someplace lower-priced they always ask if it's 'as nice' as our place or why it's so cheap. I think they rarely ask that about why other places are so much higher than us. They ASSUME there is a good reason for the $100 difference!
 
So while visiting the great PNW I went to one of their B&B conferences. The speaker said to raise our rates to all end in 9. He said it was a psychological thing and guests don't see the increase. So I thought, what do I have to lose. I did it. And raised my rates just slightly (still lower than competitor down the street). My occ was slightly down, but my income was up considerably..
Good Lord Sunshine...I just now looked at your site I hadn't checked back since the tea room opened. Wanted to see your menu. How can you do all of that???? Are you working yourself to death? Do you have help with food prep???
Please...RAISE YOUR ROOM RATES :)
.
EmptyNest said:
Good Lord Sunshine...I just now looked at your site I hadn't checked back since the tea room opened. Wanted to see your menu. How can you do all of that???? Are you working yourself to death? Do you have help with food prep???
Please...RAISE YOUR ROOM RATES :)
Still working on the website... just put up the dinner menu yesterday and adding pics today. We had a fun photo shoot yesterday for the tea room.
No, not working myself to death. Still trying to get the word out that we are here. Our 'Groups' and Events for Christmas I had help. During the day, I do it myself. If I start to get really busy, I'll hire help. The B&B is really slow this time of year, so it allows me to focus on the Tea room. I LOVE the Tea Room. Love the people who are coming here. So far, I haven't had 'regular' restaurant patron... kinda like B&B doesn't get hotel crowd. Perhaps the word "tea room" just sets a different tone.
 
So while visiting the great PNW I went to one of their B&B conferences. The speaker said to raise our rates to all end in 9. He said it was a psychological thing and guests don't see the increase. So I thought, what do I have to lose. I did it. And raised my rates just slightly (still lower than competitor down the street). My occ was slightly down, but my income was up considerably..
Sunshine said:
My occ was slightly down, but my income was up considerably.
Yes it's well known in business that there is a happy place where the higher rates cause occupancy to go down a little, but the higher rates from the guests who DO come more than offsets the lower occupancy rate. So you work less, buy fewer supplies, have lower utilities, but make more money. Perfect!
Sunshine said:
...raised my rates just slightly (still lower than competitor down the street).
But ideally you should not strive to be the cheaper alternative. You should strive to be the better alternative (which from what I have seen, you already are). Let people know why you are the better choice, not the cheaper choice.
In fact, you might want to raise the rate to equal the competition. Otherwise, people who see you as looking better than the competition might question why, then, you have to charge less. They'll suspect a hidden problem.
.
[/quote]
But ideally you should not strive to be the cheaper alternative. You should strive to be the better alternative (which from what I have seen, you already are). Let people know why you are the better choice, not the cheaper choice.
In fact, you might want to raise the rate to equal the competition. Otherwise, people who see you as looking better than the competition might question why, then, you have to charge less. They'll suspect a hidden problem.
[/quote]
Good point! I've been thinking about raising my rates.
 
So while visiting the great PNW I went to one of their B&B conferences. The speaker said to raise our rates to all end in 9. He said it was a psychological thing and guests don't see the increase. So I thought, what do I have to lose. I did it. And raised my rates just slightly (still lower than competitor down the street). My occ was slightly down, but my income was up considerably..
Sunshine said:
My occ was slightly down, but my income was up considerably.
Yes it's well known in business that there is a happy place where the higher rates cause occupancy to go down a little, but the higher rates from the guests who DO come more than offsets the lower occupancy rate. So you work less, buy fewer supplies, have lower utilities, but make more money. Perfect!
Sunshine said:
...raised my rates just slightly (still lower than competitor down the street).
But ideally you should not strive to be the cheaper alternative. You should strive to be the better alternative (which from what I have seen, you already are). Let people know why you are the better choice, not the cheaper choice.
In fact, you might want to raise the rate to equal the competition. Otherwise, people who see you as looking better than the competition might question why, then, you have to charge less. They'll suspect a hidden problem.
.
Arks said:
But ideally you should not strive to be the cheaper alternative. You should strive to be the better alternative (which from what I have seen, you already are). Let people know why you are the better choice, not the cheaper choice.
In fact, you might want to raise the rate to equal the competition. Otherwise, people who see you as looking better than the competition might question why, then, you have to charge less. They'll suspect a hidden problem.
Totally agree. Whenever someone balks at our prices (mid level) and I send them someplace lower-priced they always ask if it's 'as nice' as our place or why it's so cheap. I think they rarely ask that about why other places are so much higher than us. They ASSUME there is a good reason for the $100 difference!
.
Madeleine said:
Arks said:
But ideally you should not strive to be the cheaper alternative. You should strive to be the better alternative (which from what I have seen, you already are). Let people know why you are the better choice, not the cheaper choice.
In fact, you might want to raise the rate to equal the competition. Otherwise, people who see you as looking better than the competition might question why, then, you have to charge less. They'll suspect a hidden problem.
Totally agree. Whenever someone balks at our prices (mid level) and I send them someplace lower-priced they always ask if it's 'as nice' as our place or why it's so cheap. I think they rarely ask that about why other places are so much higher than us. They ASSUME there is a good reason for the $100 difference!
They discount the rooms so the additional $ can go toward "BB" removal when you get home
(not spelling out that DIRTY WORD that makes people come to this forum)
They discount the rooms as the johns are already paying $50-100 for the other "amenities"
They discount the rooms so ...
you get the punchlines
 
We went up by about 100 rooms for the year. In Dec 2012 we had 8 rooms, last month we had 49 rooms! We are rocking! 2014 is going to be tremendous.
 
We went up by about 100 rooms for the year. In Dec 2012 we had 8 rooms, last month we had 49 rooms! We are rocking! 2014 is going to be tremendous..
K9 said:
We went up by about 100 rooms for the year. In Dec 2012 we had 8 rooms, last month we had 49 rooms! We are rocking! 2014 is going to be tremendous.
All of it due to your hard work at marketing K9!
thumbs_up.gif

 
We went up by about 100 rooms for the year. In Dec 2012 we had 8 rooms, last month we had 49 rooms! We are rocking! 2014 is going to be tremendous..
K9 said:
We went up by about 100 rooms for the year. In Dec 2012 we had 8 rooms, last month we had 49 rooms! We are rocking! 2014 is going to be tremendous.
All of it due to your hard work at marketing K9!
thumbs_up.gif

.
Awe, shucks *kicking the snow*... But, yeah, you're right
shades_smile.gif

 
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