Inn Tuneups - Cost? Benefits?

[Morticia]

We like this lady - http://creatingbookings.com/ - not pushy and not stupid price either, does a lot of business coaching. There is also http://bedandbreakfastcoach.com/ - however I don't like her style as much but that's a personal thing, definately gets results.

Thanks Jcam:
I've signed up for the free 1/2 hour skype consult with Yvonne Halling on Nov 30. I'll let you know how it goes. Bet anything the main advice will be to hire out the cleaning, and of course pony up for the paid advice.
As many of you know, hiring a cleaner/s is far easier said than done.
This is a link to her inn's site.
I wonder what the wise web ones would say about

this marketing tool on the site. In exchange for contact info, you can access a 'what to do in the area' guide.
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Yvonne advocates the what I call "Bonding method" more work but people have an increased sense of loyalty, sending them things to do when they book, following up close to the arrival date with travel info and so on. Working with local attractions to give added value packages - all of which are common sense and your reservation software could send out at set dates etc.
My trouble is here there are only really 3 attractions (1) turkish baths - run by the council and won't do any deal with any one ever and to be fair they are booked out most of the time.
(2) Royal Horticultural SOciety Northern Headquarters (extensive gardens) mostly visited by members they have about 10 gardens all over and you pay an annual fee to go in any - so no advantage of discount there.
(3) Valley Gardens/STray - Massive parkland - free
(4) small museum and Gallery - free and council run
(5) theatres we have 3 venue's and have constantly hassled them about a discounted ticket on the day program they either won't do it or arnt' that organised ie they would send and email to me ie tickets left for X and I wold forward it to the B&B's so they could tell their guests there are still tickets for X for tonight and at £1 off etc.
She is all about adding value and getting the right guests for your property - ie not ones just focused on price. Its working out how to advertise in the right places to get those people
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Had my half hour chat. Number one advice: Change tag line. 'New England Charm' implied to her we are in a part of the country we are not. She said this would be confusing for overseas visitors.
Number two: Use guest database for a regular newsletter.
Number three: Include my photo on website and especially FB. I've been reluctant - haven't wanted to be one of those "We ditched the corporate life to live our dream' cliche people, but she says, and many on this forum have said the same - Inn people want to know WHO they are staying with. Fair enough. I'll give it a whirl. Need to have a decent shot though! Don't want to scare them off!
More extensive and specific advice would come either from online modules or $$$ personal handholding.
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Had my half hour chat. Number one advice: Change tag line. 'New England Charm' implied to her we are in a part of the country we are not. She said this would be confusing for overseas visitors.
Number two: Use guest database for a regular newsletter.
Number three: Include my photo on website and especially FB. I've been reluctant - haven't wanted to be one of those "We ditched the corporate life to live our dream' cliche people, but she says, and many on this forum have said the same - Inn people want to know WHO they are staying with. Fair enough. I'll give it a whirl. Need to have a decent shot though! Don't want to scare them off!
More extensive and specific advice would come either from online modules or $$$ personal handholding.

You must have spoken to me.
I say those things all the time. Have said them.
She stole it all, send me the check instead. I say, you can keep the New England but tweak it, make the NW more prominent:
"Northwest Hospitality with a touch of New England Charm" something like that.
Your name is TWIN and I only see one in the header image slider. I need it, give it give it give it...it feels wrong to not see it. i saw a license plate today that read OGNIZU and it made me crazy. Show the twins it will be branding.
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Guess we need your winter shot where twins are visible but you need to take some more photos I don't understand why folks never change out photos. I was always ready with my camera and still
am
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85% of the traffic to my site is new. Old pix are not old to them, unless the photos are out of date somehow.

 

[Jcam]

My problem is would we be brutal enough, too brutal or too soft? etc?.

My problem is would we be brutal enough, too brutal or too soft? etc?

If asked to provide reality checks, we'd be helpfully brutal. It's when someone doesn't want to know what we so assuredly want to tell them that the problems arise. ;-)
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Were it me I would want an honest opinion even if I didn't like the answer/opinion. Now to be honest I may not exactly follow the opinions given, I seek opinions from many and hopefully take the best of several added to my own ideas. In no way does that mean I don't appreciate/respect the opinions shared with me, but we're all different and face our own pressures, be them family or financial that may take us paths less than the ideal.
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Were it me I would want an honest opinion even if I didn't like the answer/opinion. Now to be honest I may not exactly follow the opinions given, I seek opinions from many and hopefully take the best of several added to my own ideas. In no way does that mean I don't appreciate/respect the opinions shared with me, but we're all different and face our own pressures, be them family or financial that may take us paths less than the ideal.

I agree. People are all talk. But not all people are all talk.
So when they talk it doesn't really help, but were they to provide real feedback and suggestions, then that is worth its weight in gold. That is why hashing stuff out here vs seeing a place in person, in action, makes all the difference.
When we went on the innkeeper road trip I saw inns in a new light. Sorry to use this again, but one inn was wayyyyy underselling a large balcony they had. They probably sold they have tv's in their rooms with equal weight. I thought before going there and knowing this innmate here for years prior... they have a balcony, okay, nice.
In person it was the entire length of the front of the house - second story with a live oak providing shade. Each room opened onto this balcony. There was a neat place or two or three to sit and read and enjoy morning or afternoon coffee. Now, a suggestion that went something like "I would give my left earlobe to have breakfast out here instead of downstairs in the dining room" was real, but for the innkeepers not doable with health and stairs to tackle.
Secondly, knowing this place offered this inncredible outside space for me trumped many of the other B&B's I saw listed in the area.
To put it simply, it was a selling point. A huge selling point. When you live and operate the inn you miss the forest through the trees many times. This is the value in having folks from out of the area, like your guests would be, as a fresh set of eyes.
There are other examples, but I spied with my little eyes more than what they had on their website and marketing. We are not like Hotel Impossible, ripping out drywall, but we can see it from our pov as innkeepers AND guests. We know it all costs money. But the example I shared above didn't cost a penny, it was just a different angle to focus on.
I like it. I am scared to do it here, but I like it.
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I'd love that. And your porch. But I think we've become a generation of 'inside people'.
We have a teeny porch and 10 lawn chairs spread all over a one acre yard. 1% of our guests avail themselves of the outdoor space. And every one of them is a smoker.
Our chairs are moveable. Don't like the sun? Move to the shade. Too chilly in the shade? Move 2 feet to the sunny side.
But I think I'm done buying lawn furniture. It gets moved by the lawn guy but that's it.
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See we have the sort of reverce problem - very little outside space - very small patio at the front, all the back is car parking. People often say oh have you thought about patio furniture at the front - answer is yes, but we live in a VERY town center location so we would have to bring it in every night or it would not be there in the morning, plus have ground floor room on the front - do you think they want smokers at 2am sat literally outside their window? and Im not just talking about my guests - random people will sit on them as is proven by people that do have garden furniture on the front having to turf drunks of when disturbed by them at 2am sat having a takeaway in your garden. Plus not just the effort of pulling it in and out every day but having a place to put it as well as there is no where on the ground floor except the conservatiry which would mean pullign it through the house out the back door and round to the conservatory - so no won't be putting any out any time soon.
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Okay, a silly idea, assuming you would even want to bother with the outside space or that such an idea would meet with local laws and customs, but thinking of Savannah and Charleston there are places that have tiny, intimate, walled gardens, perhaps a special feature of the ground level room facing the area. Again, silly idea from a distance.
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its on the front so we would have to build a massive wall all round the front garden for that to work, plus room fronts onto a deep light well so we couldn't do say patio doors out onto small walled garden without loosing the light into the basement buy putting a grill over it.