stayparrysound
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- Jan 1, 2012
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"Know thy self" is a powerful tool when setting up your bed and breakfast. Check out this post on BedandBreakfast.com for some of the things you need to think about
Spoke with the local marketing director last week. Told her that at least 5 B&B's have closed here in the past 8 years. She had no idea. Research really needs to be done even by people who are supposed to know the area they are marketing. She should know WHY they closed and she didn't even know they had ever existed.
Excerpt: "What is the marketplace like?Is there a need for another B&B in this area?"
This is one I can never get over! Established B&B's may be struggling and someone wants to "build it and they will come" to their inn. They are on this forum all the time, and they must think the current owners/operators of B&B's are incompetent, so if THEY opened one it would be all milk and honey. There is an area called Floyd here in VA and they open and close within a year. Before I have even known they were there!.
Can you expand on that a bit more? Who is this "local marketing director" working for, the CVB or Chamber of Commerce? Why does the expert not know these things. If she'd worked anywhere here for me, I would make darn sure that she goes and someone new comes in. Wow.Spoke with the local marketing director last week. Told her that at least 5 B&B's have closed here in the past 8 years. She had no idea. Research really needs to be done even by people who are supposed to know the area they are marketing. She should know WHY they closed and she didn't even know they had ever existed.
Excerpt: "What is the marketplace like?Is there a need for another B&B in this area?"
This is one I can never get over! Established B&B's may be struggling and someone wants to "build it and they will come" to their inn. They are on this forum all the time, and they must think the current owners/operators of B&B's are incompetent, so if THEY opened one it would be all milk and honey. There is an area called Floyd here in VA and they open and close within a year. Before I have even known they were there!.
.
Can you expand on that a bit more? Who is this "local marketing director" working for, the CVB or Chamber of Commerce? Why does the expert not know these things. If she'd worked anywhere here for me, I would make darn sure that she goes and someone new comes in. Wow.Spoke with the local marketing director last week. Told her that at least 5 B&B's have closed here in the past 8 years. She had no idea. Research really needs to be done even by people who are supposed to know the area they are marketing. She should know WHY they closed and she didn't even know they had ever existed.
Excerpt: "What is the marketplace like?Is there a need for another B&B in this area?"
This is one I can never get over! Established B&B's may be struggling and someone wants to "build it and they will come" to their inn. They are on this forum all the time, and they must think the current owners/operators of B&B's are incompetent, so if THEY opened one it would be all milk and honey. There is an area called Floyd here in VA and they open and close within a year. Before I have even known they were there!.
.
Also, that article, I know it's only a blog, needed to be proof read. Why doesn't any publisher proof read anymore. I am a foreigner and even I catch things like that on a daily basis. Very frustrating for someone who is as nuts as I am
.
Our CVB is about the same as Maddie's at the expense of close to 1M a year to the tax payers in this area. Years ago I cried FOUL and all it got me was being black balled. I get nothing from them but what they are required to do, that is to have us on their site and keep our rack cards. I got nothing before either so I am still even.IrisoftheWayfarer said:Can you expand on that a bit more? Who is this "local marketing director" working for, the CVB or Chamber of Commerce? Why does the expert not know these things. If she'd worked anywhere here for me, I would make darn sure that she goes and someone new comes in. Wow.
Can you expand on that a bit more? Who is this "local marketing director" working for, the CVB or Chamber of Commerce? Why does the expert not know these things. If she'd worked anywhere here for me, I would make darn sure that she goes and someone new comes in. Wow.Spoke with the local marketing director last week. Told her that at least 5 B&B's have closed here in the past 8 years. She had no idea. Research really needs to be done even by people who are supposed to know the area they are marketing. She should know WHY they closed and she didn't even know they had ever existed.
Excerpt: "What is the marketplace like?Is there a need for another B&B in this area?"
This is one I can never get over! Established B&B's may be struggling and someone wants to "build it and they will come" to their inn. They are on this forum all the time, and they must think the current owners/operators of B&B's are incompetent, so if THEY opened one it would be all milk and honey. There is an area called Floyd here in VA and they open and close within a year. Before I have even known they were there!.
.
Also, that article, I know it's only a blog, needed to be proof read. Why doesn't any publisher proof read anymore. I am a foreigner and even I catch things like that on a daily basis. Very frustrating for someone who is as nuts as I am
.Our CVB is about the same as Maddie's at the expense of close to 1M a year to the tax payers in this area. Years ago I cried FOUL and all it got me was being black balled. I get nothing from them but what they are required to do, that is to have us on their site and keep our rack cards. I got nothing before either so I am still even.IrisoftheWayfarer said:Can you expand on that a bit more? Who is this "local marketing director" working for, the CVB or Chamber of Commerce? Why does the expert not know these things. If she'd worked anywhere here for me, I would make darn sure that she goes and someone new comes in. Wow.
.
that is unacceptable. I think I have said this somewhere before, we are the smallest county in Michigan, we have 2 very active Chambers of Commerce and 1 CVB. These people WORK FOR US. They are paid by THE MEMBERS. There are rules of how those 3 businesses are run and there are bosses who and employees that make sure they are run so that every member gets what they pay for. It takes a village to make things run smoothly. Our many members are involved in everything and they are informed of everything that goes. Each of these 3 entities have boards of directors, they are run independently.copperhead said:Our CVB is about the same as Maddie's at the expense of close to 1M a year to the tax payers in this area. Years ago I cried FOUL and all it got me was being black balled. I get nothing from them but what they are required to do, that is to have us on their site and keep our rack cards. I got nothing before either so I am still even.IrisoftheWayfarer said:Can you expand on that a bit more? Who is this "local marketing director" working for, the CVB or Chamber of Commerce? Why does the expert not know these things. If she'd worked anywhere here for me, I would make darn sure that she goes and someone new comes in. Wow.
oh and another thing, maddie's marketing director should have had these 5 B&Bs . what the heck is she doing not getting them to be members? She needs to go.Can you expand on that a bit more? Who is this "local marketing director" working for, the CVB or Chamber of Commerce? Why does the expert not know these things. If she'd worked anywhere here for me, I would make darn sure that she goes and someone new comes in. Wow.Spoke with the local marketing director last week. Told her that at least 5 B&B's have closed here in the past 8 years. She had no idea. Research really needs to be done even by people who are supposed to know the area they are marketing. She should know WHY they closed and she didn't even know they had ever existed.
Excerpt: "What is the marketplace like?Is there a need for another B&B in this area?"
This is one I can never get over! Established B&B's may be struggling and someone wants to "build it and they will come" to their inn. They are on this forum all the time, and they must think the current owners/operators of B&B's are incompetent, so if THEY opened one it would be all milk and honey. There is an area called Floyd here in VA and they open and close within a year. Before I have even known they were there!.
.
Also, that article, I know it's only a blog, needed to be proof read. Why doesn't any publisher proof read anymore. I am a foreigner and even I catch things like that on a daily basis. Very frustrating for someone who is as nuts as I am
.Our CVB is about the same as Maddie's at the expense of close to 1M a year to the tax payers in this area. Years ago I cried FOUL and all it got me was being black balled. I get nothing from them but what they are required to do, that is to have us on their site and keep our rack cards. I got nothing before either so I am still even.IrisoftheWayfarer said:Can you expand on that a bit more? Who is this "local marketing director" working for, the CVB or Chamber of Commerce? Why does the expert not know these things. If she'd worked anywhere here for me, I would make darn sure that she goes and someone new comes in. Wow.
.that is unacceptable. I think I have said this somewhere before, we are the smallest county in Michigan, we have 2 very active Chambers of Commerce and 1 CVB. These people WORK FOR US. They are paid by THE MEMBERS. There are rules of how those 3 businesses are run and there are bosses who and employees that make sure they are run so that every member gets what they pay for. It takes a village to make things run smoothly. Our many members are involved in everything and they are informed of everything that goes. Each of these 3 entities have boards of directors, they are run independently.copperhead said:Our CVB is about the same as Maddie's at the expense of close to 1M a year to the tax payers in this area. Years ago I cried FOUL and all it got me was being black balled. I get nothing from them but what they are required to do, that is to have us on their site and keep our rack cards. I got nothing before either so I am still even.IrisoftheWayfarer said:Can you expand on that a bit more? Who is this "local marketing director" working for, the CVB or Chamber of Commerce? Why does the expert not know these things. If she'd worked anywhere here for me, I would make darn sure that she goes and someone new comes in. Wow.
Coming back to email lists, they are offered to us but most businesses don't take advantage of them. I do, when I am not as busy as I want to be. The CVB sends out reminders to check the email lists.
I truly don't understand that you all let your chambers and cvb's get away with this crap. I am a little peeved right now at you (the global you)
Of course being involved means doing work. You can't just sit back and expect your employees to run the ship
.
oh and another thing, maddie's marketing director should have had these 5 B&Bs . what the heck is she doing not getting them to be members? She needs to go.Can you expand on that a bit more? Who is this "local marketing director" working for, the CVB or Chamber of Commerce? Why does the expert not know these things. If she'd worked anywhere here for me, I would make darn sure that she goes and someone new comes in. Wow.Spoke with the local marketing director last week. Told her that at least 5 B&B's have closed here in the past 8 years. She had no idea. Research really needs to be done even by people who are supposed to know the area they are marketing. She should know WHY they closed and she didn't even know they had ever existed.
Excerpt: "What is the marketplace like?Is there a need for another B&B in this area?"
This is one I can never get over! Established B&B's may be struggling and someone wants to "build it and they will come" to their inn. They are on this forum all the time, and they must think the current owners/operators of B&B's are incompetent, so if THEY opened one it would be all milk and honey. There is an area called Floyd here in VA and they open and close within a year. Before I have even known they were there!.
.
Also, that article, I know it's only a blog, needed to be proof read. Why doesn't any publisher proof read anymore. I am a foreigner and even I catch things like that on a daily basis. Very frustrating for someone who is as nuts as I am
.Our CVB is about the same as Maddie's at the expense of close to 1M a year to the tax payers in this area. Years ago I cried FOUL and all it got me was being black balled. I get nothing from them but what they are required to do, that is to have us on their site and keep our rack cards. I got nothing before either so I am still even.IrisoftheWayfarer said:Can you expand on that a bit more? Who is this "local marketing director" working for, the CVB or Chamber of Commerce? Why does the expert not know these things. If she'd worked anywhere here for me, I would make darn sure that she goes and someone new comes in. Wow.
.that is unacceptable. I think I have said this somewhere before, we are the smallest county in Michigan, we have 2 very active Chambers of Commerce and 1 CVB. These people WORK FOR US. They are paid by THE MEMBERS. There are rules of how those 3 businesses are run and there are bosses who and employees that make sure they are run so that every member gets what they pay for. It takes a village to make things run smoothly. Our many members are involved in everything and they are informed of everything that goes. Each of these 3 entities have boards of directors, they are run independently.copperhead said:Our CVB is about the same as Maddie's at the expense of close to 1M a year to the tax payers in this area. Years ago I cried FOUL and all it got me was being black balled. I get nothing from them but what they are required to do, that is to have us on their site and keep our rack cards. I got nothing before either so I am still even.IrisoftheWayfarer said:Can you expand on that a bit more? Who is this "local marketing director" working for, the CVB or Chamber of Commerce? Why does the expert not know these things. If she'd worked anywhere here for me, I would make darn sure that she goes and someone new comes in. Wow.
Coming back to email lists, they are offered to us but most businesses don't take advantage of them. I do, when I am not as busy as I want to be. The CVB sends out reminders to check the email lists.
I truly don't understand that you all let your chambers and cvb's get away with this crap. I am a little peeved right now at you (the global you)
Of course being involved means doing work. You can't just sit back and expect your employees to run the ship
.
.
Most B&B's cannot afford the price given the return is not all that great. The marketing director is new. BUT, given she's been here 6+ months and the first peep I heard out of her was last week, not good.IrisoftheWayfarer said:oh and another thing, maddie's marketing director should have had these 5 B&Bs . what the heck is she doing not getting them to be members? She needs to go.
Can you expand on that a bit more? Who is this "local marketing director" working for, the CVB or Chamber of Commerce? Why does the expert not know these things. If she'd worked anywhere here for me, I would make darn sure that she goes and someone new comes in. Wow.Spoke with the local marketing director last week. Told her that at least 5 B&B's have closed here in the past 8 years. She had no idea. Research really needs to be done even by people who are supposed to know the area they are marketing. She should know WHY they closed and she didn't even know they had ever existed.
Excerpt: "What is the marketplace like?Is there a need for another B&B in this area?"
This is one I can never get over! Established B&B's may be struggling and someone wants to "build it and they will come" to their inn. They are on this forum all the time, and they must think the current owners/operators of B&B's are incompetent, so if THEY opened one it would be all milk and honey. There is an area called Floyd here in VA and they open and close within a year. Before I have even known they were there!.
.
Also, that article, I know it's only a blog, needed to be proof read. Why doesn't any publisher proof read anymore. I am a foreigner and even I catch things like that on a daily basis. Very frustrating for someone who is as nuts as I am
.Our CVB is about the same as Maddie's at the expense of close to 1M a year to the tax payers in this area. Years ago I cried FOUL and all it got me was being black balled. I get nothing from them but what they are required to do, that is to have us on their site and keep our rack cards. I got nothing before either so I am still even.IrisoftheWayfarer said:Can you expand on that a bit more? Who is this "local marketing director" working for, the CVB or Chamber of Commerce? Why does the expert not know these things. If she'd worked anywhere here for me, I would make darn sure that she goes and someone new comes in. Wow.
.that is unacceptable. I think I have said this somewhere before, we are the smallest county in Michigan, we have 2 very active Chambers of Commerce and 1 CVB. These people WORK FOR US. They are paid by THE MEMBERS. There are rules of how those 3 businesses are run and there are bosses who and employees that make sure they are run so that every member gets what they pay for. It takes a village to make things run smoothly. Our many members are involved in everything and they are informed of everything that goes. Each of these 3 entities have boards of directors, they are run independently.copperhead said:Our CVB is about the same as Maddie's at the expense of close to 1M a year to the tax payers in this area. Years ago I cried FOUL and all it got me was being black balled. I get nothing from them but what they are required to do, that is to have us on their site and keep our rack cards. I got nothing before either so I am still even.IrisoftheWayfarer said:Can you expand on that a bit more? Who is this "local marketing director" working for, the CVB or Chamber of Commerce? Why does the expert not know these things. If she'd worked anywhere here for me, I would make darn sure that she goes and someone new comes in. Wow.
Coming back to email lists, they are offered to us but most businesses don't take advantage of them. I do, when I am not as busy as I want to be. The CVB sends out reminders to check the email lists.
I truly don't understand that you all let your chambers and cvb's get away with this crap. I am a little peeved right now at you (the global you)
Of course being involved means doing work. You can't just sit back and expect your employees to run the ship
.
We've had 4 different directors since I've been here. New doesn't make a difference. We participated a lot at first until we realized participation without millions of dollars in revenue to make our voices louder didn't make any difference. We (the B&B's) started 2 separate events in town that are very well attended. Who gets the overnighters? The hotels. Last year, to boost attendance, the CVB did a Groupon and sold twice as many tickets. But barely broke even because of the discount.IrisoftheWayfarer said:that is unacceptable. I think I have said this somewhere before, we are the smallest county in Michigan, we have 2 very active Chambers of Commerce and 1 CVB. These people WORK FOR US. They are paid by THE MEMBERS. There are rules of how those 3 businesses are run and there are bosses who and employees that make sure they are run so that every member gets what they pay for. It takes a village to make things run smoothly. Our many members are involved in everything and they are informed of everything that goes. Each of these 3 entities have boards of directors, they are run independently.copperhead said:Our CVB is about the same as Maddie's at the expense of close to 1M a year to the tax payers in this area. Years ago I cried FOUL and all it got me was being black balled. I get nothing from them but what they are required to do, that is to have us on their site and keep our rack cards. I got nothing before either so I am still even.IrisoftheWayfarer said:Can you expand on that a bit more? Who is this "local marketing director" working for, the CVB or Chamber of Commerce? Why does the expert not know these things. If she'd worked anywhere here for me, I would make darn sure that she goes and someone new comes in. Wow.
Coming back to email lists, they are offered to us but most businesses don't take advantage of them. I do, when I am not as busy as I want to be. The CVB sends out reminders to check the email lists.
I truly don't understand that you all let your chambers and cvb's get away with this crap. I am a little peeved right now at you (the global you)
Of course being involved means doing work. You can't just sit back and expect your employees to run the ship
I am lucky in that even though we are only considered a small town our chamber of commerce is excellent - it is about $400 a year with a sliding scale depending on size and you get 50% off the first year as a new business. They employ 2 full time people and various others work part time as volunteers they doI participated. I was on the Board of the CVB for the County was destroyed by 2 cities. I know what happened. Maddie is correct, with CVBs & Tourist Bureaus, the $$$$ speak. I do not fault the Director of the CVB I participate with. She helps me as much as she can but I am not in her county limits. The 2 in my county only work for their cities, not the rest of the county..
I am flabberghasted at what you write, Madie. Also our CVB's board of directors and their "court" are put together with equal votes/members. So, there are Hotel owners, B&B owners, Motel owners, Resort owners, Campground owners and so on working together.Can you expand on that a bit more? Who is this "local marketing director" working for, the CVB or Chamber of Commerce? Why does the expert not know these things. If she'd worked anywhere here for me, I would make darn sure that she goes and someone new comes in. Wow.Spoke with the local marketing director last week. Told her that at least 5 B&B's have closed here in the past 8 years. She had no idea. Research really needs to be done even by people who are supposed to know the area they are marketing. She should know WHY they closed and she didn't even know they had ever existed.
Excerpt: "What is the marketplace like?Is there a need for another B&B in this area?"
This is one I can never get over! Established B&B's may be struggling and someone wants to "build it and they will come" to their inn. They are on this forum all the time, and they must think the current owners/operators of B&B's are incompetent, so if THEY opened one it would be all milk and honey. There is an area called Floyd here in VA and they open and close within a year. Before I have even known they were there!.
.
Also, that article, I know it's only a blog, needed to be proof read. Why doesn't any publisher proof read anymore. I am a foreigner and even I catch things like that on a daily basis. Very frustrating for someone who is as nuts as I am
.Our CVB is about the same as Maddie's at the expense of close to 1M a year to the tax payers in this area. Years ago I cried FOUL and all it got me was being black balled. I get nothing from them but what they are required to do, that is to have us on their site and keep our rack cards. I got nothing before either so I am still even.IrisoftheWayfarer said:Can you expand on that a bit more? Who is this "local marketing director" working for, the CVB or Chamber of Commerce? Why does the expert not know these things. If she'd worked anywhere here for me, I would make darn sure that she goes and someone new comes in. Wow.
.that is unacceptable. I think I have said this somewhere before, we are the smallest county in Michigan, we have 2 very active Chambers of Commerce and 1 CVB. These people WORK FOR US. They are paid by THE MEMBERS. There are rules of how those 3 businesses are run and there are bosses who and employees that make sure they are run so that every member gets what they pay for. It takes a village to make things run smoothly. Our many members are involved in everything and they are informed of everything that goes. Each of these 3 entities have boards of directors, they are run independently.copperhead said:Our CVB is about the same as Maddie's at the expense of close to 1M a year to the tax payers in this area. Years ago I cried FOUL and all it got me was being black balled. I get nothing from them but what they are required to do, that is to have us on their site and keep our rack cards. I got nothing before either so I am still even.IrisoftheWayfarer said:Can you expand on that a bit more? Who is this "local marketing director" working for, the CVB or Chamber of Commerce? Why does the expert not know these things. If she'd worked anywhere here for me, I would make darn sure that she goes and someone new comes in. Wow.
Coming back to email lists, they are offered to us but most businesses don't take advantage of them. I do, when I am not as busy as I want to be. The CVB sends out reminders to check the email lists.
I truly don't understand that you all let your chambers and cvb's get away with this crap. I am a little peeved right now at you (the global you)
Of course being involved means doing work. You can't just sit back and expect your employees to run the ship
.We've had 4 different directors since I've been here. New doesn't make a difference. We participated a lot at first until we realized participation without millions of dollars in revenue to make our voices louder didn't make any difference. We (the B&B's) started 2 separate events in town that are very well attended. Who gets the overnighters? The hotels. Last year, to boost attendance, the CVB did a Groupon and sold twice as many tickets. But barely broke even because of the discount.IrisoftheWayfarer said:that is unacceptable. I think I have said this somewhere before, we are the smallest county in Michigan, we have 2 very active Chambers of Commerce and 1 CVB. These people WORK FOR US. They are paid by THE MEMBERS. There are rules of how those 3 businesses are run and there are bosses who and employees that make sure they are run so that every member gets what they pay for. It takes a village to make things run smoothly. Our many members are involved in everything and they are informed of everything that goes. Each of these 3 entities have boards of directors, they are run independently.copperhead said:Our CVB is about the same as Maddie's at the expense of close to 1M a year to the tax payers in this area. Years ago I cried FOUL and all it got me was being black balled. I get nothing from them but what they are required to do, that is to have us on their site and keep our rack cards. I got nothing before either so I am still even.IrisoftheWayfarer said:Can you expand on that a bit more? Who is this "local marketing director" working for, the CVB or Chamber of Commerce? Why does the expert not know these things. If she'd worked anywhere here for me, I would make darn sure that she goes and someone new comes in. Wow.
Coming back to email lists, they are offered to us but most businesses don't take advantage of them. I do, when I am not as busy as I want to be. The CVB sends out reminders to check the email lists.
I truly don't understand that you all let your chambers and cvb's get away with this crap. I am a little peeved right now at you (the global you)
Of course being involved means doing work. You can't just sit back and expect your employees to run the ship
The meetings are all held with retail owners in mind. Smack dab in the middle of breakfast. Host a meeting here? We did. Nothing came of it.
The general consensus is if all the little guys disappeared the CVB would be a lot happier not having all these gnats buzzing around wanting something from the organization.
So, lots of us have dropped the membership. They still advertise the town so we still get guests but it doesn't generate the biz it should for the price it costs us.
We have gone to the membership meetings and argued that the cost is outrageous for the size of our business. So what. Either you want to be in the org or you don't. Next. As an example- a multi-million dollar business pays a little more than we do. A couple of years ago the hotels dropped out because the cost is too high for them, too, given the ROI.
If losing $4k-$8k in memberships didn't make a difference, me dropping out isn't going to either.
If you have ideas for how to get this group to work for ME, let me know.
.
If we had a campaign like Pure Michigan it wouldn't be so bad paying these dues. Our Chamber dues are over $300/yr. We had to drop that.I am flabberghasted at what you write, Madie. Also our CVB's board of directors and their "court" are put together with equal votes/members. So, there are Hotel owners, B&B owners, Motel owners, Resort owners, Campground owners and so on working together.Can you expand on that a bit more? Who is this "local marketing director" working for, the CVB or Chamber of Commerce? Why does the expert not know these things. If she'd worked anywhere here for me, I would make darn sure that she goes and someone new comes in. Wow.Spoke with the local marketing director last week. Told her that at least 5 B&B's have closed here in the past 8 years. She had no idea. Research really needs to be done even by people who are supposed to know the area they are marketing. She should know WHY they closed and she didn't even know they had ever existed.
Excerpt: "What is the marketplace like?Is there a need for another B&B in this area?"
This is one I can never get over! Established B&B's may be struggling and someone wants to "build it and they will come" to their inn. They are on this forum all the time, and they must think the current owners/operators of B&B's are incompetent, so if THEY opened one it would be all milk and honey. There is an area called Floyd here in VA and they open and close within a year. Before I have even known they were there!.
.
Also, that article, I know it's only a blog, needed to be proof read. Why doesn't any publisher proof read anymore. I am a foreigner and even I catch things like that on a daily basis. Very frustrating for someone who is as nuts as I am
.Our CVB is about the same as Maddie's at the expense of close to 1M a year to the tax payers in this area. Years ago I cried FOUL and all it got me was being black balled. I get nothing from them but what they are required to do, that is to have us on their site and keep our rack cards. I got nothing before either so I am still even.IrisoftheWayfarer said:Can you expand on that a bit more? Who is this "local marketing director" working for, the CVB or Chamber of Commerce? Why does the expert not know these things. If she'd worked anywhere here for me, I would make darn sure that she goes and someone new comes in. Wow.
.that is unacceptable. I think I have said this somewhere before, we are the smallest county in Michigan, we have 2 very active Chambers of Commerce and 1 CVB. These people WORK FOR US. They are paid by THE MEMBERS. There are rules of how those 3 businesses are run and there are bosses who and employees that make sure they are run so that every member gets what they pay for. It takes a village to make things run smoothly. Our many members are involved in everything and they are informed of everything that goes. Each of these 3 entities have boards of directors, they are run independently.copperhead said:Our CVB is about the same as Maddie's at the expense of close to 1M a year to the tax payers in this area. Years ago I cried FOUL and all it got me was being black balled. I get nothing from them but what they are required to do, that is to have us on their site and keep our rack cards. I got nothing before either so I am still even.IrisoftheWayfarer said:Can you expand on that a bit more? Who is this "local marketing director" working for, the CVB or Chamber of Commerce? Why does the expert not know these things. If she'd worked anywhere here for me, I would make darn sure that she goes and someone new comes in. Wow.
Coming back to email lists, they are offered to us but most businesses don't take advantage of them. I do, when I am not as busy as I want to be. The CVB sends out reminders to check the email lists.
I truly don't understand that you all let your chambers and cvb's get away with this crap. I am a little peeved right now at you (the global you)
Of course being involved means doing work. You can't just sit back and expect your employees to run the ship
.We've had 4 different directors since I've been here. New doesn't make a difference. We participated a lot at first until we realized participation without millions of dollars in revenue to make our voices louder didn't make any difference. We (the B&B's) started 2 separate events in town that are very well attended. Who gets the overnighters? The hotels. Last year, to boost attendance, the CVB did a Groupon and sold twice as many tickets. But barely broke even because of the discount.IrisoftheWayfarer said:that is unacceptable. I think I have said this somewhere before, we are the smallest county in Michigan, we have 2 very active Chambers of Commerce and 1 CVB. These people WORK FOR US. They are paid by THE MEMBERS. There are rules of how those 3 businesses are run and there are bosses who and employees that make sure they are run so that every member gets what they pay for. It takes a village to make things run smoothly. Our many members are involved in everything and they are informed of everything that goes. Each of these 3 entities have boards of directors, they are run independently.copperhead said:Our CVB is about the same as Maddie's at the expense of close to 1M a year to the tax payers in this area. Years ago I cried FOUL and all it got me was being black balled. I get nothing from them but what they are required to do, that is to have us on their site and keep our rack cards. I got nothing before either so I am still even.IrisoftheWayfarer said:Can you expand on that a bit more? Who is this "local marketing director" working for, the CVB or Chamber of Commerce? Why does the expert not know these things. If she'd worked anywhere here for me, I would make darn sure that she goes and someone new comes in. Wow.
Coming back to email lists, they are offered to us but most businesses don't take advantage of them. I do, when I am not as busy as I want to be. The CVB sends out reminders to check the email lists.
I truly don't understand that you all let your chambers and cvb's get away with this crap. I am a little peeved right now at you (the global you)
Of course being involved means doing work. You can't just sit back and expect your employees to run the ship
The meetings are all held with retail owners in mind. Smack dab in the middle of breakfast. Host a meeting here? We did. Nothing came of it.
The general consensus is if all the little guys disappeared the CVB would be a lot happier not having all these gnats buzzing around wanting something from the organization.
So, lots of us have dropped the membership. They still advertise the town so we still get guests but it doesn't generate the biz it should for the price it costs us.
We have gone to the membership meetings and argued that the cost is outrageous for the size of our business. So what. Either you want to be in the org or you don't. Next. As an example- a multi-million dollar business pays a little more than we do. A couple of years ago the hotels dropped out because the cost is too high for them, too, given the ROI.
If losing $4k-$8k in memberships didn't make a difference, me dropping out isn't going to either.
If you have ideas for how to get this group to work for ME, let me know.
.
It sounds like you are in a large market and, of course, I don't know how that works. I can only speak from here and we pay each chamber $ 185 per year and to the CVB the 2% we take from guests. That is it. Nothing else. Millions of dollars are taken in and then doled out. The 2% mostly to Pure Michigan. The Chamber dues to pay the staff and We have more festivals and events here than I can shake a stick at. I am sick and tired of those but they bring in people. We are an area where people spend their entire summers. I sometimes have guests staying 45 and even 60 nights. No kidding.
What I am saying is we are definitely different from your market or so it seems. We are your country cousins.
I could babble and babble. But in the end, you are just going to be frustrated with me. I am very sorry that you have such a difficult time making these organizations work for you. It stinks.
.
We supposedly have "equal" representation as well but the bottom line is our CVB Prez is a former bus tour operator and that is all they are interested in bringing here. Our local sales tax just went up and while we take the hit on having to pay the cc fees on the new higher rate, they will use all that extra revenue to target day trippers. We have a dysfunctional B&B group as well who are no help. It's frustrating and I don't know what the answer is.I am flabberghasted at what you write, Madie. Also our CVB's board of directors and their "court" are put together with equal votes/members. So, there are Hotel owners, B&B owners, Motel owners, Resort owners, Campground owners and so on working together.Can you expand on that a bit more? Who is this "local marketing director" working for, the CVB or Chamber of Commerce? Why does the expert not know these things. If she'd worked anywhere here for me, I would make darn sure that she goes and someone new comes in. Wow.Spoke with the local marketing director last week. Told her that at least 5 B&B's have closed here in the past 8 years. She had no idea. Research really needs to be done even by people who are supposed to know the area they are marketing. She should know WHY they closed and she didn't even know they had ever existed.
Excerpt: "What is the marketplace like?Is there a need for another B&B in this area?"
This is one I can never get over! Established B&B's may be struggling and someone wants to "build it and they will come" to their inn. They are on this forum all the time, and they must think the current owners/operators of B&B's are incompetent, so if THEY opened one it would be all milk and honey. There is an area called Floyd here in VA and they open and close within a year. Before I have even known they were there!.
.
Also, that article, I know it's only a blog, needed to be proof read. Why doesn't any publisher proof read anymore. I am a foreigner and even I catch things like that on a daily basis. Very frustrating for someone who is as nuts as I am
.Our CVB is about the same as Maddie's at the expense of close to 1M a year to the tax payers in this area. Years ago I cried FOUL and all it got me was being black balled. I get nothing from them but what they are required to do, that is to have us on their site and keep our rack cards. I got nothing before either so I am still even.IrisoftheWayfarer said:Can you expand on that a bit more? Who is this "local marketing director" working for, the CVB or Chamber of Commerce? Why does the expert not know these things. If she'd worked anywhere here for me, I would make darn sure that she goes and someone new comes in. Wow.
.that is unacceptable. I think I have said this somewhere before, we are the smallest county in Michigan, we have 2 very active Chambers of Commerce and 1 CVB. These people WORK FOR US. They are paid by THE MEMBERS. There are rules of how those 3 businesses are run and there are bosses who and employees that make sure they are run so that every member gets what they pay for. It takes a village to make things run smoothly. Our many members are involved in everything and they are informed of everything that goes. Each of these 3 entities have boards of directors, they are run independently.copperhead said:Our CVB is about the same as Maddie's at the expense of close to 1M a year to the tax payers in this area. Years ago I cried FOUL and all it got me was being black balled. I get nothing from them but what they are required to do, that is to have us on their site and keep our rack cards. I got nothing before either so I am still even.IrisoftheWayfarer said:Can you expand on that a bit more? Who is this "local marketing director" working for, the CVB or Chamber of Commerce? Why does the expert not know these things. If she'd worked anywhere here for me, I would make darn sure that she goes and someone new comes in. Wow.
Coming back to email lists, they are offered to us but most businesses don't take advantage of them. I do, when I am not as busy as I want to be. The CVB sends out reminders to check the email lists.
I truly don't understand that you all let your chambers and cvb's get away with this crap. I am a little peeved right now at you (the global you)
Of course being involved means doing work. You can't just sit back and expect your employees to run the ship
.We've had 4 different directors since I've been here. New doesn't make a difference. We participated a lot at first until we realized participation without millions of dollars in revenue to make our voices louder didn't make any difference. We (the B&B's) started 2 separate events in town that are very well attended. Who gets the overnighters? The hotels. Last year, to boost attendance, the CVB did a Groupon and sold twice as many tickets. But barely broke even because of the discount.IrisoftheWayfarer said:that is unacceptable. I think I have said this somewhere before, we are the smallest county in Michigan, we have 2 very active Chambers of Commerce and 1 CVB. These people WORK FOR US. They are paid by THE MEMBERS. There are rules of how those 3 businesses are run and there are bosses who and employees that make sure they are run so that every member gets what they pay for. It takes a village to make things run smoothly. Our many members are involved in everything and they are informed of everything that goes. Each of these 3 entities have boards of directors, they are run independently.copperhead said:Our CVB is about the same as Maddie's at the expense of close to 1M a year to the tax payers in this area. Years ago I cried FOUL and all it got me was being black balled. I get nothing from them but what they are required to do, that is to have us on their site and keep our rack cards. I got nothing before either so I am still even.IrisoftheWayfarer said:Can you expand on that a bit more? Who is this "local marketing director" working for, the CVB or Chamber of Commerce? Why does the expert not know these things. If she'd worked anywhere here for me, I would make darn sure that she goes and someone new comes in. Wow.
Coming back to email lists, they are offered to us but most businesses don't take advantage of them. I do, when I am not as busy as I want to be. The CVB sends out reminders to check the email lists.
I truly don't understand that you all let your chambers and cvb's get away with this crap. I am a little peeved right now at you (the global you)
Of course being involved means doing work. You can't just sit back and expect your employees to run the ship
The meetings are all held with retail owners in mind. Smack dab in the middle of breakfast. Host a meeting here? We did. Nothing came of it.
The general consensus is if all the little guys disappeared the CVB would be a lot happier not having all these gnats buzzing around wanting something from the organization.
So, lots of us have dropped the membership. They still advertise the town so we still get guests but it doesn't generate the biz it should for the price it costs us.
We have gone to the membership meetings and argued that the cost is outrageous for the size of our business. So what. Either you want to be in the org or you don't. Next. As an example- a multi-million dollar business pays a little more than we do. A couple of years ago the hotels dropped out because the cost is too high for them, too, given the ROI.
If losing $4k-$8k in memberships didn't make a difference, me dropping out isn't going to either.
If you have ideas for how to get this group to work for ME, let me know.
.
It sounds like you are in a large market and, of course, I don't know how that works. I can only speak from here and we pay each chamber $ 185 per year and to the CVB the 2% we take from guests. That is it. Nothing else. Millions of dollars are taken in and then doled out. The 2% mostly to Pure Michigan. The Chamber dues to pay the staff and We have more festivals and events here than I can shake a stick at. I am sick and tired of those but they bring in people. We are an area where people spend their entire summers. I sometimes have guests staying 45 and even 60 nights. No kidding.
What I am saying is we are definitely different from your market or so it seems. We are your country cousins.
I could babble and babble. But in the end, you are just going to be frustrated with me. I am very sorry that you have such a difficult time making these organizations work for you. It stinks.
.
If we had a campaign like Pure Michigan it wouldn't be so bad paying these dues. Our Chamber dues are over $300/yr. We had to drop that.I am flabberghasted at what you write, Madie. Also our CVB's board of directors and their "court" are put together with equal votes/members. So, there are Hotel owners, B&B owners, Motel owners, Resort owners, Campground owners and so on working together.Can you expand on that a bit more? Who is this "local marketing director" working for, the CVB or Chamber of Commerce? Why does the expert not know these things. If she'd worked anywhere here for me, I would make darn sure that she goes and someone new comes in. Wow.Spoke with the local marketing director last week. Told her that at least 5 B&B's have closed here in the past 8 years. She had no idea. Research really needs to be done even by people who are supposed to know the area they are marketing. She should know WHY they closed and she didn't even know they had ever existed.
Excerpt: "What is the marketplace like?Is there a need for another B&B in this area?"
This is one I can never get over! Established B&B's may be struggling and someone wants to "build it and they will come" to their inn. They are on this forum all the time, and they must think the current owners/operators of B&B's are incompetent, so if THEY opened one it would be all milk and honey. There is an area called Floyd here in VA and they open and close within a year. Before I have even known they were there!.
.
Also, that article, I know it's only a blog, needed to be proof read. Why doesn't any publisher proof read anymore. I am a foreigner and even I catch things like that on a daily basis. Very frustrating for someone who is as nuts as I am
.Our CVB is about the same as Maddie's at the expense of close to 1M a year to the tax payers in this area. Years ago I cried FOUL and all it got me was being black balled. I get nothing from them but what they are required to do, that is to have us on their site and keep our rack cards. I got nothing before either so I am still even.IrisoftheWayfarer said:Can you expand on that a bit more? Who is this "local marketing director" working for, the CVB or Chamber of Commerce? Why does the expert not know these things. If she'd worked anywhere here for me, I would make darn sure that she goes and someone new comes in. Wow.
.that is unacceptable. I think I have said this somewhere before, we are the smallest county in Michigan, we have 2 very active Chambers of Commerce and 1 CVB. These people WORK FOR US. They are paid by THE MEMBERS. There are rules of how those 3 businesses are run and there are bosses who and employees that make sure they are run so that every member gets what they pay for. It takes a village to make things run smoothly. Our many members are involved in everything and they are informed of everything that goes. Each of these 3 entities have boards of directors, they are run independently.copperhead said:Our CVB is about the same as Maddie's at the expense of close to 1M a year to the tax payers in this area. Years ago I cried FOUL and all it got me was being black balled. I get nothing from them but what they are required to do, that is to have us on their site and keep our rack cards. I got nothing before either so I am still even.IrisoftheWayfarer said:Can you expand on that a bit more? Who is this "local marketing director" working for, the CVB or Chamber of Commerce? Why does the expert not know these things. If she'd worked anywhere here for me, I would make darn sure that she goes and someone new comes in. Wow.
Coming back to email lists, they are offered to us but most businesses don't take advantage of them. I do, when I am not as busy as I want to be. The CVB sends out reminders to check the email lists.
I truly don't understand that you all let your chambers and cvb's get away with this crap. I am a little peeved right now at you (the global you)
Of course being involved means doing work. You can't just sit back and expect your employees to run the ship
.We've had 4 different directors since I've been here. New doesn't make a difference. We participated a lot at first until we realized participation without millions of dollars in revenue to make our voices louder didn't make any difference. We (the B&B's) started 2 separate events in town that are very well attended. Who gets the overnighters? The hotels. Last year, to boost attendance, the CVB did a Groupon and sold twice as many tickets. But barely broke even because of the discount.IrisoftheWayfarer said:that is unacceptable. I think I have said this somewhere before, we are the smallest county in Michigan, we have 2 very active Chambers of Commerce and 1 CVB. These people WORK FOR US. They are paid by THE MEMBERS. There are rules of how those 3 businesses are run and there are bosses who and employees that make sure they are run so that every member gets what they pay for. It takes a village to make things run smoothly. Our many members are involved in everything and they are informed of everything that goes. Each of these 3 entities have boards of directors, they are run independently.copperhead said:Our CVB is about the same as Maddie's at the expense of close to 1M a year to the tax payers in this area. Years ago I cried FOUL and all it got me was being black balled. I get nothing from them but what they are required to do, that is to have us on their site and keep our rack cards. I got nothing before either so I am still even.IrisoftheWayfarer said:Can you expand on that a bit more? Who is this "local marketing director" working for, the CVB or Chamber of Commerce? Why does the expert not know these things. If she'd worked anywhere here for me, I would make darn sure that she goes and someone new comes in. Wow.
Coming back to email lists, they are offered to us but most businesses don't take advantage of them. I do, when I am not as busy as I want to be. The CVB sends out reminders to check the email lists.
I truly don't understand that you all let your chambers and cvb's get away with this crap. I am a little peeved right now at you (the global you)
Of course being involved means doing work. You can't just sit back and expect your employees to run the ship
The meetings are all held with retail owners in mind. Smack dab in the middle of breakfast. Host a meeting here? We did. Nothing came of it.
The general consensus is if all the little guys disappeared the CVB would be a lot happier not having all these gnats buzzing around wanting something from the organization.
So, lots of us have dropped the membership. They still advertise the town so we still get guests but it doesn't generate the biz it should for the price it costs us.
We have gone to the membership meetings and argued that the cost is outrageous for the size of our business. So what. Either you want to be in the org or you don't. Next. As an example- a multi-million dollar business pays a little more than we do. A couple of years ago the hotels dropped out because the cost is too high for them, too, given the ROI.
If losing $4k-$8k in memberships didn't make a difference, me dropping out isn't going to either.
If you have ideas for how to get this group to work for ME, let me know.
.
It sounds like you are in a large market and, of course, I don't know how that works. I can only speak from here and we pay each chamber $ 185 per year and to the CVB the 2% we take from guests. That is it. Nothing else. Millions of dollars are taken in and then doled out. The 2% mostly to Pure Michigan. The Chamber dues to pay the staff and We have more festivals and events here than I can shake a stick at. I am sick and tired of those but they bring in people. We are an area where people spend their entire summers. I sometimes have guests staying 45 and even 60 nights. No kidding.
What I am saying is we are definitely different from your market or so it seems. We are your country cousins.
I could babble and babble. But in the end, you are just going to be frustrated with me. I am very sorry that you have such a difficult time making these organizations work for you. It stinks.
.
.
If we had organizations such as yours with the fees such as theirs, we would not be members either. It's so much easier now to market your business online. It just takes a bit of time to do it.Madeleine said:If we had a campaign like Pure Michigan it wouldn't be so bad paying these dues. Our Chamber dues are over $300/yr. We had to drop that.
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