THIS is exactly why I refuse to have anything to with TA. Way too many reports of their lack of innkeeper support..
Yes I agree with you . My big beef is they use our name for their benefit. I have not claimed my B&B either. By law they have not got my permission to use my B&B for there profit. They have no respect for any one but themselves. It is their way and only their way.
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ta is not perfect I know, but it's there and we don't just have to live with it, we can use it to it's best advantage.
I can't help feeling that those who say they don't like to email guests and ask for a review are over-estimating their relationship with past guests, and I think the number of complaints here and in ta, of guests leaving all chatty and smiles, then writing critical reviews shows this. For most they may be all charming to your face but once they're out the door you're just a proprietor of a B&B they once stayed in, that's not a criticism of guests, just the way it is. Maybe I'm just cynical, or maybe that's an aspect of our location, most of our guests are touring from a long way away and therefore unlikely to come back to the area.
Like others have said many don't bother to write a review, even though I ask, and I think a part of that is the hastle of setting up an account/password but mostly because once they've driven down the road your are...not forgotten but something they once did. However those that do write a review help convince others to book, that's the point for us.
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As a traveler, I can say I am most likely to NOT repeat - no matter how much I liked a facility and the staff (I say this because I have mostly been up to now, a "hit & split" traveler. For me, with 2 exceptions, there is so much to be seen and done that I want to experience all I can during my one chance (life is a one chance no matter how many years it goes on).
The one thing I have been to and REALLY want to do again - in the summer next time - is the D-Day Memorial in Virginia. It is awesome but a windy day in January was not the time to do it. (The other 2 are Williamsburg and the windjammer cruise on the Lewis R French out of Camden.)
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gillumhouse said:
As a traveler, I can say I am most likely to NOT repeat - no matter how much I liked a facility and the staff (I say this because I have mostly been up to now, a "hit & split" traveler. For me, with 2 exceptions, there is so much to be seen and done that I want to experience all I can during my one chance (life is a one chance no matter how many years it goes on).
I think that very much sums up the majority of travelers we get here and I guess that's a "symptom" of being in a destintion. Lots say they want to come back, very few do.
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Highlands John said:
gillumhouse said:
As a traveler, I can say I am most likely to NOT repeat - no matter how much I liked a facility and the staff (I say this because I have mostly been up to now, a "hit & split" traveler. For me, with 2 exceptions, there is so much to be seen and done that I want to experience all I can during my one chance (life is a one chance no matter how many years it goes on).
I think that very much sums up the majority of travelers we get here and I guess that's a "symptom" of being in a destintion. Lots say they want to come back, very few do.
We used to run 40% repeat. Not any longer. I bet we're down to 20%. Because guests hate us? No, not at all. We have some guests who are here 2-4x/year. But, more people are wanting to see more things and not repeat the same places.
That guests say they want to come back is an indication, I think, that they enjoyed the stay and, if there weren't so many other things to do, they'd be here again.
Ex - we have guests who make one BIG trip each year - Vietnam, India, Zimbabwe, etc. They would go to those places once. But they come here a couple of times just for a quick 'get out of the house' for a couple of days.
So, for some people, we
are their 'big' trip, their 'once in a lifetime' and they won't be back. They'll tell a lot of people, but they won't be back. (Hard to imagine where we 'live' is a 'once in a lifetime' vacation, but there you go.)
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