The jury is still out a bit for me on the ROI - yes, the annual cost is in the thousands and the initial application fee is also in the thousands. Both are under $5000, if you need a limit, but they vary depending on the size of the property and the initial sourcing of the application. We were invited to join and our initial fee was much less than the stated application fee - I still don't know why we were asked to join but there are not a lot of SR inns in our state. We get enough guests from them to cover our annual fee. The real question is, would we get those guests anyway without being in Select Registry, or would we get other guests to fill those rooms from other, less expensive sources. I think there is a better ROI if you are a new inn looking to build your business and not an established one, like we were.
We do get guests, way more this year than last year, who never travel anywhere without the Select Registry book (it is the book that gets the most attention, not the website). Many of them will not stay at an inn unless it is Select Registry. They get some comfort from the surprise inspection process. It is a much more rigorous process than our state association inspection. As an innkeeper, I get to stay at SR inns for a 50% discount - not as good as the discount I've received from some forum friends
, but I've gotten use out of that benefit for some good vacations.
If you don't meet several of the criteria - number of rooms, years in the business, etc. - it is pretty difficult to get in. We met all three when we were solicited to apply - it was our third year in, we have six rooms and are walking distance to fine dining. The inspection was still a hellish process - if you think it's no fun having guests or people on this forum tell you what you are doing wrong, wait until you are sitting across from an inspector telling you all the low-class items he's found! I barely survived...
.