BedandBreakfast.com Review Program

[JBanczak]

We have made a few announcements in the last couple of weeks and I wanted to get them on here to share with everyone. On January 1, we started a new program easy program whereby innkeepers get a credit toward their membership for consumer reviews. Quite simply, get only one review a month, and we will credit $5/month ($60 yr) directly towards your BedandBreakfast.com membership fee.
Here is how it works:
1. Every calendar month in which a review is posted live on your paid BedandBreakfast.com member listing, we will add a $5 credit to your account. (The review must be made within the calendar month – there are no carryovers.)
2. For members on our new monthly billing, your monthly membership receipt for the following month will reflect a $5 credit.
3. For members on annual billing, your account will be credited the full amount based on the number of months you had a review posted live on your listing for the entire calendar year on your annual renewal date.
Over the past few years we’ve been stressing the importance of getting reviews for our industry, and now we are putting our money where our mouth is. Properties that take steps to have a regular flow of reviews should be able to pretty easily knock $60 right off their membership fees. The reviews will make their listings even more attractive and help drive more business to these members, and will directly and immediately help these innkeepers save on the price of their BedandBreakfast.com membership – a win-win-win.
There are tips on how to easily get more reviews on your listing that can be found from your BedandBreakfast.com Homebase.
If you have any questions, let me know,
JB

 

[Penelope]

I am very curious to see what the responses are to this.
Being an aspiring, at first glance, I would say that I think it's a good idea. I am reserving the right to change my mind, tho, as other people bring up ideas and comments

 

[Morticia]

I am very curious to see what the responses are to this.
Being an aspiring, at first glance, I would say that I think it's a good idea. I am reserving the right to change my mind, tho, as other people bring up ideas and comments .

Like everything else, it works for those who get reviews and doesn't for those whose guests just don't want to be bothered. This just makes it more likely I will steer at least SOME guests toward this review venue in order to knock a few bucks off my tab. I have really good guests I could even present it to that way...'Here, please write a review on this site, I get $5 off my membership if you do.' I could then hand them my laptop...

 

[Samster]

I saw that when I was updating my listing just yesterday. I printed out the sheet of business sized reminders about the $250 drawing. I put our return mailing address label on the back & staple it to their receipt at check-out. I also have my review link to y'all in my Thank You email.
I have some folks that will post both to TA & bandb.com which is a double bonus imvvho. I think that a few will post to your directory because it's a bit easier than TA. (Return guests have told me this.)
I think this is a great promotion & I've found that my reviews on your directory are showing up in searches, so it seems to be helping me that way as well. We shall see if I get the $60 knocked off!

 

[JunieBJones (JBJ)]

Thank you for the information John. Sounds like a better benefit than featured inn bucks. Appreciate it.
Bree, don't want to point fingers at other inns, but those who have a gazillion reviews have GOT to be having them do it "in house" during their stay. "You can lead a horse to water..." So if you can, do it.

 

[gillumhouse]

For me it does not matter. I am up for renewal in Feb and due to the rate increase I am not renewing. Guest reviews are too iffy to count on, the rate increase was begun acknowledging tough times economy-wise - so if you wanted to help inns survive either hold the line or increase by just a couple bucks, and I am not going to forget that moon cycle crack very soon.
I am going to use those funds to do some target marketing - direct web site for the new market I want to welcome.

 

[Samster]

Thank you for the information John. Sounds like a better benefit than featured inn bucks. Appreciate it.
Bree, don't want to point fingers at other inns, but those who have a gazillion reviews have GOT to be having them do it "in house" during their stay. "You can lead a horse to water..." So if you can, do it.

.

I agree...this is a better promotion for innkeepers than the featured inn thing. I mean if you have a gazillion inns in your town, that might have paid off. I will give it a shot & encourage folks to help people to find us by writing reviews And keep my fingers crossed that they'll be informational & really good - more than, "nice place, good breakfast". haha!

 

[scrambled_eggs]

Thanks I am looking forward to this. I really find it easy to get guests to leave a review. I have 44 so far. I talk to my guests a lot and as they check out I give them the prepaid postage card or if I miss that I send them a thank you email and a link to where they can post the review. Most guests think of it as an online guestbook.

 

[Morticia]

Thanks I am looking forward to this. I really find it easy to get guests to leave a review. I have 44 so far. I talk to my guests a lot and as they check out I give them the prepaid postage card or if I miss that I send them a thank you email and a link to where they can post the review. Most guests think of it as an online guestbook..

These are the times I wish I had the gift of gab! My guests, for the most part, are not the least bit interested in leaving reviews. I sent out over 300 thank you's with a request to review, I got 20 reviews, 2 of which showed up on bandb. Altho I got 'exceeded expectations' on my bandb reviews, all my neighbors get 'outstanding' so it's WORSE for me to have 2 'good' reviews in the face of their 10 or so 'outstandings'.
I have about 50 total reviews after 7 years. This is just not the sort of vacation area people are coming to who want to spend their time when they get home trying to remember each place they stayed at and did they like it or not.
Yes, this is sour grapes. I see places with 300-400 reviews, one right after the other, over the course of 3 months and I have to seriously wonder if it's the location difference? Are they providing the guest with the actual sit down, write the review laptop I joked about? Do they even have the occupancy to justify that number of reviews? Are they extremely aggressive in their requests? And not a single one who I have personally asked, 'So, how do you do that?' has ever responded. In person, on the phone, however I have asked. No response. That definitely makes me wonder.
Good for those who can get the reviews, it's money in your pocket!

 

[JunieBJones (JBJ)]

I asked how they do it and was told off and the person left the forum.

 

[EmptyNest]

Thank you for the information John. Sounds like a better benefit than featured inn bucks. Appreciate it.
Bree, don't want to point fingers at other inns, but those who have a gazillion reviews have GOT to be having them do it "in house" during their stay. "You can lead a horse to water..." So if you can, do it.

.

Sorry but my 2 best friend have loads of comments posted and neither of them have them to it during the guest stay. The guests submit them on their own. They are very fortunate. Maybe they will get FREE BANB.com this year!!!

 

[Copperhead]

First impression a good one. First time I find B&B.com really trying to help the pockets of their members as well as improve their listing. The promotion matching $'s for featured listings did nothing for me as I felt b&b.com was really not giving up anything by doing so.
Now if I can convince my guests to review. They say they will but once they get back home and get in their old routines writing my review is something far removed from their minds.

 

[josh]

John,
It would be great if an assigned number was on the card or a return address, Kinda like multi level marketers do (Josh # 982009) that way its easier to track!
Also as a suggestion maybe more people would fill them out if they knew they were getting something, Like (25% off your next stays first day)???
You could always email the B&B and see if they want any thing printed on there cards with some sort of coupon< <<<<

It's hard for me to ask people to fill stuff out, I am not into boosting my ego like that and I also see in my city 2 B&B's that are being competive with it, Good for them, But thats not me.
I am still just waiting for my premium upgrade I was told I would get! As i joined Expedia and Hotels.com

((THANKS JOHN FOR GETTING ME UPDATED!! THAT WAS QUICK))
Just my 2 cents.. www.innharmonyguesthouse.com

 

[JBanczak]

Thanks for the positive comments everyone. I think the big thing now is figuring out how to get the guests to really leave the reviews as a few folks have mentioned. We have put together a list of things that seem to work - I'd encourage folks to see if they are using this checklist...
1) Sending a follow-up email to guests after check-out with specific language in it and a link to your property page at BB.com. Wording like "we'd greatly appreciate..." or "it would mean a lot to us and our business..." or something similar is a big help.
2) Print out the pdf's, leave them in the rooms, etc.
3) If you have a good relationship with a guest and are having any kind of a nice chat with them at checkout, politetly ask them to do a review and/or hand them one of our business reply cards. I've literally been sitting at the breakfast table or next to the office to listen to what happens when this is done at a few B&B's. You would be surprised how often you hear "sure, we'd love to, we always look for reviews now when we are looking for lodging..." the bonus drawing doesn't hurt either.
4) Put the BRC's in the room, or hand them out with every receipt
5) Link from your website to "leave a review..." We have a new product launching in two weeks that will make this a LOT easier for you to do... I'll post it here once live.
6) Put a footer onto every email you send that says "If you get a chance, please review your stay here..." with a link. This should be included in every marketing/promotion email/etc.
7) Have a guest PC always going wherever you can fit it - and the homepage is set to your review page. Nice benefit for anyone who wants to surf the web. PC's are so small and cheap now that you can get an all-in-one for $499... some laptops for even less. (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4238189&CatId=3839) The screen saver is the marquee message that just tastefully says.. if you have a minute, please review your stay right here...
In terms of some of the ideas presented here...
Josh - I'm not sure exactly what you mean on the assigned number - could you be more specific? We are looking at a few ways to make this better - from customizing the PDF's you print (we are working on making a PDF for every property with your name and main BB.com photo on it...), but I'm not sure what you mean on the numbering.
On the 25% off... I would love to do something like that, but the one big rule on reviews is that you are not supposed to reward the guest. A drawing is one thing - it is not guaranteed - but a direct financial benefit seems to cross the line. We've tried to do a lot of research on what is fair/ethical and what might not be considered so. No problem on the upgrade - not sure why that didn't go through automatically but we can usually get stuff like that fixed pretty quick.
Also - I should be clear this is up to $5/month or $60 year... more reviews than that are great of course! But the credit is capped. I think this was clear but didn't want anyone to feel misled by this.

 

[briarrosebb]

Thanks for the positive comments everyone. I think the big thing now is figuring out how to get the guests to really leave the reviews as a few folks have mentioned. We have put together a list of things that seem to work - I'd encourage folks to see if they are using this checklist...
1) Sending a follow-up email to guests after check-out with specific language in it and a link to your property page at BB.com. Wording like "we'd greatly appreciate..." or "it would mean a lot to us and our business..." or something similar is a big help.
2) Print out the pdf's, leave them in the rooms, etc.
3) If you have a good relationship with a guest and are having any kind of a nice chat with them at checkout, politetly ask them to do a review and/or hand them one of our business reply cards. I've literally been sitting at the breakfast table or next to the office to listen to what happens when this is done at a few B&B's. You would be surprised how often you hear "sure, we'd love to, we always look for reviews now when we are looking for lodging..." the bonus drawing doesn't hurt either.
4) Put the BRC's in the room, or hand them out with every receipt
5) Link from your website to "leave a review..." We have a new product launching in two weeks that will make this a LOT easier for you to do... I'll post it here once live.
6) Put a footer onto every email you send that says "If you get a chance, please review your stay here..." with a link. This should be included in every marketing/promotion email/etc.
7) Have a guest PC always going wherever you can fit it - and the homepage is set to your review page. Nice benefit for anyone who wants to surf the web. PC's are so small and cheap now that you can get an all-in-one for $499... some laptops for even less. (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4238189&CatId=3839) The screen saver is the marquee message that just tastefully says.. if you have a minute, please review your stay right here...
In terms of some of the ideas presented here...
Josh - I'm not sure exactly what you mean on the assigned number - could you be more specific? We are looking at a few ways to make this better - from customizing the PDF's you print (we are working on making a PDF for every property with your name and main BB.com photo on it...), but I'm not sure what you mean on the numbering.
On the 25% off... I would love to do something like that, but the one big rule on reviews is that you are not supposed to reward the guest. A drawing is one thing - it is not guaranteed - but a direct financial benefit seems to cross the line. We've tried to do a lot of research on what is fair/ethical and what might not be considered so. No problem on the upgrade - not sure why that didn't go through automatically but we can usually get stuff like that fixed pretty quick.
Also - I should be clear this is up to $5/month or $60 year... more reviews than that are great of course! But the credit is capped. I think this was clear but didn't want anyone to feel misled by this..

All,
It is a prime example of how Bedandbreakfast.com takes care of the B&B industry in a way the other directories do not: that they try to post reviews from their own site to Google. They don't have to do this and the benefits to the company are pretty indirect. But it's exceptionally helpful to us. However, I have noticed that since October our reviews on Bedandbreakfast.com have not posted to Google. I am willing to bet this is Google's fault, and in no way can one envy BB.com's difficulty in getting Google to do its job.
In my view, $5 a review is not nearly enough to post on Bedandbreakfast.com if you can instead influence guests to post directly to Google. The value of the review on Google is far higher than $5.
Anyway, I have followed up with more research on reviews posted since October 1, 2008 on Bedandbreakfast.com for a few properties counting the number of those reviews that made it to Google. I chose properties that have a lot of reviews so that the argument that "Google doesn't post short reviews" carries no weight.
Here are the results:
[/td] Reviews Since October 1, 2008[/td] [/tr] Property[/td] [td]BB.com[/td] [td]Google[/td] [/tr] Briar Rose B&B, Boulder[/td] 14[/td] 0[/td] [/tr] Inn Above Onion Creek, Kyle TX[/td] 49[/td] 0[/td] [/tr] Old World Inn, Napa CA[/td] 19[/td] 0[/td] [/tr] Brickhouse Inn, Gettysburg, PA[/td] 28[/td] 0[/td] [/tr] Grace Manor Inn, Richmond VA[/td] 19[/td] 0[/td] [/tr] [/table]
Does ANYONE have a review from Bedandbreakfast.com showing on Google with a date after October 1, 2008?

 

[swirt]

Thanks for the positive comments everyone. I think the big thing now is figuring out how to get the guests to really leave the reviews as a few folks have mentioned. We have put together a list of things that seem to work - I'd encourage folks to see if they are using this checklist...
1) Sending a follow-up email to guests after check-out with specific language in it and a link to your property page at BB.com. Wording like "we'd greatly appreciate..." or "it would mean a lot to us and our business..." or something similar is a big help.
2) Print out the pdf's, leave them in the rooms, etc.
3) If you have a good relationship with a guest and are having any kind of a nice chat with them at checkout, politetly ask them to do a review and/or hand them one of our business reply cards. I've literally been sitting at the breakfast table or next to the office to listen to what happens when this is done at a few B&B's. You would be surprised how often you hear "sure, we'd love to, we always look for reviews now when we are looking for lodging..." the bonus drawing doesn't hurt either.
4) Put the BRC's in the room, or hand them out with every receipt
5) Link from your website to "leave a review..." We have a new product launching in two weeks that will make this a LOT easier for you to do... I'll post it here once live.
6) Put a footer onto every email you send that says "If you get a chance, please review your stay here..." with a link. This should be included in every marketing/promotion email/etc.
7) Have a guest PC always going wherever you can fit it - and the homepage is set to your review page. Nice benefit for anyone who wants to surf the web. PC's are so small and cheap now that you can get an all-in-one for $499... some laptops for even less. (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4238189&CatId=3839) The screen saver is the marquee message that just tastefully says.. if you have a minute, please review your stay right here...
In terms of some of the ideas presented here...
Josh - I'm not sure exactly what you mean on the assigned number - could you be more specific? We are looking at a few ways to make this better - from customizing the PDF's you print (we are working on making a PDF for every property with your name and main BB.com photo on it...), but I'm not sure what you mean on the numbering.
On the 25% off... I would love to do something like that, but the one big rule on reviews is that you are not supposed to reward the guest. A drawing is one thing - it is not guaranteed - but a direct financial benefit seems to cross the line. We've tried to do a lot of research on what is fair/ethical and what might not be considered so. No problem on the upgrade - not sure why that didn't go through automatically but we can usually get stuff like that fixed pretty quick.
Also - I should be clear this is up to $5/month or $60 year... more reviews than that are great of course! But the credit is capped. I think this was clear but didn't want anyone to feel misled by this..

All,
It is a prime example of how Bedandbreakfast.com takes care of the B&B industry in a way the other directories do not: that they try to post reviews from their own site to Google. They don't have to do this and the benefits to the company are pretty indirect. But it's exceptionally helpful to us. However, I have noticed that since October our reviews on Bedandbreakfast.com have not posted to Google. I am willing to bet this is Google's fault, and in no way can one envy BB.com's difficulty in getting Google to do its job.
In my view, $5 a review is not nearly enough to post on Bedandbreakfast.com if you can instead influence guests to post directly to Google. The value of the review on Google is far higher than $5.
Anyway, I have followed up with more research on reviews posted since October 1, 2008 on Bedandbreakfast.com for a few properties counting the number of those reviews that made it to Google. I chose properties that have a lot of reviews so that the argument that "Google doesn't post short reviews" carries no weight.
Here are the results:
[/td] Reviews Since October 1, 2008[/td] [/tr] Property[/td] [td]BB.com[/td] [td]Google[/td] [/tr] Briar Rose B&B, Boulder[/td] 14[/td] 0[/td] [/tr] Inn Above Onion Creek, Kyle TX[/td] 49[/td] 0[/td] [/tr] Old World Inn, Napa CA[/td] 19[/td] 0[/td] [/tr] Brickhouse Inn, Gettysburg, PA[/td] 28[/td] 0[/td] [/tr] Grace Manor Inn, Richmond VA[/td] 19[/td] 0[/td] [/tr] [/table]
Does ANYONE have a review from Bedandbreakfast.com showing on Google with a date after October 1, 2008?
.

John has mentioned before how often they provide the feed to google. Seems to me it was either monthly or every three months. Google seems to update the local/business listings roughly quarterly so it would make sense that the timeframe is the same for reviews.

 

[Morticia]

Thanks for the positive comments everyone. I think the big thing now is figuring out how to get the guests to really leave the reviews as a few folks have mentioned. We have put together a list of things that seem to work - I'd encourage folks to see if they are using this checklist...
1) Sending a follow-up email to guests after check-out with specific language in it and a link to your property page at BB.com. Wording like "we'd greatly appreciate..." or "it would mean a lot to us and our business..." or something similar is a big help.
2) Print out the pdf's, leave them in the rooms, etc.
3) If you have a good relationship with a guest and are having any kind of a nice chat with them at checkout, politetly ask them to do a review and/or hand them one of our business reply cards. I've literally been sitting at the breakfast table or next to the office to listen to what happens when this is done at a few B&B's. You would be surprised how often you hear "sure, we'd love to, we always look for reviews now when we are looking for lodging..." the bonus drawing doesn't hurt either.
4) Put the BRC's in the room, or hand them out with every receipt
5) Link from your website to "leave a review..." We have a new product launching in two weeks that will make this a LOT easier for you to do... I'll post it here once live.
6) Put a footer onto every email you send that says "If you get a chance, please review your stay here..." with a link. This should be included in every marketing/promotion email/etc.
7) Have a guest PC always going wherever you can fit it - and the homepage is set to your review page. Nice benefit for anyone who wants to surf the web. PC's are so small and cheap now that you can get an all-in-one for $499... some laptops for even less. (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4238189&CatId=3839) The screen saver is the marquee message that just tastefully says.. if you have a minute, please review your stay right here...
In terms of some of the ideas presented here...
Josh - I'm not sure exactly what you mean on the assigned number - could you be more specific? We are looking at a few ways to make this better - from customizing the PDF's you print (we are working on making a PDF for every property with your name and main BB.com photo on it...), but I'm not sure what you mean on the numbering.
On the 25% off... I would love to do something like that, but the one big rule on reviews is that you are not supposed to reward the guest. A drawing is one thing - it is not guaranteed - but a direct financial benefit seems to cross the line. We've tried to do a lot of research on what is fair/ethical and what might not be considered so. No problem on the upgrade - not sure why that didn't go through automatically but we can usually get stuff like that fixed pretty quick.
Also - I should be clear this is up to $5/month or $60 year... more reviews than that are great of course! But the credit is capped. I think this was clear but didn't want anyone to feel misled by this..

All,
It is a prime example of how Bedandbreakfast.com takes care of the B&B industry in a way the other directories do not: that they try to post reviews from their own site to Google. They don't have to do this and the benefits to the company are pretty indirect. But it's exceptionally helpful to us. However, I have noticed that since October our reviews on Bedandbreakfast.com have not posted to Google. I am willing to bet this is Google's fault, and in no way can one envy BB.com's difficulty in getting Google to do its job.
In my view, $5 a review is not nearly enough to post on Bedandbreakfast.com if you can instead influence guests to post directly to Google. The value of the review on Google is far higher than $5.
Anyway, I have followed up with more research on reviews posted since October 1, 2008 on Bedandbreakfast.com for a few properties counting the number of those reviews that made it to Google. I chose properties that have a lot of reviews so that the argument that "Google doesn't post short reviews" carries no weight.
Here are the results:
[/td] Reviews Since October 1, 2008[/td] [/tr] Property[/td] [td]BB.com[/td] [td]Google[/td] [/tr] Briar Rose B&B, Boulder[/td] 14[/td] 0[/td] [/tr] Inn Above Onion Creek, Kyle TX[/td] 49[/td] 0[/td] [/tr] Old World Inn, Napa CA[/td] 19[/td] 0[/td] [/tr] Brickhouse Inn, Gettysburg, PA[/td] 28[/td] 0[/td] [/tr] Grace Manor Inn, Richmond VA[/td] 19[/td] 0[/td] [/tr] [/table]
Does ANYONE have a review from Bedandbreakfast.com showing on Google with a date after October 1, 2008?
.

All of the reviews that show up for me on Google (maps) are from TA.

 

[briarrosebb]

Thanks for the positive comments everyone. I think the big thing now is figuring out how to get the guests to really leave the reviews as a few folks have mentioned. We have put together a list of things that seem to work - I'd encourage folks to see if they are using this checklist...
1) Sending a follow-up email to guests after check-out with specific language in it and a link to your property page at BB.com. Wording like "we'd greatly appreciate..." or "it would mean a lot to us and our business..." or something similar is a big help.
2) Print out the pdf's, leave them in the rooms, etc.
3) If you have a good relationship with a guest and are having any kind of a nice chat with them at checkout, politetly ask them to do a review and/or hand them one of our business reply cards. I've literally been sitting at the breakfast table or next to the office to listen to what happens when this is done at a few B&B's. You would be surprised how often you hear "sure, we'd love to, we always look for reviews now when we are looking for lodging..." the bonus drawing doesn't hurt either.
4) Put the BRC's in the room, or hand them out with every receipt
5) Link from your website to "leave a review..." We have a new product launching in two weeks that will make this a LOT easier for you to do... I'll post it here once live.
6) Put a footer onto every email you send that says "If you get a chance, please review your stay here..." with a link. This should be included in every marketing/promotion email/etc.
7) Have a guest PC always going wherever you can fit it - and the homepage is set to your review page. Nice benefit for anyone who wants to surf the web. PC's are so small and cheap now that you can get an all-in-one for $499... some laptops for even less. (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4238189&CatId=3839) The screen saver is the marquee message that just tastefully says.. if you have a minute, please review your stay right here...
In terms of some of the ideas presented here...
Josh - I'm not sure exactly what you mean on the assigned number - could you be more specific? We are looking at a few ways to make this better - from customizing the PDF's you print (we are working on making a PDF for every property with your name and main BB.com photo on it...), but I'm not sure what you mean on the numbering.
On the 25% off... I would love to do something like that, but the one big rule on reviews is that you are not supposed to reward the guest. A drawing is one thing - it is not guaranteed - but a direct financial benefit seems to cross the line. We've tried to do a lot of research on what is fair/ethical and what might not be considered so. No problem on the upgrade - not sure why that didn't go through automatically but we can usually get stuff like that fixed pretty quick.
Also - I should be clear this is up to $5/month or $60 year... more reviews than that are great of course! But the credit is capped. I think this was clear but didn't want anyone to feel misled by this..

All,
It is a prime example of how Bedandbreakfast.com takes care of the B&B industry in a way the other directories do not: that they try to post reviews from their own site to Google. They don't have to do this and the benefits to the company are pretty indirect. But it's exceptionally helpful to us. However, I have noticed that since October our reviews on Bedandbreakfast.com have not posted to Google. I am willing to bet this is Google's fault, and in no way can one envy BB.com's difficulty in getting Google to do its job.
In my view, $5 a review is not nearly enough to post on Bedandbreakfast.com if you can instead influence guests to post directly to Google. The value of the review on Google is far higher than $5.
Anyway, I have followed up with more research on reviews posted since October 1, 2008 on Bedandbreakfast.com for a few properties counting the number of those reviews that made it to Google. I chose properties that have a lot of reviews so that the argument that "Google doesn't post short reviews" carries no weight.
Here are the results:
[/td] Reviews Since October 1, 2008[/td] [/tr] Property[/td] [td]BB.com[/td] [td]Google[/td] [/tr] Briar Rose B&B, Boulder[/td] 14[/td] 0[/td] [/tr] Inn Above Onion Creek, Kyle TX[/td] 49[/td] 0[/td] [/tr] Old World Inn, Napa CA[/td] 19[/td] 0[/td] [/tr] Brickhouse Inn, Gettysburg, PA[/td] 28[/td] 0[/td] [/tr] Grace Manor Inn, Richmond VA[/td] 19[/td] 0[/td] [/tr] [/table]
Does ANYONE have a review from Bedandbreakfast.com showing on Google with a date after October 1, 2008?
.

John has mentioned before how often they provide the feed to google. Seems to me it was either monthly or every three months. Google seems to update the local/business listings roughly quarterly so it would make sense that the timeframe is the same for reviews.
.

steve,
i watch the review posting closely so I know tripadvisor posts at least once a month. We'll see what John has to say about the BB.com schedule.

 

[Willowpondgj]

Thanks for the positive comments everyone. I think the big thing now is figuring out how to get the guests to really leave the reviews as a few folks have mentioned. We have put together a list of things that seem to work - I'd encourage folks to see if they are using this checklist...
1) Sending a follow-up email to guests after check-out with specific language in it and a link to your property page at BB.com. Wording like "we'd greatly appreciate..." or "it would mean a lot to us and our business..." or something similar is a big help.
2) Print out the pdf's, leave them in the rooms, etc.
3) If you have a good relationship with a guest and are having any kind of a nice chat with them at checkout, politetly ask them to do a review and/or hand them one of our business reply cards. I've literally been sitting at the breakfast table or next to the office to listen to what happens when this is done at a few B&B's. You would be surprised how often you hear "sure, we'd love to, we always look for reviews now when we are looking for lodging..." the bonus drawing doesn't hurt either.
4) Put the BRC's in the room, or hand them out with every receipt
5) Link from your website to "leave a review..." We have a new product launching in two weeks that will make this a LOT easier for you to do... I'll post it here once live.
6) Put a footer onto every email you send that says "If you get a chance, please review your stay here..." with a link. This should be included in every marketing/promotion email/etc.
7) Have a guest PC always going wherever you can fit it - and the homepage is set to your review page. Nice benefit for anyone who wants to surf the web. PC's are so small and cheap now that you can get an all-in-one for $499... some laptops for even less. (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4238189&CatId=3839) The screen saver is the marquee message that just tastefully says.. if you have a minute, please review your stay right here...
In terms of some of the ideas presented here...
Josh - I'm not sure exactly what you mean on the assigned number - could you be more specific? We are looking at a few ways to make this better - from customizing the PDF's you print (we are working on making a PDF for every property with your name and main BB.com photo on it...), but I'm not sure what you mean on the numbering.
On the 25% off... I would love to do something like that, but the one big rule on reviews is that you are not supposed to reward the guest. A drawing is one thing - it is not guaranteed - but a direct financial benefit seems to cross the line. We've tried to do a lot of research on what is fair/ethical and what might not be considered so. No problem on the upgrade - not sure why that didn't go through automatically but we can usually get stuff like that fixed pretty quick.
Also - I should be clear this is up to $5/month or $60 year... more reviews than that are great of course! But the credit is capped. I think this was clear but didn't want anyone to feel misled by this..

All,
It is a prime example of how Bedandbreakfast.com takes care of the B&B industry in a way the other directories do not: that they try to post reviews from their own site to Google. They don't have to do this and the benefits to the company are pretty indirect. But it's exceptionally helpful to us. However, I have noticed that since October our reviews on Bedandbreakfast.com have not posted to Google. I am willing to bet this is Google's fault, and in no way can one envy BB.com's difficulty in getting Google to do its job.
In my view, $5 a review is not nearly enough to post on Bedandbreakfast.com if you can instead influence guests to post directly to Google. The value of the review on Google is far higher than $5.
Anyway, I have followed up with more research on reviews posted since October 1, 2008 on Bedandbreakfast.com for a few properties counting the number of those reviews that made it to Google. I chose properties that have a lot of reviews so that the argument that "Google doesn't post short reviews" carries no weight.
Here are the results:
[/td] Reviews Since October 1, 2008[/td] [/tr] Property[/td] [td]BB.com[/td] [td]Google[/td] [/tr] Briar Rose B&B, Boulder[/td] 14[/td] 0[/td] [/tr] Inn Above Onion Creek, Kyle TX[/td] 49[/td] 0[/td] [/tr] Old World Inn, Napa CA[/td] 19[/td] 0[/td] [/tr] Brickhouse Inn, Gettysburg, PA[/td] 28[/td] 0[/td] [/tr] Grace Manor Inn, Richmond VA[/td] 19[/td] 0[/td] [/tr] [/table]
Does ANYONE have a review from Bedandbreakfast.com showing on Google with a date after October 1, 2008?
.

We have 18 reviews posted to google by bedandbreakfast.com going back to 6/07...

 

[briarrosebb]

Thanks for the positive comments everyone. I think the big thing now is figuring out how to get the guests to really leave the reviews as a few folks have mentioned. We have put together a list of things that seem to work - I'd encourage folks to see if they are using this checklist...
1) Sending a follow-up email to guests after check-out with specific language in it and a link to your property page at BB.com. Wording like "we'd greatly appreciate..." or "it would mean a lot to us and our business..." or something similar is a big help.
2) Print out the pdf's, leave them in the rooms, etc.
3) If you have a good relationship with a guest and are having any kind of a nice chat with them at checkout, politetly ask them to do a review and/or hand them one of our business reply cards. I've literally been sitting at the breakfast table or next to the office to listen to what happens when this is done at a few B&B's. You would be surprised how often you hear "sure, we'd love to, we always look for reviews now when we are looking for lodging..." the bonus drawing doesn't hurt either.
4) Put the BRC's in the room, or hand them out with every receipt
5) Link from your website to "leave a review..." We have a new product launching in two weeks that will make this a LOT easier for you to do... I'll post it here once live.
6) Put a footer onto every email you send that says "If you get a chance, please review your stay here..." with a link. This should be included in every marketing/promotion email/etc.
7) Have a guest PC always going wherever you can fit it - and the homepage is set to your review page. Nice benefit for anyone who wants to surf the web. PC's are so small and cheap now that you can get an all-in-one for $499... some laptops for even less. (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4238189&CatId=3839) The screen saver is the marquee message that just tastefully says.. if you have a minute, please review your stay right here...
In terms of some of the ideas presented here...
Josh - I'm not sure exactly what you mean on the assigned number - could you be more specific? We are looking at a few ways to make this better - from customizing the PDF's you print (we are working on making a PDF for every property with your name and main BB.com photo on it...), but I'm not sure what you mean on the numbering.
On the 25% off... I would love to do something like that, but the one big rule on reviews is that you are not supposed to reward the guest. A drawing is one thing - it is not guaranteed - but a direct financial benefit seems to cross the line. We've tried to do a lot of research on what is fair/ethical and what might not be considered so. No problem on the upgrade - not sure why that didn't go through automatically but we can usually get stuff like that fixed pretty quick.
Also - I should be clear this is up to $5/month or $60 year... more reviews than that are great of course! But the credit is capped. I think this was clear but didn't want anyone to feel misled by this..

All,
It is a prime example of how Bedandbreakfast.com takes care of the B&B industry in a way the other directories do not: that they try to post reviews from their own site to Google. They don't have to do this and the benefits to the company are pretty indirect. But it's exceptionally helpful to us. However, I have noticed that since October our reviews on Bedandbreakfast.com have not posted to Google. I am willing to bet this is Google's fault, and in no way can one envy BB.com's difficulty in getting Google to do its job.
In my view, $5 a review is not nearly enough to post on Bedandbreakfast.com if you can instead influence guests to post directly to Google. The value of the review on Google is far higher than $5.
Anyway, I have followed up with more research on reviews posted since October 1, 2008 on Bedandbreakfast.com for a few properties counting the number of those reviews that made it to Google. I chose properties that have a lot of reviews so that the argument that "Google doesn't post short reviews" carries no weight.
Here are the results:
[/td] Reviews Since October 1, 2008[/td] [/tr] Property[/td] [td]BB.com[/td] [td]Google[/td] [/tr] Briar Rose B&B, Boulder[/td] 14[/td] 0[/td] [/tr] Inn Above Onion Creek, Kyle TX[/td] 49[/td] 0[/td] [/tr] Old World Inn, Napa CA[/td] 19[/td] 0[/td] [/tr] Brickhouse Inn, Gettysburg, PA[/td] 28[/td] 0[/td] [/tr] Grace Manor Inn, Richmond VA[/td] 19[/td] 0[/td] [/tr] [/table]
Does ANYONE have a review from Bedandbreakfast.com showing on Google with a date after October 1, 2008?
.

All,
Yesterday, Google removed all but one of our Bedandbreakfast.com reviews from our pre-October 2008 reviews. So now we have 25 reviews on bedandbreakfast.com, 1 of which is on google. It truly WAS nice.
Google giveth and google taketh <G>.