BedandBreakfast.com takes on Select Registry?!?

[user 26]

i would like to know what the next step is. how will the diamond collection 'b&b/inns' be promoted by bandb.com
if i as guest go to bandb.com looking for a place to stay, will the **diamond collection** show up first to catch my eye ... drawing me away from the b&b's with ads on bandb.com that are not part of that? will i look at those first, will my choice of podunk maine automatically bring up the *diamonds* first?
surely they have figured this out already.
running a b&b and trying to decide whether or not i should and/or could afford to pay for
Platinum $69.99 monthly is approx $840. annually
Gold $42.99
Silver $29.99
Bronze $14.99
i notice it is now broken down by the month. i'm sure this is so you can see 'how affordable' this is. looking at the page today, NO direct link with a bronze listing ... i thought this had changed? so it's only if you are a subscriber with rezovations or webervations? what good is a listing without the clickable link?
anyway ... platinum is pretty pricey. ... even allowing for that $5 credit thing. if i was paying for a platinum listing and my place was second choice after potential guests get a look at any *diamonds* in the area, i'd be pretty unhappy.

 

[wendydk]

i would like to know what the next step is. how will the diamond collection 'b&b/inns' be promoted by bandb.com
if i as guest go to bandb.com looking for a place to stay, will the **diamond collection** show up first to catch my eye ... drawing me away from the b&b's with ads on bandb.com that are not part of that? will i look at those first, will my choice of podunk maine automatically bring up the *diamonds* first?
surely they have figured this out already.
running a b&b and trying to decide whether or not i should and/or could afford to pay for
Platinum $69.99 monthly is approx $840. annually
Gold $42.99
Silver $29.99
Bronze $14.99
i notice it is now broken down by the month. i'm sure this is so you can see 'how affordable' this is. looking at the page today, NO direct link with a bronze listing ... i thought this had changed? so it's only if you are a subscriber with rezovations or webervations? what good is a listing without the clickable link?
anyway ... platinum is pretty pricey. ... even allowing for that $5 credit thing. if i was paying for a platinum listing and my place was second choice after potential guests get a look at any *diamonds* in the area, i'd be pretty unhappy..

anyway ... platinum is pretty pricey. ... even allowing for that $5 credit thing. if i was paying for a platinum listing and my place was second choice after potential guests get a look at any *diamonds* in the area, i'd be pretty unhappy.

I am a platinum Inn, and while I feel the listing is worth it for me, (and I am bb.com's biggest cheerleader) I would be highly PISSED if I did not show up first for the pages I am on, for what I pay. That would be a deal breaker, so I hope they plan to explain it to the rest of us.

 

[Don Draper]

i would like to know what the next step is. how will the diamond collection 'b&b/inns' be promoted by bandb.com
if i as guest go to bandb.com looking for a place to stay, will the **diamond collection** show up first to catch my eye ... drawing me away from the b&b's with ads on bandb.com that are not part of that? will i look at those first, will my choice of podunk maine automatically bring up the *diamonds* first?
surely they have figured this out already.
running a b&b and trying to decide whether or not i should and/or could afford to pay for
Platinum $69.99 monthly is approx $840. annually
Gold $42.99
Silver $29.99
Bronze $14.99
i notice it is now broken down by the month. i'm sure this is so you can see 'how affordable' this is. looking at the page today, NO direct link with a bronze listing ... i thought this had changed? so it's only if you are a subscriber with rezovations or webervations? what good is a listing without the clickable link?
anyway ... platinum is pretty pricey. ... even allowing for that $5 credit thing. if i was paying for a platinum listing and my place was second choice after potential guests get a look at any *diamonds* in the area, i'd be pretty unhappy..

anyway ... platinum is pretty pricey. ... even allowing for that $5 credit thing. if i was paying for a platinum listing and my place was second choice after potential guests get a look at any *diamonds* in the area, i'd be pretty unhappy.

I am a platinum Inn, and while I feel the listing is worth it for me, (and I am bb.com's biggest cheerleader) I would be highly PISSED if I did not show up first for the pages I am on, for what I pay. That would be a deal breaker, so I hope they plan to explain it to the rest of us.
.

I agree...I upped to Platinum to get the top exposure, now all the others have followed me so I'm back in the mix. I know some of our inns here would go for this "Diamond" class and I will also be very peeved if they get the higher exposure.

 

[swirt]

I think there is a chance this could have a negative effect on the traffic BandB.com gets and keeps. If the new diamond inns are the ones that are moved to the top of the heap, then platinum, gold.... The only ones that can afford to be a diamond will be the BIG money inns If the first page of listings are for places that are super highly priced....they may scare away "typical" B&B goers. Who wants to dig down to page 3 or 4 to get to the places that they can afford?
I do hope they have given thought to how featuring extra-ordinary will impact the ordinary travellers and ultimately the ordinary B&B's.

 

[Iris]

you go to learn more and then read the terms and conditions
https://www.bedandbreakfast.com/Members/Terms.aspx#Diamond%20Collection%20Terms%20and%20Conditions
scroll down to diamond collection terms and conditions
there are more conditions in addition to those i was expressing some (or lots of) questions about
my old place had eight guestrooms, now nine. i had two rooms with shared bath. they now have three rooms with a shared bath.
bree's has seven
i've stayed at a lot of b&b's with approx. seven to eleven rooms in new england. i don't know what the majority of b&b's have for guest rooms nationwide. i wonder if that statistic is available. i'll see what i can find.
even though i had all those rooms, my overhead was very high. the cost for this membership is much too high ... even supposing i could meet their standards by closing the rooms with shared bath
i am hoping someone from bandb.com will come into the forum and explain about flexible check in and check out. being that we consistently have threads on the forum about guests wanting to check in earlier or later and/or stay earlier or later, and the strain that puts on the innkeepers (with or without staff) to get the rooms flipped ... what kind of flexibility?????? it is very very hard to get everything done in that small window of time we have. this requirement about flexibility speaks volumes. it implies to me that membership is for an inn with deep pockets and with staff that can be told 'hold off on cleaning the captain's loft for two hours and then run in there and clean it.' and what if the folks checking in to the captain's loft want to check in early? this is a requirement that needs serious clarification.
how can high standards of cleanliness be maintained if i have to run into a guestroom with no control over when my guests are coming and going? i think the explanation will be that not all guests will want to check out late or check in early ... but ... i am starting to really bristle at this. what happens when i say 'i am sorry mr and mrs guest, i CANNOT be flexible with you today and allow you to check in early because i was already flexible with mr and mrs priorguest who were staying a little longer today. ? or ... gosh i would love to give you my undivided attention this evening but i am exhuasted from waiting up til midnight last nite for a check in and then had to get up at five to start the breakfast. give me a break. i really want to know who thinks up these terms and conditions ... are they former innkeepers? ... former housekeepers? ... do they realize what they are saying? again, i think they are assuming ... big place with staff.
we are flexible when we CAN be. but do we HAVE to be? how you run your establishment is your choice. your way. if you allot four tight hours to clean eight guest rooms, you need a schedule and a routine or you will have people showing up at the door wanting to check in to rooms that have not been made ready. chaos!
haha ... why is this upsetting me so?

i guess it's because i see a coming implication (if this takes off like select registry) that those with a bandb.com listing who don't belong to the diamond collection of b&b/inns are somehow inferior to those that do.

i guess it's because i see a coming implication (if this takes off like select registry) that those with a bandb.com listing who don't belong to the diamond collection of b&b/inns are somehow inferior to those that do

And you have to pay the money to prove you are not inferior.
If the 'flexibility' part does entail allowing early check in/late check out then the flexibility part for the guest will have to come in in NOT requiring they get a specific room. So, rooms will no longer be specialized, you sell a 'queen room' or a 'king room'. The guest arrives at noon, they get whatever is clean.
.

...If the 'flexibility' part does entail allowing early check in/late check out then the flexibility part for the guest will have to come in in NOT requiring they get a specific room. So, rooms will no longer be specialized, you sell a 'queen room' or a 'king room'. The guest arrives at noon, they get whatever is clean.

thus turning your B and B into a Hotel/Motel of sorts. Not good. Not good.

 

[JBloggs]

If anything, the diamond collection should be those "award winning" inns on their list with 200+ stellar reviews, right?
Or, should it be something people have to pay big bucks to participate in. Always the way...

 

[muirford]

I think there is a chance this could have a negative effect on the traffic BandB.com gets and keeps. If the new diamond inns are the ones that are moved to the top of the heap, then platinum, gold.... The only ones that can afford to be a diamond will be the BIG money inns If the first page of listings are for places that are super highly priced....they may scare away "typical" B&B goers. Who wants to dig down to page 3 or 4 to get to the places that they can afford?
I do hope they have given thought to how featuring extra-ordinary will impact the ordinary travellers and ultimately the ordinary B&B's..

I have to think that bandb.com has already considered that impact in their strategy and have decided the money is in the 'diamonds'. Unlike PAII (which admittedly has a totally different focus) with a new, more inclusive pricing strategy, bandb.com has continued to ratchet up the directory prices at all levels and pushing out more of the small B&Bs.
They are selling this diamond rating as Select Registry or Relais & Chateux-like branding but with better marketing, per an innkeeper on the PAII forum. The difference is that SR and R&C only have those inspected inns with specific standards while bandb.com will have other, non-inspected B&Bs on their website. I hope this will get SR to step up their marketing on the internet front.

 

[Don Draper]

I think there is a chance this could have a negative effect on the traffic BandB.com gets and keeps. If the new diamond inns are the ones that are moved to the top of the heap, then platinum, gold.... The only ones that can afford to be a diamond will be the BIG money inns If the first page of listings are for places that are super highly priced....they may scare away "typical" B&B goers. Who wants to dig down to page 3 or 4 to get to the places that they can afford?
I do hope they have given thought to how featuring extra-ordinary will impact the ordinary travellers and ultimately the ordinary B&B's..

I have to think that bandb.com has already considered that impact in their strategy and have decided the money is in the 'diamonds'. Unlike PAII (which admittedly has a totally different focus) with a new, more inclusive pricing strategy, bandb.com has continued to ratchet up the directory prices at all levels and pushing out more of the small B&Bs.
They are selling this diamond rating as Select Registry or Relais & Chateux-like branding but with better marketing, per an innkeeper on the PAII forum. The difference is that SR and R&C only have those inspected inns with specific standards while bandb.com will have other, non-inspected B&Bs on their website. I hope this will get SR to step up their marketing on the internet front.
.

I think you are correct in this assumption about the impact of where the money will be coming from. This has always been my feeling, that b&b.com is interested in being focused on the high end and larger places. From a business perspective it makes sense...less work to get more money from fewer places. They do not and will not, I don't think, have the little guy's best interests at heart. Having said that, I do think they have done a lot in terms of breaking the old image of a b&b as an extra room in Mom and Pop's house...they have professionalized the image if you will.

 

[Copperhead]

I think there is a chance this could have a negative effect on the traffic BandB.com gets and keeps. If the new diamond inns are the ones that are moved to the top of the heap, then platinum, gold.... The only ones that can afford to be a diamond will be the BIG money inns If the first page of listings are for places that are super highly priced....they may scare away "typical" B&B goers. Who wants to dig down to page 3 or 4 to get to the places that they can afford?
I do hope they have given thought to how featuring extra-ordinary will impact the ordinary travellers and ultimately the ordinary B&B's..

I have to think that bandb.com has already considered that impact in their strategy and have decided the money is in the 'diamonds'. Unlike PAII (which admittedly has a totally different focus) with a new, more inclusive pricing strategy, bandb.com has continued to ratchet up the directory prices at all levels and pushing out more of the small B&Bs.
They are selling this diamond rating as Select Registry or Relais & Chateux-like branding but with better marketing, per an innkeeper on the PAII forum. The difference is that SR and R&C only have those inspected inns with specific standards while bandb.com will have other, non-inspected B&Bs on their website. I hope this will get SR to step up their marketing on the internet front.
.

I think you are correct in this assumption about the impact of where the money will be coming from. This has always been my feeling, that b&b.com is interested in being focused on the high end and larger places. From a business perspective it makes sense...less work to get more money from fewer places. They do not and will not, I don't think, have the little guy's best interests at heart. Having said that, I do think they have done a lot in terms of breaking the old image of a b&b as an extra room in Mom and Pop's house...they have professionalized the image if you will.
.

Having said that, I do think they have done a lot in terms of breaking the old image of a b&b as an extra room in Mom and Pop's house...they have professionalized the image if you will.

You are right, they have. BUT, for the last few years they have expanded the B&B consept to include larger inns and boutique hotels which now confuses thoses looking to this directory for a B&B and for those new to this form of travel.
Again, personally I have no problems with their expansion just would prefer a little more distinction (definitions if you will) between types of lodging they are hosting on their site - especially since their site name is so defined!

 

[Don Draper]

I think there is a chance this could have a negative effect on the traffic BandB.com gets and keeps. If the new diamond inns are the ones that are moved to the top of the heap, then platinum, gold.... The only ones that can afford to be a diamond will be the BIG money inns If the first page of listings are for places that are super highly priced....they may scare away "typical" B&B goers. Who wants to dig down to page 3 or 4 to get to the places that they can afford?
I do hope they have given thought to how featuring extra-ordinary will impact the ordinary travellers and ultimately the ordinary B&B's..

I have to think that bandb.com has already considered that impact in their strategy and have decided the money is in the 'diamonds'. Unlike PAII (which admittedly has a totally different focus) with a new, more inclusive pricing strategy, bandb.com has continued to ratchet up the directory prices at all levels and pushing out more of the small B&Bs.
They are selling this diamond rating as Select Registry or Relais & Chateux-like branding but with better marketing, per an innkeeper on the PAII forum. The difference is that SR and R&C only have those inspected inns with specific standards while bandb.com will have other, non-inspected B&Bs on their website. I hope this will get SR to step up their marketing on the internet front.
.

I think you are correct in this assumption about the impact of where the money will be coming from. This has always been my feeling, that b&b.com is interested in being focused on the high end and larger places. From a business perspective it makes sense...less work to get more money from fewer places. They do not and will not, I don't think, have the little guy's best interests at heart. Having said that, I do think they have done a lot in terms of breaking the old image of a b&b as an extra room in Mom and Pop's house...they have professionalized the image if you will.
.

Having said that, I do think they have done a lot in terms of breaking the old image of a b&b as an extra room in Mom and Pop's house...they have professionalized the image if you will.

You are right, they have. BUT, for the last few years they have expanded the B&B consept to include larger inns and boutique hotels which now confuses thoses looking to this directory for a B&B and for those new to this form of travel.
Again, personally I have no problems with their expansion just would prefer a little more distinction (definitions if you will) between types of lodging they are hosting on their site - especially since their site name is so defined!
.

especially since their site name is so defined!

Excellent point!!! I do think they are muddying the waters with this. Ultimately, they will do whatever makes them the most $$, that is their goal.

 

[JBloggs]

Maybe we need to address Bed and Breakfast .com to be BED AND BREAKFAST not hotel/boutique/Inn/lodge. They are bed and breakfast. They need to change their name if they are not representing Bed and Breakfasts.
It irritates me when they allow "possible inn" in a for sale listing as well. No, it is a house. let's not cloud the water.

 

[gillumhouse]

If anything, the diamond collection should be those "award winning" inns on their list with 200+ stellar reviews, right?
Or, should it be something people have to pay big bucks to participate in. Always the way....

I have felt for the last few years that all that counted was the $$$. Putting ads on listings paid for by the innkeepers - and then raising the rates higher and higher until it got to the point we actually noticed the ads and said NO. The ads then went away. Then in the same breath of acknowledging the economy in the tank the rates took not a baby step upward, a giant leap, an entire step stool of rate hike. It was pointed out the only choice was to leave because the lowest level did not even give the basic standard in today's world regarding contact info - a link to the inn's web site. Suddenly you could have that if you had Webervations or Rezovations. Guess what? If you have the Bronze level and Webervations you are almost paying the same money as a Silver level (but at least it is not the extra cost of Webervations to having a Silver).
I agree that it is a case of saying to the small inns, go away, you bother me. He was happy to have our business to build his numbers and build his business. One question - what is going to happen to those numbers if all the 3 & 4 room B & Bs drop out? What happens to those numbers when those paying for Platinum now realize he is slipping it to them as he ratches up another level of pay to "keep up with the Joneses" or lose placement. What happens when the Public who are accustomed to going to bedandbreakfast to find a B & B realize what they are finding is NOT the quaint, unique, comfortable, and personal place they were looking for?
Is bandb trying to redefine what a B & B is? The gurus have been ratcheting up the "must haves" for years - creating costs that drove many out of business. And in truth, any hotel/motel that offers a free breakfast is in truth providing a bed and a breakfast which many have been touting in the last few years. In a nutshell, we are screwed and one who has taken our money for years while telling us how much a friend he was to us, has picked up the screwdriver to seal our box - unless it is a whole new domain name. This is just my not very humble opinion and I am a former (once again and for final) subscriber.

 

[user 26]

i can see it working if this is a separate site from bb.com ... the way select registry stands alone. but not on the same site ......

 

[JBloggs]

Briar, great list! Thanks for sharing.

 

[briarrosebb]

Copperhead,
I realize you don’t feel served by this latest BB.com service and this is understandable, but perhaps you could find perspectives where it may indeed serve you: to the extent the “diamond” properties help carry BB.com’s operating requirements, there’s less weight for the “mom and pop B&Bs” to carry. Obviously, BB.com needs inflows to support the services it provides. I think “innsiderinfo” is reaching when saying BB.com is “…focused on higher end and larger places”. Despite all the ranting about BB.com, BB.com has X thousand B&Bs advertising with them and I would be shocked if the majority of those advertisers didn’t have eight rooms or less.
BB.com has to go where the roomnights are and BB.com cannot afford to lose the four to eight room properties. Within the B&B industry, BB.com is segmenting and trying to serve the segments differently. I would assert that they should be doing this. I think B&Bs would have reason to complain if the diamond properties were not being charged appropriately, but BB.com is charging a rate the “mom and pops” would not accept.
There simply aren’t that many large B&Bs. In Colorado there are 300+ B&B and far fewer than 20 percent could be called “larger”. Perhaps BB.com can report to us what their property profile is.
I do think you raise an important issue: what should the bed and breakfast industry put forward as requirements to be called a B&B? Clearly, we are harmed by other lodging properties targeting our B&B clientele and muddying the water as to what is what.
I would offer these requirements:
·[FONT= &quot] [/FONT]A strong consensus of reasonable persons would at a glance from exterior vantage points and in the absence of signage identify the establishment as a family home. Anything that is obviously not a home should not be a bed and breakfast.
·[FONT= &quot] [/FONT]The establishment does not have a restaurant open to the public and does not offer room service.
·[FONT= &quot] [/FONT]The establishment offers at no extra charge a breakfast to its guests that a reasonable person would call a full breakfast.
·[FONT= &quot] [/FONT]Guests at the establishment reserve named, specific rooms, not “room types”.
·[FONT= &quot] [/FONT]The establishment has “B&B” or “Bed and Breakfast” in the name and on its signage.
I offer these thoughts on B&B requirements:
·[FONT= &quot] [/FONT]I don’t think one can put forward “having staff” as a disqualification. Too many B&Bs have part-time staff to handle peak occupancy.
·[FONT= &quot] [/FONT]I think the number of rooms is a difficult criterion unless you set it really high (say, fifteen rooms). We have ten rooms and the place feels like a B&B to our clientele. We get little or no feedback that we haven’t delivered on the “bed and breakfast” in our name.
·[FONT= &quot] [/FONT]The “B&B” in the name requirement is an important element of integrity. Everybody wants to poach the B&B guests by offering "breakfast", but not everybody wants the negative associations that come with B&B in the name. Moreover, guests are more likely to complain about a property that declares itself a B&B and does not deliver what people expect from a B&B.
P.S.For the record we are a larger property, have the big marketing budget, and have no interest in the expensive“diamond” offering.

 

[Don Draper]

Copperhead,
I realize you don’t feel served by this latest BB.com service and this is understandable, but perhaps you could find perspectives where it may indeed serve you: to the extent the “diamond” properties help carry BB.com’s operating requirements, there’s less weight for the “mom and pop B&Bs” to carry. Obviously, BB.com needs inflows to support the services it provides. I think “innsiderinfo” is reaching when saying BB.com is “…focused on higher end and larger places”. Despite all the ranting about BB.com, BB.com has X thousand B&Bs advertising with them and I would be shocked if the majority of those advertisers didn’t have eight rooms or less.
BB.com has to go where the roomnights are and BB.com cannot afford to lose the four to eight room properties. Within the B&B industry, BB.com is segmenting and trying to serve the segments differently. I would assert that they should be doing this. I think B&Bs would have reason to complain if the diamond properties were not being charged appropriately, but BB.com is charging a rate the “mom and pops” would not accept.
There simply aren’t that many large B&Bs. In Colorado there are 300+ B&B and far fewer than 20 percent could be called “larger”. Perhaps BB.com can report to us what their property profile is.
I do think you raise an important issue: what should the bed and breakfast industry put forward as requirements to be called a B&B? Clearly, we are harmed by other lodging properties targeting our B&B clientele and muddying the water as to what is what.
I would offer these requirements:
·[FONT= &quot] [/FONT]A strong consensus of reasonable persons would at a glance from exterior vantage points and in the absence of signage identify the establishment as a family home. Anything that is obviously not a home should not be a bed and breakfast.
·[FONT= &quot] [/FONT]The establishment does not have a restaurant open to the public and does not offer room service.
·[FONT= &quot] [/FONT]The establishment offers at no extra charge a breakfast to its guests that a reasonable person would call a full breakfast.
·[FONT= &quot] [/FONT]Guests at the establishment reserve named, specific rooms, not “room types”.
·[FONT= &quot] [/FONT]The establishment has “B&B” or “Bed and Breakfast” in the name and on its signage.
I offer these thoughts on B&B requirements:
·[FONT= &quot] [/FONT]I don’t think one can put forward “having staff” as a disqualification. Too many B&Bs have part-time staff to handle peak occupancy.
·[FONT= &quot] [/FONT]I think the number of rooms is a difficult criterion unless you set it really high (say, fifteen rooms). We have ten rooms and the place feels like a B&B to our clientele. We get little or no feedback that we haven’t delivered on the “bed and breakfast” in our name.
·[FONT= &quot] [/FONT]The “B&B” in the name requirement is an important element of integrity. Everybody wants to poach the B&B guests by offering "breakfast", but not everybody wants the negative associations that come with B&B in the name. Moreover, guests are more likely to complain about a property that declares itself a B&B and does not deliver what people expect from a B&B.
P.S.For the record we are a larger property, have the big marketing budget, and have no interest in the expensive“diamond” offering..

I would go even further for my true b&b criteria:
Not only is it a family home but the owners should be the innkeepers and live in the faciity, not just on the grounds.
Staff should be strictly behind the scenes (housekeeping/maintenance) and guests should expect to interact primarily with the owners at checkin/checkout and breakfast.
Based on these criteria I doubt many of what I consider to be "true" b&b's would meet the Diamond Collection criteria. And I maintain that B&B.com has always been most keenly focused on promoting larger properties, if only because they had a very early effort to make the entire niche seem more professional. They will always go "where the roomnights are". And looking at their offerings, particularly my recent experience with Rezovations, they are gearing more and more towards actual boutique hotels and larger inns.

 

[Copperhead]

Copperhead,
I realize you don’t feel served by this latest BB.com service and this is understandable, but perhaps you could find perspectives where it may indeed serve you: to the extent the “diamond” properties help carry BB.com’s operating requirements, there’s less weight for the “mom and pop B&Bs” to carry. Obviously, BB.com needs inflows to support the services it provides. I think “innsiderinfo” is reaching when saying BB.com is “…focused on higher end and larger places”. Despite all the ranting about BB.com, BB.com has X thousand B&Bs advertising with them and I would be shocked if the majority of those advertisers didn’t have eight rooms or less.
BB.com has to go where the roomnights are and BB.com cannot afford to lose the four to eight room properties. Within the B&B industry, BB.com is segmenting and trying to serve the segments differently. I would assert that they should be doing this. I think B&Bs would have reason to complain if the diamond properties were not being charged appropriately, but BB.com is charging a rate the “mom and pops” would not accept.
There simply aren’t that many large B&Bs. In Colorado there are 300+ B&B and far fewer than 20 percent could be called “larger”. Perhaps BB.com can report to us what their property profile is.
I do think you raise an important issue: what should the bed and breakfast industry put forward as requirements to be called a B&B? Clearly, we are harmed by other lodging properties targeting our B&B clientele and muddying the water as to what is what.
I would offer these requirements:
·[FONT= &quot] [/FONT]A strong consensus of reasonable persons would at a glance from exterior vantage points and in the absence of signage identify the establishment as a family home. Anything that is obviously not a home should not be a bed and breakfast.
·[FONT= &quot] [/FONT]The establishment does not have a restaurant open to the public and does not offer room service.
·[FONT= &quot] [/FONT]The establishment offers at no extra charge a breakfast to its guests that a reasonable person would call a full breakfast.
·[FONT= &quot] [/FONT]Guests at the establishment reserve named, specific rooms, not “room types”.
·[FONT= &quot] [/FONT]The establishment has “B&B” or “Bed and Breakfast” in the name and on its signage.
I offer these thoughts on B&B requirements:
·[FONT= &quot] [/FONT]I don’t think one can put forward “having staff” as a disqualification. Too many B&Bs have part-time staff to handle peak occupancy.
·[FONT= &quot] [/FONT]I think the number of rooms is a difficult criterion unless you set it really high (say, fifteen rooms). We have ten rooms and the place feels like a B&B to our clientele. We get little or no feedback that we haven’t delivered on the “bed and breakfast” in our name.
·[FONT= &quot] [/FONT]The “B&B” in the name requirement is an important element of integrity. Everybody wants to poach the B&B guests by offering "breakfast", but not everybody wants the negative associations that come with B&B in the name. Moreover, guests are more likely to complain about a property that declares itself a B&B and does not deliver what people expect from a B&B.
P.S.For the record we are a larger property, have the big marketing budget, and have no interest in the expensive“diamond” offering..

Copperhead,
I realize you don’t feel served by this latest BB.com service and this is understandable, but perhaps you could find perspectives where it may indeed serve you: to the extent the “diamond” properties help carry BB.com’s operating requirements, there’s less weight for the “mom and pop B&Bs” to carry. Obviously, BB.com needs inflows to support the services it provides. I think “innsiderinfo” is reaching when saying BB.com is “…focused on higher end and larger places”. Despite all the ranting about BB.com, BB.com has X thousand B&Bs advertising with them and I would be shocked if the majority of those advertisers didn’t have eight rooms or less.
BB.com has to go where the roomnights are and BB.com cannot afford to lose the four to eight room properties. Within the B&B industry, BB.com is segmenting and trying to serve the segments differently. I would assert that they should be doing this. I think B&Bs would have reason to complain if the diamond properties were not being charged appropriately, but BB.com is charging a rate the “mom and pops” would not accept. .......
I do think you raise an important issue: what should the bed and breakfast industry put forward as requirements to be called a B&B? Clearly, we are harmed by other lodging properties targeting our B&B clientele and muddying the water as to what is what.

Briar.... I really do NOT think you really read my comment, and on this point I have stated NOT ONCE BUT TWICE that I have no problem with their expansion....!!! IT in itself does not phase me what so ever....but it has brought back to surface my continued issue regarding destinction which I still feel needs to be addressed AND I am not alone even YOUR later statments agree with me ... So why did you direct this to only MY attention???
I lean to agree with most of your list... As I said, I think it would be a grand idea if PAII would take on this issue (not with b&b.com) to set standards nationwide as to what a B&B is and who qualifies to carry the name....

 

[JBanczak]

Hey gang,
Let me apologize for being a bit off the forum. I won't go into my life story, but I've been up in my hometown in Wisconsin for a week helping out with some family things that came up. I don't have very good internet access, and have been extremely busy. I'll put together a much more extensive post on the flight home on Tuesday, but my quick thoughts while on someone's wifi connection I don't know...
There has been a lot of good feedback and ideas here though that I really appreciate.
Copper - very interesting ideas on letting B&B's distinguish themselves one way or another. I'd love to hear more on this as I think this could be something that could have some legs.
Gillum - I don't think consumers will look at other inns as "inferior," and that is something we discussed at quite a bit of length. There have been ratings and inspections done for a long, long time - whether from AAA, Mobil, SR. Some - read that some - consumers may migrate towards a AAA 4 Diamond or SR property, but many, many consumers do not - for some of the reasons like price as you mentioned. However, it has become clear lately with the launch of sites like Oyster, that professional reviews do have their place and popularity. Since we had nothing on our site that had this, we felt it important to at least have an offering that had professional reviews.
Innsider – thanks for recognizing our efforts on the professionalize image. We really do try hard on that. We do try to have the interest of all sizes of B&B’s at heart as we want to be as wide as possible in coverage for consumers. I know sometimes you guys don’t feel that way, and I do understand that. A great example of where I feel we did this, and didn’t get too many kudos is last year when we allowed Bronze level listings to have links directly if they were Weber customers. That is something that had no benefit at all to large properties, and hundreds of smaller properties took advantage of it. Clearly something that didn’t get us any extra money, in fact a lot less, and really impacted only a small group of smaller inns for the most part, although some were bigger. As far as numbers, I’m going to dig up average sizing info of our members when I get back to the office – happy to post it. Our average size property is about 8 rooms. I think the Median is a lot smaller than that actually (meaning a few large BB’s outweigh a lot more small ones in the average).
Briar – I think those are really good comments and issues. It would be fantastic if we all could agree on some common definition. I think it is very, very hard to do so in reality, but it would be great. .
Our goal at BB.com is to grow the number of people that stay at B&B's. I've seen reported numerous times that only 4% or so of travelers have stayed at B&B's. We'd like to increase that. Seems like more than 4% is reasonable. So we have been on a quest to convince consumers to stay at B&B's. Our mission in life is to take customers away from chain hotels and put them into small properties - period. If we do that, we feel like we succeed.
Now I understand our methods may not always win over every owner. I wish they did. So does Eric. Whether we are doing the right things or not, the jury is still out... however, I can honestly say that we are trying - we are putting forth every ounce of effort we have to get more people to stay at B&B's, and I think we have had some success doing it.
Again, apologize for being a bit offline, but I'll try to get back on in next 48hrs.

 

[sandynn]

• Guest rooms with private bathrooms ???? oops ... better close/reconfigure if you have any rooms with shared bath
  Current insurance coverage with at least US $1 million of comprehensive business liability -- $1 million? i don't know if we had that much coverage
• Flexible check in and check out -- how flexible?????
• Offers 24 hour per day guest accessibility what does this mean?
• Maintains a 4.0 or higher BedandBreakfast.com consumer review rating -- not sure about how you get this?
• 10 or more consumer reviews of BedandBreakfast.com ???? how do you get those???? will they take your application fee if you don't already have 10 reviews on their site showing 4.0 or higher ???
• Proactively maintains high customer satisfaction ???? not sure ... i guess so. don't we all act in advance to deal with expected possible difficulty?

.

On this topic. If they want to have a Dimond with all the rules. This would be a great thing for high end so why don't they have a seprate site for this. Like Select Regestery has for high end. This way people looking for bigger places would go there and the places like us would have still a place. I am sure people that don't want to pay high end prices would still look for us. We charge 135-155 which sometime people say, I was hoping to get a cheaper rate, so I would say we are not high end but there are people that think we are high priced and people that don't. A seperate site would make sense.

 

[Copperhead]

Hey gang,
Let me apologize for being a bit off the forum. I won't go into my life story, but I've been up in my hometown in Wisconsin for a week helping out with some family things that came up. I don't have very good internet access, and have been extremely busy. I'll put together a much more extensive post on the flight home on Tuesday, but my quick thoughts while on someone's wifi connection I don't know...
There has been a lot of good feedback and ideas here though that I really appreciate.
Copper - very interesting ideas on letting B&B's distinguish themselves one way or another. I'd love to hear more on this as I think this could be something that could have some legs.
Gillum - I don't think consumers will look at other inns as "inferior," and that is something we discussed at quite a bit of length. There have been ratings and inspections done for a long, long time - whether from AAA, Mobil, SR. Some - read that some - consumers may migrate towards a AAA 4 Diamond or SR property, but many, many consumers do not - for some of the reasons like price as you mentioned. However, it has become clear lately with the launch of sites like Oyster, that professional reviews do have their place and popularity. Since we had nothing on our site that had this, we felt it important to at least have an offering that had professional reviews.
Innsider – thanks for recognizing our efforts on the professionalize image. We really do try hard on that. We do try to have the interest of all sizes of B&B’s at heart as we want to be as wide as possible in coverage for consumers. I know sometimes you guys don’t feel that way, and I do understand that. A great example of where I feel we did this, and didn’t get too many kudos is last year when we allowed Bronze level listings to have links directly if they were Weber customers. That is something that had no benefit at all to large properties, and hundreds of smaller properties took advantage of it. Clearly something that didn’t get us any extra money, in fact a lot less, and really impacted only a small group of smaller inns for the most part, although some were bigger. As far as numbers, I’m going to dig up average sizing info of our members when I get back to the office – happy to post it. Our average size property is about 8 rooms. I think the Median is a lot smaller than that actually (meaning a few large BB’s outweigh a lot more small ones in the average).
Briar – I think those are really good comments and issues. It would be fantastic if we all could agree on some common definition. I think it is very, very hard to do so in reality, but it would be great. .
Our goal at BB.com is to grow the number of people that stay at B&B's. I've seen reported numerous times that only 4% or so of travelers have stayed at B&B's. We'd like to increase that. Seems like more than 4% is reasonable. So we have been on a quest to convince consumers to stay at B&B's. Our mission in life is to take customers away from chain hotels and put them into small properties - period. If we do that, we feel like we succeed.
Now I understand our methods may not always win over every owner. I wish they did. So does Eric. Whether we are doing the right things or not, the jury is still out... however, I can honestly say that we are trying - we are putting forth every ounce of effort we have to get more people to stay at B&B's, and I think we have had some success doing it.
Again, apologize for being a bit offline, but I'll try to get back on in next 48hrs..

John, as aways we thank you for being here to address our concerns and we all know that you have much more to do than our forum.
I truely believe B&B.com's goal is to turn more people into B&B guests - and making $ in the process, well that is just business

we all should know that!
Maybe B&B.com could would work with Jay Karen on the issue of more defined distinctions in types of lodging. As the B&B industry continues to grow - as well as the vacation rentals, cabin rentals etc. it would be most beneficial to states, counties and cities to aid them in creating more clear rules to do business as well as helping to clearify this for prospective guests. I (me, myself and I) do not feel there needs to be a clear (line in the sand) definition - but it would be nice to have more definitive guidelines. Some have expressed their ideas for a good start up list to disucss.
As far as B&B.com and the new 'collection' as well listings of larger establishments, I again understand the desire to use your very popular site as the anchor for your expansion but would (as I said before) like to see it move to be more of launch home page to more clearly defined sub pages.... i.e. one for your diamonds, one for B&B's, one for larger inns/boutique hotels and maybe one for vacation rentals - all with definitions as to what type of facilities would be found under each heading....of course the lodgings taking out the lisitng would mark which type meets their facility the best...