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JunieBJones (JBJ)

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What sort of guests did you expect? What sort of guests did you actually end up with?
ie did you think you would have mostly couples on romantic getaways and had more overseas guests? What did you do to chqange your marketing once you found your typical 'demographic'? I understand we all get a variety of guests with diff stay reasons, but you may have been surprised with a higher percentage of one over the other.
The PO's here told us they mostly had business guests. Reality that is a very low percentage of our guests.
 
We're small and outside a larger city in the mountains. I set the B&B up as a romantic getaway for couples who wanted to get out of town for a weekend, since we don't get many business travelers.
What surprised me was that we got so many girlfriend getaway calls and then they got mad because we didn't have 2 beds to a room. I think it is because we offer spa packages. However, the beds wouldn't have fit anyway. I didn't change my marketing at all.
 
That's a good one! I don't know if we had any preconceived ideas about what the actual guests would look like. I'm not sure the PO's even told us. What we ended up with is a mix, but a low level of romantic getaways and more 'friends' and 'couples on vacation.' More AARP than Gen X'er. In other words, we see a lot of ourselves walking thru the door!
 
We're small and outside a larger city in the mountains. I set the B&B up as a romantic getaway for couples who wanted to get out of town for a weekend, since we don't get many business travelers.
What surprised me was that we got so many girlfriend getaway calls and then they got mad because we didn't have 2 beds to a room. I think it is because we offer spa packages. However, the beds wouldn't have fit anyway. I didn't change my marketing at all..
We have a big girlfriend getaway clientele. The spa package would be great! I could work with a spa in town, but I wonder would they want to go 'out' for the spa stuff or is that something they would prefer to do 'in house'? I had a masseuse who used to come here but the last time didn't work out so we haven't done that in awhile.
 
We're small and outside a larger city in the mountains. I set the B&B up as a romantic getaway for couples who wanted to get out of town for a weekend, since we don't get many business travelers.
What surprised me was that we got so many girlfriend getaway calls and then they got mad because we didn't have 2 beds to a room. I think it is because we offer spa packages. However, the beds wouldn't have fit anyway. I didn't change my marketing at all..
We have a big girlfriend getaway clientele. The spa package would be great! I could work with a spa in town, but I wonder would they want to go 'out' for the spa stuff or is that something they would prefer to do 'in house'? I had a masseuse who used to come here but the last time didn't work out so we haven't done that in awhile.
.
The guests would definitely prefer to have it in house; while the spa I'm sure would prefer to have them go there. What burns me up is that we spent the money to put a spa in house back in 2000 and were the first to do so in our area.
Now every B&B in town tries to advertise themselves as having spa packages when they send guests down the street to the local massage parlor or day spa. Believe me, it is not the same experience at all.
 
We're small and outside a larger city in the mountains. I set the B&B up as a romantic getaway for couples who wanted to get out of town for a weekend, since we don't get many business travelers.
What surprised me was that we got so many girlfriend getaway calls and then they got mad because we didn't have 2 beds to a room. I think it is because we offer spa packages. However, the beds wouldn't have fit anyway. I didn't change my marketing at all..
We have a big girlfriend getaway clientele. The spa package would be great! I could work with a spa in town, but I wonder would they want to go 'out' for the spa stuff or is that something they would prefer to do 'in house'? I had a masseuse who used to come here but the last time didn't work out so we haven't done that in awhile.
.
The guests would definitely prefer to have it in house; while the spa I'm sure would prefer to have them go there. What burns me up is that we spent the money to put a spa in house back in 2000 and were the first to do so in our area.
Now every B&B in town tries to advertise themselves as having spa packages when they send guests down the street to the local massage parlor or day spa. Believe me, it is not the same experience at all.
.
There's your hook to get them in...'The first B&B in (your town) to have an onsite spa, and still the best!' Then you go on to tell them how relaxing it is to not have to get completely dressed and go out into the cold (or the heat).
Do you do a spa lunch, too? That fits in well with wanting to do the teas and having the capability of doing so. I went for a 'spa day' with my daughter the day before she got married. We did the whole thing, including lunch in our robes. It was a lot of fun!
 
We're small and outside a larger city in the mountains. I set the B&B up as a romantic getaway for couples who wanted to get out of town for a weekend, since we don't get many business travelers.
What surprised me was that we got so many girlfriend getaway calls and then they got mad because we didn't have 2 beds to a room. I think it is because we offer spa packages. However, the beds wouldn't have fit anyway. I didn't change my marketing at all..
We have a big girlfriend getaway clientele. The spa package would be great! I could work with a spa in town, but I wonder would they want to go 'out' for the spa stuff or is that something they would prefer to do 'in house'? I had a masseuse who used to come here but the last time didn't work out so we haven't done that in awhile.
.
I think you probably get a lot of the girlfriends getaways because of all the shopping there.
I thought we'd get more romantic getaways - people just wanting to have a relaxing time away, especially because of the large tubs we have in several rooms.
In reality, we get many more people that are traveling here for events.
 
We're small and outside a larger city in the mountains. I set the B&B up as a romantic getaway for couples who wanted to get out of town for a weekend, since we don't get many business travelers.
What surprised me was that we got so many girlfriend getaway calls and then they got mad because we didn't have 2 beds to a room. I think it is because we offer spa packages. However, the beds wouldn't have fit anyway. I didn't change my marketing at all..
We have a big girlfriend getaway clientele. The spa package would be great! I could work with a spa in town, but I wonder would they want to go 'out' for the spa stuff or is that something they would prefer to do 'in house'? I had a masseuse who used to come here but the last time didn't work out so we haven't done that in awhile.
.
The guests would definitely prefer to have it in house; while the spa I'm sure would prefer to have them go there. What burns me up is that we spent the money to put a spa in house back in 2000 and were the first to do so in our area.
Now every B&B in town tries to advertise themselves as having spa packages when they send guests down the street to the local massage parlor or day spa. Believe me, it is not the same experience at all.
.
There's your hook to get them in...'The first B&B in (your town) to have an onsite spa, and still the best!' Then you go on to tell them how relaxing it is to not have to get completely dressed and go out into the cold (or the heat).
Do you do a spa lunch, too? That fits in well with wanting to do the teas and having the capability of doing so. I went for a 'spa day' with my daughter the day before she got married. We did the whole thing, including lunch in our robes. It was a lot of fun!
.
I do give a history which includes it and I also use the word "original". I'm thinking of putting a paragraph entitled "All Spa Packages are Not Created Equal" explaining the differences more.
Yes, that was the original reason I started serving tea because some were here 4 hours without food. It is still the best tea application in my opinion.
The spa group seems to be a younger population. The group who just wants to come to tea seems to be an older demographic, or they want to bring an older family member. I don't allow kids, which is another market, but they were just too destructive.
 
We're small and outside a larger city in the mountains. I set the B&B up as a romantic getaway for couples who wanted to get out of town for a weekend, since we don't get many business travelers.
What surprised me was that we got so many girlfriend getaway calls and then they got mad because we didn't have 2 beds to a room. I think it is because we offer spa packages. However, the beds wouldn't have fit anyway. I didn't change my marketing at all..
We have a big girlfriend getaway clientele. The spa package would be great! I could work with a spa in town, but I wonder would they want to go 'out' for the spa stuff or is that something they would prefer to do 'in house'? I had a masseuse who used to come here but the last time didn't work out so we haven't done that in awhile.
.
The guests would definitely prefer to have it in house; while the spa I'm sure would prefer to have them go there. What burns me up is that we spent the money to put a spa in house back in 2000 and were the first to do so in our area.
Now every B&B in town tries to advertise themselves as having spa packages when they send guests down the street to the local massage parlor or day spa. Believe me, it is not the same experience at all.
.
There's your hook to get them in...'The first B&B in (your town) to have an onsite spa, and still the best!' Then you go on to tell them how relaxing it is to not have to get completely dressed and go out into the cold (or the heat).
Do you do a spa lunch, too? That fits in well with wanting to do the teas and having the capability of doing so. I went for a 'spa day' with my daughter the day before she got married. We did the whole thing, including lunch in our robes. It was a lot of fun!
.
I do give a history which includes it and I also use the word "original". I'm thinking of putting a paragraph entitled "All Spa Packages are Not Created Equal" explaining the differences more.
Yes, that was the original reason I started serving tea because some were here 4 hours without food. It is still the best tea application in my opinion.
The spa group seems to be a younger population. The group who just wants to come to tea seems to be an older demographic, or they want to bring an older family member. I don't allow kids, which is another market, but they were just too destructive.
.
SweetiePie said:
The spa group seems to be a younger population. The group who just wants to come to tea seems to be an older demographic, or they want to bring an older family member. I don't allow kids, which is another market, but they were just too destructive.
No kids for tea or spa treatments, that's for sure. I've seen them sitting around kicking table legs when they've been dragged along. Now, here's another thought that totally involves kids...etiquette classes. Are you in the kind of location where that might be a welcome addition?
 
We're small and outside a larger city in the mountains. I set the B&B up as a romantic getaway for couples who wanted to get out of town for a weekend, since we don't get many business travelers.
What surprised me was that we got so many girlfriend getaway calls and then they got mad because we didn't have 2 beds to a room. I think it is because we offer spa packages. However, the beds wouldn't have fit anyway. I didn't change my marketing at all..
We have a big girlfriend getaway clientele. The spa package would be great! I could work with a spa in town, but I wonder would they want to go 'out' for the spa stuff or is that something they would prefer to do 'in house'? I had a masseuse who used to come here but the last time didn't work out so we haven't done that in awhile.
.
The guests would definitely prefer to have it in house; while the spa I'm sure would prefer to have them go there. What burns me up is that we spent the money to put a spa in house back in 2000 and were the first to do so in our area.
Now every B&B in town tries to advertise themselves as having spa packages when they send guests down the street to the local massage parlor or day spa. Believe me, it is not the same experience at all.
.
There's your hook to get them in...'The first B&B in (your town) to have an onsite spa, and still the best!' Then you go on to tell them how relaxing it is to not have to get completely dressed and go out into the cold (or the heat).
Do you do a spa lunch, too? That fits in well with wanting to do the teas and having the capability of doing so. I went for a 'spa day' with my daughter the day before she got married. We did the whole thing, including lunch in our robes. It was a lot of fun!
.
I do give a history which includes it and I also use the word "original". I'm thinking of putting a paragraph entitled "All Spa Packages are Not Created Equal" explaining the differences more.
Yes, that was the original reason I started serving tea because some were here 4 hours without food. It is still the best tea application in my opinion.
The spa group seems to be a younger population. The group who just wants to come to tea seems to be an older demographic, or they want to bring an older family member. I don't allow kids, which is another market, but they were just too destructive.
.
SweetiePie said:
The spa group seems to be a younger population. The group who just wants to come to tea seems to be an older demographic, or they want to bring an older family member. I don't allow kids, which is another market, but they were just too destructive.
No kids for tea or spa treatments, that's for sure. I've seen them sitting around kicking table legs when they've been dragged along. Now, here's another thought that totally involves kids...etiquette classes. Are you in the kind of location where that might be a welcome addition?
.
We have a tea room in town doing that and they can have it.
 
We were targeting university parents and business (and a little bit of tourism), and that's what we're getting... plus a surprising amount of getaways, plus a LOT from weddings, funerals, family reunions.
=)
Kk.
 
We're small and outside a larger city in the mountains. I set the B&B up as a romantic getaway for couples who wanted to get out of town for a weekend, since we don't get many business travelers.
What surprised me was that we got so many girlfriend getaway calls and then they got mad because we didn't have 2 beds to a room. I think it is because we offer spa packages. However, the beds wouldn't have fit anyway. I didn't change my marketing at all..
We have a big girlfriend getaway clientele. The spa package would be great! I could work with a spa in town, but I wonder would they want to go 'out' for the spa stuff or is that something they would prefer to do 'in house'? I had a masseuse who used to come here but the last time didn't work out so we haven't done that in awhile.
.
The guests would definitely prefer to have it in house; while the spa I'm sure would prefer to have them go there. What burns me up is that we spent the money to put a spa in house back in 2000 and were the first to do so in our area.
Now every B&B in town tries to advertise themselves as having spa packages when they send guests down the street to the local massage parlor or day spa. Believe me, it is not the same experience at all.
.
There's your hook to get them in...'The first B&B in (your town) to have an onsite spa, and still the best!' Then you go on to tell them how relaxing it is to not have to get completely dressed and go out into the cold (or the heat).
Do you do a spa lunch, too? That fits in well with wanting to do the teas and having the capability of doing so. I went for a 'spa day' with my daughter the day before she got married. We did the whole thing, including lunch in our robes. It was a lot of fun!
.
I do give a history which includes it and I also use the word "original". I'm thinking of putting a paragraph entitled "All Spa Packages are Not Created Equal" explaining the differences more.
Yes, that was the original reason I started serving tea because some were here 4 hours without food. It is still the best tea application in my opinion.
The spa group seems to be a younger population. The group who just wants to come to tea seems to be an older demographic, or they want to bring an older family member. I don't allow kids, which is another market, but they were just too destructive.
.
SweetiePie said:
The spa group seems to be a younger population. The group who just wants to come to tea seems to be an older demographic, or they want to bring an older family member. I don't allow kids, which is another market, but they were just too destructive.
No kids for tea or spa treatments, that's for sure. I've seen them sitting around kicking table legs when they've been dragged along. Now, here's another thought that totally involves kids...etiquette classes. Are you in the kind of location where that might be a welcome addition?
.
We have a tea room in town doing that and they can have it.
.
SweetiePie said:
We have a tea room in town doing that and they can have it.
How many tea rooms do you have in your town??? The one at the inn I mentioned is now the only one left in this area. The other 2 closed this past December, altho another one has opened about 20 miles away.
 
I expected to get the rail-trail folks - and did in the beginning. Fortunately before that started tapering off, I had started working the horse angle and then went to motorcycles, and now back to the trail with the winery added. The Bike N Winery is a lot more populsr than the Bike N Berry was (berry farm). I have also had the romantic get-aways (meet in the middle), and I get my share of gotta get outta town.
Next weekend we have a couple coming for their anniversary because the principal at the school shere he teaches has been telling him he needs to come here. dinner package!! Yeehaa!!
I am happy to say the winter doldrums are over - I am back to chasing my tail - business as usual. I get to collapse in April - I think.
 
We're small and outside a larger city in the mountains. I set the B&B up as a romantic getaway for couples who wanted to get out of town for a weekend, since we don't get many business travelers.
What surprised me was that we got so many girlfriend getaway calls and then they got mad because we didn't have 2 beds to a room. I think it is because we offer spa packages. However, the beds wouldn't have fit anyway. I didn't change my marketing at all..
We have a big girlfriend getaway clientele. The spa package would be great! I could work with a spa in town, but I wonder would they want to go 'out' for the spa stuff or is that something they would prefer to do 'in house'? I had a masseuse who used to come here but the last time didn't work out so we haven't done that in awhile.
.
The guests would definitely prefer to have it in house; while the spa I'm sure would prefer to have them go there. What burns me up is that we spent the money to put a spa in house back in 2000 and were the first to do so in our area.
Now every B&B in town tries to advertise themselves as having spa packages when they send guests down the street to the local massage parlor or day spa. Believe me, it is not the same experience at all.
.
There's your hook to get them in...'The first B&B in (your town) to have an onsite spa, and still the best!' Then you go on to tell them how relaxing it is to not have to get completely dressed and go out into the cold (or the heat).
Do you do a spa lunch, too? That fits in well with wanting to do the teas and having the capability of doing so. I went for a 'spa day' with my daughter the day before she got married. We did the whole thing, including lunch in our robes. It was a lot of fun!
.
I do give a history which includes it and I also use the word "original". I'm thinking of putting a paragraph entitled "All Spa Packages are Not Created Equal" explaining the differences more.
Yes, that was the original reason I started serving tea because some were here 4 hours without food. It is still the best tea application in my opinion.
The spa group seems to be a younger population. The group who just wants to come to tea seems to be an older demographic, or they want to bring an older family member. I don't allow kids, which is another market, but they were just too destructive.
.
SweetiePie said:
The spa group seems to be a younger population. The group who just wants to come to tea seems to be an older demographic, or they want to bring an older family member. I don't allow kids, which is another market, but they were just too destructive.
No kids for tea or spa treatments, that's for sure. I've seen them sitting around kicking table legs when they've been dragged along. Now, here's another thought that totally involves kids...etiquette classes. Are you in the kind of location where that might be a welcome addition?
.
We have a tea room in town doing that and they can have it.
.
SweetiePie said:
We have a tea room in town doing that and they can have it.
How many tea rooms do you have in your town??? The one at the inn I mentioned is now the only one left in this area. The other 2 closed this past December, altho another one has opened about 20 miles away.
.
None in my little area. We used to have a gift shop doing them but they closed recently. Three B&B's in the city have one. There were four but one closed recently. Then there are about half a dozen tea room and store only businesses. So a fair amount of competition.
 
We're small and outside a larger city in the mountains. I set the B&B up as a romantic getaway for couples who wanted to get out of town for a weekend, since we don't get many business travelers.
What surprised me was that we got so many girlfriend getaway calls and then they got mad because we didn't have 2 beds to a room. I think it is because we offer spa packages. However, the beds wouldn't have fit anyway. I didn't change my marketing at all..
We have a big girlfriend getaway clientele. The spa package would be great! I could work with a spa in town, but I wonder would they want to go 'out' for the spa stuff or is that something they would prefer to do 'in house'? I had a masseuse who used to come here but the last time didn't work out so we haven't done that in awhile.
.
The guests would definitely prefer to have it in house; while the spa I'm sure would prefer to have them go there. What burns me up is that we spent the money to put a spa in house back in 2000 and were the first to do so in our area.
Now every B&B in town tries to advertise themselves as having spa packages when they send guests down the street to the local massage parlor or day spa. Believe me, it is not the same experience at all.
.
There's your hook to get them in...'The first B&B in (your town) to have an onsite spa, and still the best!' Then you go on to tell them how relaxing it is to not have to get completely dressed and go out into the cold (or the heat).
Do you do a spa lunch, too? That fits in well with wanting to do the teas and having the capability of doing so. I went for a 'spa day' with my daughter the day before she got married. We did the whole thing, including lunch in our robes. It was a lot of fun!
.
I do give a history which includes it and I also use the word "original". I'm thinking of putting a paragraph entitled "All Spa Packages are Not Created Equal" explaining the differences more.
Yes, that was the original reason I started serving tea because some were here 4 hours without food. It is still the best tea application in my opinion.
The spa group seems to be a younger population. The group who just wants to come to tea seems to be an older demographic, or they want to bring an older family member. I don't allow kids, which is another market, but they were just too destructive.
.
SweetiePie said:
The spa group seems to be a younger population. The group who just wants to come to tea seems to be an older demographic, or they want to bring an older family member. I don't allow kids, which is another market, but they were just too destructive.
No kids for tea or spa treatments, that's for sure. I've seen them sitting around kicking table legs when they've been dragged along. Now, here's another thought that totally involves kids...etiquette classes. Are you in the kind of location where that might be a welcome addition?
.
We have a tea room in town doing that and they can have it.
.
SweetiePie said:
We have a tea room in town doing that and they can have it.
How many tea rooms do you have in your town??? The one at the inn I mentioned is now the only one left in this area. The other 2 closed this past December, altho another one has opened about 20 miles away.
.
The chocolatier near here is doing teas and it is going so well for her that she is expanding into the shop next to her chocolte shop as soon as they vacate (that business (do not remember what it is) expanded and needed latger space also).
 
"Attracting Perfect Customers" is a great book we used to help us identify who we wanted to walk through our door.
 
We have been pleasantly surprised at the guests we have been getting. We have gotten a whole family to just a group of girlfriends to people from Europe and the young crowd. Plus the funny thing is we get alot of "just stopping in the middle" crowd when they are coming through the area. We had 3 couples the first year that where meeting here to plan their vacations for next year, they where all retired.
So...we don't really know. We try to market to families as well since we have the whole guest house available. But we've also reserved the whole guest house to a "bachlorette" party and a family that was surprising their parents for their birthday. So its kind of great to have all kinds of people come to our Inn.
 
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