Competing with hotels

[Joey Camb]

one of the advantages the hotels here have with business travelers is they make contracts with local companies to do a set price for them every time one of their people stays (and wines and dines the person who makes that decision) or if they are a national company they make a deal with say Holiday inn. However we find more and more the individual just does what they like which works in our favour as we can compete a lot better than we used to. The only problem we hit now and again is these companies simply choose on price ie go on La te roo ms and pick the cheapest room for the date required. Lucky for me that is usually the Azealia next door which they promptly walk out of and into mine! lol

 

[Breakfast Diva]

Also this is a case in point what happened to me yesterday.
Upper middle class lady about 80 walking badly with a stick knocks on my door at 6pm tells me she is booked in next door. (being new you wouldn't know this but I have a dump next door no star hotel called the Azealia feel free to read its trip adviser for your personal entertainment) she was obviously not the right customer for this place. But I know the owner and she will charge without blinking so I called her and she sent a member of staff round to help her. Not sure if they didn't have the reservation but know for certain the intercom to call for assistnce in the lobby was broken. I made sure she had a card as I had a feeling she would be back. She was going to a concert. Any how 10pm door bell rings it was her "please can I stay with you I don't feel safe there as there is no staff (there never is) all the doors are left unlocked etc) I thought she was going to have a heart attack on the step. Got her settled and this morning she called me a treasure and has taken a million cards to give all her friends. Her daughter had booked her in there as it was the nearest hotel to the Royal Hall where she was going. There are 8 nice B&B's she would have been much better off in but her daughter never even considered us. I hope they now know different.
I am not denying it is an uphill struggle but every one person we convert makes a difference as we hope they will spread the word. I just worry about programs such as 3 in a bed as they have a tendancy to make us look like crazy people.
So yes it is a battle and an international one but unless you have met a Yorkshire Person you do not know the definition of Stubborn and I for one will fight it to the bitter end. Don't get me wrong some days I do want to tear my hair out but I figure to a certain extent on the strength of our collective personalities we may lure members of the public into taking that first chance which will change their view of accommodation providers for ever it just takes one small step.
For example we had big hotel fire last May which meant all their guests had to be relocated which meant as it was a really busy conference time they had to take what they could get and we made a lot of converts of people who would not have gone B&B before (not that I suggest we set any hotels on fire I might add though it may cross some of our minds from time to time). Hearts and minds people, hearts and minds!.

"she is booked in next door. (being new you wouldn't know this but I have a dump next door no star hotel called the Azealia feel free to read its trip adviser for your personal entertainment"
OMG!! Camberly, I have never seen such horrible reviews!! I scanned the first 4 pages of TA and every single review rated them with a 1! This must create many headaches for you!

 

[Joey Camb]

Also this is a case in point what happened to me yesterday.
Upper middle class lady about 80 walking badly with a stick knocks on my door at 6pm tells me she is booked in next door. (being new you wouldn't know this but I have a dump next door no star hotel called the Azealia feel free to read its trip adviser for your personal entertainment) she was obviously not the right customer for this place. But I know the owner and she will charge without blinking so I called her and she sent a member of staff round to help her. Not sure if they didn't have the reservation but know for certain the intercom to call for assistnce in the lobby was broken. I made sure she had a card as I had a feeling she would be back. She was going to a concert. Any how 10pm door bell rings it was her "please can I stay with you I don't feel safe there as there is no staff (there never is) all the doors are left unlocked etc) I thought she was going to have a heart attack on the step. Got her settled and this morning she called me a treasure and has taken a million cards to give all her friends. Her daughter had booked her in there as it was the nearest hotel to the Royal Hall where she was going. There are 8 nice B&B's she would have been much better off in but her daughter never even considered us. I hope they now know different.
I am not denying it is an uphill struggle but every one person we convert makes a difference as we hope they will spread the word. I just worry about programs such as 3 in a bed as they have a tendancy to make us look like crazy people.
So yes it is a battle and an international one but unless you have met a Yorkshire Person you do not know the definition of Stubborn and I for one will fight it to the bitter end. Don't get me wrong some days I do want to tear my hair out but I figure to a certain extent on the strength of our collective personalities we may lure members of the public into taking that first chance which will change their view of accommodation providers for ever it just takes one small step.
For example we had big hotel fire last May which meant all their guests had to be relocated which meant as it was a really busy conference time they had to take what they could get and we made a lot of converts of people who would not have gone B&B before (not that I suggest we set any hotels on fire I might add though it may cross some of our minds from time to time). Hearts and minds people, hearts and minds!.

"she is booked in next door. (being new you wouldn't know this but I have a dump next door no star hotel called the Azealia feel free to read its trip adviser for your personal entertainment"
OMG!! Camberly, I have never seen such horrible reviews!! I scanned the first 4 pages of TA and every single review rated them with a 1! This must create many headaches for you!
.

Oh it gets worce cos the owner is my Godmother! (full time crazy person) and my mum's best friend of 20 years! most of the problems are sheer lack of money the whole place needs a full refurb which to do properly will not get a lot of change out of about three hundred thousand dollars. Trouble is it is a vicious cycle can't charge more cos it is a dump so can't refurb so can't improve. Plus she can't delegate so spends all her time (she has 5 guest houses and 3 restaurants) running round in circles. Plus can't get good staff cos no one can cope with her or the customer complaints. Plus wastes so much time and money on nonsensical projects ie converting the basement at one place into a huge storage area (ie ton of money to do and no money back from it) and at the Azealia next door the ground floor has been 4 rooms, then part of the restaurant, then 2 flats, then now back into 4 rooms again! make a desision and stick to it or you are just burning money! But she won't be told and will never change so I just take a deep breath. She only discovered her trip adviser about 3 weeks ago and sat and read it all and was nearly in tears on the phone to me but there is nothing I can do about it, and I am certainly not going to write her management responses which I think she was angeling for. She is trying to sell some of the things but nothing is moving right now and it is not helped by her over pricing and people look at the work needed and run away as fast as their legs can carry them! If i win the lottery any time soon id take it on but otherwise i wouldn't touch it with a stick. It is sad cos it is a good property and one of the best locations in town. We say when people book their it trains them in the "Better way to stay!"

 

[Breakfast Diva]

Also this is a case in point what happened to me yesterday.
Upper middle class lady about 80 walking badly with a stick knocks on my door at 6pm tells me she is booked in next door. (being new you wouldn't know this but I have a dump next door no star hotel called the Azealia feel free to read its trip adviser for your personal entertainment) she was obviously not the right customer for this place. But I know the owner and she will charge without blinking so I called her and she sent a member of staff round to help her. Not sure if they didn't have the reservation but know for certain the intercom to call for assistnce in the lobby was broken. I made sure she had a card as I had a feeling she would be back. She was going to a concert. Any how 10pm door bell rings it was her "please can I stay with you I don't feel safe there as there is no staff (there never is) all the doors are left unlocked etc) I thought she was going to have a heart attack on the step. Got her settled and this morning she called me a treasure and has taken a million cards to give all her friends. Her daughter had booked her in there as it was the nearest hotel to the Royal Hall where she was going. There are 8 nice B&B's she would have been much better off in but her daughter never even considered us. I hope they now know different.
I am not denying it is an uphill struggle but every one person we convert makes a difference as we hope they will spread the word. I just worry about programs such as 3 in a bed as they have a tendancy to make us look like crazy people.
So yes it is a battle and an international one but unless you have met a Yorkshire Person you do not know the definition of Stubborn and I for one will fight it to the bitter end. Don't get me wrong some days I do want to tear my hair out but I figure to a certain extent on the strength of our collective personalities we may lure members of the public into taking that first chance which will change their view of accommodation providers for ever it just takes one small step.
For example we had big hotel fire last May which meant all their guests had to be relocated which meant as it was a really busy conference time they had to take what they could get and we made a lot of converts of people who would not have gone B&B before (not that I suggest we set any hotels on fire I might add though it may cross some of our minds from time to time). Hearts and minds people, hearts and minds!.

"she is booked in next door. (being new you wouldn't know this but I have a dump next door no star hotel called the Azealia feel free to read its trip adviser for your personal entertainment"
OMG!! Camberly, I have never seen such horrible reviews!! I scanned the first 4 pages of TA and every single review rated them with a 1! This must create many headaches for you!
.

Oh it gets worce cos the owner is my Godmother! (full time crazy person) and my mum's best friend of 20 years! most of the problems are sheer lack of money the whole place needs a full refurb which to do properly will not get a lot of change out of about three hundred thousand dollars. Trouble is it is a vicious cycle can't charge more cos it is a dump so can't refurb so can't improve. Plus she can't delegate so spends all her time (she has 5 guest houses and 3 restaurants) running round in circles. Plus can't get good staff cos no one can cope with her or the customer complaints. Plus wastes so much time and money on nonsensical projects ie converting the basement at one place into a huge storage area (ie ton of money to do and no money back from it) and at the Azealia next door the ground floor has been 4 rooms, then part of the restaurant, then 2 flats, then now back into 4 rooms again! make a desision and stick to it or you are just burning money! But she won't be told and will never change so I just take a deep breath. She only discovered her trip adviser about 3 weeks ago and sat and read it all and was nearly in tears on the phone to me but there is nothing I can do about it, and I am certainly not going to write her management responses which I think she was angeling for. She is trying to sell some of the things but nothing is moving right now and it is not helped by her over pricing and people look at the work needed and run away as fast as their legs can carry them! If i win the lottery any time soon id take it on but otherwise i wouldn't touch it with a stick. It is sad cos it is a good property and one of the best locations in town. We say when people book their it trains them in the "Better way to stay!"
.

That's so sad! As we all know, you can't change people, so more than likely nothing will change and all you can do is sit back and watch. Some folks should just never own their own business!

 

[Joey Camb]

Also this is a case in point what happened to me yesterday.
Upper middle class lady about 80 walking badly with a stick knocks on my door at 6pm tells me she is booked in next door. (being new you wouldn't know this but I have a dump next door no star hotel called the Azealia feel free to read its trip adviser for your personal entertainment) she was obviously not the right customer for this place. But I know the owner and she will charge without blinking so I called her and she sent a member of staff round to help her. Not sure if they didn't have the reservation but know for certain the intercom to call for assistnce in the lobby was broken. I made sure she had a card as I had a feeling she would be back. She was going to a concert. Any how 10pm door bell rings it was her "please can I stay with you I don't feel safe there as there is no staff (there never is) all the doors are left unlocked etc) I thought she was going to have a heart attack on the step. Got her settled and this morning she called me a treasure and has taken a million cards to give all her friends. Her daughter had booked her in there as it was the nearest hotel to the Royal Hall where she was going. There are 8 nice B&B's she would have been much better off in but her daughter never even considered us. I hope they now know different.
I am not denying it is an uphill struggle but every one person we convert makes a difference as we hope they will spread the word. I just worry about programs such as 3 in a bed as they have a tendancy to make us look like crazy people.
So yes it is a battle and an international one but unless you have met a Yorkshire Person you do not know the definition of Stubborn and I for one will fight it to the bitter end. Don't get me wrong some days I do want to tear my hair out but I figure to a certain extent on the strength of our collective personalities we may lure members of the public into taking that first chance which will change their view of accommodation providers for ever it just takes one small step.
For example we had big hotel fire last May which meant all their guests had to be relocated which meant as it was a really busy conference time they had to take what they could get and we made a lot of converts of people who would not have gone B&B before (not that I suggest we set any hotels on fire I might add though it may cross some of our minds from time to time). Hearts and minds people, hearts and minds!.

"she is booked in next door. (being new you wouldn't know this but I have a dump next door no star hotel called the Azealia feel free to read its trip adviser for your personal entertainment"
OMG!! Camberly, I have never seen such horrible reviews!! I scanned the first 4 pages of TA and every single review rated them with a 1! This must create many headaches for you!
.

Oh it gets worce cos the owner is my Godmother! (full time crazy person) and my mum's best friend of 20 years! most of the problems are sheer lack of money the whole place needs a full refurb which to do properly will not get a lot of change out of about three hundred thousand dollars. Trouble is it is a vicious cycle can't charge more cos it is a dump so can't refurb so can't improve. Plus she can't delegate so spends all her time (she has 5 guest houses and 3 restaurants) running round in circles. Plus can't get good staff cos no one can cope with her or the customer complaints. Plus wastes so much time and money on nonsensical projects ie converting the basement at one place into a huge storage area (ie ton of money to do and no money back from it) and at the Azealia next door the ground floor has been 4 rooms, then part of the restaurant, then 2 flats, then now back into 4 rooms again! make a desision and stick to it or you are just burning money! But she won't be told and will never change so I just take a deep breath. She only discovered her trip adviser about 3 weeks ago and sat and read it all and was nearly in tears on the phone to me but there is nothing I can do about it, and I am certainly not going to write her management responses which I think she was angeling for. She is trying to sell some of the things but nothing is moving right now and it is not helped by her over pricing and people look at the work needed and run away as fast as their legs can carry them! If i win the lottery any time soon id take it on but otherwise i wouldn't touch it with a stick. It is sad cos it is a good property and one of the best locations in town. We say when people book their it trains them in the "Better way to stay!"
.

That's so sad! As we all know, you can't change people, so more than likely nothing will change and all you can do is sit back and watch. Some folks should just never own their own business!
.

true but she could never work for anyone else either! she is the only person i know who when the Tax people came to inspect her records they gave up and ran away! may that be a lesson to us all!

 

[Joey Camb]

I think our slogan should be "we want to make sure you book the right accommodation for you not what you think the right accommodation is".

 

[HighMountainLodge]

Just a caution:
We live in a state where B&Bs are subject to few regulations; essentially, people living in a private home can operate a B&B out of a spare bedroom--as long as they pay their lodging taxes.
HOWEVER: state recommendations notwithstanding, other jurisdictions just love to try to put us in a higher taxing bracket. Tomorrow I'm heading to the county seat to try to convince the assessor that we are not a commercial property--i.e., we fall under the B&B rules, not the hotel rules. The stakes are pretty high in terms of our taxes and how we will be regulated by jurisdictions other than the state.
Last year, I fought three fast rounds with the Department of Health over whether we were running a restaurant or not. The issue was inspection and bringing our kitchen up to commercial standards. A few unconsidered words on our website brought us to the attention of the health department. Our kitchen actually is up to commercial standards, and I wouldn't hesitate to open it to the state's inspectors on any day, at any time. However, around here inspectors have this wonderful bureaucratic habit of sending you a bill for their inspection, since we also live in a state that historically underfunds its bureaucracy.
I'm already in hock to the state boiler inspector, who showed up before I wised up.
All this blather is really leading to a point: before you start using "crossover" language in your marketing, educate yourself to the repercussions if, by representing yourself as a "hotel", you suddenly find inspectors at your doorstep treating you like a hotel.
Potential guests are not the only people reading your website and examining your other marketing materials. In some jurisdictions, words have significant consequences. Bureaucracies may not be smarter than you, but they're probably more thorough.

 

[Joey Camb]

we are lucky in a way as when you are over 8 bedrooms you come under the same fire, food etc rules so we have to comply already though in the UK at least we arn't billed for the inconvenience of being inspected which is something. We got Very Good in our annual food inspection (where they check your kitchen and fridge etc) so that is fine with me.
It just seems that in the USA the local authorities/gov seem to go out of their way to penalise small businesses which I have always thought ironic as the USA is supposed to be the land of free enterprise.
In the UK the law is if you only take 6 guests or less and earn less than $8,000 from it it is nobodys business but yours no tax and no inspections unless you ask for them.
Over that you have to be inspected for food technically every year but we are classed as low risk so it is usually every other year unless they are behind and because their office is accross the street they find our row of B&B's convenient for making quota.
You also have to do a fire risk assessment - ie what would you do to get your guests out in a fire. They used to do annual inspection and you got a fire certificate but all that has gone now which in some ways is not helpful as you now have to assess yourself what you need. Well I am not a fire man so what do I know? plus everyone you speak to tells you something different which is not helpful. Most of us would be happy to have someone come and say this is fine or you need to do this.
and last but not least we have to do an access statement every year (or update the old one) which discribes your property ie how many steps to get in, do you have disabled access, how wide are doors etc it was a pain to put together but is handy if people are a bit wobbly on their legs.
But you can still use language like "We are not a hotel but we offer all the advantages of one such as lovely beds as well as advantages they don't have such as a gourmet included breakfast" (that is a bit clunky but you see my point)

 

[JBloggs]

This is posted inn the news as well, but is pertinent to this thread.
An Inspector Calls At... the Cathedral Quarter Hotel, Derby
Daily Mail
Surely, a minuscule touch of local knowledge is required by the person swiping your credit card to the tune of £149 for bed and breakfast in Derby's ...

 

[gillumhouse]

Just a caution:
We live in a state where B&Bs are subject to few regulations; essentially, people living in a private home can operate a B&B out of a spare bedroom--as long as they pay their lodging taxes.
HOWEVER: state recommendations notwithstanding, other jurisdictions just love to try to put us in a higher taxing bracket. Tomorrow I'm heading to the county seat to try to convince the assessor that we are not a commercial property--i.e., we fall under the B&B rules, not the hotel rules. The stakes are pretty high in terms of our taxes and how we will be regulated by jurisdictions other than the state.
Last year, I fought three fast rounds with the Department of Health over whether we were running a restaurant or not. The issue was inspection and bringing our kitchen up to commercial standards. A few unconsidered words on our website brought us to the attention of the health department. Our kitchen actually is up to commercial standards, and I wouldn't hesitate to open it to the state's inspectors on any day, at any time. However, around here inspectors have this wonderful bureaucratic habit of sending you a bill for their inspection, since we also live in a state that historically underfunds its bureaucracy.
I'm already in hock to the state boiler inspector, who showed up before I wised up.
All this blather is really leading to a point: before you start using "crossover" language in your marketing, educate yourself to the repercussions if, by representing yourself as a "hotel", you suddenly find inspectors at your doorstep treating you like a hotel.
Potential guests are not the only people reading your website and examining your other marketing materials. In some jurisdictions, words have significant consequences. Bureaucracies may not be smarter than you, but they're probably more thorough..

Well put. KNOW your State regs - it is surprising what will bite you!
County/State bureaucracies must justify their existence therefore are LOOKING for things to find wrong.