Grand Opening Open House

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LzBorden

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We opened the oceanside bungalows to the public a couple of days ago since so many of the locals had told us they had never seen the insides and would love to. We personally invited the local shop keepers, Chamber Of Commerce members, City Council - the whole community to see what we had to offer and hopefully to really get the word of mouth and reference thing going. We had a good turn out but not as many business folks as we had hoped showed up. Only a couple of of the area innkeepers came to take a peek and so many of those people who told us they had never seen the insides.....still haven't
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It was fun though and our closest neighbors like the welcoming feel we are working to project.
Yesterday a Mom brought her 10 yr old or so son by to return the 2 bottles of bubble bath he had snitched from the bungalows while they were there. Cute
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Do any of you ever open to the public and what are your results?
 
We do an open house 1x/month in season. Gets the tourists in who think the only place to stay is the (insert brand name hotel here). We are having a merchant open house to show retailers in town that there are actual places to stay here, it's not just shopping. They all think the only place to stay is (insert brand name hotel here).
The number of people I have met in the past month (thru the Chamber) who have said, 'WHERE are you located? OH! I drive right by there everyday!' boggles the mind.
 
We do an open house 1x/month in season. Gets the tourists in who think the only place to stay is the (insert brand name hotel here). We are having a merchant open house to show retailers in town that there are actual places to stay here, it's not just shopping. They all think the only place to stay is (insert brand name hotel here).
The number of people I have met in the past month (thru the Chamber) who have said, 'WHERE are you located? OH! I drive right by there everyday!' boggles the mind..
Bree said:
The number of people I have met in the past month (thru the Chamber) who have said, 'WHERE are you located? OH! I drive right by there everyday!' boggles the mind.
Yeah, us too! Can't believe it. That's wht DH & I decided we better put one on.
Do you do "tours" or just let the touri run free?
 
We do an open house 1x/month in season. Gets the tourists in who think the only place to stay is the (insert brand name hotel here). We are having a merchant open house to show retailers in town that there are actual places to stay here, it's not just shopping. They all think the only place to stay is (insert brand name hotel here).
The number of people I have met in the past month (thru the Chamber) who have said, 'WHERE are you located? OH! I drive right by there everyday!' boggles the mind..
Bree said:
The number of people I have met in the past month (thru the Chamber) who have said, 'WHERE are you located? OH! I drive right by there everyday!' boggles the mind.
Yeah, us too! Can't believe it. That's wht DH & I decided we better put one on.
Do you do "tours" or just let the touri run free?
.
We do this with 2 of us. Hubs does the tour, I do the greeting and the initial showing around (we have books and other things from the famous person who lived here). I'm also minding the check-ins and helping with the snacks.
I would let them go around on their own, but you know what would happen...bathrooms would get used, beds would be bounced on, etc. I don't want to do all that re-cleaning before check-in.
 
We did ours off season, middle of the week so we could close and recover with no pressure from check-ins. I can see a different plan would be required for a live open house.
 
We do an open house 1x/month in season. Gets the tourists in who think the only place to stay is the (insert brand name hotel here). We are having a merchant open house to show retailers in town that there are actual places to stay here, it's not just shopping. They all think the only place to stay is (insert brand name hotel here).
The number of people I have met in the past month (thru the Chamber) who have said, 'WHERE are you located? OH! I drive right by there everyday!' boggles the mind..
It is nice to do an open house now and again to provide locals an opportunity to check out the place. It also helps limit the number of those that just drive up and are amazed that you are not able to show them rooms because they are rented!
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Bree said:
The number of people I have met in the past month (thru the Chamber) who have said, 'WHERE are you located? OH! I drive right by there everyday!' boggles the mind.
Yes, I know the feeling except most have never 'driven by' as we are off the beaten path. What I am amazed about is that I can introduce myself and hand people my card, then a few weeks later see these same people and they say 'Oh, I didn't know we had a B&B in the area'. Gee I must not be very memorable!
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We did ours off season, middle of the week so we could close and recover with no pressure from check-ins. I can see a different plan would be required for a live open house..
I am behind the curve on this one. We have not had an open house. As I said in another thread, we get almost all of our guests from out of town for events here.
I'm going to try to get the other B&Bs here to particpate with us as part of a holiday tour of homes in our historic area. I hope that they do!
 
We did ours off season, middle of the week so we could close and recover with no pressure from check-ins. I can see a different plan would be required for a live open house..
I am behind the curve on this one. We have not had an open house. As I said in another thread, we get almost all of our guests from out of town for events here.
I'm going to try to get the other B&Bs here to particpate with us as part of a holiday tour of homes in our historic area. I hope that they do!
.
Samster, that would be a wonderful time to do an open house and with a group even better, especially historical homes all decorated for the Holidays. One thing that is done around this area is a Holiday Tour of Homes with a benefit going to X charity. Once you get a group of willing participants, contact a few local charites to see if one will bite. You could let them sell tickets ($5-10) to tour the homes (B&B's) with the $ all going to the charity. Charities get free advertising which will also benefit each of the B&B's by providing constant advertising. They are usually willing (and have the contacts) to do all the marketing of the event and all you need to do is concentrate on having your place ready for the Show. I have lots of ideas on this if you want more, just ask.
 
We did ours off season, middle of the week so we could close and recover with no pressure from check-ins. I can see a different plan would be required for a live open house..
I am behind the curve on this one. We have not had an open house. As I said in another thread, we get almost all of our guests from out of town for events here.
I'm going to try to get the other B&Bs here to particpate with us as part of a holiday tour of homes in our historic area. I hope that they do!
.
Samster said:
I am behind the curve on this one. We have not had an open house. As I said in another thread, we get almost all of our guests from out of town for events here.
I'm going to try to get the other B&Bs here to particpate with us as part of a holiday tour of homes in our historic area. I hope that they do!
We do one around the holidays, too.
 
I did a Grand Opening and have done a house tour a couple of times since we opened - donations to the Lord's Pantry each time.
 
We did ours off season, middle of the week so we could close and recover with no pressure from check-ins. I can see a different plan would be required for a live open house..
I am behind the curve on this one. We have not had an open house. As I said in another thread, we get almost all of our guests from out of town for events here.
I'm going to try to get the other B&Bs here to particpate with us as part of a holiday tour of homes in our historic area. I hope that they do!
.
Samster, that would be a wonderful time to do an open house and with a group even better, especially historical homes all decorated for the Holidays. One thing that is done around this area is a Holiday Tour of Homes with a benefit going to X charity. Once you get a group of willing participants, contact a few local charites to see if one will bite. You could let them sell tickets ($5-10) to tour the homes (B&B's) with the $ all going to the charity. Charities get free advertising which will also benefit each of the B&B's by providing constant advertising. They are usually willing (and have the contacts) to do all the marketing of the event and all you need to do is concentrate on having your place ready for the Show. I have lots of ideas on this if you want more, just ask.
.
Thanks for the info. I am already involved in this event as part of our historic foundation's board of directors :) We are having a tour to benefit a specific project. I will try to get the other B&Bs to open their doors to join the tour. We already have several private homes that will be on the tour. This event is done every other year at the holidays in different historic areas of our city. I've been involved before, too as a private home on the tour before we were a business.
Our organization is also hosting a progressive dinner tour this Spring but it does not involve any businesses except a restaurant which is hosting the main course. We are currently heavy into marketing that event through print, TV, and radio.
I just never seem to be able to have our own individual open house!
 
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