I'm making my way through that Fodor's thread & it is making me angry...not ill. Where are these people staying???? Yeesch!.
For me it was 'ill' because of the number of people who read that who have never stayed at a B&B and now won't even try. I was thankful that some posted later on that they understood what I found upsetting (altho I think that post was from someone here). And then the $100/night guy. Just because he gets upgraded because he JOINED A CLUB, doesn't mean every traveler gets that service in a hotel. But, golly, they get snacks here. (No alcohol, but lets not start that again!) And breakfast. No Executive Suite, unless I upgrade them to our best room (which I do for repeats, which category he would fit).
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I was really irked by the whole comment that he thought that B&Bs should be substantially less than hotels. Probably because of an idea of the overhead that they have for employees, blah, blah, blah. Heck, my A/C has been running non-stop for the last 2 days. Believe me, if we didn't have guests, it would not be set as low as it is!! They're just ignorant....
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Yes, he DID mention the overhead was MUCH higher for a hotel so that made the higher prices acceptable. And this explains SO much doesn't it? The number of guests who gasp at the price and then book at an even higher price at a hotel because they can understand why it is so high there. The pool. The staff. The lights. Etc.
I did bring up the idea that I don't have 80% occ in over 100 rooms, but that won't count with guests who think like that. AND, of course, we don't want guests like that.
I wish I had thought to mention that if I DID charge $100/night everyone would say, 'Wonder what's wrong with THAT place?' and go on to book elsewhere. I know I get that response when I recommend the place down the street that is charging, according to their website, $65-$95. 'Why is it so cheap?' As far as I know it's so cheap because they've owned the building since the flood.
Oh dear, after I was done posting this I looked over their site. They have a guest book since before the flood and it was ok waaaaay back when, but now it is filled with spam links to all kinds of websites. I don't know why they would let those stay posted. It doesn't look good for them, not to mention that they post real guests' real email addies for all and sundry to grab.