If you had unlimited funds for marketing...

[Breakfast Diva]

Other than carefully spent money on a few items and being on all the OTAs (annoying or not). It offends people, but the world of B&Bs is under threat. Major cities are hemorrhaging B&Bs; I believe I read the last one closed in Raleigh recently, due to AirBnB and regulatory responses to them. NYC B&Bs are also disappearing.
I would listen very carefully to what Happykeeper has said in the past. I think HK gets it more than most. In many areas, not good enough any more to have a room. I am not targeting a B&B - it is half of a tiny destination spa - with classes, spa services and other things. I have kept very mum, but I know that a B&B component is important, but not by itself.
The B&B I looked at 60 miles north has been around over 20 years - I discussed it a couple weeks ago. Finally received a tax statement (2012). 3 rooms - she had $6700 in revenue for the year and lost over $2000 in total. Two other B&Bs I looked at trying to sell - about $20-25,000 revenue each. And both fairly well known..

the revenue is only half the story. how has the place been run?
our first year, we did nearly twice the revenue of the PO.
Our next door neighbor approached us to let us know they were putting up a fence so they wouldn't have to look at our driveway. His words, "She didn't have much traffic. It's clear you intend to manage it like a business." Yep.
.

We are looking at several improvements for the fall that can't be done when we have guests in the house. We're getting our repeats. Getting good reviews. Guests we're getting are happy with their stay. 2 new guests in the past month have already come back, one couple has been back twice.
We've had a travel writer in who gave us good marks in the article.
We're just in a slump right now.
.

I know that many businesses generally don't want to to reveal much, but how is everybody else in town doing? Is visitation overall up, down, or steady?
.

I know that many businesses generally don't want to to reveal much, but how is everybody else in town doing? Is visitation overall up, down, or steady?

This is a very important question to find out. Stalk their reservation calendars if need be. Is it you, or is it the climate of the area?
Mort, If your reviews are good and you're not getting complaints about the rooms or the property then don't spend your money making changes there.
A couple things to look at:

• Have your google rankings changed? (when checking, be sure to clear your cache and not be logged into your google account);
• have any other rankings changed;
• did you see an upswing or downswing in online reservations when you changed your reservation system (one of those things should have happened)
• what makes your place special. I know here on the forum you say nothing, but that can't be true.
• Is your target market the ones that actually book with you? If not, is your website geared toward them?

We went through a slump also. This is our second year we've pulled out of it. And now we're soaring. For us, the major difference is that we're offering other things besides just rooms. I had our marketing and website analyzed by professionals in the industry and their consensus was it was our area. That was good and bad news. I can't change the area's marketing, but I could make us even more special.
Change is difficult. Just yesterday I posted this quote for myself from Jim Connolly - Never complain about the economy or any other outside factors. Adapt. Put your success in your own hands
.

Rankings are all the same. I just checked yesterday to see if we displeased the Google gods. Ta position is the same.
No real difference in online bookings, we're still about 50-60%. I think we're getting a slight uptick because you can put multiple rooms in the cart so guests are not calling because they don't want to enter their info twice.
If everyone else is doing better (by a lot) then Jim is right, it's not the economy! I'll have to think some more on this.
I do know we're not getting the million question emails and calls, guests are just booking. That seems to imply the message speaks to them.
This can be a bit of a slump right now in any year. But the whole month was off by 50% which is a big hit. And it was just us. I can track that easily. Not sure if the fix is more rooms on the OTA sites or what.
.

I do know we're not getting the million question emails and calls, guests are just booking. That seems to imply the message speaks to them..

The message is speaking to those that actually book, but what about all those others? I look at that statement the same way I would look at "but my guests tell me what a great website I have". It's all those other folks that don't book we need to satisfy. I know, it's a HUGE task figuring it out. But if the other b&bs are all doing better, then the first thing to do is to try to figure out why yours isn't. Personally, I just think it's a matter of the message.
I know how this affects your stress level and outlook. I've been there. I worried about it 24/7 while it was happening to us. Hang in there. Maybe you might invite an innmate over for a stay and get a fresh eye view. Sometimes we're just too close and can't see the forest for the trees.

 

[Lee2014]

Other than carefully spent money on a few items and being on all the OTAs (annoying or not). It offends people, but the world of B&Bs is under threat. Major cities are hemorrhaging B&Bs; I believe I read the last one closed in Raleigh recently, due to AirBnB and regulatory responses to them. NYC B&Bs are also disappearing.
I would listen very carefully to what Happykeeper has said in the past. I think HK gets it more than most. In many areas, not good enough any more to have a room. I am not targeting a B&B - it is half of a tiny destination spa - with classes, spa services and other things. I have kept very mum, but I know that a B&B component is important, but not by itself.
The B&B I looked at 60 miles north has been around over 20 years - I discussed it a couple weeks ago. Finally received a tax statement (2012). 3 rooms - she had $6700 in revenue for the year and lost over $2000 in total. Two other B&Bs I looked at trying to sell - about $20-25,000 revenue each. And both fairly well known..

the revenue is only half the story. how has the place been run?
our first year, we did nearly twice the revenue of the PO.
Our next door neighbor approached us to let us know they were putting up a fence so they wouldn't have to look at our driveway. His words, "She didn't have much traffic. It's clear you intend to manage it like a business." Yep.
.

We are looking at several improvements for the fall that can't be done when we have guests in the house. We're getting our repeats. Getting good reviews. Guests we're getting are happy with their stay. 2 new guests in the past month have already come back, one couple has been back twice.
We've had a travel writer in who gave us good marks in the article.
We're just in a slump right now.
.

I know that many businesses generally don't want to to reveal much, but how is everybody else in town doing? Is visitation overall up, down, or steady?
.

Based on our group calendar for the past few weeks and into the next few weeks they are holding steady or improving. We are languishing in the horse latitudes.
Several are complaining of the workload.
You know how it is - we have 7 more weeks to make the money that keeps us warm in the winter. Plus funds the projects we need to undertake to stay current.
I think I'm really bummed we are dead empty for our big foliage weekend. We've had every reservation for that weekend cancel. It's a stark hole in the calendar. Where we are usually 100% occ for those weeks in and around, now there's a huge gap.
Altho, reservations are very last minute this year.
We've been encouraging reservations into next year, especially for graduation.
.

Well if the weather is good, you most likely will fill back up, as I think there are often leaf peepers who didn't plan ahead looking for a place to stay. Consistent with your "last minute" observation...
I think it might be worth spending some time on your Air listing(s), for example getting a higher-resolution image for the main photo, and maybe think about the rate (if you dropped by 10%, would your net still be greater than the same booking from B.c, for example?)
(I over-heard a lot of my colleagues -- younger and older -- at the college talking about Air at our opening meetings earlier this week...)
.

Dang yes! I keep forgetting that photo is crap. Thanks for the reminder.
.

Air will give you a photographer for free.

 

[gillumhouse]

If I had unlimited marketing dollars I would get a pro photographer and pay my PR guy more. He is working for me more because he likes me than what he is getting paid this year.

 

[Silverspoon]

Other than carefully spent money on a few items and being on all the OTAs (annoying or not). It offends people, but the world of B&Bs is under threat. Major cities are hemorrhaging B&Bs; I believe I read the last one closed in Raleigh recently, due to AirBnB and regulatory responses to them. NYC B&Bs are also disappearing.
I would listen very carefully to what Happykeeper has said in the past. I think HK gets it more than most. In many areas, not good enough any more to have a room. I am not targeting a B&B - it is half of a tiny destination spa - with classes, spa services and other things. I have kept very mum, but I know that a B&B component is important, but not by itself.
The B&B I looked at 60 miles north has been around over 20 years - I discussed it a couple weeks ago. Finally received a tax statement (2012). 3 rooms - she had $6700 in revenue for the year and lost over $2000 in total. Two other B&Bs I looked at trying to sell - about $20-25,000 revenue each. And both fairly well known..

the revenue is only half the story. how has the place been run?
our first year, we did nearly twice the revenue of the PO.
Our next door neighbor approached us to let us know they were putting up a fence so they wouldn't have to look at our driveway. His words, "She didn't have much traffic. It's clear you intend to manage it like a business." Yep.
.

We are looking at several improvements for the fall that can't be done when we have guests in the house. We're getting our repeats. Getting good reviews. Guests we're getting are happy with their stay. 2 new guests in the past month have already come back, one couple has been back twice.
We've had a travel writer in who gave us good marks in the article.
We're just in a slump right now.
.

I know that many businesses generally don't want to to reveal much, but how is everybody else in town doing? Is visitation overall up, down, or steady?
.

I know that many businesses generally don't want to to reveal much, but how is everybody else in town doing? Is visitation overall up, down, or steady?

This is a very important question to find out. Stalk their reservation calendars if need be. Is it you, or is it the climate of the area?
Mort, If your reviews are good and you're not getting complaints about the rooms or the property then don't spend your money making changes there.
A couple things to look at:

• Have your google rankings changed? (when checking, be sure to clear your cache and not be logged into your google account);
• have any other rankings changed;
• did you see an upswing or downswing in online reservations when you changed your reservation system (one of those things should have happened)
• what makes your place special. I know here on the forum you say nothing, but that can't be true.
• Is your target market the ones that actually book with you? If not, is your website geared toward them?

We went through a slump also. This is our second year we've pulled out of it. And now we're soaring. For us, the major difference is that we're offering other things besides just rooms. I had our marketing and website analyzed by professionals in the industry and their consensus was it was our area. That was good and bad news. I can't change the area's marketing, but I could make us even more special.
Change is difficult. Just yesterday I posted this quote for myself from Jim Connolly - Never complain about the economy or any other outside factors. Adapt. Put your success in your own hands
.

Rankings are all the same. I just checked yesterday to see if we displeased the Google gods. Ta position is the same.
No real difference in online bookings, we're still about 50-60%. I think we're getting a slight uptick because you can put multiple rooms in the cart so guests are not calling because they don't want to enter their info twice.
If everyone else is doing better (by a lot) then Jim is right, it's not the economy! I'll have to think some more on this.
I do know we're not getting the million question emails and calls, guests are just booking. That seems to imply the message speaks to them.
This can be a bit of a slump right now in any year. But the whole month was off by 50% which is a big hit. And it was just us. I can track that easily. Not sure if the fix is more rooms on the OTA sites or what.
.

Be careful stalking availability calendars of other B+B's. We have always been open all year, hungry for business and we showed every available date. I used to look around at other B+B calendar and think that we were lagging in bookings because they had many weeks booked solid.
But now that we are cutting back and scheduling time for our selves and family, we are the ones showing a fully booked calendar! So I suspect that many of the places nearby have always taken a more laid back attitude and carved out some empty rooms to create a break for themselves. Just because a place shows no vacancy it does not mean they are full.

 

[Morticia]

Other than carefully spent money on a few items and being on all the OTAs (annoying or not). It offends people, but the world of B&Bs is under threat. Major cities are hemorrhaging B&Bs; I believe I read the last one closed in Raleigh recently, due to AirBnB and regulatory responses to them. NYC B&Bs are also disappearing.
I would listen very carefully to what Happykeeper has said in the past. I think HK gets it more than most. In many areas, not good enough any more to have a room. I am not targeting a B&B - it is half of a tiny destination spa - with classes, spa services and other things. I have kept very mum, but I know that a B&B component is important, but not by itself.
The B&B I looked at 60 miles north has been around over 20 years - I discussed it a couple weeks ago. Finally received a tax statement (2012). 3 rooms - she had $6700 in revenue for the year and lost over $2000 in total. Two other B&Bs I looked at trying to sell - about $20-25,000 revenue each. And both fairly well known..

the revenue is only half the story. how has the place been run?
our first year, we did nearly twice the revenue of the PO.
Our next door neighbor approached us to let us know they were putting up a fence so they wouldn't have to look at our driveway. His words, "She didn't have much traffic. It's clear you intend to manage it like a business." Yep.
.

We are looking at several improvements for the fall that can't be done when we have guests in the house. We're getting our repeats. Getting good reviews. Guests we're getting are happy with their stay. 2 new guests in the past month have already come back, one couple has been back twice.
We've had a travel writer in who gave us good marks in the article.
We're just in a slump right now.
.

I know that many businesses generally don't want to to reveal much, but how is everybody else in town doing? Is visitation overall up, down, or steady?
.

I know that many businesses generally don't want to to reveal much, but how is everybody else in town doing? Is visitation overall up, down, or steady?

This is a very important question to find out. Stalk their reservation calendars if need be. Is it you, or is it the climate of the area?
Mort, If your reviews are good and you're not getting complaints about the rooms or the property then don't spend your money making changes there.
A couple things to look at:

• Have your google rankings changed? (when checking, be sure to clear your cache and not be logged into your google account);
• have any other rankings changed;
• did you see an upswing or downswing in online reservations when you changed your reservation system (one of those things should have happened)
• what makes your place special. I know here on the forum you say nothing, but that can't be true.
• Is your target market the ones that actually book with you? If not, is your website geared toward them?

We went through a slump also. This is our second year we've pulled out of it. And now we're soaring. For us, the major difference is that we're offering other things besides just rooms. I had our marketing and website analyzed by professionals in the industry and their consensus was it was our area. That was good and bad news. I can't change the area's marketing, but I could make us even more special.
Change is difficult. Just yesterday I posted this quote for myself from Jim Connolly - Never complain about the economy or any other outside factors. Adapt. Put your success in your own hands
.

Rankings are all the same. I just checked yesterday to see if we displeased the Google gods. Ta position is the same.
No real difference in online bookings, we're still about 50-60%. I think we're getting a slight uptick because you can put multiple rooms in the cart so guests are not calling because they don't want to enter their info twice.
If everyone else is doing better (by a lot) then Jim is right, it's not the economy! I'll have to think some more on this.
I do know we're not getting the million question emails and calls, guests are just booking. That seems to imply the message speaks to them.
This can be a bit of a slump right now in any year. But the whole month was off by 50% which is a big hit. And it was just us. I can track that easily. Not sure if the fix is more rooms on the OTA sites or what.
.

Be careful stalking availability calendars of other B+B's. We have always been open all year, hungry for business and we showed every available date. I used to look around at other B+B calendar and think that we were lagging in bookings because they had many weeks booked solid.
But now that we are cutting back and scheduling time for our selves and family, we are the ones showing a fully booked calendar! So I suspect that many of the places nearby have always taken a more laid back attitude and carved out some empty rooms to create a break for themselves. Just because a place shows no vacancy it does not mean they are full.
.

I do the same - block rooms when I'm tired. I also do it on empty days so we don't look like losers. ;-)
Tonight I got a call for 7 adults in 2 rooms. No can do. I blocked the rooms so they didn't book online.