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JunieBJones (JBJ)

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I gave iloveinns a full year and a half or so and other than two BOGO I have had no other bookings that I know of from this directory. My statz do not show the referrals coming in strong either.
Guys, do we just bite the bullet and pay for these other directories for "name recognition" ie we are found all over the place and hope the guest eventually falls onto our website from one of them?
What are your thoughts?
I dropped LanierBB after 3 years of ZILCH. I dropped BBExplorer as it was west coast based and brought in zilch. I am sticking with the rest of these as long as possible.
 
I signed up for another year. Hoping this iPhone thing brings them in. But, yes, they are lower on referrals than my own blog is. And, yes, I know all about inns with reviews getting more views than inns without. Sorry, I cannot dilute the meager reviews I do get by spreading them out all over the place.
 
I have got some bookings from them - several of the BOGOs, and one two-nighter just this past weekend from their website. Lanier is looking bad for a renewal next time. They did some SEO stuff a few years ago which put them up in the rankings for a while but we're just not getting the referrals to our website from them.
 
Since we are in slower season right now I've been tempted to add them, but I Love Inns does not even come up on page one for searches in my town, and I don't see why I should buy into them. Even if there are people loyal to that site, what is the chances of any precentage of them coming to Charlottesville? But then I see the other inns of my quality in there.
Lanier at least comes up on a search for Charlottesville B&B. But I have heard nothing good about the site. People I know dropped her long ago. And I think I heard about her or her site trying to sell furniture as well? Not something I would want to be part of.
Is anyone getting good bookings from Lanier?
Riki
 
I had iloveinns the first year I did this and never got one referral. It seems like other b and b's in my area dropped out as well. No one bothers with Pam Lanier either. I have just stuck with bbonline.com and bedandbreakfast.com and get referals from both. I also just added bnbfinder.com to give them a try.
 
I had iloveinns the first year I did this and never got one referral. It seems like other b and b's in my area dropped out as well. No one bothers with Pam Lanier either. I have just stuck with bbonline.com and bedandbreakfast.com and get referals from both. I also just added bnbfinder.com to give them a try..
oceans said:
I had iloveinns the first year I did this and never got one referral. It seems like other b and b's in my area dropped out as well. No one bothers with Pam Lanier either. I have just stuck with bbonline.com and bedandbreakfast.com and get referals from both. I also just added bnbfinder.com to give them a try.
BnBfinder is okay, enough for me to keep them. Not a super referrer, but a couple rooms per year.
 
I have had a few BOGO's over the past 2-3 years we have been listed on i love inns but mostly the calls I get WANT to use the BOGO at times that our listing says are not valid. I think I have had only 1-2 guests that see my book (we did the cover thing) and say they use one when they travel.
(Side note: Most people only buy the book because we are on the cover and want to show others, otherwise they are not an easy sell - well, here anyway.
I Love Inns and Lanier are both VERY low on referrals to our site and less on calls. They both are well behind our own website, bbonline and bandb when searching 'bed and breakfast my town'. The hesitancy I have about not renewing is the fact of the 'unknown'....all these people who say they found us searching google or yahoo. I have had many calls that say they are on MY website yet do not see this or that so I know they are on a directory listing somewhere. Sometimes I think and ask what it says at top of their monitor www? before I say type myplace dot com to see more room pics.
My thinging is that over the next few years directories may, for the most part, fade away. Just look at the phone book, how many times do you really look a number up in the phone book, you go to the computer. Now for a while I went to yellowpages dot com to search, now I just search for the business straight from Google. I only revert back to the bound book when I come up dry which is becoming more and more rare. So the yellow pages listing is also on my non-renewal list which will save me a whopping $40 p mth.
 
I had iloveinns the first year I did this and never got one referral. It seems like other b and b's in my area dropped out as well. No one bothers with Pam Lanier either. I have just stuck with bbonline.com and bedandbreakfast.com and get referals from both. I also just added bnbfinder.com to give them a try..
I too think bed and breakfast.com and bbonline at the top.
I am dropping iloveinns this year too.
Who do you feel is next in line. I think everyone will be evaluating where we spend money this next year.
I have never listed with Lanier. She spoke last year at our conference and no one was impressed with her.
 
I had iloveinns the first year I did this and never got one referral. It seems like other b and b's in my area dropped out as well. No one bothers with Pam Lanier either. I have just stuck with bbonline.com and bedandbreakfast.com and get referals from both. I also just added bnbfinder.com to give them a try..
I too think bed and breakfast.com and bbonline at the top.
I am dropping iloveinns this year too.
Who do you feel is next in line. I think everyone will be evaluating where we spend money this next year.
I have never listed with Lanier. She spoke last year at our conference and no one was impressed with her.
.
"she spoke last year at our conference and no one was impressed with her."
She has that effect on people.
devil_smile.gif

 
I had iloveinns the first year I did this and never got one referral. It seems like other b and b's in my area dropped out as well. No one bothers with Pam Lanier either. I have just stuck with bbonline.com and bedandbreakfast.com and get referals from both. I also just added bnbfinder.com to give them a try..
I too think bed and breakfast.com and bbonline at the top.
I am dropping iloveinns this year too.
Who do you feel is next in line. I think everyone will be evaluating where we spend money this next year.
I have never listed with Lanier. She spoke last year at our conference and no one was impressed with her.
.
"she spoke last year at our conference and no one was impressed with her."
She has that effect on people.
devil_smile.gif

.
She was free and maybe that is why they booked her.
 
I had iloveinns the first year I did this and never got one referral. It seems like other b and b's in my area dropped out as well. No one bothers with Pam Lanier either. I have just stuck with bbonline.com and bedandbreakfast.com and get referals from both. I also just added bnbfinder.com to give them a try..
I too think bed and breakfast.com and bbonline at the top.
I am dropping iloveinns this year too.
Who do you feel is next in line. I think everyone will be evaluating where we spend money this next year.
I have never listed with Lanier. She spoke last year at our conference and no one was impressed with her.
.
sandynn said:
I too think bed and breakfast.com and bbonline at the top.
I am dropping iloveinns this year too.
Who do you feel is next in line. I think everyone will be evaluating where we spend money this next year.
I have never listed with Lanier. She spoke last year at our conference and no one was impressed with her.
I have to see when my renewal is up, but I want to give the iPhones a chance to kick in. But so far no go on this directory. Giving away BOGO's twice has been the only definite bookings I have had, and one is coming up this weekend. Yes weekend, remember I said ok.
 
I have had a few BOGO's over the past 2-3 years we have been listed on i love inns but mostly the calls I get WANT to use the BOGO at times that our listing says are not valid. I think I have had only 1-2 guests that see my book (we did the cover thing) and say they use one when they travel.
(Side note: Most people only buy the book because we are on the cover and want to show others, otherwise they are not an easy sell - well, here anyway.
I Love Inns and Lanier are both VERY low on referrals to our site and less on calls. They both are well behind our own website, bbonline and bandb when searching 'bed and breakfast my town'. The hesitancy I have about not renewing is the fact of the 'unknown'....all these people who say they found us searching google or yahoo. I have had many calls that say they are on MY website yet do not see this or that so I know they are on a directory listing somewhere. Sometimes I think and ask what it says at top of their monitor www? before I say type myplace dot com to see more room pics.
My thinging is that over the next few years directories may, for the most part, fade away. Just look at the phone book, how many times do you really look a number up in the phone book, you go to the computer. Now for a while I went to yellowpages dot com to search, now I just search for the business straight from Google. I only revert back to the bound book when I come up dry which is becoming more and more rare. So the yellow pages listing is also on my non-renewal list which will save me a whopping $40 p mth..
Copperhead said:
My thinging is that over the next few years directories may, for the most part, fade away. Just look at the phone book, how many times do you really look a number up in the phone book, you go to the computer. Now for a while I went to yellowpages dot com to search, now I just search for the business straight from Google. I only revert back to the bound book when I come up dry which is becoming more and more rare. So the yellow pages listing is also on my non-renewal list which will save me a whopping $40 p mth.
Those dang yellow pages people call all the time. I do not pay for a listing online and I don't pay for one in the book. We are listed for free in one of the MANY phone books that we receive here every year. One person has said they found us in the phone book by finding that ad.
 
I have had a few BOGO's over the past 2-3 years we have been listed on i love inns but mostly the calls I get WANT to use the BOGO at times that our listing says are not valid. I think I have had only 1-2 guests that see my book (we did the cover thing) and say they use one when they travel.
(Side note: Most people only buy the book because we are on the cover and want to show others, otherwise they are not an easy sell - well, here anyway.
I Love Inns and Lanier are both VERY low on referrals to our site and less on calls. They both are well behind our own website, bbonline and bandb when searching 'bed and breakfast my town'. The hesitancy I have about not renewing is the fact of the 'unknown'....all these people who say they found us searching google or yahoo. I have had many calls that say they are on MY website yet do not see this or that so I know they are on a directory listing somewhere. Sometimes I think and ask what it says at top of their monitor www? before I say type myplace dot com to see more room pics.
My thinging is that over the next few years directories may, for the most part, fade away. Just look at the phone book, how many times do you really look a number up in the phone book, you go to the computer. Now for a while I went to yellowpages dot com to search, now I just search for the business straight from Google. I only revert back to the bound book when I come up dry which is becoming more and more rare. So the yellow pages listing is also on my non-renewal list which will save me a whopping $40 p mth..
It doesn't cost me anything to be listed in the AT & T yellow pages. Are you paying for that scam where they send you a renewal notice to be listed? I was really confused on that at first. I think it is called yellowpages.com. I get a renewal notice about every few months for them and it costs a lot of money!
 
I had iloveinns the first year I did this and never got one referral. It seems like other b and b's in my area dropped out as well. No one bothers with Pam Lanier either. I have just stuck with bbonline.com and bedandbreakfast.com and get referals from both. I also just added bnbfinder.com to give them a try..
I too think bed and breakfast.com and bbonline at the top.
I am dropping iloveinns this year too.
Who do you feel is next in line. I think everyone will be evaluating where we spend money this next year.
I have never listed with Lanier. She spoke last year at our conference and no one was impressed with her.
.
"she spoke last year at our conference and no one was impressed with her."
She has that effect on people.
devil_smile.gif

.
She was free and maybe that is why they booked her.
.
Crap! We had to pay her and crap is what we got. THAT is why I dropped her at teh next renewal. I was not going to give her one penny of my hard-earned money. All she did at our Conference (other than being finernails on the blackboard for everyone who dealt with her) was hand out surveys for us to fill out and then tell us the results of the survey she did at the previous Conference. Grrrrr..... And she was supposed to be a B & B guru! HAA!!! I am saddened to admit it was my idea to get her - BIG Mistake!
 
I have had a few BOGO's over the past 2-3 years we have been listed on i love inns but mostly the calls I get WANT to use the BOGO at times that our listing says are not valid. I think I have had only 1-2 guests that see my book (we did the cover thing) and say they use one when they travel.
(Side note: Most people only buy the book because we are on the cover and want to show others, otherwise they are not an easy sell - well, here anyway.
I Love Inns and Lanier are both VERY low on referrals to our site and less on calls. They both are well behind our own website, bbonline and bandb when searching 'bed and breakfast my town'. The hesitancy I have about not renewing is the fact of the 'unknown'....all these people who say they found us searching google or yahoo. I have had many calls that say they are on MY website yet do not see this or that so I know they are on a directory listing somewhere. Sometimes I think and ask what it says at top of their monitor www? before I say type myplace dot com to see more room pics.
My thinging is that over the next few years directories may, for the most part, fade away. Just look at the phone book, how many times do you really look a number up in the phone book, you go to the computer. Now for a while I went to yellowpages dot com to search, now I just search for the business straight from Google. I only revert back to the bound book when I come up dry which is becoming more and more rare. So the yellow pages listing is also on my non-renewal list which will save me a whopping $40 p mth..
It doesn't cost me anything to be listed in the AT & T yellow pages. Are you paying for that scam where they send you a renewal notice to be listed? I was really confused on that at first. I think it is called yellowpages.com. I get a renewal notice about every few months for them and it costs a lot of money!
.
oceans said:
It doesn't cost me anything to be listed in the AT & T yellow pages. Are you paying for that scam where they send you a renewal notice to be listed? I was really confused on that at first. I think it is called yellowpages.com. I get a renewal notice about every few months for them and it costs a lot of money!
NO I have not fallen into one of those yellow book scams I am referring to Ma Bell! You must have a business phone # as they tack that in with the rate you pay....and it is just a basic listing in the YP of the book to have your listing stand out you pay extra for bold or extra fluff. I use my residential # for my B&B and then have a toll free that rings on that same line through the service I use for my long distance. So I have been paying for a listing in the YP - a 1/2" box with 4 lines including website, address & #...that has gone up to $40mthy this next round - they want $37.50 a mth for a basic listing.
The issue is WHO is using this any more? Not many according to my stats....since this is a phone book, interested parties will more than likely call before using the web or they would have done so 1st! I ALWAYs ask - how did ya find us...the # of replies & then bookings from those saying Ma Bell's YP, do not begin to pay for my listing let alone any profit - so scratch that!
 
I dropped Lanier today...the rep that called was shocked when I did so. She said well 102 clicked through to your website in the past year! And I told her that the site did not produce 1/2 of 1% of my website stats and I have only recieved 1 inquiry through their site in the past year...
She said they were in the begining stages of a new marketing blitz and that she would call me back in a few months to fill me in on the new stats for the area I was listed. Now, if I am remembering correctly this is what they told me a year ago and I caved and agreed to stay on another year. This year my back is stronger and my belt is tighter!
 
I have had a few BOGO's over the past 2-3 years we have been listed on i love inns but mostly the calls I get WANT to use the BOGO at times that our listing says are not valid. I think I have had only 1-2 guests that see my book (we did the cover thing) and say they use one when they travel.
(Side note: Most people only buy the book because we are on the cover and want to show others, otherwise they are not an easy sell - well, here anyway.
I Love Inns and Lanier are both VERY low on referrals to our site and less on calls. They both are well behind our own website, bbonline and bandb when searching 'bed and breakfast my town'. The hesitancy I have about not renewing is the fact of the 'unknown'....all these people who say they found us searching google or yahoo. I have had many calls that say they are on MY website yet do not see this or that so I know they are on a directory listing somewhere. Sometimes I think and ask what it says at top of their monitor www? before I say type myplace dot com to see more room pics.
My thinging is that over the next few years directories may, for the most part, fade away. Just look at the phone book, how many times do you really look a number up in the phone book, you go to the computer. Now for a while I went to yellowpages dot com to search, now I just search for the business straight from Google. I only revert back to the bound book when I come up dry which is becoming more and more rare. So the yellow pages listing is also on my non-renewal list which will save me a whopping $40 p mth..
It doesn't cost me anything to be listed in the AT & T yellow pages. Are you paying for that scam where they send you a renewal notice to be listed? I was really confused on that at first. I think it is called yellowpages.com. I get a renewal notice about every few months for them and it costs a lot of money!
.
oceans said:
It doesn't cost me anything to be listed in the AT & T yellow pages. Are you paying for that scam where they send you a renewal notice to be listed? I was really confused on that at first. I think it is called yellowpages.com. I get a renewal notice about every few months for them and it costs a lot of money!
NO I have not fallen into one of those yellow book scams I am referring to Ma Bell! You must have a business phone # as they tack that in with the rate you pay....and it is just a basic listing in the YP of the book to have your listing stand out you pay extra for bold or extra fluff. I use my residential # for my B&B and then have a toll free that rings on that same line through the service I use for my long distance. So I have been paying for a listing in the YP - a 1/2" box with 4 lines including website, address & #...that has gone up to $40mthy this next round - they want $37.50 a mth for a basic listing.
The issue is WHO is using this any more? Not many according to my stats....since this is a phone book, interested parties will more than likely call before using the web or they would have done so 1st! I ALWAYs ask - how did ya find us...the # of replies & then bookings from those saying Ma Bell's YP, do not begin to pay for my listing let alone any profit - so scratch that!
.
Back in the days when we were traveling with the beasts, we would get a handful of dines (so long ago you could make a call for a dime), open the YP and start calling for availability when we decided to stop for the night. Back in those day, I would not have considered failing to be on the YP. Fast forward to today - travelers today are smarter and know you need reservations and they look on the Internet, GPS (if it is a last minute decision not YP), iPhones, etc. They do not HAVE the YP for my area!
Heck, the landline phone companies are having a problem as more and more people dump them for the cell phone.
We are a residence and had a phone as a residence (which we still have and use totally) and financially it would have been very stupid to get a business phone. Here it would have been $70 per month plus taxes plus 10 cents (this I do not remember if it was per call or per minute) for each call whether incoming or outgoing - per a friend who had a business line. I am, as a residence, paying not much more than that per month for my 2 lines (one is dedicated to the dial-up, fax, and cc machine - they share a modem).
 
I dropped Lanier today...the rep that called was shocked when I did so. She said well 102 clicked through to your website in the past year! And I told her that the site did not produce 1/2 of 1% of my website stats and I have only recieved 1 inquiry through their site in the past year...
She said they were in the begining stages of a new marketing blitz and that she would call me back in a few months to fill me in on the new stats for the area I was listed. Now, if I am remembering correctly this is what they told me a year ago and I caved and agreed to stay on another year. This year my back is stronger and my belt is tighter!.
Copperhead said:
I dropped Lanier today...the rep that called was shocked when I did so. She said well 102 clicked through to your website in the past year! And I told her that the site did not produce 1/2 of 1% of my website stats and I have only recieved 1 inquiry through their site in the past year...
She said they were in the begining stages of a new marketing blitz and that she would call me back in a few months to fill me in on the new stats for the area I was listed. Now, if I am remembering correctly this is what they told me a year ago and I caved and agreed to stay on another year. This year my back is stronger and my belt is tighter!
When I cancelled they wanted to know why and it was pretty much the same thing. I told them that a hefty percentage of referrals from their site were bounces so I thought we weren't a good fit, that their clients must be looking for something I wasn't offering. And seriously? 102 referrals for a YEAR? You, any of us, should be getting that per month at least.
 
I have had a few BOGO's over the past 2-3 years we have been listed on i love inns but mostly the calls I get WANT to use the BOGO at times that our listing says are not valid. I think I have had only 1-2 guests that see my book (we did the cover thing) and say they use one when they travel.
(Side note: Most people only buy the book because we are on the cover and want to show others, otherwise they are not an easy sell - well, here anyway.
I Love Inns and Lanier are both VERY low on referrals to our site and less on calls. They both are well behind our own website, bbonline and bandb when searching 'bed and breakfast my town'. The hesitancy I have about not renewing is the fact of the 'unknown'....all these people who say they found us searching google or yahoo. I have had many calls that say they are on MY website yet do not see this or that so I know they are on a directory listing somewhere. Sometimes I think and ask what it says at top of their monitor www? before I say type myplace dot com to see more room pics.
My thinging is that over the next few years directories may, for the most part, fade away. Just look at the phone book, how many times do you really look a number up in the phone book, you go to the computer. Now for a while I went to yellowpages dot com to search, now I just search for the business straight from Google. I only revert back to the bound book when I come up dry which is becoming more and more rare. So the yellow pages listing is also on my non-renewal list which will save me a whopping $40 p mth..
It doesn't cost me anything to be listed in the AT & T yellow pages. Are you paying for that scam where they send you a renewal notice to be listed? I was really confused on that at first. I think it is called yellowpages.com. I get a renewal notice about every few months for them and it costs a lot of money!
.
oceans said:
It doesn't cost me anything to be listed in the AT & T yellow pages. Are you paying for that scam where they send you a renewal notice to be listed? I was really confused on that at first. I think it is called yellowpages.com. I get a renewal notice about every few months for them and it costs a lot of money!
NO I have not fallen into one of those yellow book scams I am referring to Ma Bell! You must have a business phone # as they tack that in with the rate you pay....and it is just a basic listing in the YP of the book to have your listing stand out you pay extra for bold or extra fluff. I use my residential # for my B&B and then have a toll free that rings on that same line through the service I use for my long distance. So I have been paying for a listing in the YP - a 1/2" box with 4 lines including website, address & #...that has gone up to $40mthy this next round - they want $37.50 a mth for a basic listing.
The issue is WHO is using this any more? Not many according to my stats....since this is a phone book, interested parties will more than likely call before using the web or they would have done so 1st! I ALWAYs ask - how did ya find us...the # of replies & then bookings from those saying Ma Bell's YP, do not begin to pay for my listing let alone any profit - so scratch that!
.
Back in the days when we were traveling with the beasts, we would get a handful of dines (so long ago you could make a call for a dime), open the YP and start calling for availability when we decided to stop for the night. Back in those day, I would not have considered failing to be on the YP. Fast forward to today - travelers today are smarter and know you need reservations and they look on the Internet, GPS (if it is a last minute decision not YP), iPhones, etc. They do not HAVE the YP for my area!
Heck, the landline phone companies are having a problem as more and more people dump them for the cell phone.
We are a residence and had a phone as a residence (which we still have and use totally) and financially it would have been very stupid to get a business phone. Here it would have been $70 per month plus taxes plus 10 cents (this I do not remember if it was per call or per minute) for each call whether incoming or outgoing - per a friend who had a business line. I am, as a residence, paying not much more than that per month for my 2 lines (one is dedicated to the dial-up, fax, and cc machine - they share a modem).
.
I agree, very few other than locals using the YP any more. And 800-Goog-411 (800-466-4411) on a cell phone is still the coolest thing and a lifesaver when on the road.
 
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