IWB what do you think

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jamesandjill

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May 1, 2016
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was looking in to IWB does anyone use them and is it worth it know they take 2% from your site bookings and 5% from their site bookings
 
What is it? Never heard of it. Looked it up. Web site is so out of date I would never use someone with an old site like that! I am sure they don't show up well for inns doing business
looked up reviews no one ever got any from them!!!
 
I seriously have no idea how anyone finds that website. We've had several emails from them, but probably 10 years ago purporting to be sending guests to us.
No guest info. Just that someone had booked a room for X date. What a panic situation! Who are these people saying they've sent a guest to us???
No guest. No reservation. Just a bunch of hooey.
 
If you are willing to spend money on such poor sites why not pay for reservation key and let it handle your booking?
 
ReservationKey will be the best bang for your buck. I am in Podunk with 3 rooms and hundreds of hotel rooms around me. For me to recommend something it has to be affordable (I mean for broke, small inns) and produce. Two online reservations a year more than pays the annual cost. And RezKey has SO many features to make life easier.
 
No. Never heard of them. My opinion? Did they email you to try to sell their service? They do that really well. The rest, not so great.
Googled them and their pitch is "Cheap hotels, holiday reservations, and online hotel bookings'
Your rates are not 'cheap' ... why go with this? Please listen to the wise ones on this forum who give you their honest opinions. They've been in business for years and know what they are talking about.
You said your money is tight, and what you really need is a reliable online reservation system, not a cheesy third party booking site with an outdated website that advertises CHEAP.
Being honest.
 
No. Never heard of them. My opinion? Did they email you to try to sell their service? They do that really well. The rest, not so great.
Googled them and their pitch is "Cheap hotels, holiday reservations, and online hotel bookings'
Your rates are not 'cheap' ... why go with this? Please listen to the wise ones on this forum who give you their honest opinions. They've been in business for years and know what they are talking about.
You said your money is tight, and what you really need is a reliable online reservation system, not a cheesy third party booking site with an outdated website that advertises CHEAP.
Being honest..
Thank you for your honesty. I respect all of you immensely. My husband and I are just learning and can you all the advise you all are willing to give. The old owner is just breathing down our throats to use IWB! UGH!!!
 
Easy peasy ... the old owner is not you. Is it lease to own? I hope you've got a legal agreement with your own lawyer.
As for her recommendations/advice: You can say 'Thank you We are considering it.' and then let it go.
I would.
 
No. Never heard of them. My opinion? Did they email you to try to sell their service? They do that really well. The rest, not so great.
Googled them and their pitch is "Cheap hotels, holiday reservations, and online hotel bookings'
Your rates are not 'cheap' ... why go with this? Please listen to the wise ones on this forum who give you their honest opinions. They've been in business for years and know what they are talking about.
You said your money is tight, and what you really need is a reliable online reservation system, not a cheesy third party booking site with an outdated website that advertises CHEAP.
Being honest..
Thank you for your honesty. I respect all of you immensely. My husband and I are just learning and can you all the advise you all are willing to give. The old owner is just breathing down our throats to use IWB! UGH!!!
.
jamesandjill said:
Thank you for your honesty. I respect all of you immensely. My husband and I are just learning and can you all the advise you all are willing to give. The old owner is just breathing down our throats to use IWB! UGH!!!
Why? Why does the old owner care? Ask that question.
Something I used to say to guests who said, ' the previous owners did it like this' - they're not here any longer, we are.
 
Easy peasy ... the old owner is not you. Is it lease to own? I hope you've got a legal agreement with your own lawyer.
As for her recommendations/advice: You can say 'Thank you We are considering it.' and then let it go.
I would..
We are doing a lease to own. We do have a lease agreement that a lawyer did draw up. So do we need a booking agent? If so, why or why not?
Thank you
 
Easy peasy ... the old owner is not you. Is it lease to own? I hope you've got a legal agreement with your own lawyer.
As for her recommendations/advice: You can say 'Thank you We are considering it.' and then let it go.
I would..
We are doing a lease to own. We do have a lease agreement that a lawyer did draw up. So do we need a booking agent? If so, why or why not?
Thank you
.
jamesandjill said:
We are doing a lease to own. We do have a lease agreement that a lawyer did draw up. So do we need a booking agent? If so, why or why not?
Thank you
Define booking agent. What does the mean to you?
 
No. Never heard of them. My opinion? Did they email you to try to sell their service? They do that really well. The rest, not so great.
Googled them and their pitch is "Cheap hotels, holiday reservations, and online hotel bookings'
Your rates are not 'cheap' ... why go with this? Please listen to the wise ones on this forum who give you their honest opinions. They've been in business for years and know what they are talking about.
You said your money is tight, and what you really need is a reliable online reservation system, not a cheesy third party booking site with an outdated website that advertises CHEAP.
Being honest..
Thank you for your honesty. I respect all of you immensely. My husband and I are just learning and can you all the advise you all are willing to give. The old owner is just breathing down our throats to use IWB! UGH!!!
.
jamesandjill said:
Thank you for your honesty. I respect all of you immensely. My husband and I are just learning and can you all the advise you all are willing to give. The old owner is just breathing down our throats to use IWB! UGH!!!
Why? Why does the old owner care? Ask that question.
Something I used to say to guests who said, ' the previous owners did it like this' - they're not here any longer, we are.
.
I spent a lot of time doing that - PO's did XYZ - So? I am not them!
 
Easy peasy ... the old owner is not you. Is it lease to own? I hope you've got a legal agreement with your own lawyer.
As for her recommendations/advice: You can say 'Thank you We are considering it.' and then let it go.
I would..
We are doing a lease to own. We do have a lease agreement that a lawyer did draw up. So do we need a booking agent? If so, why or why not?
Thank you
.
What does your lease agreement say?
What rights does it give the lessor (old owner) in determining how you (the lessee) run the business?
Or is it the case that as long as the lessor receives their lease payments, they shouldn't care?
As to whether or not one needs a booking agent, the answer is no, not necessarily. Here's the thing, though -- going it along requires that you need to do all your own marketing (which you should be doing anyway), but there are up-front costs to get your ads out there, build your website, etc.... Working with booking agents there are usually no up-front costs, rather they just take a commission on every booking they bring you...
 
Easy peasy ... the old owner is not you. Is it lease to own? I hope you've got a legal agreement with your own lawyer.
As for her recommendations/advice: You can say 'Thank you We are considering it.' and then let it go.
I would..
We are doing a lease to own. We do have a lease agreement that a lawyer did draw up. So do we need a booking agent? If so, why or why not?
Thank you
.
I am assuming as long as you make your monthly payment you owe no allegiance to the former owner. Your website is set up, you can take online reservations albeit basic set up. Folks can still book a room on line. Sure reservation key would be great if you can afford it but why pay an OTA that is old and dated and one that majority of innkeepers think is a joke.
We have given you lots of marketing ideas. Use them. If you want something else why not try out air B n B? They will be less expensive. Talk to other innkeepers in your area what if anything do they use?
Only you know how much you can afford to pay out and still make your monthly payment.
I hope owner is not going to try to micromanage you. Don't put up with that!! The place is yours now do what YOU want.
Did your contract have a clause about the old site being redirected to your new site? I
sure hope so.
 
Easy peasy ... the old owner is not you. Is it lease to own? I hope you've got a legal agreement with your own lawyer.
As for her recommendations/advice: You can say 'Thank you We are considering it.' and then let it go.
I would..
We are doing a lease to own. We do have a lease agreement that a lawyer did draw up. So do we need a booking agent? If so, why or why not?
Thank you
.
If you're saying that the prior owner was using IWB then you should be in a position to know if the business has been gettiing results from that use and if it was of value to the business and make your choice from that information.
In 25 years we have never had a booking agent or online travel agent connection, different from you as a tiny mom and pop motel and we did get to keep old name and phone for the business. I joined the local chambers and tourism organization, yes we do get more walk in business I suppose.
We always kept our reservations in a paper book, but this group sold me on the idea of Reservation Key and I feel it has been very useful for the six months that we have used the program, small cost for the benefits as there was a cost for just printing the books that I was using. Will we in the future attempt to use an OTA now that we have the ability to book online, I still don't know the answer to that, but generally I feel that when people are in the area I'm getting my share of the business. Our area is seasonal, also a weekend area, I tend to doubt that giving away part of my income to an OTA would do much to add to the weekday business as the people just are not here looking for rooms.
 
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