Problems with the Webervations move

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egoodell

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Does anyone us InnReserve, the management software that is Access based? I know Catlady used to use it.
Well since Bed and Breakfast bought Webervations, I think what they did recently was to move the system to their own server and people were having problems with their booking calendars. So I've been keeping an eye on mine.
But imagine my suprise this morning when I went to print an invoice and could not do it. I also cannot enter new bookings. I get a message "Error accessing file. Network connection may have been lost"
Then I get pages and pages of code. When I "X" out, I get, "This command will stop the debugger"
Now, I am still stuck on dialup so it may be a coincidence, but I happen to know others had to call to get their systems to work after this move.
I don't see an 800 number for Webervations - it shows an Ohio phone number.
I suppose I'll have to pay for a long distance call to get this resolved. I went to bedand breakfast.com's website and their 800 number says the office is closed.
Riki
 
"It remains to be seen if bandb will bring in the 10-fold dollars that a good marketing campaign should. But that's a decision for next November. "
I've been working in marketing for almost twenty years... heck I even got my masters in marketing. On average we deliver even more than that. Maybe we've spoiled people, but a 10-fold return is an unbelievable, record-breaking, career-making, too-good-to-be true return on investment. I'd be thrilled to death with a 3X return, and happy as the day is long with a 2X return. I'd happy just to see a break-even campaign in a lot of instances. 10X may be what you feel is appropriate, but in marketing worlds, that is not a threshold very often even considered.
If you look at marketing as a financial investment - good financial investments over a long period of time often return 10-15% (obviously huge generalization), and secure investments more like 4%. So if you are deciding to take your money out of the bank and spend on marketing, or leave it in there - and you can make 10X on your money through marketing - you have found the Holy Grail of what to do with your resources..
JBanczak said:
"It remains to be seen if bandb will bring in the 10-fold dollars that a good marketing campaign should. But that's a decision for next November. "
I've been working in marketing for almost twenty years... heck I even got my masters in marketing. On average we deliver even more than that. Maybe we've spoiled people, but a 10-fold return is an unbelievable, record-breaking, career-making, too-good-to-be true return on investment. I'd be thrilled to death with a 3X return, and happy as the day is long with a 2X return. I'd happy just to see a break-even campaign in a lot of instances. 10X may be what you feel is appropriate, but in marketing worlds, that is not a threshold very often even considered.
If you look at marketing as a financial investment - good financial investments over a long period of time often return 10-15% (obviously huge generalization), and secure investments more like 4%. So if you are deciding to take your money out of the bank and spend on marketing, or leave it in there - and you can make 10X on your money through marketing - you have found the Holy Grail of what to do with your resources.
John,
Are you seriously telling me I should only expect to pull in $800-$1200 off my $400 paid subscription to bandb? You're kidding, right? Why would I even bother if I could only plan on getting a return of 4 room nights out of my listing in an entire YEAR? I'm expecting that kind of return per MONTH. You can't be serious because you guys keep touting how some innkeepers have increased occupancy by 20% by listing with you. You said yourself somewhere in here that your site has a proven record (in most locations) for very good traffic, lots of click-thrus and low bounce rates, that certainly has to translate into more than $400 in bookings.
If you are serious then your marketing should state that. "Most B&B's on our directory can expect to see and additional $400/year in revenue once their listing is placed."
Break even is a joke. No one lists on a directory to break even. No one buys an ad to break even. And if that's what happens they're spending their money in the wrong place. I expect listing with you to provide real revenue. Simply paying for the listing is not revenue. 2x the listing price isn't worth it, either.
Given this has been discussed to death and we really can't know where guests found our listings online, I always figure that they err in your favor sometimes, and in someone else's favor other times. That said, I would not have renewed if you weren't hitting close to 10X return for me. A little more, a little less, but a good average hovering around 10X these past 5 years.
.
"Are you seriously telling me I should only expect to pull in $800-$1200 off my $400 paid subscription to bandb?"
Do you really think that is what I was saying?
If you require a 10X return on any marketing spend - then you will be disappointed. If you only got $800-$1200 back on your $400 subscription from us, then you would be far below the results we regular see and hear from innkeepers. But if I was an innkeeper, and I got $1200 back from a site that was $400 - I'd pay for that site all day long, and I'd be wealthier because of it.
Particularly becuase $1200 is what you positively, absolutely KNOW you got from the site, there is always business you cannot track, and if at the end of the year you would have more money in the bank than if you didn't advertise there.
The big reason we went monthly is to make the financials more manageable and match revenues better for innkeepers. Going monthly is not easy for us - 12X the CC charges, 12X the billing issues, but you revenues don't all come in during one month, so seems like your costs shouldn't. Putting up $400 in January if you are seasonal slow may be a lot to lay out if you don't see a ton of reservations until April - but with monthly payments your cash outflow is much better , for reservations you might get in April... which should further help make a positive ROI more affordable.
.
I'm trying not to nitpick here, but you keep bringing up more issues...keep in mind that I PAY for the privilege of monthly billing. It's not coming out of your pocket, I'm paying the cc processing fee by being charged more for monthly billing.
And let's not forget that this is now yearly billing. I am stuck with this bill for a year. Can't get out of it. Can't terminate. Stuck. So if my state starts showing returns like VA does, I have NO recourse. You have your money and I have squat.
.
btw - has anyone checked google for Virginia Bed and Breakfast lately? We've been on page one the last few times I have checked, and again today.
.
Edited: I moved this to this thread as it was in the unrelated directory price thread. -swirt
No, I never check for Virginia Bed and Breakfast. I'm interested in Charlottesville Bed and Breakfast.
Meanwhile, I don't see an 800 number for finding out why Webervations won't let my InnReserve system work. Imagine my suprise on Sunday morning when I could not enter a new booking or print an invoice while my people were standing there to check out.
It is telling me "Error accessing file. Network connection may have been lost"
I was not on the internet - was just trying to print an invoice. So I tried it with my dialup connection and it still will not work. I'm getting pages and pages of code and when I exit it tells me that "This action will stop the debugger"
InnReserve is an access based software that connects to Webervations when a reservation is entered so I can only assume the move of Webervations has created this problem.
But you have no number for me to call for help. At least none that are accessable on a Sunday morning when I'm checking out guests. It appears I have to wait until a normal work day.
Riki
 
I had problems with the transition and online booking was not available for most of a full day. I don't use GuestAll, though, so my problems have been resolved. The new support phone number is not toll-free; it's 740-380-3807.
 
I had problems with the transition and online booking was not available for most of a full day. I don't use GuestAll, though, so my problems have been resolved. The new support phone number is not toll-free; it's 740-380-3807..
Thanks, but I'm not on Guest-All, I'm on Inn Reserve. I emailed my webmaster Jeremy, who has responded to me within minutes on a Sunday morning with the phone number and email of who to contact. TALK ABOUT SERVICE!!!
Jeremy Robinson
EW3D/SuperStatZ
1-540-348-6326
1-877-777-1407
mailto:[email protected]

People if you're lookig for somone to host your website go to him! Who else would respond immediately on a Sunday morning but a former innkeeper who knows we're all checking people out and busy!!! And might need help!!!
Of course I can't reach the Webervations help until Monday morning - when I'll be at work at the university. At least he is available until 7pm. I'll have to rush home and call and hope he's available.
Riki
 
"It remains to be seen if bandb will bring in the 10-fold dollars that a good marketing campaign should. But that's a decision for next November. "
I've been working in marketing for almost twenty years... heck I even got my masters in marketing. On average we deliver even more than that. Maybe we've spoiled people, but a 10-fold return is an unbelievable, record-breaking, career-making, too-good-to-be true return on investment. I'd be thrilled to death with a 3X return, and happy as the day is long with a 2X return. I'd happy just to see a break-even campaign in a lot of instances. 10X may be what you feel is appropriate, but in marketing worlds, that is not a threshold very often even considered.
If you look at marketing as a financial investment - good financial investments over a long period of time often return 10-15% (obviously huge generalization), and secure investments more like 4%. So if you are deciding to take your money out of the bank and spend on marketing, or leave it in there - and you can make 10X on your money through marketing - you have found the Holy Grail of what to do with your resources..
JBanczak said:
"It remains to be seen if bandb will bring in the 10-fold dollars that a good marketing campaign should. But that's a decision for next November. "
I've been working in marketing for almost twenty years... heck I even got my masters in marketing. On average we deliver even more than that. Maybe we've spoiled people, but a 10-fold return is an unbelievable, record-breaking, career-making, too-good-to-be true return on investment. I'd be thrilled to death with a 3X return, and happy as the day is long with a 2X return. I'd happy just to see a break-even campaign in a lot of instances. 10X may be what you feel is appropriate, but in marketing worlds, that is not a threshold very often even considered.
If you look at marketing as a financial investment - good financial investments over a long period of time often return 10-15% (obviously huge generalization), and secure investments more like 4%. So if you are deciding to take your money out of the bank and spend on marketing, or leave it in there - and you can make 10X on your money through marketing - you have found the Holy Grail of what to do with your resources.
John,
Are you seriously telling me I should only expect to pull in $800-$1200 off my $400 paid subscription to bandb? You're kidding, right? Why would I even bother if I could only plan on getting a return of 4 room nights out of my listing in an entire YEAR? I'm expecting that kind of return per MONTH. You can't be serious because you guys keep touting how some innkeepers have increased occupancy by 20% by listing with you. You said yourself somewhere in here that your site has a proven record (in most locations) for very good traffic, lots of click-thrus and low bounce rates, that certainly has to translate into more than $400 in bookings.
If you are serious then your marketing should state that. "Most B&B's on our directory can expect to see and additional $400/year in revenue once their listing is placed."
Break even is a joke. No one lists on a directory to break even. No one buys an ad to break even. And if that's what happens they're spending their money in the wrong place. I expect listing with you to provide real revenue. Simply paying for the listing is not revenue. 2x the listing price isn't worth it, either.
Given this has been discussed to death and we really can't know where guests found our listings online, I always figure that they err in your favor sometimes, and in someone else's favor other times. That said, I would not have renewed if you weren't hitting close to 10X return for me. A little more, a little less, but a good average hovering around 10X these past 5 years.
.
"Are you seriously telling me I should only expect to pull in $800-$1200 off my $400 paid subscription to bandb?"
Do you really think that is what I was saying?
If you require a 10X return on any marketing spend - then you will be disappointed. If you only got $800-$1200 back on your $400 subscription from us, then you would be far below the results we regular see and hear from innkeepers. But if I was an innkeeper, and I got $1200 back from a site that was $400 - I'd pay for that site all day long, and I'd be wealthier because of it.
Particularly becuase $1200 is what you positively, absolutely KNOW you got from the site, there is always business you cannot track, and if at the end of the year you would have more money in the bank than if you didn't advertise there.
The big reason we went monthly is to make the financials more manageable and match revenues better for innkeepers. Going monthly is not easy for us - 12X the CC charges, 12X the billing issues, but you revenues don't all come in during one month, so seems like your costs shouldn't. Putting up $400 in January if you are seasonal slow may be a lot to lay out if you don't see a ton of reservations until April - but with monthly payments your cash outflow is much better , for reservations you might get in April... which should further help make a positive ROI more affordable.
.
I'm trying not to nitpick here, but you keep bringing up more issues...keep in mind that I PAY for the privilege of monthly billing. It's not coming out of your pocket, I'm paying the cc processing fee by being charged more for monthly billing.
And let's not forget that this is now yearly billing. I am stuck with this bill for a year. Can't get out of it. Can't terminate. Stuck. So if my state starts showing returns like VA does, I have NO recourse. You have your money and I have squat.
.
btw - has anyone checked google for Virginia Bed and Breakfast lately? We've been on page one the last few times I have checked, and again today.
.
Edited: I moved this to this thread as it was in the unrelated directory price thread. -swirt
No, I never check for Virginia Bed and Breakfast. I'm interested in Charlottesville Bed and Breakfast.
Meanwhile, I don't see an 800 number for finding out why Webervations won't let my InnReserve system work. Imagine my suprise on Sunday morning when I could not enter a new booking or print an invoice while my people were standing there to check out.
It is telling me "Error accessing file. Network connection may have been lost"
I was not on the internet - was just trying to print an invoice. So I tried it with my dialup connection and it still will not work. I'm getting pages and pages of code and when I exit it tells me that "This action will stop the debugger"
InnReserve is an access based software that connects to Webervations when a reservation is entered so I can only assume the move of Webervations has created this problem.
But you have no number for me to call for help. At least none that are accessable on a Sunday morning when I'm checking out guests. It appears I have to wait until a normal work day.
Riki
.
We are the first listing on that term...
Innreserve should not have been affected with the Webervations move, but we should certainly figure out what is going on.
I'm not sure I fully understand what you are doing though - Innreserve is on your PC and is a standalone program. Printing an invoice from Innreserve should have nothing to do with Webervations at all from what I know? Particularly if you are not connected to the web - Webervations is online only... so it seems like an innreserve issue to me.
Webervations has never had an 800 number to my knowledge, but the actual phone number is listed right on the homeapge. There isn't anyone in until tomorrow though. I already emailed our product manager who tends to work weekends, so I'll let you know what I hear.
 
The debugger error sounds like an Access error. From my understanding of how Innreserve works it should be unrelated to whether webervations is up and running or not. Sounds like you need to be contacting the builder of innreserve, not webervations.
 
I had problems with the transition and online booking was not available for most of a full day. I don't use GuestAll, though, so my problems have been resolved. The new support phone number is not toll-free; it's 740-380-3807..
Thanks, but I'm not on Guest-All, I'm on Inn Reserve. I emailed my webmaster Jeremy, who has responded to me within minutes on a Sunday morning with the phone number and email of who to contact. TALK ABOUT SERVICE!!!
Jeremy Robinson
EW3D/SuperStatZ
1-540-348-6326
1-877-777-1407
mailto:[email protected]

People if you're lookig for somone to host your website go to him! Who else would respond immediately on a Sunday morning but a former innkeeper who knows we're all checking people out and busy!!! And might need help!!!
Of course I can't reach the Webervations help until Monday morning - when I'll be at work at the university. At least he is available until 7pm. I'll have to rush home and call and hope he's available.
Riki
.
I do not think you have to rush as fast as you think. I believe they are in a different time zone and if it is Calif you have an extra 3 hours since their 7 is our 10.
 
What does printing an invoice from Inn Reserve have to do with webervations??? Your innreserve is a separate program working from your computer. There is no reason webervations would have anything to do with printing a reservation. OR were you trying to upload or download reservation requests from webervations? I do not understand your issue.
 
What does printing an invoice from Inn Reserve have to do with webervations??? Your innreserve is a separate program working from your computer. There is no reason webervations would have anything to do with printing a reservation. OR were you trying to upload or download reservation requests from webervations? I do not understand your issue..
If it is not webervations why does the error say it can't connect online? I was not trying to upload, I'm jjust tring to enter or print and it immediately states it has online problems. I know others have had problems operating their software which connects to webervations as well and they had to call this fellow to get it straightened out. Just another reason I would not want to depend on a web based management system.
I'll find out tomorrow.
Riki
 
The debugger error sounds like an Access error. From my understanding of how Innreserve works it should be unrelated to whether webervations is up and running or not. Sounds like you need to be contacting the builder of innreserve, not webervations..
Okay I will. But I have been running this program for 1.6 years with no problems. Webervations is moved and now I have problems and others have as well. Pretty big coincidence...
RIki
 
"It remains to be seen if bandb will bring in the 10-fold dollars that a good marketing campaign should. But that's a decision for next November. "
I've been working in marketing for almost twenty years... heck I even got my masters in marketing. On average we deliver even more than that. Maybe we've spoiled people, but a 10-fold return is an unbelievable, record-breaking, career-making, too-good-to-be true return on investment. I'd be thrilled to death with a 3X return, and happy as the day is long with a 2X return. I'd happy just to see a break-even campaign in a lot of instances. 10X may be what you feel is appropriate, but in marketing worlds, that is not a threshold very often even considered.
If you look at marketing as a financial investment - good financial investments over a long period of time often return 10-15% (obviously huge generalization), and secure investments more like 4%. So if you are deciding to take your money out of the bank and spend on marketing, or leave it in there - and you can make 10X on your money through marketing - you have found the Holy Grail of what to do with your resources..
JBanczak said:
"It remains to be seen if bandb will bring in the 10-fold dollars that a good marketing campaign should. But that's a decision for next November. "
I've been working in marketing for almost twenty years... heck I even got my masters in marketing. On average we deliver even more than that. Maybe we've spoiled people, but a 10-fold return is an unbelievable, record-breaking, career-making, too-good-to-be true return on investment. I'd be thrilled to death with a 3X return, and happy as the day is long with a 2X return. I'd happy just to see a break-even campaign in a lot of instances. 10X may be what you feel is appropriate, but in marketing worlds, that is not a threshold very often even considered.
If you look at marketing as a financial investment - good financial investments over a long period of time often return 10-15% (obviously huge generalization), and secure investments more like 4%. So if you are deciding to take your money out of the bank and spend on marketing, or leave it in there - and you can make 10X on your money through marketing - you have found the Holy Grail of what to do with your resources.
John,
Are you seriously telling me I should only expect to pull in $800-$1200 off my $400 paid subscription to bandb? You're kidding, right? Why would I even bother if I could only plan on getting a return of 4 room nights out of my listing in an entire YEAR? I'm expecting that kind of return per MONTH. You can't be serious because you guys keep touting how some innkeepers have increased occupancy by 20% by listing with you. You said yourself somewhere in here that your site has a proven record (in most locations) for very good traffic, lots of click-thrus and low bounce rates, that certainly has to translate into more than $400 in bookings.
If you are serious then your marketing should state that. "Most B&B's on our directory can expect to see and additional $400/year in revenue once their listing is placed."
Break even is a joke. No one lists on a directory to break even. No one buys an ad to break even. And if that's what happens they're spending their money in the wrong place. I expect listing with you to provide real revenue. Simply paying for the listing is not revenue. 2x the listing price isn't worth it, either.
Given this has been discussed to death and we really can't know where guests found our listings online, I always figure that they err in your favor sometimes, and in someone else's favor other times. That said, I would not have renewed if you weren't hitting close to 10X return for me. A little more, a little less, but a good average hovering around 10X these past 5 years.
.
"Are you seriously telling me I should only expect to pull in $800-$1200 off my $400 paid subscription to bandb?"
Do you really think that is what I was saying?
If you require a 10X return on any marketing spend - then you will be disappointed. If you only got $800-$1200 back on your $400 subscription from us, then you would be far below the results we regular see and hear from innkeepers. But if I was an innkeeper, and I got $1200 back from a site that was $400 - I'd pay for that site all day long, and I'd be wealthier because of it.
Particularly becuase $1200 is what you positively, absolutely KNOW you got from the site, there is always business you cannot track, and if at the end of the year you would have more money in the bank than if you didn't advertise there.
The big reason we went monthly is to make the financials more manageable and match revenues better for innkeepers. Going monthly is not easy for us - 12X the CC charges, 12X the billing issues, but you revenues don't all come in during one month, so seems like your costs shouldn't. Putting up $400 in January if you are seasonal slow may be a lot to lay out if you don't see a ton of reservations until April - but with monthly payments your cash outflow is much better , for reservations you might get in April... which should further help make a positive ROI more affordable.
.
I'm trying not to nitpick here, but you keep bringing up more issues...keep in mind that I PAY for the privilege of monthly billing. It's not coming out of your pocket, I'm paying the cc processing fee by being charged more for monthly billing.
And let's not forget that this is now yearly billing. I am stuck with this bill for a year. Can't get out of it. Can't terminate. Stuck. So if my state starts showing returns like VA does, I have NO recourse. You have your money and I have squat.
.
btw - has anyone checked google for Virginia Bed and Breakfast lately? We've been on page one the last few times I have checked, and again today.
.
Edited: I moved this to this thread as it was in the unrelated directory price thread. -swirt
No, I never check for Virginia Bed and Breakfast. I'm interested in Charlottesville Bed and Breakfast.
Meanwhile, I don't see an 800 number for finding out why Webervations won't let my InnReserve system work. Imagine my suprise on Sunday morning when I could not enter a new booking or print an invoice while my people were standing there to check out.
It is telling me "Error accessing file. Network connection may have been lost"
I was not on the internet - was just trying to print an invoice. So I tried it with my dialup connection and it still will not work. I'm getting pages and pages of code and when I exit it tells me that "This action will stop the debugger"
InnReserve is an access based software that connects to Webervations when a reservation is entered so I can only assume the move of Webervations has created this problem.
But you have no number for me to call for help. At least none that are accessable on a Sunday morning when I'm checking out guests. It appears I have to wait until a normal work day.
Riki
.
We are the first listing on that term...
Innreserve should not have been affected with the Webervations move, but we should certainly figure out what is going on.
I'm not sure I fully understand what you are doing though - Innreserve is on your PC and is a standalone program. Printing an invoice from Innreserve should have nothing to do with Webervations at all from what I know? Particularly if you are not connected to the web - Webervations is online only... so it seems like an innreserve issue to me.
Webervations has never had an 800 number to my knowledge, but the actual phone number is listed right on the homeapge. There isn't anyone in until tomorrow though. I already emailed our product manager who tends to work weekends, so I'll let you know what I hear.
.
I don't know if this is an unhappy coincidence but Webervations is down now for me - I can't log in to the home page - there is a '500 error' and my website shows no availability calendar. I don't use any other GMS but am on Webervations 2.0.
I guess I'll be accused of being glass half-empty again, but this will be the second time since the transition that my online booking will be unavailable for more than 12 hours (assuming no one works on the problem until tomorrow). I've received two online bookings in the last 24 hours and of course, that is the main way to book at night. Not happy
sad_smile.gif

 
"It remains to be seen if bandb will bring in the 10-fold dollars that a good marketing campaign should. But that's a decision for next November. "
I've been working in marketing for almost twenty years... heck I even got my masters in marketing. On average we deliver even more than that. Maybe we've spoiled people, but a 10-fold return is an unbelievable, record-breaking, career-making, too-good-to-be true return on investment. I'd be thrilled to death with a 3X return, and happy as the day is long with a 2X return. I'd happy just to see a break-even campaign in a lot of instances. 10X may be what you feel is appropriate, but in marketing worlds, that is not a threshold very often even considered.
If you look at marketing as a financial investment - good financial investments over a long period of time often return 10-15% (obviously huge generalization), and secure investments more like 4%. So if you are deciding to take your money out of the bank and spend on marketing, or leave it in there - and you can make 10X on your money through marketing - you have found the Holy Grail of what to do with your resources..
JBanczak said:
"It remains to be seen if bandb will bring in the 10-fold dollars that a good marketing campaign should. But that's a decision for next November. "
I've been working in marketing for almost twenty years... heck I even got my masters in marketing. On average we deliver even more than that. Maybe we've spoiled people, but a 10-fold return is an unbelievable, record-breaking, career-making, too-good-to-be true return on investment. I'd be thrilled to death with a 3X return, and happy as the day is long with a 2X return. I'd happy just to see a break-even campaign in a lot of instances. 10X may be what you feel is appropriate, but in marketing worlds, that is not a threshold very often even considered.
If you look at marketing as a financial investment - good financial investments over a long period of time often return 10-15% (obviously huge generalization), and secure investments more like 4%. So if you are deciding to take your money out of the bank and spend on marketing, or leave it in there - and you can make 10X on your money through marketing - you have found the Holy Grail of what to do with your resources.
John,
Are you seriously telling me I should only expect to pull in $800-$1200 off my $400 paid subscription to bandb? You're kidding, right? Why would I even bother if I could only plan on getting a return of 4 room nights out of my listing in an entire YEAR? I'm expecting that kind of return per MONTH. You can't be serious because you guys keep touting how some innkeepers have increased occupancy by 20% by listing with you. You said yourself somewhere in here that your site has a proven record (in most locations) for very good traffic, lots of click-thrus and low bounce rates, that certainly has to translate into more than $400 in bookings.
If you are serious then your marketing should state that. "Most B&B's on our directory can expect to see and additional $400/year in revenue once their listing is placed."
Break even is a joke. No one lists on a directory to break even. No one buys an ad to break even. And if that's what happens they're spending their money in the wrong place. I expect listing with you to provide real revenue. Simply paying for the listing is not revenue. 2x the listing price isn't worth it, either.
Given this has been discussed to death and we really can't know where guests found our listings online, I always figure that they err in your favor sometimes, and in someone else's favor other times. That said, I would not have renewed if you weren't hitting close to 10X return for me. A little more, a little less, but a good average hovering around 10X these past 5 years.
.
"Are you seriously telling me I should only expect to pull in $800-$1200 off my $400 paid subscription to bandb?"
Do you really think that is what I was saying?
If you require a 10X return on any marketing spend - then you will be disappointed. If you only got $800-$1200 back on your $400 subscription from us, then you would be far below the results we regular see and hear from innkeepers. But if I was an innkeeper, and I got $1200 back from a site that was $400 - I'd pay for that site all day long, and I'd be wealthier because of it.
Particularly becuase $1200 is what you positively, absolutely KNOW you got from the site, there is always business you cannot track, and if at the end of the year you would have more money in the bank than if you didn't advertise there.
The big reason we went monthly is to make the financials more manageable and match revenues better for innkeepers. Going monthly is not easy for us - 12X the CC charges, 12X the billing issues, but you revenues don't all come in during one month, so seems like your costs shouldn't. Putting up $400 in January if you are seasonal slow may be a lot to lay out if you don't see a ton of reservations until April - but with monthly payments your cash outflow is much better , for reservations you might get in April... which should further help make a positive ROI more affordable.
.
I'm trying not to nitpick here, but you keep bringing up more issues...keep in mind that I PAY for the privilege of monthly billing. It's not coming out of your pocket, I'm paying the cc processing fee by being charged more for monthly billing.
And let's not forget that this is now yearly billing. I am stuck with this bill for a year. Can't get out of it. Can't terminate. Stuck. So if my state starts showing returns like VA does, I have NO recourse. You have your money and I have squat.
.
btw - has anyone checked google for Virginia Bed and Breakfast lately? We've been on page one the last few times I have checked, and again today.
.
Edited: I moved this to this thread as it was in the unrelated directory price thread. -swirt
No, I never check for Virginia Bed and Breakfast. I'm interested in Charlottesville Bed and Breakfast.
Meanwhile, I don't see an 800 number for finding out why Webervations won't let my InnReserve system work. Imagine my suprise on Sunday morning when I could not enter a new booking or print an invoice while my people were standing there to check out.
It is telling me "Error accessing file. Network connection may have been lost"
I was not on the internet - was just trying to print an invoice. So I tried it with my dialup connection and it still will not work. I'm getting pages and pages of code and when I exit it tells me that "This action will stop the debugger"
InnReserve is an access based software that connects to Webervations when a reservation is entered so I can only assume the move of Webervations has created this problem.
But you have no number for me to call for help. At least none that are accessable on a Sunday morning when I'm checking out guests. It appears I have to wait until a normal work day.
Riki
.
We are the first listing on that term...
Innreserve should not have been affected with the Webervations move, but we should certainly figure out what is going on.
I'm not sure I fully understand what you are doing though - Innreserve is on your PC and is a standalone program. Printing an invoice from Innreserve should have nothing to do with Webervations at all from what I know? Particularly if you are not connected to the web - Webervations is online only... so it seems like an innreserve issue to me.
Webervations has never had an 800 number to my knowledge, but the actual phone number is listed right on the homeapge. There isn't anyone in until tomorrow though. I already emailed our product manager who tends to work weekends, so I'll let you know what I hear.
.
I don't know if this is an unhappy coincidence but Webervations is down now for me - I can't log in to the home page - there is a '500 error' and my website shows no availability calendar. I don't use any other GMS but am on Webervations 2.0.
I guess I'll be accused of being glass half-empty again, but this will be the second time since the transition that my online booking will be unavailable for more than 12 hours (assuming no one works on the problem until tomorrow). I've received two online bookings in the last 24 hours and of course, that is the main way to book at night. Not happy
sad_smile.gif

.
My glass is empty too, I get a technical difficulty, please retry notice... Never happened before..
 
Seems that Webervations is not working at all - 500 error for me too. I do not use a GMS.
While I understand that a change over can create issues and am understanding of this. It would seem as though tht during this time of conversion, there would be (full) support for this until the glitches seem to have worked themselves out.
 
What does printing an invoice from Inn Reserve have to do with webervations??? Your innreserve is a separate program working from your computer. There is no reason webervations would have anything to do with printing a reservation. OR were you trying to upload or download reservation requests from webervations? I do not understand your issue..
If it is not webervations why does the error say it can't connect online? I was not trying to upload, I'm jjust tring to enter or print and it immediately states it has online problems. I know others have had problems operating their software which connects to webervations as well and they had to call this fellow to get it straightened out. Just another reason I would not want to depend on a web based management system.
I'll find out tomorrow.
Riki
.
Hmmm .. curious.
I don't know why it would need to connect online if you are not trying to synchronise one way or the other. It is possible that the scripts are written so that it must connect online even if you are not trying to synchronise, but from a developer point of view that seems pretty silly. Also seems silly that if it was unable to connect you could not print out a receipt or otherwise use the program. That would incapacitate the local program every time a phone line is out or high speed connection is down, which is supposed to be the advantage of having a local system like Innreserve.
It is possible that with webervations being down or moved that Innreserve is incapacitated, but it just seems like a real flaw in the system AND unlikely, since it is completely possible to use Innreserve without ever having to use webervations. They are two completely separate things that have the ability to talk to each other, but are not required to talk to each other.
(This part is for our readers who aren't familiar with InnReserve) InnReserve is a Guest Managment application for Microsoft Access that is created by a company that is not affiliated with the old Webervations company (American Dreams) or bedandbreakfast.com. It is supposed to be a stand alone program for managing guest records, but it has the ability to import information from Webervations and export to Webervations. So the two separate systems can be used together ... usually ;)
 
"It remains to be seen if bandb will bring in the 10-fold dollars that a good marketing campaign should. But that's a decision for next November. "
I've been working in marketing for almost twenty years... heck I even got my masters in marketing. On average we deliver even more than that. Maybe we've spoiled people, but a 10-fold return is an unbelievable, record-breaking, career-making, too-good-to-be true return on investment. I'd be thrilled to death with a 3X return, and happy as the day is long with a 2X return. I'd happy just to see a break-even campaign in a lot of instances. 10X may be what you feel is appropriate, but in marketing worlds, that is not a threshold very often even considered.
If you look at marketing as a financial investment - good financial investments over a long period of time often return 10-15% (obviously huge generalization), and secure investments more like 4%. So if you are deciding to take your money out of the bank and spend on marketing, or leave it in there - and you can make 10X on your money through marketing - you have found the Holy Grail of what to do with your resources..
JBanczak said:
"It remains to be seen if bandb will bring in the 10-fold dollars that a good marketing campaign should. But that's a decision for next November. "
I've been working in marketing for almost twenty years... heck I even got my masters in marketing. On average we deliver even more than that. Maybe we've spoiled people, but a 10-fold return is an unbelievable, record-breaking, career-making, too-good-to-be true return on investment. I'd be thrilled to death with a 3X return, and happy as the day is long with a 2X return. I'd happy just to see a break-even campaign in a lot of instances. 10X may be what you feel is appropriate, but in marketing worlds, that is not a threshold very often even considered.
If you look at marketing as a financial investment - good financial investments over a long period of time often return 10-15% (obviously huge generalization), and secure investments more like 4%. So if you are deciding to take your money out of the bank and spend on marketing, or leave it in there - and you can make 10X on your money through marketing - you have found the Holy Grail of what to do with your resources.
John,
Are you seriously telling me I should only expect to pull in $800-$1200 off my $400 paid subscription to bandb? You're kidding, right? Why would I even bother if I could only plan on getting a return of 4 room nights out of my listing in an entire YEAR? I'm expecting that kind of return per MONTH. You can't be serious because you guys keep touting how some innkeepers have increased occupancy by 20% by listing with you. You said yourself somewhere in here that your site has a proven record (in most locations) for very good traffic, lots of click-thrus and low bounce rates, that certainly has to translate into more than $400 in bookings.
If you are serious then your marketing should state that. "Most B&B's on our directory can expect to see and additional $400/year in revenue once their listing is placed."
Break even is a joke. No one lists on a directory to break even. No one buys an ad to break even. And if that's what happens they're spending their money in the wrong place. I expect listing with you to provide real revenue. Simply paying for the listing is not revenue. 2x the listing price isn't worth it, either.
Given this has been discussed to death and we really can't know where guests found our listings online, I always figure that they err in your favor sometimes, and in someone else's favor other times. That said, I would not have renewed if you weren't hitting close to 10X return for me. A little more, a little less, but a good average hovering around 10X these past 5 years.
.
"Are you seriously telling me I should only expect to pull in $800-$1200 off my $400 paid subscription to bandb?"
Do you really think that is what I was saying?
If you require a 10X return on any marketing spend - then you will be disappointed. If you only got $800-$1200 back on your $400 subscription from us, then you would be far below the results we regular see and hear from innkeepers. But if I was an innkeeper, and I got $1200 back from a site that was $400 - I'd pay for that site all day long, and I'd be wealthier because of it.
Particularly becuase $1200 is what you positively, absolutely KNOW you got from the site, there is always business you cannot track, and if at the end of the year you would have more money in the bank than if you didn't advertise there.
The big reason we went monthly is to make the financials more manageable and match revenues better for innkeepers. Going monthly is not easy for us - 12X the CC charges, 12X the billing issues, but you revenues don't all come in during one month, so seems like your costs shouldn't. Putting up $400 in January if you are seasonal slow may be a lot to lay out if you don't see a ton of reservations until April - but with monthly payments your cash outflow is much better , for reservations you might get in April... which should further help make a positive ROI more affordable.
.
I'm trying not to nitpick here, but you keep bringing up more issues...keep in mind that I PAY for the privilege of monthly billing. It's not coming out of your pocket, I'm paying the cc processing fee by being charged more for monthly billing.
And let's not forget that this is now yearly billing. I am stuck with this bill for a year. Can't get out of it. Can't terminate. Stuck. So if my state starts showing returns like VA does, I have NO recourse. You have your money and I have squat.
.
btw - has anyone checked google for Virginia Bed and Breakfast lately? We've been on page one the last few times I have checked, and again today.
.
Edited: I moved this to this thread as it was in the unrelated directory price thread. -swirt
No, I never check for Virginia Bed and Breakfast. I'm interested in Charlottesville Bed and Breakfast.
Meanwhile, I don't see an 800 number for finding out why Webervations won't let my InnReserve system work. Imagine my suprise on Sunday morning when I could not enter a new booking or print an invoice while my people were standing there to check out.
It is telling me "Error accessing file. Network connection may have been lost"
I was not on the internet - was just trying to print an invoice. So I tried it with my dialup connection and it still will not work. I'm getting pages and pages of code and when I exit it tells me that "This action will stop the debugger"
InnReserve is an access based software that connects to Webervations when a reservation is entered so I can only assume the move of Webervations has created this problem.
But you have no number for me to call for help. At least none that are accessable on a Sunday morning when I'm checking out guests. It appears I have to wait until a normal work day.
Riki
.
We are the first listing on that term...
Innreserve should not have been affected with the Webervations move, but we should certainly figure out what is going on.
I'm not sure I fully understand what you are doing though - Innreserve is on your PC and is a standalone program. Printing an invoice from Innreserve should have nothing to do with Webervations at all from what I know? Particularly if you are not connected to the web - Webervations is online only... so it seems like an innreserve issue to me.
Webervations has never had an 800 number to my knowledge, but the actual phone number is listed right on the homeapge. There isn't anyone in until tomorrow though. I already emailed our product manager who tends to work weekends, so I'll let you know what I hear.
.
I don't know if this is an unhappy coincidence but Webervations is down now for me - I can't log in to the home page - there is a '500 error' and my website shows no availability calendar. I don't use any other GMS but am on Webervations 2.0.
I guess I'll be accused of being glass half-empty again, but this will be the second time since the transition that my online booking will be unavailable for more than 12 hours (assuming no one works on the problem until tomorrow). I've received two online bookings in the last 24 hours and of course, that is the main way to book at night. Not happy
sad_smile.gif

.
My glass is empty too, I get a technical difficulty, please retry notice... Never happened before..
.
Confirmed. I am getting the same error on client's sites who use Webervations 1 and those that switched to Webervations 2. :(
 
"It remains to be seen if bandb will bring in the 10-fold dollars that a good marketing campaign should. But that's a decision for next November. "
I've been working in marketing for almost twenty years... heck I even got my masters in marketing. On average we deliver even more than that. Maybe we've spoiled people, but a 10-fold return is an unbelievable, record-breaking, career-making, too-good-to-be true return on investment. I'd be thrilled to death with a 3X return, and happy as the day is long with a 2X return. I'd happy just to see a break-even campaign in a lot of instances. 10X may be what you feel is appropriate, but in marketing worlds, that is not a threshold very often even considered.
If you look at marketing as a financial investment - good financial investments over a long period of time often return 10-15% (obviously huge generalization), and secure investments more like 4%. So if you are deciding to take your money out of the bank and spend on marketing, or leave it in there - and you can make 10X on your money through marketing - you have found the Holy Grail of what to do with your resources..
JBanczak said:
"It remains to be seen if bandb will bring in the 10-fold dollars that a good marketing campaign should. But that's a decision for next November. "
I've been working in marketing for almost twenty years... heck I even got my masters in marketing. On average we deliver even more than that. Maybe we've spoiled people, but a 10-fold return is an unbelievable, record-breaking, career-making, too-good-to-be true return on investment. I'd be thrilled to death with a 3X return, and happy as the day is long with a 2X return. I'd happy just to see a break-even campaign in a lot of instances. 10X may be what you feel is appropriate, but in marketing worlds, that is not a threshold very often even considered.
If you look at marketing as a financial investment - good financial investments over a long period of time often return 10-15% (obviously huge generalization), and secure investments more like 4%. So if you are deciding to take your money out of the bank and spend on marketing, or leave it in there - and you can make 10X on your money through marketing - you have found the Holy Grail of what to do with your resources.
John,
Are you seriously telling me I should only expect to pull in $800-$1200 off my $400 paid subscription to bandb? You're kidding, right? Why would I even bother if I could only plan on getting a return of 4 room nights out of my listing in an entire YEAR? I'm expecting that kind of return per MONTH. You can't be serious because you guys keep touting how some innkeepers have increased occupancy by 20% by listing with you. You said yourself somewhere in here that your site has a proven record (in most locations) for very good traffic, lots of click-thrus and low bounce rates, that certainly has to translate into more than $400 in bookings.
If you are serious then your marketing should state that. "Most B&B's on our directory can expect to see and additional $400/year in revenue once their listing is placed."
Break even is a joke. No one lists on a directory to break even. No one buys an ad to break even. And if that's what happens they're spending their money in the wrong place. I expect listing with you to provide real revenue. Simply paying for the listing is not revenue. 2x the listing price isn't worth it, either.
Given this has been discussed to death and we really can't know where guests found our listings online, I always figure that they err in your favor sometimes, and in someone else's favor other times. That said, I would not have renewed if you weren't hitting close to 10X return for me. A little more, a little less, but a good average hovering around 10X these past 5 years.
.
"Are you seriously telling me I should only expect to pull in $800-$1200 off my $400 paid subscription to bandb?"
Do you really think that is what I was saying?
If you require a 10X return on any marketing spend - then you will be disappointed. If you only got $800-$1200 back on your $400 subscription from us, then you would be far below the results we regular see and hear from innkeepers. But if I was an innkeeper, and I got $1200 back from a site that was $400 - I'd pay for that site all day long, and I'd be wealthier because of it.
Particularly becuase $1200 is what you positively, absolutely KNOW you got from the site, there is always business you cannot track, and if at the end of the year you would have more money in the bank than if you didn't advertise there.
The big reason we went monthly is to make the financials more manageable and match revenues better for innkeepers. Going monthly is not easy for us - 12X the CC charges, 12X the billing issues, but you revenues don't all come in during one month, so seems like your costs shouldn't. Putting up $400 in January if you are seasonal slow may be a lot to lay out if you don't see a ton of reservations until April - but with monthly payments your cash outflow is much better , for reservations you might get in April... which should further help make a positive ROI more affordable.
.
I'm trying not to nitpick here, but you keep bringing up more issues...keep in mind that I PAY for the privilege of monthly billing. It's not coming out of your pocket, I'm paying the cc processing fee by being charged more for monthly billing.
And let's not forget that this is now yearly billing. I am stuck with this bill for a year. Can't get out of it. Can't terminate. Stuck. So if my state starts showing returns like VA does, I have NO recourse. You have your money and I have squat.
.
btw - has anyone checked google for Virginia Bed and Breakfast lately? We've been on page one the last few times I have checked, and again today.
.
Edited: I moved this to this thread as it was in the unrelated directory price thread. -swirt
No, I never check for Virginia Bed and Breakfast. I'm interested in Charlottesville Bed and Breakfast.
Meanwhile, I don't see an 800 number for finding out why Webervations won't let my InnReserve system work. Imagine my suprise on Sunday morning when I could not enter a new booking or print an invoice while my people were standing there to check out.
It is telling me "Error accessing file. Network connection may have been lost"
I was not on the internet - was just trying to print an invoice. So I tried it with my dialup connection and it still will not work. I'm getting pages and pages of code and when I exit it tells me that "This action will stop the debugger"
InnReserve is an access based software that connects to Webervations when a reservation is entered so I can only assume the move of Webervations has created this problem.
But you have no number for me to call for help. At least none that are accessable on a Sunday morning when I'm checking out guests. It appears I have to wait until a normal work day.
Riki
.
We are the first listing on that term...
Innreserve should not have been affected with the Webervations move, but we should certainly figure out what is going on.
I'm not sure I fully understand what you are doing though - Innreserve is on your PC and is a standalone program. Printing an invoice from Innreserve should have nothing to do with Webervations at all from what I know? Particularly if you are not connected to the web - Webervations is online only... so it seems like an innreserve issue to me.
Webervations has never had an 800 number to my knowledge, but the actual phone number is listed right on the homeapge. There isn't anyone in until tomorrow though. I already emailed our product manager who tends to work weekends, so I'll let you know what I hear.
.
I don't know if this is an unhappy coincidence but Webervations is down now for me - I can't log in to the home page - there is a '500 error' and my website shows no availability calendar. I don't use any other GMS but am on Webervations 2.0.
I guess I'll be accused of being glass half-empty again, but this will be the second time since the transition that my online booking will be unavailable for more than 12 hours (assuming no one works on the problem until tomorrow). I've received two online bookings in the last 24 hours and of course, that is the main way to book at night. Not happy
sad_smile.gif

.
My glass is empty too, I get a technical difficulty, please retry notice... Never happened before..
.
Confirmed. I am getting the same error on client's sites who use Webervations 1 and those that switched to Webervations 2. :(
.
Same with us... Webervations 1.0 error message:
"We're sorry. We are experiencing technical difficulties.
Please use the back button on your browser and try again.
If you still cannot reach the page you want, please try again later.
Again, we apologize for any inconvenience.
This error is being logged and will be reviewed and corrected as soon as possible.
If you have any questions, please contact [email protected].
Thank you."
 
"It remains to be seen if bandb will bring in the 10-fold dollars that a good marketing campaign should. But that's a decision for next November. "
I've been working in marketing for almost twenty years... heck I even got my masters in marketing. On average we deliver even more than that. Maybe we've spoiled people, but a 10-fold return is an unbelievable, record-breaking, career-making, too-good-to-be true return on investment. I'd be thrilled to death with a 3X return, and happy as the day is long with a 2X return. I'd happy just to see a break-even campaign in a lot of instances. 10X may be what you feel is appropriate, but in marketing worlds, that is not a threshold very often even considered.
If you look at marketing as a financial investment - good financial investments over a long period of time often return 10-15% (obviously huge generalization), and secure investments more like 4%. So if you are deciding to take your money out of the bank and spend on marketing, or leave it in there - and you can make 10X on your money through marketing - you have found the Holy Grail of what to do with your resources..
JBanczak said:
"It remains to be seen if bandb will bring in the 10-fold dollars that a good marketing campaign should. But that's a decision for next November. "
I've been working in marketing for almost twenty years... heck I even got my masters in marketing. On average we deliver even more than that. Maybe we've spoiled people, but a 10-fold return is an unbelievable, record-breaking, career-making, too-good-to-be true return on investment. I'd be thrilled to death with a 3X return, and happy as the day is long with a 2X return. I'd happy just to see a break-even campaign in a lot of instances. 10X may be what you feel is appropriate, but in marketing worlds, that is not a threshold very often even considered.
If you look at marketing as a financial investment - good financial investments over a long period of time often return 10-15% (obviously huge generalization), and secure investments more like 4%. So if you are deciding to take your money out of the bank and spend on marketing, or leave it in there - and you can make 10X on your money through marketing - you have found the Holy Grail of what to do with your resources.
John,
Are you seriously telling me I should only expect to pull in $800-$1200 off my $400 paid subscription to bandb? You're kidding, right? Why would I even bother if I could only plan on getting a return of 4 room nights out of my listing in an entire YEAR? I'm expecting that kind of return per MONTH. You can't be serious because you guys keep touting how some innkeepers have increased occupancy by 20% by listing with you. You said yourself somewhere in here that your site has a proven record (in most locations) for very good traffic, lots of click-thrus and low bounce rates, that certainly has to translate into more than $400 in bookings.
If you are serious then your marketing should state that. "Most B&B's on our directory can expect to see and additional $400/year in revenue once their listing is placed."
Break even is a joke. No one lists on a directory to break even. No one buys an ad to break even. And if that's what happens they're spending their money in the wrong place. I expect listing with you to provide real revenue. Simply paying for the listing is not revenue. 2x the listing price isn't worth it, either.
Given this has been discussed to death and we really can't know where guests found our listings online, I always figure that they err in your favor sometimes, and in someone else's favor other times. That said, I would not have renewed if you weren't hitting close to 10X return for me. A little more, a little less, but a good average hovering around 10X these past 5 years.
.
"Are you seriously telling me I should only expect to pull in $800-$1200 off my $400 paid subscription to bandb?"
Do you really think that is what I was saying?
If you require a 10X return on any marketing spend - then you will be disappointed. If you only got $800-$1200 back on your $400 subscription from us, then you would be far below the results we regular see and hear from innkeepers. But if I was an innkeeper, and I got $1200 back from a site that was $400 - I'd pay for that site all day long, and I'd be wealthier because of it.
Particularly becuase $1200 is what you positively, absolutely KNOW you got from the site, there is always business you cannot track, and if at the end of the year you would have more money in the bank than if you didn't advertise there.
The big reason we went monthly is to make the financials more manageable and match revenues better for innkeepers. Going monthly is not easy for us - 12X the CC charges, 12X the billing issues, but you revenues don't all come in during one month, so seems like your costs shouldn't. Putting up $400 in January if you are seasonal slow may be a lot to lay out if you don't see a ton of reservations until April - but with monthly payments your cash outflow is much better , for reservations you might get in April... which should further help make a positive ROI more affordable.
.
I'm trying not to nitpick here, but you keep bringing up more issues...keep in mind that I PAY for the privilege of monthly billing. It's not coming out of your pocket, I'm paying the cc processing fee by being charged more for monthly billing.
And let's not forget that this is now yearly billing. I am stuck with this bill for a year. Can't get out of it. Can't terminate. Stuck. So if my state starts showing returns like VA does, I have NO recourse. You have your money and I have squat.
.
btw - has anyone checked google for Virginia Bed and Breakfast lately? We've been on page one the last few times I have checked, and again today.
.
Edited: I moved this to this thread as it was in the unrelated directory price thread. -swirt
No, I never check for Virginia Bed and Breakfast. I'm interested in Charlottesville Bed and Breakfast.
Meanwhile, I don't see an 800 number for finding out why Webervations won't let my InnReserve system work. Imagine my suprise on Sunday morning when I could not enter a new booking or print an invoice while my people were standing there to check out.
It is telling me "Error accessing file. Network connection may have been lost"
I was not on the internet - was just trying to print an invoice. So I tried it with my dialup connection and it still will not work. I'm getting pages and pages of code and when I exit it tells me that "This action will stop the debugger"
InnReserve is an access based software that connects to Webervations when a reservation is entered so I can only assume the move of Webervations has created this problem.
But you have no number for me to call for help. At least none that are accessable on a Sunday morning when I'm checking out guests. It appears I have to wait until a normal work day.
Riki
.
We are the first listing on that term...
Innreserve should not have been affected with the Webervations move, but we should certainly figure out what is going on.
I'm not sure I fully understand what you are doing though - Innreserve is on your PC and is a standalone program. Printing an invoice from Innreserve should have nothing to do with Webervations at all from what I know? Particularly if you are not connected to the web - Webervations is online only... so it seems like an innreserve issue to me.
Webervations has never had an 800 number to my knowledge, but the actual phone number is listed right on the homeapge. There isn't anyone in until tomorrow though. I already emailed our product manager who tends to work weekends, so I'll let you know what I hear.
.
I don't know if this is an unhappy coincidence but Webervations is down now for me - I can't log in to the home page - there is a '500 error' and my website shows no availability calendar. I don't use any other GMS but am on Webervations 2.0.
I guess I'll be accused of being glass half-empty again, but this will be the second time since the transition that my online booking will be unavailable for more than 12 hours (assuming no one works on the problem until tomorrow). I've received two online bookings in the last 24 hours and of course, that is the main way to book at night. Not happy
sad_smile.gif

.
My glass is empty too, I get a technical difficulty, please retry notice... Never happened before..
.
Confirmed. I am getting the same error on client's sites who use Webervations 1 and those that switched to Webervations 2. :(
.
So, swirt or maybe Bree, just asking again since I can't seem to find it on their website - how much does Superinns cost?
 
I get the same message on our site, too...I don't think my boss will be all too happy about it, same as you guys!
 
"It remains to be seen if bandb will bring in the 10-fold dollars that a good marketing campaign should. But that's a decision for next November. "
I've been working in marketing for almost twenty years... heck I even got my masters in marketing. On average we deliver even more than that. Maybe we've spoiled people, but a 10-fold return is an unbelievable, record-breaking, career-making, too-good-to-be true return on investment. I'd be thrilled to death with a 3X return, and happy as the day is long with a 2X return. I'd happy just to see a break-even campaign in a lot of instances. 10X may be what you feel is appropriate, but in marketing worlds, that is not a threshold very often even considered.
If you look at marketing as a financial investment - good financial investments over a long period of time often return 10-15% (obviously huge generalization), and secure investments more like 4%. So if you are deciding to take your money out of the bank and spend on marketing, or leave it in there - and you can make 10X on your money through marketing - you have found the Holy Grail of what to do with your resources..
JBanczak said:
"It remains to be seen if bandb will bring in the 10-fold dollars that a good marketing campaign should. But that's a decision for next November. "
I've been working in marketing for almost twenty years... heck I even got my masters in marketing. On average we deliver even more than that. Maybe we've spoiled people, but a 10-fold return is an unbelievable, record-breaking, career-making, too-good-to-be true return on investment. I'd be thrilled to death with a 3X return, and happy as the day is long with a 2X return. I'd happy just to see a break-even campaign in a lot of instances. 10X may be what you feel is appropriate, but in marketing worlds, that is not a threshold very often even considered.
If you look at marketing as a financial investment - good financial investments over a long period of time often return 10-15% (obviously huge generalization), and secure investments more like 4%. So if you are deciding to take your money out of the bank and spend on marketing, or leave it in there - and you can make 10X on your money through marketing - you have found the Holy Grail of what to do with your resources.
John,
Are you seriously telling me I should only expect to pull in $800-$1200 off my $400 paid subscription to bandb? You're kidding, right? Why would I even bother if I could only plan on getting a return of 4 room nights out of my listing in an entire YEAR? I'm expecting that kind of return per MONTH. You can't be serious because you guys keep touting how some innkeepers have increased occupancy by 20% by listing with you. You said yourself somewhere in here that your site has a proven record (in most locations) for very good traffic, lots of click-thrus and low bounce rates, that certainly has to translate into more than $400 in bookings.
If you are serious then your marketing should state that. "Most B&B's on our directory can expect to see and additional $400/year in revenue once their listing is placed."
Break even is a joke. No one lists on a directory to break even. No one buys an ad to break even. And if that's what happens they're spending their money in the wrong place. I expect listing with you to provide real revenue. Simply paying for the listing is not revenue. 2x the listing price isn't worth it, either.
Given this has been discussed to death and we really can't know where guests found our listings online, I always figure that they err in your favor sometimes, and in someone else's favor other times. That said, I would not have renewed if you weren't hitting close to 10X return for me. A little more, a little less, but a good average hovering around 10X these past 5 years.
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"Are you seriously telling me I should only expect to pull in $800-$1200 off my $400 paid subscription to bandb?"
Do you really think that is what I was saying?
If you require a 10X return on any marketing spend - then you will be disappointed. If you only got $800-$1200 back on your $400 subscription from us, then you would be far below the results we regular see and hear from innkeepers. But if I was an innkeeper, and I got $1200 back from a site that was $400 - I'd pay for that site all day long, and I'd be wealthier because of it.
Particularly becuase $1200 is what you positively, absolutely KNOW you got from the site, there is always business you cannot track, and if at the end of the year you would have more money in the bank than if you didn't advertise there.
The big reason we went monthly is to make the financials more manageable and match revenues better for innkeepers. Going monthly is not easy for us - 12X the CC charges, 12X the billing issues, but you revenues don't all come in during one month, so seems like your costs shouldn't. Putting up $400 in January if you are seasonal slow may be a lot to lay out if you don't see a ton of reservations until April - but with monthly payments your cash outflow is much better , for reservations you might get in April... which should further help make a positive ROI more affordable.
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I'm trying not to nitpick here, but you keep bringing up more issues...keep in mind that I PAY for the privilege of monthly billing. It's not coming out of your pocket, I'm paying the cc processing fee by being charged more for monthly billing.
And let's not forget that this is now yearly billing. I am stuck with this bill for a year. Can't get out of it. Can't terminate. Stuck. So if my state starts showing returns like VA does, I have NO recourse. You have your money and I have squat.
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btw - has anyone checked google for Virginia Bed and Breakfast lately? We've been on page one the last few times I have checked, and again today.
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Edited: I moved this to this thread as it was in the unrelated directory price thread. -swirt
No, I never check for Virginia Bed and Breakfast. I'm interested in Charlottesville Bed and Breakfast.
Meanwhile, I don't see an 800 number for finding out why Webervations won't let my InnReserve system work. Imagine my suprise on Sunday morning when I could not enter a new booking or print an invoice while my people were standing there to check out.
It is telling me "Error accessing file. Network connection may have been lost"
I was not on the internet - was just trying to print an invoice. So I tried it with my dialup connection and it still will not work. I'm getting pages and pages of code and when I exit it tells me that "This action will stop the debugger"
InnReserve is an access based software that connects to Webervations when a reservation is entered so I can only assume the move of Webervations has created this problem.
But you have no number for me to call for help. At least none that are accessable on a Sunday morning when I'm checking out guests. It appears I have to wait until a normal work day.
Riki
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We are the first listing on that term...
Innreserve should not have been affected with the Webervations move, but we should certainly figure out what is going on.
I'm not sure I fully understand what you are doing though - Innreserve is on your PC and is a standalone program. Printing an invoice from Innreserve should have nothing to do with Webervations at all from what I know? Particularly if you are not connected to the web - Webervations is online only... so it seems like an innreserve issue to me.
Webervations has never had an 800 number to my knowledge, but the actual phone number is listed right on the homeapge. There isn't anyone in until tomorrow though. I already emailed our product manager who tends to work weekends, so I'll let you know what I hear.
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I don't know if this is an unhappy coincidence but Webervations is down now for me - I can't log in to the home page - there is a '500 error' and my website shows no availability calendar. I don't use any other GMS but am on Webervations 2.0.
I guess I'll be accused of being glass half-empty again, but this will be the second time since the transition that my online booking will be unavailable for more than 12 hours (assuming no one works on the problem until tomorrow). I've received two online bookings in the last 24 hours and of course, that is the main way to book at night. Not happy
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My glass is empty too, I get a technical difficulty, please retry notice... Never happened before..
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Confirmed. I am getting the same error on client's sites who use Webervations 1 and those that switched to Webervations 2. :(
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So, swirt or maybe Bree, just asking again since I can't seem to find it on their website - how much does Superinns cost?
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muirford said:
So, swirt or maybe Bree, just asking again since I can't seem to find it on their website - how much does Superinns cost?
This is one thing that ticks me off, a service that will not post their prices...makes me have no trust...
 
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