Reaffirmation of Why I Will Never Use Grope-on

[GoodScout]

Was reading reviews from another B&B in our state and came across this:
We booked a grope-on deal for my 60th birthday. We paid $206/night for a Luxury King Room. When we arrived, there were only 3 other people staying at the bed and breakfast. We were assigned to the Josselyn room(this would be my LAST choice of the Luxury rooms). You must like pink if you stay in this room and must be able to sleep with traffic noise right outside your window. The bed is uncomfortable and there is only one sitting chair. The bathroom is large but would prefer to have a larger room and smaller bathroom.
Breakfast was ok. We left right after breakfast and did not stay the second night. The wonderful lady who worked April 4 offered to change our room to The Richardson Room (which is very comfortable and lovely), but we needed to leave.
Room Tip: If you are using a grope-on, ask for the room you want instead of expecting to be given the best room...
In reading the reviewer's profile it seems their MO is the same: Get a deal via Grope-on and then crap on the inn because they won't upgrade you free to something spectacular. I've been in the room they stayed in, and it's more salmon than pink. It's very pretty and the bathroom is very, very nice.
As the saying goes: The loudest boos come from the cheapest seats.

 

[TheBeachHouse]

What a nasty review!
Did the B&B respond?

 

[OnTheShore]

"Room Tip: if you use grope-on, expect to get the worst room, so don't use grope-on if you want to pick your room"

 

[EmptyNest]

Use that crappy stuff and expect the worst. Some innkeepers think it is the way to go..but I haven't been hearing anything about grpon lately and thought it was a passing fad.. Guess not. WHY? I would never be that desperate to get someone into one of my rooms. I would rather be empty than deal with that kind of crap!

 

[user 26]

I saw that review. The innkeeper did respond and very eloquently.
But isn't that how those coupons work? The innkeeper chooses what room to give you?

 

[gillumhouse]

I have heard "It is great for cash flow." And how can it be great for cash flow when you are having to serve up your usual quality for 1/4 the cash? Grab-on sells it for 50% of cost and then takes 50% of that which gives the innkeeper 25% of actual rate. I doubt if that would cover expenses., I refuse to work for nothing.

 

[TheBeachHouse]

I saw that review. The innkeeper did respond and very eloquently.
But isn't that how those coupons work? The innkeeper chooses what room to give you?.

Was that the response?

 

[user 26]

Beach House, no ... the response was a lovely paragraph "Thank you so much for choosing to stay with us! We are so sorry that you didn't enjoy one of our most popular King suites. With it's custom canopy bed, the rich raspberry tones and tasteful toile accents of this room please many of our guests and is in fact one of our most popular rooms. Unfortunately, with the G...... special you booked, choosing your room was not a possibility. Were sorry you needed to leave early, we wish you'd had a chance to enjoy the steam shower, jacuzzi tub, sit by the fireplace in your room or in our cozy library. We'll be removing the beautiful antique high-boy to make room (for) a second comfy chair in a few weeks. Come back, we think you'll like the changes."

 

[Jcam]

Beach House, no ... the response was a lovely paragraph "Thank you so much for choosing to stay with us! We are so sorry that you didn't enjoy one of our most popular King suites. With it's custom canopy bed, the rich raspberry tones and tasteful toile accents of this room please many of our guests and is in fact one of our most popular rooms. Unfortunately, with the G...... special you booked, choosing your room was not a possibility. Were sorry you needed to leave early, we wish you'd had a chance to enjoy the steam shower, jacuzzi tub, sit by the fireplace in your room or in our cozy library. We'll be removing the beautiful antique high-boy to make room (for) a second comfy chair in a few weeks. Come back, we think you'll like the changes.".

classy reply and sells all good features of the property and pushes for direct booking - something to keep in mind I think for all of our responses!

 

[Arks]

Oooo. Need to remember that response. It has been mentioned here before, to turn the response into a positive ad for all the amenities. Well done!

The only part that's hard to polish was that they left early. Even though they said it was because they had to, some people will have the impression that the room they DID get was so horrible they left after one night. Oh well, can't always win every single issue.

 

[TheBeachHouse]

Beach House, no ... the response was a lovely paragraph "Thank you so much for choosing to stay with us! We are so sorry that you didn't enjoy one of our most popular King suites. With it's custom canopy bed, the rich raspberry tones and tasteful toile accents of this room please many of our guests and is in fact one of our most popular rooms. Unfortunately, with the G...... special you booked, choosing your room was not a possibility. Were sorry you needed to leave early, we wish you'd had a chance to enjoy the steam shower, jacuzzi tub, sit by the fireplace in your room or in our cozy library. We'll be removing the beautiful antique high-boy to make room (for) a second comfy chair in a few weeks. Come back, we think you'll like the changes.".

Very well done. How to say, "you are a jerk and an idiot" without ever sounding mean.

 

[JerseyBoy]

Groupon is not for everyone for sure. We have been effectively using Groupon and Living Social for several years and in every single case we have made a profit. I would guess over the years we have had over 2000 customers come through our doors using these promotions. We only have 2 negative reviews from folks using these promotions.
We have found that most customers come once to use the promotion and never really return. That's fine because we will not do a promotion if the cost structure is such that we are not making at least a few dollars on every room, after the cost of labor. This does 2 things for us: During slower months it offsets some overhead. It also helps keep our housekeepers employed which lessens the chances they will find other jobs in the winter and not return. During the busier months we limit the usable days to our slowest days of the week, helping push our occupancy close to 100%. The incremental cost of the last few rooms is very small and the demand from that time of year is much higher so the profit margin goes up substantially.
We have obtained a number of regular and repeat guests. Now they do come back using new promotions sometimes (but they are more likely to upgrade to a larger and more expensive room), but they also book directly with us.
We have also found that about 20 to 25% of the vouchers are never used. We still get paid for these so the effective profit goes up.
We tend to get far more positive reviews from guests using these promotions than negative ones.
I understand it is a bitter pill to swallow, giving up so much perceived value, but the true value of an un-rented room is $0 and it can never be recovered. It's tough giving a large percentage to Groupon for the promotion, but ask yourself what it would cost to get the marketing that you will get from them? They are sending your promotion to hundreds of thousands of potential customers or more, who want to see what you have to offer. They get a lot of traffic to their website. It drives a lot of traffic to your website and it does drive a lot of sales. I know for us to penetrate the NYC market would be cost prohibitive beyond belief, but we can do it with this kind of promotion.
We have seen for the most part nothing but benefit over the years. Honestly we have more problems with customers booking through Booking.com or Expedia than we do with the flash sale promotions.
Having said all this we have been seeing a steady decline in the amount of business these promotions generate. We also provide different options, some may show as much as a 50% discount (with added in package items) while some options are less of a discount. We have never paid a 50% commission to Groupon and would suggest anyone wanting to try using them negotiate the commission down. I have had to walk away from deals and just tell them no to certain aspects. They will always push for more and you need to push back. Ultimately they can't exist without our products so many times they will come around with something more reasonable.

 

[Morticia]

Groupon is not for everyone for sure. We have been effectively using Groupon and Living Social for several years and in every single case we have made a profit. I would guess over the years we have had over 2000 customers come through our doors using these promotions. We only have 2 negative reviews from folks using these promotions.
We have found that most customers come once to use the promotion and never really return. That's fine because we will not do a promotion if the cost structure is such that we are not making at least a few dollars on every room, after the cost of labor. This does 2 things for us: During slower months it offsets some overhead. It also helps keep our housekeepers employed which lessens the chances they will find other jobs in the winter and not return. During the busier months we limit the usable days to our slowest days of the week, helping push our occupancy close to 100%. The incremental cost of the last few rooms is very small and the demand from that time of year is much higher so the profit margin goes up substantially.
We have obtained a number of regular and repeat guests. Now they do come back using new promotions sometimes (but they are more likely to upgrade to a larger and more expensive room), but they also book directly with us.
We have also found that about 20 to 25% of the vouchers are never used. We still get paid for these so the effective profit goes up.
We tend to get far more positive reviews from guests using these promotions than negative ones.
I understand it is a bitter pill to swallow, giving up so much perceived value, but the true value of an un-rented room is $0 and it can never be recovered. It's tough giving a large percentage to Groupon for the promotion, but ask yourself what it would cost to get the marketing that you will get from them? They are sending your promotion to hundreds of thousands of potential customers or more, who want to see what you have to offer. They get a lot of traffic to their website. It drives a lot of traffic to your website and it does drive a lot of sales. I know for us to penetrate the NYC market would be cost prohibitive beyond belief, but we can do it with this kind of promotion.
We have seen for the most part nothing but benefit over the years. Honestly we have more problems with customers booking through Booking.com or Expedia than we do with the flash sale promotions.
Having said all this we have been seeing a steady decline in the amount of business these promotions generate. We also provide different options, some may show as much as a 50% discount (with added in package items) while some options are less of a discount. We have never paid a 50% commission to Groupon and would suggest anyone wanting to try using them negotiate the commission down. I have had to walk away from deals and just tell them no to certain aspects. They will always push for more and you need to push back. Ultimately they can't exist without our products so many times they will come around with something more reasonable..

When they first contacted us it was to be included in the small city nearby. So, the first issue was we aren't in the city, there was no public transport at the time so you needed a car. They wanted us to discount the room 50%, not give them a 50% commission. They took 50% of the price the room was listed at, sending us 50%. But, it's essentially 25% of what the room was listed at on our website.
I'm not sure how my state handles vouchers, but at the time these offers were very popular, unredeemed purchased GC's had to be remitted to the state so there was no profit margin there.
We don't have staff so being empty isn't as big a deal. We just take the day off.
Part of the issue I had with the process is it tells the guest that you're making money at half off, even tho they had no idea we were only getting half of that. So, where's the value in paying full price? If we can succeed on half off, then we're gouging at full price.
It's good to hear a positive story, there were so many stories of very unhappy guests who couldn't get into the place they bought the voucher for, or the accommodations and the add ons were not as described. (And there were stories from innkeepers who were overwhelmed by the process and admitted they couldn't keep up with demand.)

 

[Jcam]

Groupon is not for everyone for sure. We have been effectively using Groupon and Living Social for several years and in every single case we have made a profit. I would guess over the years we have had over 2000 customers come through our doors using these promotions. We only have 2 negative reviews from folks using these promotions.
We have found that most customers come once to use the promotion and never really return. That's fine because we will not do a promotion if the cost structure is such that we are not making at least a few dollars on every room, after the cost of labor. This does 2 things for us: During slower months it offsets some overhead. It also helps keep our housekeepers employed which lessens the chances they will find other jobs in the winter and not return. During the busier months we limit the usable days to our slowest days of the week, helping push our occupancy close to 100%. The incremental cost of the last few rooms is very small and the demand from that time of year is much higher so the profit margin goes up substantially.
We have obtained a number of regular and repeat guests. Now they do come back using new promotions sometimes (but they are more likely to upgrade to a larger and more expensive room), but they also book directly with us.
We have also found that about 20 to 25% of the vouchers are never used. We still get paid for these so the effective profit goes up.
We tend to get far more positive reviews from guests using these promotions than negative ones.
I understand it is a bitter pill to swallow, giving up so much perceived value, but the true value of an un-rented room is $0 and it can never be recovered. It's tough giving a large percentage to Groupon for the promotion, but ask yourself what it would cost to get the marketing that you will get from them? They are sending your promotion to hundreds of thousands of potential customers or more, who want to see what you have to offer. They get a lot of traffic to their website. It drives a lot of traffic to your website and it does drive a lot of sales. I know for us to penetrate the NYC market would be cost prohibitive beyond belief, but we can do it with this kind of promotion.
We have seen for the most part nothing but benefit over the years. Honestly we have more problems with customers booking through Booking.com or Expedia than we do with the flash sale promotions.
Having said all this we have been seeing a steady decline in the amount of business these promotions generate. We also provide different options, some may show as much as a 50% discount (with added in package items) while some options are less of a discount. We have never paid a 50% commission to Groupon and would suggest anyone wanting to try using them negotiate the commission down. I have had to walk away from deals and just tell them no to certain aspects. They will always push for more and you need to push back. Ultimately they can't exist without our products so many times they will come around with something more reasonable..

When they first contacted us it was to be included in the small city nearby. So, the first issue was we aren't in the city, there was no public transport at the time so you needed a car. They wanted us to discount the room 50%, not give them a 50% commission. They took 50% of the price the room was listed at, sending us 50%. But, it's essentially 25% of what the room was listed at on our website.
I'm not sure how my state handles vouchers, but at the time these offers were very popular, unredeemed purchased GC's had to be remitted to the state so there was no profit margin there.
We don't have staff so being empty isn't as big a deal. We just take the day off.
Part of the issue I had with the process is it tells the guest that you're making money at half off, even tho they had no idea we were only getting half of that. So, where's the value in paying full price? If we can succeed on half off, then we're gouging at full price.
It's good to hear a positive story, there were so many stories of very unhappy guests who couldn't get into the place they bought the voucher for, or the accommodations and the add ons were not as described. (And there were stories from innkeepers who were overwhelmed by the process and admitted they couldn't keep up with demand.)
.

to be fair they advise you to limit the numbers ie 50 so you can cope - you can always do another offer later - however depending on what you do ie round me the hotels do it for their spa say or dinner so you might be tempted to stay in the hotel at full price while you do so.
It personally is not for me - as about 80% occupancy all year round so steady work for my housekeeper however when we open the cafe may use it to get the word out.
Will say baker near us and she admitted they told her to limit the offer but she didn't and it took of (was something like 10 cupcakes for $2) and she could make them herself at cost for that - but due to the HUGE demand she had to employ staff which meant she was making a loss. Its about being careful and readying all the small print which is never bad advice!

 

[EmptyNest]

Groupon is not for everyone for sure. We have been effectively using Groupon and Living Social for several years and in every single case we have made a profit. I would guess over the years we have had over 2000 customers come through our doors using these promotions. We only have 2 negative reviews from folks using these promotions.
We have found that most customers come once to use the promotion and never really return. That's fine because we will not do a promotion if the cost structure is such that we are not making at least a few dollars on every room, after the cost of labor. This does 2 things for us: During slower months it offsets some overhead. It also helps keep our housekeepers employed which lessens the chances they will find other jobs in the winter and not return. During the busier months we limit the usable days to our slowest days of the week, helping push our occupancy close to 100%. The incremental cost of the last few rooms is very small and the demand from that time of year is much higher so the profit margin goes up substantially.
We have obtained a number of regular and repeat guests. Now they do come back using new promotions sometimes (but they are more likely to upgrade to a larger and more expensive room), but they also book directly with us.
We have also found that about 20 to 25% of the vouchers are never used. We still get paid for these so the effective profit goes up.
We tend to get far more positive reviews from guests using these promotions than negative ones.
I understand it is a bitter pill to swallow, giving up so much perceived value, but the true value of an un-rented room is $0 and it can never be recovered. It's tough giving a large percentage to Groupon for the promotion, but ask yourself what it would cost to get the marketing that you will get from them? They are sending your promotion to hundreds of thousands of potential customers or more, who want to see what you have to offer. They get a lot of traffic to their website. It drives a lot of traffic to your website and it does drive a lot of sales. I know for us to penetrate the NYC market would be cost prohibitive beyond belief, but we can do it with this kind of promotion.
We have seen for the most part nothing but benefit over the years. Honestly we have more problems with customers booking through Booking.com or Expedia than we do with the flash sale promotions.
Having said all this we have been seeing a steady decline in the amount of business these promotions generate. We also provide different options, some may show as much as a 50% discount (with added in package items) while some options are less of a discount. We have never paid a 50% commission to Groupon and would suggest anyone wanting to try using them negotiate the commission down. I have had to walk away from deals and just tell them no to certain aspects. They will always push for more and you need to push back. Ultimately they can't exist without our products so many times they will come around with something more reasonable..

Jersey Boy, I can't remember how many rooms you have but I seem to recall quite a few. You can afford to do these kinds of discounts for your quantity but a 3 room b & B just can't make out with them I don't believe. I would be giving all my $$ away and I rarely made a profit as it was.

 

[gillumhouse]

Groupon is not for everyone for sure. We have been effectively using Groupon and Living Social for several years and in every single case we have made a profit. I would guess over the years we have had over 2000 customers come through our doors using these promotions. We only have 2 negative reviews from folks using these promotions.
We have found that most customers come once to use the promotion and never really return. That's fine because we will not do a promotion if the cost structure is such that we are not making at least a few dollars on every room, after the cost of labor. This does 2 things for us: During slower months it offsets some overhead. It also helps keep our housekeepers employed which lessens the chances they will find other jobs in the winter and not return. During the busier months we limit the usable days to our slowest days of the week, helping push our occupancy close to 100%. The incremental cost of the last few rooms is very small and the demand from that time of year is much higher so the profit margin goes up substantially.
We have obtained a number of regular and repeat guests. Now they do come back using new promotions sometimes (but they are more likely to upgrade to a larger and more expensive room), but they also book directly with us.
We have also found that about 20 to 25% of the vouchers are never used. We still get paid for these so the effective profit goes up.
We tend to get far more positive reviews from guests using these promotions than negative ones.
I understand it is a bitter pill to swallow, giving up so much perceived value, but the true value of an un-rented room is $0 and it can never be recovered. It's tough giving a large percentage to Groupon for the promotion, but ask yourself what it would cost to get the marketing that you will get from them? They are sending your promotion to hundreds of thousands of potential customers or more, who want to see what you have to offer. They get a lot of traffic to their website. It drives a lot of traffic to your website and it does drive a lot of sales. I know for us to penetrate the NYC market would be cost prohibitive beyond belief, but we can do it with this kind of promotion.
We have seen for the most part nothing but benefit over the years. Honestly we have more problems with customers booking through Booking.com or Expedia than we do with the flash sale promotions.
Having said all this we have been seeing a steady decline in the amount of business these promotions generate. We also provide different options, some may show as much as a 50% discount (with added in package items) while some options are less of a discount. We have never paid a 50% commission to Groupon and would suggest anyone wanting to try using them negotiate the commission down. I have had to walk away from deals and just tell them no to certain aspects. They will always push for more and you need to push back. Ultimately they can't exist without our products so many times they will come around with something more reasonable..

Jersey Boy, I can't remember how many rooms you have but I seem to recall quite a few. You can afford to do these kinds of discounts for your quantity but a 3 room b & B just can't make out with them I don't believe. I would be giving all my $$ away and I rarely made a profit as it was.
.

Profit? We are supposed to make a profit? Businesses that make a profit are nasty - just read the papers.
Ask any organization/school/group anywhere and business is fair game for a donation (and they are doing you a favor to be asking for your donation).
Having worked at a chain, I am aware of how low they could go and break even - not going to happen with 3 rooms with more than 20 hotels within 10 miles in any direction that are right at the Interstate exits.

 

[TheBeachHouse]

Groupon is not for everyone for sure. We have been effectively using Groupon and Living Social for several years and in every single case we have made a profit. I would guess over the years we have had over 2000 customers come through our doors using these promotions. We only have 2 negative reviews from folks using these promotions.
We have found that most customers come once to use the promotion and never really return. That's fine because we will not do a promotion if the cost structure is such that we are not making at least a few dollars on every room, after the cost of labor. This does 2 things for us: During slower months it offsets some overhead. It also helps keep our housekeepers employed which lessens the chances they will find other jobs in the winter and not return. During the busier months we limit the usable days to our slowest days of the week, helping push our occupancy close to 100%. The incremental cost of the last few rooms is very small and the demand from that time of year is much higher so the profit margin goes up substantially.
We have obtained a number of regular and repeat guests. Now they do come back using new promotions sometimes (but they are more likely to upgrade to a larger and more expensive room), but they also book directly with us.
We have also found that about 20 to 25% of the vouchers are never used. We still get paid for these so the effective profit goes up.
We tend to get far more positive reviews from guests using these promotions than negative ones.
I understand it is a bitter pill to swallow, giving up so much perceived value, but the true value of an un-rented room is $0 and it can never be recovered. It's tough giving a large percentage to Groupon for the promotion, but ask yourself what it would cost to get the marketing that you will get from them? They are sending your promotion to hundreds of thousands of potential customers or more, who want to see what you have to offer. They get a lot of traffic to their website. It drives a lot of traffic to your website and it does drive a lot of sales. I know for us to penetrate the NYC market would be cost prohibitive beyond belief, but we can do it with this kind of promotion.
We have seen for the most part nothing but benefit over the years. Honestly we have more problems with customers booking through Booking.com or Expedia than we do with the flash sale promotions.
Having said all this we have been seeing a steady decline in the amount of business these promotions generate. We also provide different options, some may show as much as a 50% discount (with added in package items) while some options are less of a discount. We have never paid a 50% commission to Groupon and would suggest anyone wanting to try using them negotiate the commission down. I have had to walk away from deals and just tell them no to certain aspects. They will always push for more and you need to push back. Ultimately they can't exist without our products so many times they will come around with something more reasonable..

Jersey Boy, I can't remember how many rooms you have but I seem to recall quite a few. You can afford to do these kinds of discounts for your quantity but a 3 room b & B just can't make out with them I don't believe. I would be giving all my $$ away and I rarely made a profit as it was.
.

Profit? We are supposed to make a profit? Businesses that make a profit are nasty - just read the papers.
Ask any organization/school/group anywhere and business is fair game for a donation (and they are doing you a favor to be asking for your donation).
Having worked at a chain, I am aware of how low they could go and break even - not going to happen with 3 rooms with more than 20 hotels within 10 miles in any direction that are right at the Interstate exits.
.

Speaking of donations, our innkeepers' association recently informed the local high school that we were no longer supporting their marketing club because we don't feel we are being given the marketing equivalent to our sizable donation of time and room dollars.
The response - you need to be supportive of the community!!!

 

[JerseyBoy]

Groupon is not for everyone for sure. We have been effectively using Groupon and Living Social for several years and in every single case we have made a profit. I would guess over the years we have had over 2000 customers come through our doors using these promotions. We only have 2 negative reviews from folks using these promotions.
We have found that most customers come once to use the promotion and never really return. That's fine because we will not do a promotion if the cost structure is such that we are not making at least a few dollars on every room, after the cost of labor. This does 2 things for us: During slower months it offsets some overhead. It also helps keep our housekeepers employed which lessens the chances they will find other jobs in the winter and not return. During the busier months we limit the usable days to our slowest days of the week, helping push our occupancy close to 100%. The incremental cost of the last few rooms is very small and the demand from that time of year is much higher so the profit margin goes up substantially.
We have obtained a number of regular and repeat guests. Now they do come back using new promotions sometimes (but they are more likely to upgrade to a larger and more expensive room), but they also book directly with us.
We have also found that about 20 to 25% of the vouchers are never used. We still get paid for these so the effective profit goes up.
We tend to get far more positive reviews from guests using these promotions than negative ones.
I understand it is a bitter pill to swallow, giving up so much perceived value, but the true value of an un-rented room is $0 and it can never be recovered. It's tough giving a large percentage to Groupon for the promotion, but ask yourself what it would cost to get the marketing that you will get from them? They are sending your promotion to hundreds of thousands of potential customers or more, who want to see what you have to offer. They get a lot of traffic to their website. It drives a lot of traffic to your website and it does drive a lot of sales. I know for us to penetrate the NYC market would be cost prohibitive beyond belief, but we can do it with this kind of promotion.
We have seen for the most part nothing but benefit over the years. Honestly we have more problems with customers booking through Booking.com or Expedia than we do with the flash sale promotions.
Having said all this we have been seeing a steady decline in the amount of business these promotions generate. We also provide different options, some may show as much as a 50% discount (with added in package items) while some options are less of a discount. We have never paid a 50% commission to Groupon and would suggest anyone wanting to try using them negotiate the commission down. I have had to walk away from deals and just tell them no to certain aspects. They will always push for more and you need to push back. Ultimately they can't exist without our products so many times they will come around with something more reasonable..

Jersey Boy, I can't remember how many rooms you have but I seem to recall quite a few. You can afford to do these kinds of discounts for your quantity but a 3 room b & B just can't make out with them I don't believe. I would be giving all my $$ away and I rarely made a profit as it was.
.

We have 17 rooms. When I do the promotions we only make them available for 6 of our rooms (our lowest priced rooms). This leaves some options for us to up-sell the customer on a larger room for a few extra dollars. As I had said though the promotions probably are not right for everyone and everyone's situations are different. We have an extremely seasonal business flow, so many months out of the year we have a lot of rooms that sit empty. This is a way to generate some extra business. I would definitely not do the promotions if it were not leaving some positive cash flow and profit and we have had Groupon push us to that point and I simply tell them no and maybe we can try again in a couple of months.
I'm just pointing out my experiences to give another perspective. I'm not advocating for Groupon or Living Social.

 

[Morticia]

Groupon is not for everyone for sure. We have been effectively using Groupon and Living Social for several years and in every single case we have made a profit. I would guess over the years we have had over 2000 customers come through our doors using these promotions. We only have 2 negative reviews from folks using these promotions.
We have found that most customers come once to use the promotion and never really return. That's fine because we will not do a promotion if the cost structure is such that we are not making at least a few dollars on every room, after the cost of labor. This does 2 things for us: During slower months it offsets some overhead. It also helps keep our housekeepers employed which lessens the chances they will find other jobs in the winter and not return. During the busier months we limit the usable days to our slowest days of the week, helping push our occupancy close to 100%. The incremental cost of the last few rooms is very small and the demand from that time of year is much higher so the profit margin goes up substantially.
We have obtained a number of regular and repeat guests. Now they do come back using new promotions sometimes (but they are more likely to upgrade to a larger and more expensive room), but they also book directly with us.
We have also found that about 20 to 25% of the vouchers are never used. We still get paid for these so the effective profit goes up.
We tend to get far more positive reviews from guests using these promotions than negative ones.
I understand it is a bitter pill to swallow, giving up so much perceived value, but the true value of an un-rented room is $0 and it can never be recovered. It's tough giving a large percentage to Groupon for the promotion, but ask yourself what it would cost to get the marketing that you will get from them? They are sending your promotion to hundreds of thousands of potential customers or more, who want to see what you have to offer. They get a lot of traffic to their website. It drives a lot of traffic to your website and it does drive a lot of sales. I know for us to penetrate the NYC market would be cost prohibitive beyond belief, but we can do it with this kind of promotion.
We have seen for the most part nothing but benefit over the years. Honestly we have more problems with customers booking through Booking.com or Expedia than we do with the flash sale promotions.
Having said all this we have been seeing a steady decline in the amount of business these promotions generate. We also provide different options, some may show as much as a 50% discount (with added in package items) while some options are less of a discount. We have never paid a 50% commission to Groupon and would suggest anyone wanting to try using them negotiate the commission down. I have had to walk away from deals and just tell them no to certain aspects. They will always push for more and you need to push back. Ultimately they can't exist without our products so many times they will come around with something more reasonable..

Jersey Boy, I can't remember how many rooms you have but I seem to recall quite a few. You can afford to do these kinds of discounts for your quantity but a 3 room b & B just can't make out with them I don't believe. I would be giving all my $$ away and I rarely made a profit as it was.
.

Profit? We are supposed to make a profit? Businesses that make a profit are nasty - just read the papers.
Ask any organization/school/group anywhere and business is fair game for a donation (and they are doing you a favor to be asking for your donation).
Having worked at a chain, I am aware of how low they could go and break even - not going to happen with 3 rooms with more than 20 hotels within 10 miles in any direction that are right at the Interstate exits.
.

Speaking of donations, our innkeepers' association recently informed the local high school that we were no longer supporting their marketing club because we don't feel we are being given the marketing equivalent to our sizable donation of time and room dollars.
The response - you need to be supportive of the community!!!
.

Speaking of donations, our innkeepers' association recently informed the local high school that we were no longer supporting their marketing club because we don't feel we are being given the marketing equivalent to our sizable donation of time and room dollars.
The response - you need to be supportive of the community!!!

Response - do YOU want to pay MY school tax?
There are more ways to support the community than giving away profits without any consideration from the organization.

 

[TheBeachHouse]

Groupon is not for everyone for sure. We have been effectively using Groupon and Living Social for several years and in every single case we have made a profit. I would guess over the years we have had over 2000 customers come through our doors using these promotions. We only have 2 negative reviews from folks using these promotions.
We have found that most customers come once to use the promotion and never really return. That's fine because we will not do a promotion if the cost structure is such that we are not making at least a few dollars on every room, after the cost of labor. This does 2 things for us: During slower months it offsets some overhead. It also helps keep our housekeepers employed which lessens the chances they will find other jobs in the winter and not return. During the busier months we limit the usable days to our slowest days of the week, helping push our occupancy close to 100%. The incremental cost of the last few rooms is very small and the demand from that time of year is much higher so the profit margin goes up substantially.
We have obtained a number of regular and repeat guests. Now they do come back using new promotions sometimes (but they are more likely to upgrade to a larger and more expensive room), but they also book directly with us.
We have also found that about 20 to 25% of the vouchers are never used. We still get paid for these so the effective profit goes up.
We tend to get far more positive reviews from guests using these promotions than negative ones.
I understand it is a bitter pill to swallow, giving up so much perceived value, but the true value of an un-rented room is $0 and it can never be recovered. It's tough giving a large percentage to Groupon for the promotion, but ask yourself what it would cost to get the marketing that you will get from them? They are sending your promotion to hundreds of thousands of potential customers or more, who want to see what you have to offer. They get a lot of traffic to their website. It drives a lot of traffic to your website and it does drive a lot of sales. I know for us to penetrate the NYC market would be cost prohibitive beyond belief, but we can do it with this kind of promotion.
We have seen for the most part nothing but benefit over the years. Honestly we have more problems with customers booking through Booking.com or Expedia than we do with the flash sale promotions.
Having said all this we have been seeing a steady decline in the amount of business these promotions generate. We also provide different options, some may show as much as a 50% discount (with added in package items) while some options are less of a discount. We have never paid a 50% commission to Groupon and would suggest anyone wanting to try using them negotiate the commission down. I have had to walk away from deals and just tell them no to certain aspects. They will always push for more and you need to push back. Ultimately they can't exist without our products so many times they will come around with something more reasonable..

Jersey Boy, I can't remember how many rooms you have but I seem to recall quite a few. You can afford to do these kinds of discounts for your quantity but a 3 room b & B just can't make out with them I don't believe. I would be giving all my $$ away and I rarely made a profit as it was.
.

Profit? We are supposed to make a profit? Businesses that make a profit are nasty - just read the papers.
Ask any organization/school/group anywhere and business is fair game for a donation (and they are doing you a favor to be asking for your donation).
Having worked at a chain, I am aware of how low they could go and break even - not going to happen with 3 rooms with more than 20 hotels within 10 miles in any direction that are right at the Interstate exits.
.

Speaking of donations, our innkeepers' association recently informed the local high school that we were no longer supporting their marketing club because we don't feel we are being given the marketing equivalent to our sizable donation of time and room dollars.
The response - you need to be supportive of the community!!!
.

Speaking of donations, our innkeepers' association recently informed the local high school that we were no longer supporting their marketing club because we don't feel we are being given the marketing equivalent to our sizable donation of time and room dollars.
The response - you need to be supportive of the community!!!

Response - do YOU want to pay MY school tax?
There are more ways to support the community than giving away profits without any consideration from the organization.
.

No kidding. Our response was that we would continue giving away our innkeepers' association scholarship but would pull out of this particular project.