[COLOR= rgb(51, 51, 51)]Dear innkeepers, members, customers, and friends,
We are excited to announce that BedandBreakfast.com, RezOvation/Webervations and Inns.com have been acquired by HomeAway®, another Austin, TX-based company.
HomeAway is the global leader in the vacation rental marketplace and is making a large-scale, concerted effort to provide a wide range of alternatives to chain hotels. They are a great fit for BedandBreakfast.com and RezOvation; the same teams you have worked with for years will be staying intact, both in Austin and in Ohio. Like BedandBreakfast.com, HomeAway is focused on making it simpler than ever for travelers to easily find unique and memorable travel experiences. They are used to working with tens of thousands of independent property owners and property managers and helping them promote their businesses to the world. They have built a great company full of smart folks and I am confident that our combined businesses will be able to meet innkeepers' needs better than ever. HomeAway is also working hard to let folks know that there are reliable alternatives to chain hotels. You may have seen their recent commercial during the Super Bowl featuring the Griswolds. You can visit their website by
clicking here, and see the Super Bowl ad
here. Please
click here to read our FAQ for more details.
Aside from my wife and three kids, this business has been my baby, my life and my passion for the last 15 years; selling the business now was one of the toughest decisions I have ever made. The more I thought about what this opportunity meant for our member innkeepers and customers, as well as for our dedicated team of employees, the more I realized that this opportunity was too good to pass up. I remain as passionate about our industry now as I was when I came up with the idea for the business back in 1994. While I will remain regularly involved in the company as the founder and look forward to seeing many of you at conferences around the country and on the various online forums, I will be stepping down from the day-to-day operations of the business. John Banczak, who has been with the company for six years, will remain with the business and will run both BedandBreakfast.com and RezOvation. Sandy Soule will also be working with the business in a role similar to my own for the next year.
I have complete confidence in the teams we have built and in their ability to continue to deliver the best products and services in the industry, along with the on-going support that you have come to expect. I am equally confident in the folks from HomeAway and their ability to take the business to the next level. Here's to an exciting year ahead of us as we blaze new trails for the B&B industry to bring you more guests than ever before.
All the best and I hope to see many of you at PAII next week!
Eric
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