Weddings

[user 26]

go to bbonline.com
find your state
look on the left, click on the little button that says 'weddings at the inn' then you can go to those websites and see.

 

[riverbendnewbie]

go to bbonline.com
find your state
look on the left, click on the little button that says 'weddings at the inn' then you can go to those websites and see..

Thanks , I will definitely look them up

 

[trishany]

I didn't read any of the posts, so bear with me if I repeat anything.
An innkeeper friend of mine just had a wedding party this weekend. She called me numerous times. She's been opened for 3 years, is the number one B&B in her town, and this was her first wedding party.
AND, remember she had other guests there staying with her, too.
She said the phone was ringing so much and all she did was answer the phone -- florist, make-up person, tux rental, caterer, church, DJ, limo, etc.
She didn't have enough bathrooms for the bridesmaids, she didn't have enough room for all the flowers that were delivered, they asked for all kinds of special things, but said "we will pay for it".
She was in a situation where she couldn't do those "speical things" because she was answering the phone all day.
They scratched her closets by hanging up their gowns, there was make-up on her bedspreads.
I don't think the bridal party respects what an innkeeper has to do in order to meet all their needs.

 

[riverbendnewbie]

I didn't read any of the posts, so bear with me if I repeat anything.
An innkeeper friend of mine just had a wedding party this weekend. She called me numerous times. She's been opened for 3 years, is the number one B&B in her town, and this was her first wedding party.
AND, remember she had other guests there staying with her, too.
She said the phone was ringing so much and all she did was answer the phone -- florist, make-up person, tux rental, caterer, church, DJ, limo, etc.
She didn't have enough bathrooms for the bridesmaids, she didn't have enough room for all the flowers that were delivered, they asked for all kinds of special things, but said "we will pay for it".
She was in a situation where she couldn't do those "speical things" because she was answering the phone all day.
They scratched her closets by hanging up their gowns, there was make-up on her bedspreads.
I don't think the bridal party respects what an innkeeper has to do in order to meet all their needs..

Believe me if we do weddings it will be small only--probably leaning toward 10-20 max. The "Just the Two of Us" type of wedding would be ideal. My daughter just got married this summer and they had it at his parents lodge on the Mirimichi River---all I can say is thank God!!

 

[Morticia]

I didn't read any of the posts, so bear with me if I repeat anything.
An innkeeper friend of mine just had a wedding party this weekend. She called me numerous times. She's been opened for 3 years, is the number one B&B in her town, and this was her first wedding party.
AND, remember she had other guests there staying with her, too.
She said the phone was ringing so much and all she did was answer the phone -- florist, make-up person, tux rental, caterer, church, DJ, limo, etc.
She didn't have enough bathrooms for the bridesmaids, she didn't have enough room for all the flowers that were delivered, they asked for all kinds of special things, but said "we will pay for it".
She was in a situation where she couldn't do those "speical things" because she was answering the phone all day.
They scratched her closets by hanging up their gowns, there was make-up on her bedspreads.
I don't think the bridal party respects what an innkeeper has to do in order to meet all their needs..

Believe me if we do weddings it will be small only--probably leaning toward 10-20 max. The "Just the Two of Us" type of wedding would be ideal. My daughter just got married this summer and they had it at his parents lodge on the Mirimichi River---all I can say is thank God!!
.

Believe me if we do weddings it will be small only--probably leaning toward 10-20 max. The "Just the Two of Us" type of wedding would be ideal. My daughter just got married this summer and they had it at his parents lodge on the Mirimichi River---all I can say is thank God!!

I heard a very funny story from an innkeeper who used to do weddings. (It's funny now, it wasn't at the time.) She also had a limit on the number of guests, a limit on who could do the catering, a limit on where they could park, a limit on the age of the guests, etc.
When they showed the day of the wedding, there were 20 extra guests, some children, with pets. They expected to stay at the inn as booked. The kids and pets 'wouldn't be a problem, would they?' The caterer was grandma. She barreled into the kitchen and started moving things around. It rained so no one would park at the rented spaces and they subsequently blocked all access to the driveways and the roadway on her small street. The police were involved. The story goes on but the topper was that the father of the bride decamped early the next morning and never paid for the guests at the inn, who then all refused to pay for themselves. FOB left tuxedo behind. Innkeeper refused to release rented tuxedo until she was paid.
It's not worth it unless you want to be able to tell these stories.

 

[swirt]

Additional reasons than those already mentioned:
For a non-wedding day it is no problem if the nextdoor neighbor fires up his lawnmower at noon and mows his lawn ... for a 12:00 outdoor wedding, that's a problem. So you have to go ask if he can take a break for a while (he may or may not be understanding about it) Then when there are more people than you allowed and they are parking all over and blocking part of your neighbor's driveway or parked on their lawn...then the person you asked to be understanding is not likely to be so understanding. When the wedding gets a little noisier than you would like and the neighbor is annoyed by the noise.... (you see where this is going).
It's not to say that B&B's shouldn't do weddings. They can be successful if that is what you want to offer as your target niche (where you do them all the time and have all the connections). However if it is just something you are going to do once in a while when asked for by potential guests, then it is probably better off to avoid them..

Additional reasons than those already mentioned:
For a non-wedding day it is no problem if the nextdoor neighbor fires up his lawnmower at noon and mows his lawn ... for a 12:00 outdoor wedding, that's a problem. So you have to go ask if he can take a break for a while (he may or may not be understanding about it) Then when there are more people than you allowed and they are parking all over and blocking part of your neighbor's driveway or parked on their lawn...then the person you asked to be understanding is not likely to be so understanding. When the wedding gets a little noisier than you would like and the neighbor is annoyed by the noise.... (you see where this is going).
It's not to say that B&B's shouldn't do weddings. They can be successful if that is what you want to offer as your target niche (where you do them all the time and have all the connections). However if it is just something you are going to do once in a while when asked for by potential guests, then it is probably better off to avoid them.

I agree. If you want to do weddings, you will be turning away B&B guests, the two do not mix, and you need to have every rule and boundary set up in advance, then an entire team to keep those rules and boundaries. That is what I was trying to say.
Let me add the obvious, weddings are not in Dec, they are usually in your busiest season. They would not be midweek, but on a Sat, typically. I am talking $$, losing money to hold a wedding there.
.

Small weddings will be something we would do--the location is perfect unless the bride and groom get hit with a wayward golfball! Could someone tell me the websites of other B&B's that do small packages for elopements?
.

Here is one in our area that does a lot of them. http://www.thefoxandthegrapes.com/

 

[JunieBJones (JBJ)]

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary

 

[JunieBJones (JBJ)]

This B&B is for sale currently, and they have a very comprehensive WEDDING/ELOPEMENT page on their website. Take a look here.
for sale link
60 weddings in just over 6 months.

 

[Morticia]

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary.

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary

Excellent! I like that one.

 

[JunieBJones (JBJ)]

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary.

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary

Excellent! I like that one.
.

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary

Excellent! I like that one.

What if we sell, what happens to these GC's for future owners? I wanted to ask you as you had some stuff come up from PO's when you bought like this. I surely don't want to give them the cashola in case these are ever redeemed. Most likely they won't be, but it is the thought of the whole thing.
What do you think?

 

[egoodell]

The best advice I have heard about doing weddings is making the bride pay for insurance for the event.
This from an inn who does large weddings. One time the father of the groom came limping up and told the innkeepers that "don't worry it was not a bad fall, and you have insurance anyway, I'm sure"
To which the innkeeper replied, "Oh yes, we always have the family of the bride purchase insurance just in case anything happens to their guests."
Later that evening the same fellow was seen dancing away with no more limp....
Riki

 

[Morticia]

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary.

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary

Excellent! I like that one.
.

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary

Excellent! I like that one.

What if we sell, what happens to these GC's for future owners? I wanted to ask you as you had some stuff come up from PO's when you bought like this. I surely don't want to give them the cashola in case these are ever redeemed. Most likely they won't be, but it is the thought of the whole thing.
What do you think?
.

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary

Excellent! I like that one.

What if we sell, what happens to these GC's for future owners? I wanted to ask you as you had some stuff come up from PO's when you bought like this. I surely don't want to give them the cashola in case these are ever redeemed. Most likely they won't be, but it is the thought of the whole thing.
What do you think?

If there is no payment received, then the next owners get nothing from you and they don't have to honor the GC. (They would be foolish not to, tho.) AND, if you keep good records, which I'm sure you do, you can tell the recipients that you are selling and that they should use the GC beforehand in case the new owners choose not to honor it.
We honored freebie donation GC's that we got hit with for full room nights. It hurt, and those guests never returned for a paid night, but we chose to do the honorable thing.

 

[IronGate]

The best advice I have heard about doing weddings is making the bride pay for insurance for the event.
This from an inn who does large weddings. One time the father of the groom came limping up and told the innkeepers that "don't worry it was not a bad fall, and you have insurance anyway, I'm sure"
To which the innkeeper replied, "Oh yes, we always have the family of the bride purchase insurance just in case anything happens to their guests."
Later that evening the same fellow was seen dancing away with no more limp....
Riki.

The best advice I have heard about doing weddings is making the bride pay for insurance for the event.
. . .
Riki

Excellent advice! I would not have thought of that, until it was too late. Would work for corporate retreats, also.

 

[JunieBJones (JBJ)]

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary.

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary

Excellent! I like that one.
.

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary

Excellent! I like that one.

What if we sell, what happens to these GC's for future owners? I wanted to ask you as you had some stuff come up from PO's when you bought like this. I surely don't want to give them the cashola in case these are ever redeemed. Most likely they won't be, but it is the thought of the whole thing.
What do you think?
.

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary

Excellent! I like that one.

What if we sell, what happens to these GC's for future owners? I wanted to ask you as you had some stuff come up from PO's when you bought like this. I surely don't want to give them the cashola in case these are ever redeemed. Most likely they won't be, but it is the thought of the whole thing.
What do you think?

If there is no payment received, then the next owners get nothing from you and they don't have to honor the GC. (They would be foolish not to, tho.) AND, if you keep good records, which I'm sure you do, you can tell the recipients that you are selling and that they should use the GC beforehand in case the new owners choose not to honor it.
We honored freebie donation GC's that we got hit with for full room nights. It hurt, and those guests never returned for a paid night, but we chose to do the honorable thing.
.

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary

Excellent! I like that one.

What if we sell, what happens to these GC's for future owners? I wanted to ask you as you had some stuff come up from PO's when you bought like this. I surely don't want to give them the cashola in case these are ever redeemed. Most likely they won't be, but it is the thought of the whole thing.
What do you think?

If there is no payment received, then the next owners get nothing from you and they don't have to honor the GC. (They would be foolish not to, tho.) AND, if you keep good records, which I'm sure you do, you can tell the recipients that you are selling and that they should use the GC beforehand in case the new owners choose not to honor it.
We honored freebie donation GC's that we got hit with for full room nights. It hurt, and those guests never returned for a paid night, but we chose to do the honorable thing.

How can you word it so it does not impact the new owners, what if the new owners do not discount rooms and won't accept it. What would you put on the GC to state only valid for THESE owners right now? Without making it stand out and sound ick?

 

[Morticia]

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary.

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary

Excellent! I like that one.
.

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary

Excellent! I like that one.

What if we sell, what happens to these GC's for future owners? I wanted to ask you as you had some stuff come up from PO's when you bought like this. I surely don't want to give them the cashola in case these are ever redeemed. Most likely they won't be, but it is the thought of the whole thing.
What do you think?
.

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary

Excellent! I like that one.

What if we sell, what happens to these GC's for future owners? I wanted to ask you as you had some stuff come up from PO's when you bought like this. I surely don't want to give them the cashola in case these are ever redeemed. Most likely they won't be, but it is the thought of the whole thing.
What do you think?

If there is no payment received, then the next owners get nothing from you and they don't have to honor the GC. (They would be foolish not to, tho.) AND, if you keep good records, which I'm sure you do, you can tell the recipients that you are selling and that they should use the GC beforehand in case the new owners choose not to honor it.
We honored freebie donation GC's that we got hit with for full room nights. It hurt, and those guests never returned for a paid night, but we chose to do the honorable thing.
.

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary

Excellent! I like that one.

What if we sell, what happens to these GC's for future owners? I wanted to ask you as you had some stuff come up from PO's when you bought like this. I surely don't want to give them the cashola in case these are ever redeemed. Most likely they won't be, but it is the thought of the whole thing.
What do you think?

If there is no payment received, then the next owners get nothing from you and they don't have to honor the GC. (They would be foolish not to, tho.) AND, if you keep good records, which I'm sure you do, you can tell the recipients that you are selling and that they should use the GC beforehand in case the new owners choose not to honor it.
We honored freebie donation GC's that we got hit with for full room nights. It hurt, and those guests never returned for a paid night, but we chose to do the honorable thing.

How can you word it so it does not impact the new owners, what if the new owners do not discount rooms and won't accept it. What would you put on the GC to state only valid for THESE owners right now? Without making it stand out and sound ick?
.

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary

Excellent! I like that one.

What if we sell, what happens to these GC's for future owners? I wanted to ask you as you had some stuff come up from PO's when you bought like this. I surely don't want to give them the cashola in case these are ever redeemed. Most likely they won't be, but it is the thought of the whole thing.
What do you think?

If there is no payment received, then the next owners get nothing from you and they don't have to honor the GC. (They would be foolish not to, tho.) AND, if you keep good records, which I'm sure you do, you can tell the recipients that you are selling and that they should use the GC beforehand in case the new owners choose not to honor it.
We honored freebie donation GC's that we got hit with for full room nights. It hurt, and those guests never returned for a paid night, but we chose to do the honorable thing.

How can you word it so it does not impact the new owners, what if the new owners do not discount rooms and won't accept it. What would you put on the GC to state only valid for THESE owners right now? Without making it stand out and sound ick?

Are you going to be handing these out like candy on Halloween? How many do you figure you will hand out? 5? 10? Once the place is for sale, stop handing them out. They expire in one year, right? So, once you've nailed down the 'we're selling' scenario, stop issuing them. OR, issue them as 'a gift to you from Mr & Mrs Innkeeper', NOT from 'This Particular Inn'. No, that doesn't work. Then they'll be calling you for $25 if you're not there.
OR, tell the new owners what a great idea these are and HOW much business they have generated. SELL the new owners on taking them!
Someone else may have the wording you need. (I'm still rewriting my mgmt response!)

 

[JunieBJones (JBJ)]

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary.

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary

Excellent! I like that one.
.

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary

Excellent! I like that one.

What if we sell, what happens to these GC's for future owners? I wanted to ask you as you had some stuff come up from PO's when you bought like this. I surely don't want to give them the cashola in case these are ever redeemed. Most likely they won't be, but it is the thought of the whole thing.
What do you think?
.

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary

Excellent! I like that one.

What if we sell, what happens to these GC's for future owners? I wanted to ask you as you had some stuff come up from PO's when you bought like this. I surely don't want to give them the cashola in case these are ever redeemed. Most likely they won't be, but it is the thought of the whole thing.
What do you think?

If there is no payment received, then the next owners get nothing from you and they don't have to honor the GC. (They would be foolish not to, tho.) AND, if you keep good records, which I'm sure you do, you can tell the recipients that you are selling and that they should use the GC beforehand in case the new owners choose not to honor it.
We honored freebie donation GC's that we got hit with for full room nights. It hurt, and those guests never returned for a paid night, but we chose to do the honorable thing.
.

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary

Excellent! I like that one.

What if we sell, what happens to these GC's for future owners? I wanted to ask you as you had some stuff come up from PO's when you bought like this. I surely don't want to give them the cashola in case these are ever redeemed. Most likely they won't be, but it is the thought of the whole thing.
What do you think?

If there is no payment received, then the next owners get nothing from you and they don't have to honor the GC. (They would be foolish not to, tho.) AND, if you keep good records, which I'm sure you do, you can tell the recipients that you are selling and that they should use the GC beforehand in case the new owners choose not to honor it.
We honored freebie donation GC's that we got hit with for full room nights. It hurt, and those guests never returned for a paid night, but we chose to do the honorable thing.

How can you word it so it does not impact the new owners, what if the new owners do not discount rooms and won't accept it. What would you put on the GC to state only valid for THESE owners right now? Without making it stand out and sound ick?
.

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary

Excellent! I like that one.

What if we sell, what happens to these GC's for future owners? I wanted to ask you as you had some stuff come up from PO's when you bought like this. I surely don't want to give them the cashola in case these are ever redeemed. Most likely they won't be, but it is the thought of the whole thing.
What do you think?

If there is no payment received, then the next owners get nothing from you and they don't have to honor the GC. (They would be foolish not to, tho.) AND, if you keep good records, which I'm sure you do, you can tell the recipients that you are selling and that they should use the GC beforehand in case the new owners choose not to honor it.
We honored freebie donation GC's that we got hit with for full room nights. It hurt, and those guests never returned for a paid night, but we chose to do the honorable thing.

How can you word it so it does not impact the new owners, what if the new owners do not discount rooms and won't accept it. What would you put on the GC to state only valid for THESE owners right now? Without making it stand out and sound ick?

Are you going to be handing these out like candy on Halloween? How many do you figure you will hand out? 5? 10? Once the place is for sale, stop handing them out. They expire in one year, right? So, once you've nailed down the 'we're selling' scenario, stop issuing them. OR, issue them as 'a gift to you from Mr & Mrs Innkeeper', NOT from 'This Particular Inn'. No, that doesn't work. Then they'll be calling you for $25 if you're not there.
OR, tell the new owners what a great idea these are and HOW much business they have generated. SELL the new owners on taking them!
Someone else may have the wording you need. (I'm still rewriting my mgmt response!)
.

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary

Excellent! I like that one.

What if we sell, what happens to these GC's for future owners? I wanted to ask you as you had some stuff come up from PO's when you bought like this. I surely don't want to give them the cashola in case these are ever redeemed. Most likely they won't be, but it is the thought of the whole thing.
What do you think?

If there is no payment received, then the next owners get nothing from you and they don't have to honor the GC. (They would be foolish not to, tho.) AND, if you keep good records, which I'm sure you do, you can tell the recipients that you are selling and that they should use the GC beforehand in case the new owners choose not to honor it.
We honored freebie donation GC's that we got hit with for full room nights. It hurt, and those guests never returned for a paid night, but we chose to do the honorable thing.

How can you word it so it does not impact the new owners, what if the new owners do not discount rooms and won't accept it. What would you put on the GC to state only valid for THESE owners right now? Without making it stand out and sound ick?

Are you going to be handing these out like candy on Halloween? How many do you figure you will hand out? 5? 10? Once the place is for sale, stop handing them out. They expire in one year, right? So, once you've nailed down the 'we're selling' scenario, stop issuing them. OR, issue them as 'a gift to you from Mr & Mrs Innkeeper', NOT from 'This Particular Inn'. No, that doesn't work. Then they'll be calling you for $25 if you're not there.
OR, tell the new owners what a great idea these are and HOW much business they have generated. SELL the new owners on taking them!
Someone else may have the wording you need. (I'm still rewriting my mgmt response!)

Sure bail on me right when we had it all coming together.

We have wedding nights here. ESP in the fall, which is very soon. But I don't want any backlash or repaying for something I never intended on. If someone makes me an offer today we can sell it tomorrow. LOL!
Did I tell you I had a very interested person pursuing buying this place a couple months ago? No we do not have it listed and in fact, as you know under repair and renos. He said he wanted to look into it in case we were interested in selling. He had a B&B in this state before which I verified.
But he was looking for 7 to 10 rooms, not 6. So the occup would have to be pretty high to tempt him.
I sent him plenty of info and he didn't bite. He had cash for the sale after selling another business. It was not the right time. Nor the right person. Not yet.
I can't even think about selling when we are busy, but it is always - the escape plan, ahem, I mean exit strategy is being worked on.
Okay well you talked me out of those GC's. Nice idea, but too tricky. Funny that place I got that idea from IS FOR SALE. Which is why I wondered about the whole thing.

 

[happyjacks]

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary.

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary

Excellent! I like that one.
.

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary

Excellent! I like that one.

What if we sell, what happens to these GC's for future owners? I wanted to ask you as you had some stuff come up from PO's when you bought like this. I surely don't want to give them the cashola in case these are ever redeemed. Most likely they won't be, but it is the thought of the whole thing.
What do you think?
.

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary

Excellent! I like that one.

What if we sell, what happens to these GC's for future owners? I wanted to ask you as you had some stuff come up from PO's when you bought like this. I surely don't want to give them the cashola in case these are ever redeemed. Most likely they won't be, but it is the thought of the whole thing.
What do you think?

If there is no payment received, then the next owners get nothing from you and they don't have to honor the GC. (They would be foolish not to, tho.) AND, if you keep good records, which I'm sure you do, you can tell the recipients that you are selling and that they should use the GC beforehand in case the new owners choose not to honor it.
We honored freebie donation GC's that we got hit with for full room nights. It hurt, and those guests never returned for a paid night, but we chose to do the honorable thing.
.

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary

Excellent! I like that one.

What if we sell, what happens to these GC's for future owners? I wanted to ask you as you had some stuff come up from PO's when you bought like this. I surely don't want to give them the cashola in case these are ever redeemed. Most likely they won't be, but it is the thought of the whole thing.
What do you think?

If there is no payment received, then the next owners get nothing from you and they don't have to honor the GC. (They would be foolish not to, tho.) AND, if you keep good records, which I'm sure you do, you can tell the recipients that you are selling and that they should use the GC beforehand in case the new owners choose not to honor it.
We honored freebie donation GC's that we got hit with for full room nights. It hurt, and those guests never returned for a paid night, but we chose to do the honorable thing.

How can you word it so it does not impact the new owners, what if the new owners do not discount rooms and won't accept it. What would you put on the GC to state only valid for THESE owners right now? Without making it stand out and sound ick?
.

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary

Excellent! I like that one.

What if we sell, what happens to these GC's for future owners? I wanted to ask you as you had some stuff come up from PO's when you bought like this. I surely don't want to give them the cashola in case these are ever redeemed. Most likely they won't be, but it is the thought of the whole thing.
What do you think?

If there is no payment received, then the next owners get nothing from you and they don't have to honor the GC. (They would be foolish not to, tho.) AND, if you keep good records, which I'm sure you do, you can tell the recipients that you are selling and that they should use the GC beforehand in case the new owners choose not to honor it.
We honored freebie donation GC's that we got hit with for full room nights. It hurt, and those guests never returned for a paid night, but we chose to do the honorable thing.

How can you word it so it does not impact the new owners, what if the new owners do not discount rooms and won't accept it. What would you put on the GC to state only valid for THESE owners right now? Without making it stand out and sound ick?

Are you going to be handing these out like candy on Halloween? How many do you figure you will hand out? 5? 10? Once the place is for sale, stop handing them out. They expire in one year, right? So, once you've nailed down the 'we're selling' scenario, stop issuing them. OR, issue them as 'a gift to you from Mr & Mrs Innkeeper', NOT from 'This Particular Inn'. No, that doesn't work. Then they'll be calling you for $25 if you're not there.
OR, tell the new owners what a great idea these are and HOW much business they have generated. SELL the new owners on taking them!
Someone else may have the wording you need. (I'm still rewriting my mgmt response!)
.

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary

Excellent! I like that one.

What if we sell, what happens to these GC's for future owners? I wanted to ask you as you had some stuff come up from PO's when you bought like this. I surely don't want to give them the cashola in case these are ever redeemed. Most likely they won't be, but it is the thought of the whole thing.
What do you think?

If there is no payment received, then the next owners get nothing from you and they don't have to honor the GC. (They would be foolish not to, tho.) AND, if you keep good records, which I'm sure you do, you can tell the recipients that you are selling and that they should use the GC beforehand in case the new owners choose not to honor it.
We honored freebie donation GC's that we got hit with for full room nights. It hurt, and those guests never returned for a paid night, but we chose to do the honorable thing.

How can you word it so it does not impact the new owners, what if the new owners do not discount rooms and won't accept it. What would you put on the GC to state only valid for THESE owners right now? Without making it stand out and sound ick?

Are you going to be handing these out like candy on Halloween? How many do you figure you will hand out? 5? 10? Once the place is for sale, stop handing them out. They expire in one year, right? So, once you've nailed down the 'we're selling' scenario, stop issuing them. OR, issue them as 'a gift to you from Mr & Mrs Innkeeper', NOT from 'This Particular Inn'. No, that doesn't work. Then they'll be calling you for $25 if you're not there.
OR, tell the new owners what a great idea these are and HOW much business they have generated. SELL the new owners on taking them!
Someone else may have the wording you need. (I'm still rewriting my mgmt response!)

Sure bail on me right when we had it all coming together.

We have wedding nights here. ESP in the fall, which is very soon. But I don't want any backlash or repaying for something I never intended on. If someone makes me an offer today we can sell it tomorrow. LOL!
Did I tell you I had a very interested person pursuing buying this place a couple months ago? No we do not have it listed and in fact, as you know under repair and renos. He said he wanted to look into it in case we were interested in selling. He had a B&B in this state before which I verified.
But he was looking for 7 to 10 rooms, not 6. So the occup would have to be pretty high to tempt him.
I sent him plenty of info and he didn't bite. He had cash for the sale after selling another business. It was not the right time. Nor the right person. Not yet.
I can't even think about selling when we are busy, but it is always - the escape plan, ahem, I mean exit strategy is being worked on.
Okay well you talked me out of those GC's. Nice idea, but too tricky. Funny that place I got that idea from IS FOR SALE. Which is why I wondered about the whole thing.
.

IMO, any outstanding GC's are simply part of the business liabilities that a new owner takes on when they buy a place. I would continue to give out GC's if that's part of my general marketing plan. When a potential buyer looks at the financials, they would see which GC's are outstanding and they could factor that into their offer price or not. As the selling innkeeper, I would also provide the list of GC's that have been redeemed over the years and very clearly indicate the redemption rate of GC's.
For instance, if I've given 100 GC's over time and have only had 20 ever redeemed, I've got a redemption rate of 20%.
If the potential buyer wants to factor outstanding GC's into their purchase offer, I would counter that they could only factor 20% of the outstanding GC values into it.
If giving GC's is good for your business and good marketing (and in the case of $25 off newlywed's anniversary return stay, that sounds like demd good marketing to me) then keep doing it. I think the impact on purchase price will be negligble. Teeny tiny.

 

[Morticia]

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary.

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary

Excellent! I like that one.
.

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary

Excellent! I like that one.

What if we sell, what happens to these GC's for future owners? I wanted to ask you as you had some stuff come up from PO's when you bought like this. I surely don't want to give them the cashola in case these are ever redeemed. Most likely they won't be, but it is the thought of the whole thing.
What do you think?
.

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary

Excellent! I like that one.

What if we sell, what happens to these GC's for future owners? I wanted to ask you as you had some stuff come up from PO's when you bought like this. I surely don't want to give them the cashola in case these are ever redeemed. Most likely they won't be, but it is the thought of the whole thing.
What do you think?

If there is no payment received, then the next owners get nothing from you and they don't have to honor the GC. (They would be foolish not to, tho.) AND, if you keep good records, which I'm sure you do, you can tell the recipients that you are selling and that they should use the GC beforehand in case the new owners choose not to honor it.
We honored freebie donation GC's that we got hit with for full room nights. It hurt, and those guests never returned for a paid night, but we chose to do the honorable thing.
.

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary

Excellent! I like that one.

What if we sell, what happens to these GC's for future owners? I wanted to ask you as you had some stuff come up from PO's when you bought like this. I surely don't want to give them the cashola in case these are ever redeemed. Most likely they won't be, but it is the thought of the whole thing.
What do you think?

If there is no payment received, then the next owners get nothing from you and they don't have to honor the GC. (They would be foolish not to, tho.) AND, if you keep good records, which I'm sure you do, you can tell the recipients that you are selling and that they should use the GC beforehand in case the new owners choose not to honor it.
We honored freebie donation GC's that we got hit with for full room nights. It hurt, and those guests never returned for a paid night, but we chose to do the honorable thing.

How can you word it so it does not impact the new owners, what if the new owners do not discount rooms and won't accept it. What would you put on the GC to state only valid for THESE owners right now? Without making it stand out and sound ick?
.

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary

Excellent! I like that one.

What if we sell, what happens to these GC's for future owners? I wanted to ask you as you had some stuff come up from PO's when you bought like this. I surely don't want to give them the cashola in case these are ever redeemed. Most likely they won't be, but it is the thought of the whole thing.
What do you think?

If there is no payment received, then the next owners get nothing from you and they don't have to honor the GC. (They would be foolish not to, tho.) AND, if you keep good records, which I'm sure you do, you can tell the recipients that you are selling and that they should use the GC beforehand in case the new owners choose not to honor it.
We honored freebie donation GC's that we got hit with for full room nights. It hurt, and those guests never returned for a paid night, but we chose to do the honorable thing.

How can you word it so it does not impact the new owners, what if the new owners do not discount rooms and won't accept it. What would you put on the GC to state only valid for THESE owners right now? Without making it stand out and sound ick?

Are you going to be handing these out like candy on Halloween? How many do you figure you will hand out? 5? 10? Once the place is for sale, stop handing them out. They expire in one year, right? So, once you've nailed down the 'we're selling' scenario, stop issuing them. OR, issue them as 'a gift to you from Mr & Mrs Innkeeper', NOT from 'This Particular Inn'. No, that doesn't work. Then they'll be calling you for $25 if you're not there.
OR, tell the new owners what a great idea these are and HOW much business they have generated. SELL the new owners on taking them!
Someone else may have the wording you need. (I'm still rewriting my mgmt response!)
.

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary

Excellent! I like that one.

What if we sell, what happens to these GC's for future owners? I wanted to ask you as you had some stuff come up from PO's when you bought like this. I surely don't want to give them the cashola in case these are ever redeemed. Most likely they won't be, but it is the thought of the whole thing.
What do you think?

If there is no payment received, then the next owners get nothing from you and they don't have to honor the GC. (They would be foolish not to, tho.) AND, if you keep good records, which I'm sure you do, you can tell the recipients that you are selling and that they should use the GC beforehand in case the new owners choose not to honor it.
We honored freebie donation GC's that we got hit with for full room nights. It hurt, and those guests never returned for a paid night, but we chose to do the honorable thing.

How can you word it so it does not impact the new owners, what if the new owners do not discount rooms and won't accept it. What would you put on the GC to state only valid for THESE owners right now? Without making it stand out and sound ick?

Are you going to be handing these out like candy on Halloween? How many do you figure you will hand out? 5? 10? Once the place is for sale, stop handing them out. They expire in one year, right? So, once you've nailed down the 'we're selling' scenario, stop issuing them. OR, issue them as 'a gift to you from Mr & Mrs Innkeeper', NOT from 'This Particular Inn'. No, that doesn't work. Then they'll be calling you for $25 if you're not there.
OR, tell the new owners what a great idea these are and HOW much business they have generated. SELL the new owners on taking them!
Someone else may have the wording you need. (I'm still rewriting my mgmt response!)

Sure bail on me right when we had it all coming together.

We have wedding nights here. ESP in the fall, which is very soon. But I don't want any backlash or repaying for something I never intended on. If someone makes me an offer today we can sell it tomorrow. LOL!
Did I tell you I had a very interested person pursuing buying this place a couple months ago? No we do not have it listed and in fact, as you know under repair and renos. He said he wanted to look into it in case we were interested in selling. He had a B&B in this state before which I verified.
But he was looking for 7 to 10 rooms, not 6. So the occup would have to be pretty high to tempt him.
I sent him plenty of info and he didn't bite. He had cash for the sale after selling another business. It was not the right time. Nor the right person. Not yet.
I can't even think about selling when we are busy, but it is always - the escape plan, ahem, I mean exit strategy is being worked on.
Okay well you talked me out of those GC's. Nice idea, but too tricky. Funny that place I got that idea from IS FOR SALE. Which is why I wondered about the whole thing.
.

IMO, any outstanding GC's are simply part of the business liabilities that a new owner takes on when they buy a place. I would continue to give out GC's if that's part of my general marketing plan. When a potential buyer looks at the financials, they would see which GC's are outstanding and they could factor that into their offer price or not. As the selling innkeeper, I would also provide the list of GC's that have been redeemed over the years and very clearly indicate the redemption rate of GC's.
For instance, if I've given 100 GC's over time and have only had 20 ever redeemed, I've got a redemption rate of 20%.
If the potential buyer wants to factor outstanding GC's into their purchase offer, I would counter that they could only factor 20% of the outstanding GC values into it.
If giving GC's is good for your business and good marketing (and in the case of $25 off newlywed's anniversary return stay, that sounds like demd good marketing to me) then keep doing it. I think the impact on purchase price will be negligble. Teeny tiny.
.

IMO, any outstanding GC's are simply part of the business liabilities that a new owner takes on when they buy a place. I would continue to give out GC's if that's part of my general marketing plan. When a potential buyer looks at the financials, they would see which GC's are outstanding and they could factor that into their offer price or not. As the selling innkeeper, I would also provide the list of GC's that have been redeemed over the years and very clearly indicate the redemption rate of GC's.
For instance, if I've given 100 GC's over time and have only had 20 ever redeemed, I've got a redemption rate of 20%.
If the potential buyer wants to factor outstanding GC's into their purchase offer, I would counter that they could only factor 20% of the outstanding GC values into it.
If giving GC's is good for your business and good marketing (and in the case of $25 off newlywed's anniversary return stay, that sounds like demd good marketing to me) then keep doing it. I think the impact on purchase price will be negligble. Teeny tiny.

I know we've talked this one over before, because the answers are all over the place, but is that how GC's should be negotiated at purchase? If I sell 25/year and only 5 of them get redeemed in any given year then as the seller I am only going to give back 20% of what I have taken in in GC sales to the new owner?
(Actually, that wouldn't work here because the STATE wants that money after a certain number of years. So, it would be give it to the new owners or turn 60% over to the state. Altho, no large retailer has ever turned over a dime.)
I'm curious because the PO's here did not GIVE us good records. They paid SOME of the outstanding GC money to us but said they had paid it all. (So, my purchase agreement was based on receiving all the outstanding money, not a %.) THEN, GC's started turning up every year that we had no record of. I would call the PO's to verify it was valid (and not some scam, which DID happen) and all of a sudden there WERE 'records' showing that yes or no that was a valid GC, bought and paid for, or not.
The last one of those came in last year. The PO's had a fit that I called them. My take was, why should I give away rooms that were never paid for? I DID give steep discounts on the rooms because I took the GC's at 'face value'. (ie- the GC was for a particular room so I gave that room at the price that had been paid for it 4-5 years ago.) One reason I only do dollar amounts now.

 

[happyjacks]

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary.

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary

Excellent! I like that one.
.

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary

Excellent! I like that one.

What if we sell, what happens to these GC's for future owners? I wanted to ask you as you had some stuff come up from PO's when you bought like this. I surely don't want to give them the cashola in case these are ever redeemed. Most likely they won't be, but it is the thought of the whole thing.
What do you think?
.

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary

Excellent! I like that one.

What if we sell, what happens to these GC's for future owners? I wanted to ask you as you had some stuff come up from PO's when you bought like this. I surely don't want to give them the cashola in case these are ever redeemed. Most likely they won't be, but it is the thought of the whole thing.
What do you think?

If there is no payment received, then the next owners get nothing from you and they don't have to honor the GC. (They would be foolish not to, tho.) AND, if you keep good records, which I'm sure you do, you can tell the recipients that you are selling and that they should use the GC beforehand in case the new owners choose not to honor it.
We honored freebie donation GC's that we got hit with for full room nights. It hurt, and those guests never returned for a paid night, but we chose to do the honorable thing.
.

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary

Excellent! I like that one.

What if we sell, what happens to these GC's for future owners? I wanted to ask you as you had some stuff come up from PO's when you bought like this. I surely don't want to give them the cashola in case these are ever redeemed. Most likely they won't be, but it is the thought of the whole thing.
What do you think?

If there is no payment received, then the next owners get nothing from you and they don't have to honor the GC. (They would be foolish not to, tho.) AND, if you keep good records, which I'm sure you do, you can tell the recipients that you are selling and that they should use the GC beforehand in case the new owners choose not to honor it.
We honored freebie donation GC's that we got hit with for full room nights. It hurt, and those guests never returned for a paid night, but we chose to do the honorable thing.

How can you word it so it does not impact the new owners, what if the new owners do not discount rooms and won't accept it. What would you put on the GC to state only valid for THESE owners right now? Without making it stand out and sound ick?
.

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary

Excellent! I like that one.

What if we sell, what happens to these GC's for future owners? I wanted to ask you as you had some stuff come up from PO's when you bought like this. I surely don't want to give them the cashola in case these are ever redeemed. Most likely they won't be, but it is the thought of the whole thing.
What do you think?

If there is no payment received, then the next owners get nothing from you and they don't have to honor the GC. (They would be foolish not to, tho.) AND, if you keep good records, which I'm sure you do, you can tell the recipients that you are selling and that they should use the GC beforehand in case the new owners choose not to honor it.
We honored freebie donation GC's that we got hit with for full room nights. It hurt, and those guests never returned for a paid night, but we chose to do the honorable thing.

How can you word it so it does not impact the new owners, what if the new owners do not discount rooms and won't accept it. What would you put on the GC to state only valid for THESE owners right now? Without making it stand out and sound ick?

Are you going to be handing these out like candy on Halloween? How many do you figure you will hand out? 5? 10? Once the place is for sale, stop handing them out. They expire in one year, right? So, once you've nailed down the 'we're selling' scenario, stop issuing them. OR, issue them as 'a gift to you from Mr & Mrs Innkeeper', NOT from 'This Particular Inn'. No, that doesn't work. Then they'll be calling you for $25 if you're not there.
OR, tell the new owners what a great idea these are and HOW much business they have generated. SELL the new owners on taking them!
Someone else may have the wording you need. (I'm still rewriting my mgmt response!)
.

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary

Excellent! I like that one.

What if we sell, what happens to these GC's for future owners? I wanted to ask you as you had some stuff come up from PO's when you bought like this. I surely don't want to give them the cashola in case these are ever redeemed. Most likely they won't be, but it is the thought of the whole thing.
What do you think?

If there is no payment received, then the next owners get nothing from you and they don't have to honor the GC. (They would be foolish not to, tho.) AND, if you keep good records, which I'm sure you do, you can tell the recipients that you are selling and that they should use the GC beforehand in case the new owners choose not to honor it.
We honored freebie donation GC's that we got hit with for full room nights. It hurt, and those guests never returned for a paid night, but we chose to do the honorable thing.

How can you word it so it does not impact the new owners, what if the new owners do not discount rooms and won't accept it. What would you put on the GC to state only valid for THESE owners right now? Without making it stand out and sound ick?

Are you going to be handing these out like candy on Halloween? How many do you figure you will hand out? 5? 10? Once the place is for sale, stop handing them out. They expire in one year, right? So, once you've nailed down the 'we're selling' scenario, stop issuing them. OR, issue them as 'a gift to you from Mr & Mrs Innkeeper', NOT from 'This Particular Inn'. No, that doesn't work. Then they'll be calling you for $25 if you're not there.
OR, tell the new owners what a great idea these are and HOW much business they have generated. SELL the new owners on taking them!
Someone else may have the wording you need. (I'm still rewriting my mgmt response!)

Sure bail on me right when we had it all coming together.

We have wedding nights here. ESP in the fall, which is very soon. But I don't want any backlash or repaying for something I never intended on. If someone makes me an offer today we can sell it tomorrow. LOL!
Did I tell you I had a very interested person pursuing buying this place a couple months ago? No we do not have it listed and in fact, as you know under repair and renos. He said he wanted to look into it in case we were interested in selling. He had a B&B in this state before which I verified.
But he was looking for 7 to 10 rooms, not 6. So the occup would have to be pretty high to tempt him.
I sent him plenty of info and he didn't bite. He had cash for the sale after selling another business. It was not the right time. Nor the right person. Not yet.
I can't even think about selling when we are busy, but it is always - the escape plan, ahem, I mean exit strategy is being worked on.
Okay well you talked me out of those GC's. Nice idea, but too tricky. Funny that place I got that idea from IS FOR SALE. Which is why I wondered about the whole thing.
.

IMO, any outstanding GC's are simply part of the business liabilities that a new owner takes on when they buy a place. I would continue to give out GC's if that's part of my general marketing plan. When a potential buyer looks at the financials, they would see which GC's are outstanding and they could factor that into their offer price or not. As the selling innkeeper, I would also provide the list of GC's that have been redeemed over the years and very clearly indicate the redemption rate of GC's.
For instance, if I've given 100 GC's over time and have only had 20 ever redeemed, I've got a redemption rate of 20%.
If the potential buyer wants to factor outstanding GC's into their purchase offer, I would counter that they could only factor 20% of the outstanding GC values into it.
If giving GC's is good for your business and good marketing (and in the case of $25 off newlywed's anniversary return stay, that sounds like demd good marketing to me) then keep doing it. I think the impact on purchase price will be negligble. Teeny tiny.
.

IMO, any outstanding GC's are simply part of the business liabilities that a new owner takes on when they buy a place. I would continue to give out GC's if that's part of my general marketing plan. When a potential buyer looks at the financials, they would see which GC's are outstanding and they could factor that into their offer price or not. As the selling innkeeper, I would also provide the list of GC's that have been redeemed over the years and very clearly indicate the redemption rate of GC's.
For instance, if I've given 100 GC's over time and have only had 20 ever redeemed, I've got a redemption rate of 20%.
If the potential buyer wants to factor outstanding GC's into their purchase offer, I would counter that they could only factor 20% of the outstanding GC values into it.
If giving GC's is good for your business and good marketing (and in the case of $25 off newlywed's anniversary return stay, that sounds like demd good marketing to me) then keep doing it. I think the impact on purchase price will be negligble. Teeny tiny.

I know we've talked this one over before, because the answers are all over the place, but is that how GC's should be negotiated at purchase? If I sell 25/year and only 5 of them get redeemed in any given year then as the seller I am only going to give back 20% of what I have taken in in GC sales to the new owner?
(Actually, that wouldn't work here because the STATE wants that money after a certain number of years. So, it would be give it to the new owners or turn 60% over to the state. Altho, no large retailer has ever turned over a dime.)
I'm curious because the PO's here did not GIVE us good records. They paid SOME of the outstanding GC money to us but said they had paid it all. (So, my purchase agreement was based on receiving all the outstanding money, not a %.) THEN, GC's started turning up every year that we had no record of. I would call the PO's to verify it was valid (and not some scam, which DID happen) and all of a sudden there WERE 'records' showing that yes or no that was a valid GC, bought and paid for, or not.
The last one of those came in last year. The PO's had a fit that I called them. My take was, why should I give away rooms that were never paid for? I DID give steep discounts on the rooms because I took the GC's at 'face value'. (ie- the GC was for a particular room so I gave that room at the price that had been paid for it 4-5 years ago.) One reason I only do dollar amounts now.
.

With purchased GC's it must be a little more complicated. My guess is from an accounting POV the money received for the sale of the GC should be deducted from the purchase price because it is money that, technically, the seller has not earned.
But for simplicity, and so that everyone can walk away from the deal and be done with it, I do think they should be negotiated into the purchase price like any other liability. The seller could, of course, try to talk the buyer into seeing the outstanding small-value GC's (such as $25 off a return stay) as a marketing benefit instead of a liability. "Look, dear buyer, I've built in repeat business for you."
I'd guess that for most B&B's the amount of GC's--when the redemption rate is applied--might be a few hundred dollars. Compared to the sale price of a B&B which might be a few to many hundred thousand dollars, it's not enough to be a deal-breaker.

 

[Morticia]

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary.

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary

Excellent! I like that one.
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I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary

Excellent! I like that one.

What if we sell, what happens to these GC's for future owners? I wanted to ask you as you had some stuff come up from PO's when you bought like this. I surely don't want to give them the cashola in case these are ever redeemed. Most likely they won't be, but it is the thought of the whole thing.
What do you think?
.

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary

Excellent! I like that one.

What if we sell, what happens to these GC's for future owners? I wanted to ask you as you had some stuff come up from PO's when you bought like this. I surely don't want to give them the cashola in case these are ever redeemed. Most likely they won't be, but it is the thought of the whole thing.
What do you think?

If there is no payment received, then the next owners get nothing from you and they don't have to honor the GC. (They would be foolish not to, tho.) AND, if you keep good records, which I'm sure you do, you can tell the recipients that you are selling and that they should use the GC beforehand in case the new owners choose not to honor it.
We honored freebie donation GC's that we got hit with for full room nights. It hurt, and those guests never returned for a paid night, but we chose to do the honorable thing.
.

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary

Excellent! I like that one.

What if we sell, what happens to these GC's for future owners? I wanted to ask you as you had some stuff come up from PO's when you bought like this. I surely don't want to give them the cashola in case these are ever redeemed. Most likely they won't be, but it is the thought of the whole thing.
What do you think?

If there is no payment received, then the next owners get nothing from you and they don't have to honor the GC. (They would be foolish not to, tho.) AND, if you keep good records, which I'm sure you do, you can tell the recipients that you are selling and that they should use the GC beforehand in case the new owners choose not to honor it.
We honored freebie donation GC's that we got hit with for full room nights. It hurt, and those guests never returned for a paid night, but we chose to do the honorable thing.

How can you word it so it does not impact the new owners, what if the new owners do not discount rooms and won't accept it. What would you put on the GC to state only valid for THESE owners right now? Without making it stand out and sound ick?
.

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary

Excellent! I like that one.

What if we sell, what happens to these GC's for future owners? I wanted to ask you as you had some stuff come up from PO's when you bought like this. I surely don't want to give them the cashola in case these are ever redeemed. Most likely they won't be, but it is the thought of the whole thing.
What do you think?

If there is no payment received, then the next owners get nothing from you and they don't have to honor the GC. (They would be foolish not to, tho.) AND, if you keep good records, which I'm sure you do, you can tell the recipients that you are selling and that they should use the GC beforehand in case the new owners choose not to honor it.
We honored freebie donation GC's that we got hit with for full room nights. It hurt, and those guests never returned for a paid night, but we chose to do the honorable thing.

How can you word it so it does not impact the new owners, what if the new owners do not discount rooms and won't accept it. What would you put on the GC to state only valid for THESE owners right now? Without making it stand out and sound ick?

Are you going to be handing these out like candy on Halloween? How many do you figure you will hand out? 5? 10? Once the place is for sale, stop handing them out. They expire in one year, right? So, once you've nailed down the 'we're selling' scenario, stop issuing them. OR, issue them as 'a gift to you from Mr & Mrs Innkeeper', NOT from 'This Particular Inn'. No, that doesn't work. Then they'll be calling you for $25 if you're not there.
OR, tell the new owners what a great idea these are and HOW much business they have generated. SELL the new owners on taking them!
Someone else may have the wording you need. (I'm still rewriting my mgmt response!)
.

I especially like this idea (maybe a good thing for us to stick in a wedding card for our wedding nights/honeymooners?)
$25 gift certificate to use against a return stay at the B&B on your first anniversary

Excellent! I like that one.

What if we sell, what happens to these GC's for future owners? I wanted to ask you as you had some stuff come up from PO's when you bought like this. I surely don't want to give them the cashola in case these are ever redeemed. Most likely they won't be, but it is the thought of the whole thing.
What do you think?

If there is no payment received, then the next owners get nothing from you and they don't have to honor the GC. (They would be foolish not to, tho.) AND, if you keep good records, which I'm sure you do, you can tell the recipients that you are selling and that they should use the GC beforehand in case the new owners choose not to honor it.
We honored freebie donation GC's that we got hit with for full room nights. It hurt, and those guests never returned for a paid night, but we chose to do the honorable thing.

How can you word it so it does not impact the new owners, what if the new owners do not discount rooms and won't accept it. What would you put on the GC to state only valid for THESE owners right now? Without making it stand out and sound ick?

Are you going to be handing these out like candy on Halloween? How many do you figure you will hand out? 5? 10? Once the place is for sale, stop handing them out. They expire in one year, right? So, once you've nailed down the 'we're selling' scenario, stop issuing them. OR, issue them as 'a gift to you from Mr & Mrs Innkeeper', NOT from 'This Particular Inn'. No, that doesn't work. Then they'll be calling you for $25 if you're not there.
OR, tell the new owners what a great idea these are and HOW much business they have generated. SELL the new owners on taking them!
Someone else may have the wording you need. (I'm still rewriting my mgmt response!)

Sure bail on me right when we had it all coming together.

We have wedding nights here. ESP in the fall, which is very soon. But I don't want any backlash or repaying for something I never intended on. If someone makes me an offer today we can sell it tomorrow. LOL!
Did I tell you I had a very interested person pursuing buying this place a couple months ago? No we do not have it listed and in fact, as you know under repair and renos. He said he wanted to look into it in case we were interested in selling. He had a B&B in this state before which I verified.
But he was looking for 7 to 10 rooms, not 6. So the occup would have to be pretty high to tempt him.
I sent him plenty of info and he didn't bite. He had cash for the sale after selling another business. It was not the right time. Nor the right person. Not yet.
I can't even think about selling when we are busy, but it is always - the escape plan, ahem, I mean exit strategy is being worked on.
Okay well you talked me out of those GC's. Nice idea, but too tricky. Funny that place I got that idea from IS FOR SALE. Which is why I wondered about the whole thing.
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IMO, any outstanding GC's are simply part of the business liabilities that a new owner takes on when they buy a place. I would continue to give out GC's if that's part of my general marketing plan. When a potential buyer looks at the financials, they would see which GC's are outstanding and they could factor that into their offer price or not. As the selling innkeeper, I would also provide the list of GC's that have been redeemed over the years and very clearly indicate the redemption rate of GC's.
For instance, if I've given 100 GC's over time and have only had 20 ever redeemed, I've got a redemption rate of 20%.
If the potential buyer wants to factor outstanding GC's into their purchase offer, I would counter that they could only factor 20% of the outstanding GC values into it.
If giving GC's is good for your business and good marketing (and in the case of $25 off newlywed's anniversary return stay, that sounds like demd good marketing to me) then keep doing it. I think the impact on purchase price will be negligble. Teeny tiny.
.

IMO, any outstanding GC's are simply part of the business liabilities that a new owner takes on when they buy a place. I would continue to give out GC's if that's part of my general marketing plan. When a potential buyer looks at the financials, they would see which GC's are outstanding and they could factor that into their offer price or not. As the selling innkeeper, I would also provide the list of GC's that have been redeemed over the years and very clearly indicate the redemption rate of GC's.
For instance, if I've given 100 GC's over time and have only had 20 ever redeemed, I've got a redemption rate of 20%.
If the potential buyer wants to factor outstanding GC's into their purchase offer, I would counter that they could only factor 20% of the outstanding GC values into it.
If giving GC's is good for your business and good marketing (and in the case of $25 off newlywed's anniversary return stay, that sounds like demd good marketing to me) then keep doing it. I think the impact on purchase price will be negligble. Teeny tiny.

I know we've talked this one over before, because the answers are all over the place, but is that how GC's should be negotiated at purchase? If I sell 25/year and only 5 of them get redeemed in any given year then as the seller I am only going to give back 20% of what I have taken in in GC sales to the new owner?
(Actually, that wouldn't work here because the STATE wants that money after a certain number of years. So, it would be give it to the new owners or turn 60% over to the state. Altho, no large retailer has ever turned over a dime.)
I'm curious because the PO's here did not GIVE us good records. They paid SOME of the outstanding GC money to us but said they had paid it all. (So, my purchase agreement was based on receiving all the outstanding money, not a %.) THEN, GC's started turning up every year that we had no record of. I would call the PO's to verify it was valid (and not some scam, which DID happen) and all of a sudden there WERE 'records' showing that yes or no that was a valid GC, bought and paid for, or not.
The last one of those came in last year. The PO's had a fit that I called them. My take was, why should I give away rooms that were never paid for? I DID give steep discounts on the rooms because I took the GC's at 'face value'. (ie- the GC was for a particular room so I gave that room at the price that had been paid for it 4-5 years ago.) One reason I only do dollar amounts now.
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With purchased GC's it must be a little more complicated. My guess is from an accounting POV the money received for the sale of the GC should be deducted from the purchase price because it is money that, technically, the seller has not earned.
But for simplicity, and so that everyone can walk away from the deal and be done with it, I do think they should be negotiated into the purchase price like any other liability. The seller could, of course, try to talk the buyer into seeing the outstanding small-value GC's (such as $25 off a return stay) as a marketing benefit instead of a liability. "Look, dear buyer, I've built in repeat business for you."
I'd guess that for most B&B's the amount of GC's--when the redemption rate is applied--might be a few hundred dollars. Compared to the sale price of a B&B which might be a few to many hundred thousand dollars, it's not enough to be a deal-breaker.
.

With purchased GC's it must be a little more complicated. My guess is from an accounting POV the money received for the sale of the GC should be deducted from the purchase price because it is money that, technically, the seller has not earned.
But for simplicity, and so that everyone can walk away from the deal and be done with it, I do think they should be negotiated into the purchase price like any other liability. The seller could, of course, try to talk the buyer into seeing the outstanding small-value GC's (such as $25 off a return stay) as a marketing benefit instead of a liability. "Look, dear buyer, I've built in repeat business for you."
I'd guess that for most B&B's the amount of GC's--when the redemption rate is applied--might be a few hundred dollars. Compared to the sale price of a B&B which might be a few to many hundred thousand dollars, it's not enough to be a deal-breaker.

I like the strategy of calling the freebie $25 GC's a marketing benefit, because they are.
After I thought it over for awhile, given my track record for PITA's, I wondered if I really want to hand those out when they check-in?