What type of B&B did you envision?

[wendydk]

Why do people keep booking?
Their website is very nice, altho scarce on room details. The photos of the area, the website slideshows and the lakefront location are very attractive, and their rates start at about $80.00..all rooms supposedly having great views. Easy to see why people give them the benefit of the doubt. If you're going to be out enjoying the area, and only sleeping there.....when you factor in the many people that still don't research reviews...waa-laa.
I would put up with a lackluster room for $80.00 and a location so near to natural beauty with views like that. I've paid not much less for a hideously outdated and filthy room at Motel 6 just off the expressway in nowheresville.

 

[Don Draper]

An anniversary couple this morning. Nice young couple from DC. They stayed at Peaks of Otter Lodge the night prior and said it was like a prison. I laughed and asked them why, cinderblock walls?
They said "Yes, that and they try to make it "seem" rustic, so while there are no tv's or phones, there is also no alarm clock or cell service so we couldn't even set our cell phones as an alarm. We slept with the curtains drawn so we wouldn't oversleep the next morning."
This is a place that is maximizing some amazing hikes/views and in itself is not worth the stay. The marketing draws them in like flies however, and the guests leave disappointed. They have an average dining experience at best, a lagoon type lake and that's that. People stay once and never go back and they are fine with that...the revenue stream is steady.
peaks of otter.com
So stay with us, in town with amenities and you can drive to your hiking spots/waterfalls/mountain vistas! .

This is the comment in TA that really caught my eye. It describes exactly what you said JB... "I came to the hotel with trepidation, because of the reviews I'd read on TripAdvisor. Not expecting much, I was still slightly disappointed. Location is about all it has going for it." The reviewer than describes the buffet breakfast that was $40 for 2 people.
B&Bs are a great value!
.

This is the comment in TA that really caught my eye. It describes exactly what you said JB... "I came to the hotel with trepidation, because of the reviews I'd read on TripAdvisor. Not expecting much, I was still slightly disappointed. Location is about all it has going for it." The reviewer than describes the buffet breakfast that was $40 for 2 people.
B&Bs are a great value!

How odd, I have never seen reviews with Every category picked! How strange, for the reviews they have a little of everything. Most bad, though.
One reviewer said "Reviews range between "wonderful" and "Warning". Granted the Peaks of Otter lodge is convenient and has nice views, but oh the rooms! I like rustic, but this is just old and worn with peeling paint and bathrooms circa 1950. The worst, however, were the (tissue) paper walls. We heard every cough, sneeze and various other (unmentionable) sounds. "
ha ha "looks like a bunker..." that is too funny.
location location. No wonder our guests loved their night here. It is more for hotel guests than B&B people, so what can we say, sad to be disappointed and waste $. Our couple weren't rich, he works at Starbucks and they saved for this special anniv getaway. I gave them a card and flowers and a fantastic candlelight breakfast so I am glad to hear we could make it special for them!
.

Sorry folks, but anyone who is booking at a place that does not have individual room photos AND does have crappy small photos on their website which are labeled "View from your room"...yeah, you deserve whatever accommodations you get.
It says right on the home page "Peaks of Otter Lodge is managed by Crestline Hotels & Resorts, Inc.". It is clearly not anything like a B&B.

 

[JBloggs]

background: The reason they book there is they drive the Blue Ridge Parkway and stop and stay, they do not book in advance most of them! They don't read the reviews til they get home and are disappointed.
More people visit this national park than all the rest combined, yeah yeah tell me about it, I should be full every night, but we are not ON THE PARKWAY like that lodge is (we try to pluck them off the parkway to stay here!)
It always has a packed house due to the restaurant and parking and BATHROOMS and the big one - it is near some of the best hikes around! I send guests to hike Sharp Top all the time.

 

[gillumhouse]

I envisioned a much more upscale B&B than I own. However, I'm much more comfortable with what I have vs what I thought I wanted. So, yes, changed the course I was headed on and made my life a lot simpler!.

I used to go to Board meetings at the big beautiful mansions and would come home doing the Bette Davis - Whata dump! Then one day, sitting in a meeting in a parlor, looking at the crystal chandelier and beautiful fretwork and other woodwork and the size of the rooms of the parlor, living room, dining room and entrance hall - plus the guestrooms and bathrooms... I found myself saying to me, "I am glad I do not have to clean this place!" I went home with a whole new attitude about my house. Yes, I would love to have more "common area" - I really have none other than the porch & dining room - but this house really is ME. And that includes that in this house there is NOT a place for everything and everything in its place.

 

[HighMountainLodge]

We knew we wanted small and casual, that our location would be a tourist draw in itself, and that all rooms having cable TV, VCR's, fireplaces, a/c, bathrobes and a full breakfast would make us stand out from the established Inns in town.
I didn't realize just how many outdoorsy-active folks and very young couples we would get. I think the draw to first-timers and young couples was that we were so laid back, non-threatening and casual...so I played that up along with our location in terms of nature areas, hiking, biking, skiing, cross country, snowshoeing and the like.
I also didn't realize that the popular small city 35 miles away would be such a draw...but took advantage of the fact as soon as I recognized it....in terms of joining their CVB, optimizing for keyword searches and buying directory listings in that city. That was the big thing, in my estimation..

This is similar to what we envisioned. Although we are not small, we are in an area where outdoor physical activity draws people 9 months of the year (the other 3 months, they would drown in mud and their survivors would probably sue us). And we're not upscale people. Generally, our website serves as a successful filter for the people we want to attract: younger, more active, laid-back. etc. When the website fails us, however, we do have a few hard and fast rules that will never be broken: we don't do weddings. Never. Ever. I have been a church organist for most of my adult life, and I have dealt with far too many psychotic brides and their insane mothers to want to import their particularly corrosive version of stürm und drang to our B&B.
We welcome honeymoon couples to the lodge, and we'll even give them a complimentary split of (cheap) champagne that they weren't expecting. And we roll with the punches when our guests show up and prove to be more self-absorbed than is really good for them.
But for the most part, we are getting what we expect to get: happy, laid-back people getting a bargain at a B&B in the Colorado mountains. We exceed their expectations in terms of drop-dead excellent food, spotlessly clean rooms; shoot, they even get ironed pillowcases.
Recently, we had a couple stay with us who just didn't like our breakfasts. Julie and I wondered about it. We fed them herbed-egg stuffed popovers and roasted asparagus drizzled with homemade hollandaise, along with berry parfaits and home-made banana-nut bread. The next morning, we gave them eggs-to-order, bacon, home-made waffles, and a fruit compote. They gave us 3 out of 5 stars on TA for our cooking. It was evident, even as we were clearing their plates, that we had missed the mark when it came to discerning their food preferences.
I'm sorry, but if you're even a month older than 5, I'm not going to offer you cocoa-puffs, even if it will increase my rating on TA.

 

[Alibi Ike]

We knew we wanted small and casual, that our location would be a tourist draw in itself, and that all rooms having cable TV, VCR's, fireplaces, a/c, bathrobes and a full breakfast would make us stand out from the established Inns in town.
I didn't realize just how many outdoorsy-active folks and very young couples we would get. I think the draw to first-timers and young couples was that we were so laid back, non-threatening and casual...so I played that up along with our location in terms of nature areas, hiking, biking, skiing, cross country, snowshoeing and the like.
I also didn't realize that the popular small city 35 miles away would be such a draw...but took advantage of the fact as soon as I recognized it....in terms of joining their CVB, optimizing for keyword searches and buying directory listings in that city. That was the big thing, in my estimation..

This is similar to what we envisioned. Although we are not small, we are in an area where outdoor physical activity draws people 9 months of the year (the other 3 months, they would drown in mud and their survivors would probably sue us). And we're not upscale people. Generally, our website serves as a successful filter for the people we want to attract: younger, more active, laid-back. etc. When the website fails us, however, we do have a few hard and fast rules that will never be broken: we don't do weddings. Never. Ever. I have been a church organist for most of my adult life, and I have dealt with far too many psychotic brides and their insane mothers to want to import their particularly corrosive version of stürm und drang to our B&B.
We welcome honeymoon couples to the lodge, and we'll even give them a complimentary split of (cheap) champagne that they weren't expecting. And we roll with the punches when our guests show up and prove to be more self-absorbed than is really good for them.
But for the most part, we are getting what we expect to get: happy, laid-back people getting a bargain at a B&B in the Colorado mountains. We exceed their expectations in terms of drop-dead excellent food, spotlessly clean rooms; shoot, they even get ironed pillowcases.
Recently, we had a couple stay with us who just didn't like our breakfasts. Julie and I wondered about it. We fed them herbed-egg stuffed popovers and roasted asparagus drizzled with homemade hollandaise, along with berry parfaits and home-made banana-nut bread. The next morning, we gave them eggs-to-order, bacon, home-made waffles, and a fruit compote. They gave us 3 out of 5 stars on TA for our cooking. It was evident, even as we were clearing their plates, that we had missed the mark when it came to discerning their food preferences.
I'm sorry, but if you're even a month older than 5, I'm not going to offer you cocoa-puffs, even if it will increase my rating on TA.
.

I'm sorry, but if you're even a month older than 5, I'm not going to offer you cocoa-puffs, even if it will increase my rating on TA.

Raisin Bran. We get a fairly large Raisin Bran contingent here. However, that wasn't what they were looking for, either. Food snobs come in all stripes and if they didn't specify what they didn't like in re the food in their review, water off a duck's back, unless you like wallowing in the misery of wondering.

 

[Tom]

background: The reason they book there is they drive the Blue Ridge Parkway and stop and stay, they do not book in advance most of them! They don't read the reviews til they get home and are disappointed.
More people visit this national park than all the rest combined, yeah yeah tell me about it, I should be full every night, but we are not ON THE PARKWAY like that lodge is (we try to pluck them off the parkway to stay here!)
It always has a packed house due to the restaurant and parking and BATHROOMS and the big one - it is near some of the best hikes around! I send guests to hike Sharp Top all the time.

.

The Ridge is blue ...

 

[JBloggs]

I blogged this. I did not mention that lodge, but put TA review quotes from it and a price comparison if anyone is interested. Wish I could put a photo of one of their bare bones rooms but I can't do that, so I put the room these guests stayed in here.
Do Reviews Matter? Do You Trust Reviews?[/h3]

 

[Alibi Ike]

I blogged this. I did not mention that lodge, but put TA review quotes from it and a price comparison if anyone is interested. Wish I could put a photo of one of their bare bones rooms but I can't do that, so I put the room these guests stayed in here.
Do Reviews Matter? Do You Trust Reviews?[/h3].

I don't think I would have done that blog. It's ok to boast about how great our places are, but I wouldn't quote someone else's bad reviews even without naming the place.

 

[wendydk]

I blogged this. I did not mention that lodge, but put TA review quotes from it and a price comparison if anyone is interested. Wish I could put a photo of one of their bare bones rooms but I can't do that, so I put the room these guests stayed in here.
Do Reviews Matter? Do You Trust Reviews?[/h3].

I don't think I would have done that blog. It's ok to boast about how great our places are, but I wouldn't quote someone else's bad reviews even without naming the place.
.

I don't think I would have done that blog. It's ok to boast about how great our places are, but I wouldn't quote someone else's bad reviews even without naming the place.

Me either, but I would encourage guests to compare reviews...maybe even put a link to the review page for the town in question.

 

[JBloggs]

I blogged this. I did not mention that lodge, but put TA review quotes from it and a price comparison if anyone is interested. Wish I could put a photo of one of their bare bones rooms but I can't do that, so I put the room these guests stayed in here.
Do Reviews Matter? Do You Trust Reviews?[/h3].

I don't think I would have done that blog. It's ok to boast about how great our places are, but I wouldn't quote someone else's bad reviews even without naming the place.
.

I don't think I would have done that blog. It's ok to boast about how great our places are, but I wouldn't quote someone else's bad reviews even without naming the place.

Me either, but I would encourage guests to compare reviews...maybe even put a link to the review page for the town in question.
.

I don't think I would have done that blog. It's ok to boast about how great our places are, but I wouldn't quote someone else's bad reviews even without naming the place.

Me either, but I would encourage guests to compare reviews...maybe even put a link to the review page for the town in question.

It's not a town, it's a one of place, if I put a link it would be a direct link to the other place, so I omitted that. There are not links on the blog article to it.

 

[Alibi Ike]

I blogged this. I did not mention that lodge, but put TA review quotes from it and a price comparison if anyone is interested. Wish I could put a photo of one of their bare bones rooms but I can't do that, so I put the room these guests stayed in here.
Do Reviews Matter? Do You Trust Reviews?[/h3].

I don't think I would have done that blog. It's ok to boast about how great our places are, but I wouldn't quote someone else's bad reviews even without naming the place.
.

I don't think I would have done that blog. It's ok to boast about how great our places are, but I wouldn't quote someone else's bad reviews even without naming the place.

Me either, but I would encourage guests to compare reviews...maybe even put a link to the review page for the town in question.
.

I don't think I would have done that blog. It's ok to boast about how great our places are, but I wouldn't quote someone else's bad reviews even without naming the place.

Me either, but I would encourage guests to compare reviews...maybe even put a link to the review page for the town in question.

With tracking software the way it is I wouldn't want someone tracking back to my blog to see I held them up as a place to avoid. Maybe this place isn't that savvy but we all know innkeepers who are on the bleeding edge of technology and track every move on their websites. My good friends do this. They watch trends to see who is viewing what pages and then see how long it takes that person to reserve a room. They were showing me how they watched one guest look at the website from all these different sources. 7 times they viewed the website, coming in from a different source each time and then they reserved. I think it's creepy to track a single person like that, but they have the time and resources to follow that closely.