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Copperhead

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Not sure how many of you participated in TA's latest survey, but here are the results, some of which show how B&B's lag behind......
 
How are the Italians about eating? I've heard they don't like to try the local cuisine when they travel, that they always look for traditional Italian foods.
 
How are the Italians about eating? I've heard they don't like to try the local cuisine when they travel, that they always look for traditional Italian foods..
I've never had one look for Italian food. They all want to know where's the best place to go. Breakfast can go either way. Either they dive in or all they want is plain toast. There is no middle ground on that.
 
It's time again for me to plan an innkeepers' getaway. We have our town selected now I am in charge of finding a place.
I have looked at 7 B&B's so far. Here's what I've found:
  • Gratuity added for the housekeeper, but you can get it back if you're not happy with the service
  • NO website, just an info page on b&b.com
  • House rental listed under B&B's on b&b.com
  • B&B's in MY town listed on the city page where we are going 2 hours away. (I have to figure out how to get MY inn listed there. Yeesh.)
  • Teeny photos and zero text for the rooms page. (How do I know what kind of room it is? Is there an en suite?)
  • A banner at the top of one saying all bookings for June 2009 get a special deal.
  • 'Open concept bathroom' (at least it's listed on the website and not a surprise on arrival)
  • A directory listing from the Yellow Pages that is the inn's website.
I have to stop now before I just poke my eye out. This city we are going to is less than 30 minutes from a really BIG city. And this is how these places are presenting themselves online. Heck, almost every website in my town is NICE, easy to read and navigate with all the bells and whistles. In my tiny town. And these other places are in cities!
Tomorrow I try again.
 
Im lucky here in a way as the compeition is high ie 77 BB's and counting plus 15 hotels it pushes people to get with the program. However was trying to find out how many rooms one place had and did have to ring in the end which was annoying.
 
It's time again for me to plan an innkeepers' getaway. We have our town selected now I am in charge of finding a place.
I have looked at 7 B&B's so far. Here's what I've found:
  • Gratuity added for the housekeeper, but you can get it back if you're not happy with the service
  • NO website, just an info page on b&b.com
  • House rental listed under B&B's on b&b.com
  • B&B's in MY town listed on the city page where we are going 2 hours away. (I have to figure out how to get MY inn listed there. Yeesh.)
  • Teeny photos and zero text for the rooms page. (How do I know what kind of room it is? Is there an en suite?)
  • A banner at the top of one saying all bookings for June 2009 get a special deal.
  • 'Open concept bathroom' (at least it's listed on the website and not a surprise on arrival)
  • A directory listing from the Yellow Pages that is the inn's website.
I have to stop now before I just poke my eye out. This city we are going to is less than 30 minutes from a really BIG city. And this is how these places are presenting themselves online. Heck, almost every website in my town is NICE, easy to read and navigate with all the bells and whistles. In my tiny town. And these other places are in cities!
Tomorrow I try again..
That was my biggest complaint when I started to look for places in France. And then the HOOPS you had to jump through to pay! You had to send money via Paypal, you had to pay an extra fee for using Paypal. (So if you could only pay with Paypal, why didn't they just include the extra 3% in the cost in the first place?)
We have a LOT of guests that travel between here and the next largest city in the province. But we haven't found a partner there who is doing online booking. It's impossible to deal with. So we have no partner in the other city.
 
It's time again for me to plan an innkeepers' getaway. We have our town selected now I am in charge of finding a place.
I have looked at 7 B&B's so far. Here's what I've found:
  • Gratuity added for the housekeeper, but you can get it back if you're not happy with the service
  • NO website, just an info page on b&b.com
  • House rental listed under B&B's on b&b.com
  • B&B's in MY town listed on the city page where we are going 2 hours away. (I have to figure out how to get MY inn listed there. Yeesh.)
  • Teeny photos and zero text for the rooms page. (How do I know what kind of room it is? Is there an en suite?)
  • A banner at the top of one saying all bookings for June 2009 get a special deal.
  • 'Open concept bathroom' (at least it's listed on the website and not a surprise on arrival)
  • A directory listing from the Yellow Pages that is the inn's website.
I have to stop now before I just poke my eye out. This city we are going to is less than 30 minutes from a really BIG city. And this is how these places are presenting themselves online. Heck, almost every website in my town is NICE, easy to read and navigate with all the bells and whistles. In my tiny town. And these other places are in cities!
Tomorrow I try again..
Yes, there's great deal of that round here too (to our advantage). But to be fair to others most B&B's in this area (and I suspect most of the Highlands) are people making a bit of extra money on the side letting out spare rooms. Even those who are running as proper businesses are often run by the wife whilst the husband is at work (so not the primary source of income).
It's surprising how the B&B paying the bills and mortage focuses the mind!
 
We have to make a quick trip to get a VERY valuable item that a friend is giving to DH. There is a B & B in the same town as middle son with a cottage. I have been trying all morning to TALK to the innkeeper as the web site says nothing about the access TO the cottage (do not assume no steps as many cottages here are cellar houses that are wonderful but many steps). To get a phone number one opens another page from the rooms page. I have called and e-mailed. No answer yet. Grrr. This will not be a one-nighter either.
 
We have to make a quick trip to get a VERY valuable item that a friend is giving to DH. There is a B & B in the same town as middle son with a cottage. I have been trying all morning to TALK to the innkeeper as the web site says nothing about the access TO the cottage (do not assume no steps as many cottages here are cellar houses that are wonderful but many steps). To get a phone number one opens another page from the rooms page. I have called and e-mailed. No answer yet. Grrr. This will not be a one-nighter either..
I had a guest call to make a rez last week. She needed 3 nights. I can only do 2. And not consecutively. Then I fitted her out with accommodations in TWO other towns. (Staying 4 nights at one place and 1 night at another.)
She then asked if I could help her with a THIRD town where she had called and emailed several times and no one had gotten back to her. That town was 'out of my ken' so I told her she'd have to call them again as I didn't know those innkeepers but here's the place I always stay when I go to that town. No, she didn't want a hotel. (Gorgeous, sea side inn but she didn't want it. Really, when the INNKEEPER recommends a place, you should listen!)
 
It's time again for me to plan an innkeepers' getaway. We have our town selected now I am in charge of finding a place.
I have looked at 7 B&B's so far. Here's what I've found:
  • Gratuity added for the housekeeper, but you can get it back if you're not happy with the service
  • NO website, just an info page on b&b.com
  • House rental listed under B&B's on b&b.com
  • B&B's in MY town listed on the city page where we are going 2 hours away. (I have to figure out how to get MY inn listed there. Yeesh.)
  • Teeny photos and zero text for the rooms page. (How do I know what kind of room it is? Is there an en suite?)
  • A banner at the top of one saying all bookings for June 2009 get a special deal.
  • 'Open concept bathroom' (at least it's listed on the website and not a surprise on arrival)
  • A directory listing from the Yellow Pages that is the inn's website.
I have to stop now before I just poke my eye out. This city we are going to is less than 30 minutes from a really BIG city. And this is how these places are presenting themselves online. Heck, almost every website in my town is NICE, easy to read and navigate with all the bells and whistles. In my tiny town. And these other places are in cities!
Tomorrow I try again..
Yes, there's great deal of that round here too (to our advantage). But to be fair to others most B&B's in this area (and I suspect most of the Highlands) are people making a bit of extra money on the side letting out spare rooms. Even those who are running as proper businesses are often run by the wife whilst the husband is at work (so not the primary source of income).
It's surprising how the B&B paying the bills and mortage focuses the mind!
.
I agree with this - ie they in some cases are flying below the radar so don't advertise too much.
However not being funny if I am running a business I am running a business and therefore it should be done in a business like manor - also in the UK the cottage and steps issue should not come up it is a legal requirement to have an access statement which should cover this eventuality - we even have pictures of all the steps into the building on ours. This is a legal requirement and you are breaking the law not to have a comprehensive one its that simple.
 
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