what would you do?

Bed & Breakfast / Short Term Rental Host Forum

Help Support Bed & Breakfast / Short Term Rental Host Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

DaisyMae

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 3, 2008
Messages
308
Reaction score
0
we b opught our Inn a little over a year ago. our new website was up & running last winter. recently another local inn emailed us stating that they are flattered we chose to imitate them by choosing, (what they feel is) the same color for our website. they more or less (in a "nice" way) "suggested" we consider changing our color. they are flattered we are copying them but... WTF? i was shocked to say the least when i read the email!! (as was DH)
We did not consult anyone's website, least of all theirs!, when we were planning/designing with our webdesigner. we contacted them back, assured them we had no desire or intention to imitate them & although we are sure they probably have a lovely business...da, da, da.. we, basically, don't want to be like them anymore than they want to be like us. (we did not put that last line in the email back but...) we stated that we should get together in person to discss it. they more or less did not acknowledge that we responded,as they just simply replied with their original email. They stated they are "uncomfortable" with the issue. We are not uncomfortable at all...we have done nothing wrong in any way at all That is why we have no discomfort with discussing it face to face. they will not. when we responded that we have no desire to change our color at this time (that is exactly what we responded with (the 2nd time)...no more no less) it apparently was not the answer they wanted to hear because they then proceeded to accuse us of copying other local inns & all of the local innkeepers are apparently in agreeance with this.
I should mention, that these innkeepers are people who do not know the slightest bit about us,who we are, have never been to our inn, do not know anything about our education history, our hobbies,have not had a real conversation with us about anything in the world, are completely unaware of my 15 years experience in the gourmet restaurant world (i have taken my ideas from past restaurant jobs, cake decorating & my college background of interior art & design)....you name it! we do not have discomfort or issues with this as we know we have done nothing wrong at all.
what are anyone's thoughts on this? ever experienced something like this?
 
Do you have the same web designer? Sometimes they just drop and drag without considering that maybe your competition might not appreciate that another client's website looks exactly like their competitor's...if so, welcome to the world of templates!
Don't worry about it..if you are happy with your design...leave it. Don't force friendship on them...apologize if you feel you must and then let it alone!
We all borrow info and ideas from each other, we look for guidance and advice from this forum for example...and we also look at other websites for ideas, that doesn't mean you stole their ideas. there are only so many colors and bedroom ensembles out there, many of us may "look" a- like without even trying...
I'm surprised they actually gave you the time of day!
 
If it were me, after responding to them that perhaps you could get together and discuss the issue and being rebuffed, my answer would be to ignore it. There is no copyright on colors. There really is nothing they can do about it and if you like your colors and your site that is all that matters. Ignore them as you would a bratty child.
 
oh no we have completely different designers, our is not a template. i don't know if theirs is. the only issue they have with ours is that it is the same color. theirs has a large amount of red & ours has a smaller amount.
oh, no we have not made any attempt at all other than to say hello if we saw them somewhere. they were not a couple, at any point, that it interested us to be friends with.
we have no reason to apologize, in our opinion, i'm sure their opinion is much different. our decor, house style, bedroom, decor, breakfast,website design,etc is entirely different.
when we received the email, almost a year after our website was up & going, we did not even realize we had the same color red as them. we actually went to their website then to see! they said that our site did not start out red when we first did it, we changed it to copy them. huh? our website has been red since the moment we put it up.
by all means, it is not an issue we lost sleep over at any point. we just could not get over the extremely incorrect wrong accusation by people that don't even know us.
why do you say you are surprised they gave us the time of day?
 
Because the innkeepers around here never would have...
i think most people, whether they were upset or not, would not have contacted you about it, unless there was a flagrant imitation. If you don't feel that there is and you know you didn't copy them, just let it go... lots of places have the same color schemes...
 
we intend to just let it go... we put the ball in their court when we said our door is always open. it's not a major issue for us...we have much more important things going on in our business lives.
i just thought it would be a good topic to throw out here in the forum & seewhat people's opinions were.
there is other websites of inns nearby that have same colors as each other. our website layout, design, etc looks nothing like each others. we consulted other website designers that we know to see what their professional opinion was & they said it was the silliest thing they had ever heard of.
we never concerned ourselves with the goings on of any of the area innkeepers sites so we were surprised that these people were so interested with ours. these are inns that were established years before we came along & these inns are about twice the size of ours.
 
we intend to just let it go... we put the ball in their court when we said our door is always open. it's not a major issue for us...we have much more important things going on in our business lives.
i just thought it would be a good topic to throw out here in the forum & seewhat people's opinions were.
there is other websites of inns nearby that have same colors as each other. our website layout, design, etc looks nothing like each others. we consulted other website designers that we know to see what their professional opinion was & they said it was the silliest thing they had ever heard of.
we never concerned ourselves with the goings on of any of the area innkeepers sites so we were surprised that these people were so interested with ours. these are inns that were established years before we came along & these inns are about twice the size of ours..
mollysmom said:
we intend to just let it go... we put the ball in their court when we said our door is always open. it's not a major issue for us...we have much more important things going on in our business lives.
i just thought it would be a good topic to throw out here in the forum & seewhat people's opinions were.
there is other websites of inns nearby that have same colors as each other. our website layout, design, etc looks nothing like each others. we consulted other website designers that we know to see what their professional opinion was & they said it was the silliest thing they had ever heard of.
we never concerned ourselves with the goings on of any of the area innkeepers sites so we were surprised that these people were so interested with ours. these are inns that were established years before we came along & these inns are about twice the size of ours.
OK, you didn't copy them. After that fact is established I have to ask, 'Why are you not keeping tabs on your competitions' websites? All of them? Any of them? This is not in the least meant to be snarky, please don't take it that way, but why do you not have more than a passing aquaintance with the other B&B's in your area? Is your area so far spread out?
I say this because there are 10 B&B's in my town. Yes, I have only a passing aquaintance with a couple of them. One innkeeper I just met this summer even tho they live 2 doors away. They are just not social in the B&B crowd. But, the other 8 places I know in a 'friendly' fashion. We meet and talk, some of us go out for dinner, we help each other with problems, etc.
It seems as if you are trying to operate in a vacuum. The one place that is complaining may be making up the part about 'everyone' saying your website has taken ideas from them, who knows. But it does sound like you haven't made any innkeeping.
Not having seen any of the sites, I believe it when you say your site is original.
 
we are friendly with a couple of the other innkeepers & have socialized with some. We just don't have desire to be part of a click or anything. we have been over for coffee & such to other inns & i just had lunxh with a lady innkeeper down the street a couple of days ago. in fact another inn, we are caretaking over the winter. we are not antisocial in the least bit. we are reserved in the sense, as i mentioned that we are not clique people. a couple of the inns here are better frineds with some than others & some are not in the social circle. we desire to be a little in the middle of that. we refer to other inns & vice versa. could you clarify the vacuum reference?
when i said that we were not concerned with other websites, what i meant is that we were not concerned with what their design, color & such was like when we were working with our designer. we don't check other websites on a daily basis or anything? we have had guests that decided to extend their stay but we did not have a vacancy. there have been a few cases where we consulted an availability calendar before calling, to see if there was vacancy, the other innkeeper or sending the guest over to that inn.
like inncogneto mentioned earlier, some people do not mention when/if they are upset about things. we have not on things...for example, a guest called us a few months ago to make a reservation. he told me that the inn that referred him to us told hime that they own us & another local inn. we are not owned by anyone other than us. i could not believe another innkeeper would tell someone that he owned 2 other local inns.granted, the person could have misunderstood...even though this was irritating to us we have not & probably will not ever say anything to that innkeeper because we have no proof that he actually said it.
i could identify myself & you could see my website, however, it is not my place to i.d. other inns & take away their privacy. (i would not want that done to me w/o my knowledge) the main reason i don't really want to i.d my in is because when/if i list gripes about my guests i don't want my posts to come up on here in a SE for my guests/potential guests to see.
 
I bet I can predict the shade of red.. A slightly vibrant yet deep red that plays nice with other royal/rich colors. If you look at a LOT of B&B websites you see certain colors that repeat over and over and over again. They are popular because they convey the kind of feelings that innkeepers want to associate with their inn while at the same time blending well with other contrasting colors.
. I've never heard of a case where one site owner complains that the color is too similar unless there are several other more specific similarities. (graphics, wording, layout)
That being said, I have encountered several cases where some shifty designers have lifted content and or designs from other B&B's. By the time the innkeeper gets contacted with a cease and desist order, the designer is long gone. So be cautious of any content on your site that you may not have authored...it is possible that it may have been lifted from another inn.
I do agree with Bree's concern over working with others. It can be much more beneficial to an innkeeper and the entire area to work together than treat each other like competition. (I know some areas have that destructive sort of tone well entrenched and it is hard for the newcomer to make inroads.) I think you did great with offering to meet with them at any time. That's so much better than trying to slug it out with email exchanges.
 
it seems like innkeepers in this area do work together for the most part. some are "members" of the "inn" crowd. (sorry for the pun)
we have never intended to work against anyone. the text is stuff we have written ourselves, the photos have been taken by us. we do our availability calendar ourselves, etc. if there is HTML that needs to be done, our designer does that because my computer knowledge overall is rather limited.
that sounds like the red colro. we were told by a pro web designer that red is a good color for websites as it is attractive & eye catching. i like the color red. i also was an interior design major in college & red is a color that has strong feelings associated with it (love, passion, romance, hot, anger,etc) those really are the reasons we chose red. no more no less.we told our designer we wanted a "nice" red. not too pink, not too orangey...yaknow what i mean? a romantic red.she showed us a few red shades & we picked the one we liked. also, contrary to belief, there are not a million colors out there. the computer color world, as we found out, is suprisingly limited to some degree.
anothger reason they think we want to imitate them is because when we were searching fopr website designers at different times (even after our new site was up, because we wanted it "tweaked", we unknowingly cunsulted the company/person that designed their site. the company responded by telling us they were unable to have any input with ours due to a contract with the pther inn. we'll that's fine & understandable. we did not realize there was a contract or we would not have wasted our time contacting them. However, they were not the only company we consulted with for design service inquiries.
like i mentioned, we refer to other inns & vice versa. i just had lunch with another innkeeper a couple of days ago & another innkeper has asked us to babysit their inn for the winter.
as far as meeting in person, we just deemed it more professional & respectable than back & forth emails. we emailed back to them initially & then again because they apparently had no desire to meet in person due to their discomfort level.
anyway, i just thought it would be an interesting topic to throw out there & see what poeple's thoughts & opinions are. thanks everyone for taking the time to give my your opinion & thoughts.
 
I think you did exactly right.
I also think it stinks to have to be stuck in such a situation... like you don't have other things to do with your time!
I think I'll change my website to that red... it sounds pretty! (And mine's kinda blah...)
wink_smile.gif

=)
Kk.
 
Is it JuSt the color scheme?
Remember that Alexa link to reviewing PAST websites - go there and SEE when theirs popped up and when it was RED. Proof right there.
I personally would not like to have the same color. If you feel like letting us view them we could make more comments, maybe email a couple of us off forum for viewing them and seeing if it is as big a deal as she is making it out to be!
 
One more question - if you have the experience in the industry that you mentioned on your post, does it not bother YOU to have the same color scheme? Or is it just so totally diff you don't even see that, only they are seeing that?
So hard to say without actually seeing them. But we respect your privacy and theirs.
 
maybe this company informed those innkeepers that they had been consulted .....
'' anothger reason they think we want to imitate them is because when we were searching fopr website designers at different times (even after our new site was up, because we wanted it "tweaked", we unknowingly cunsulted the company/person that designed their site. the company responded by telling us they were unable to have any input with ours due to a contract with the pther inn. we'll that's fine & understandable. we did not realize there was a contract or we would not have wasted our time contacting them. However, they were not the only company we consulted with for design service inquiries. "
 
it does not bother us. what bothered us was the fact that they outright accused us instead of just saying, like, "hey, this is what we are thinking, is it true?"
we just chose our color so innocently...there was nothing behind our choice other than that i like red & a pro web designer told us red is an attractive eye catching website color. their website is on much more of a professional level, whereas our is more on an amateur level. we have received many positive comments from guests & other innkeepers about our site & it looks much better that the previous owners site.
yes, i got that alexa spam mail too & checked ours out...the previous innkeepers old site comes up & when you click on it our newer one comes up.
i would love to be able to tell all of you where i live so you could see the websites & possibly be better able to understand, but thank you for understanding the privacy factor.
 
it does not bother us. what bothered us was the fact that they outright accused us instead of just saying, like, "hey, this is what we are thinking, is it true?"
we just chose our color so innocently...there was nothing behind our choice other than that i like red & a pro web designer told us red is an attractive eye catching website color. their website is on much more of a professional level, whereas our is more on an amateur level. we have received many positive comments from guests & other innkeepers about our site & it looks much better that the previous owners site.
yes, i got that alexa spam mail too & checked ours out...the previous innkeepers old site comes up & when you click on it our newer one comes up.
i would love to be able to tell all of you where i live so you could see the websites & possibly be better able to understand, but thank you for understanding the privacy factor..
mollysmom said:
it does not bother us. what bothered us was the fact that they outright accused us instead of just saying, like, "hey, this is what we are thinking, is it true?"
we just chose our color so innocently...there was nothing behind our choice other than that i like red & a pro web designer told us red is an attractive eye catching website color. their website is on much more of a professional level, whereas our is more on an amateur level. we have received many positive comments from guests & other innkeepers about our site & it looks much better that the previous owners site.
yes, i got that alexa spam mail too & checked ours out...the previous innkeepers old site comes up & when you click on it our newer one comes up.
i would love to be able to tell all of you where i live so you could see the websites & possibly be better able to understand, but thank you for understanding the privacy factor.
No I meant check the OTHER inns website to see when that color scheme popped up on their site. Maybe they changed it prior to or after you chose the red?
Yes I would keep their URL off the forum.
 
{... all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by}
that is a nice quote...did you dream that up or is it a quote by someone famous..someone as famous as you? :)
 
{... all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by}
that is a nice quote...did you dream that up or is it a quote by someone famous..someone as famous as you? :).
[tr]John Masefield. 1878–[/td][/tr] [tr][td] [/td][/tr] [tr]98. Sea-Fever[/td][/tr] [tr][td] [/td][/tr] [/table] [tr][td]I MUST down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,[/td] [/td][/tr] [tr][td]And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,[/td] [/td][/tr] [tr][td]And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,[/td] [/td][/tr] [tr][td]And a grey mist on the sea's face and a grey dawn breaking.[/td] [/td][/tr] [tr][td] [/td][/tr] [tr][td]I must down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide[/td] 5[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;[/td] [/td][/tr] [tr][td]And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,[/td] [/td][/tr] [tr][td]And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.[/td] [/td][/tr] [tr][td] [/td][/tr] [tr][td]I must down to the seas again to the vagrant gypsy life.[/td] [/td][/tr] [tr][td]To the gull's way and the whale's way where the wind's like a whetted knife;[/td] 10[/td][/tr] [tr][td]And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,[/td] [/td][/tr] [tr][td]And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.[/td][/tr][/table]
 
{... all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by}
that is a nice quote...did you dream that up or is it a quote by someone famous..someone as famous as you? :).
[tr]John Masefield. 1878–[/td][/tr] [tr][td] [/td][/tr] [tr]98. Sea-Fever[/td][/tr] [tr][td] [/td][/tr] [/table] [tr][td]I MUST down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,[/td] [/td][/tr] [tr][td]And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,[/td] [/td][/tr] [tr][td]And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,[/td] [/td][/tr] [tr][td]And a grey mist on the sea's face and a grey dawn breaking.[/td] [/td][/tr] [tr][td] [/td][/tr] [tr][td]I must down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide[/td] 5[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;[/td] [/td][/tr] [tr][td]And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,[/td] [/td][/tr] [tr][td]And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.[/td] [/td][/tr] [tr][td] [/td][/tr] [tr][td]I must down to the seas again to the vagrant gypsy life.[/td] [/td][/tr] [tr][td]To the gull's way and the whale's way where the wind's like a whetted knife;[/td] 10[/td][/tr] [tr][td]And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,[/td] [/td][/tr] [tr][td]And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.[/td][/tr][/table]
.
ahhhh, masefield - famous like me.
wink_smile.gif
you're cute.
 
Back
Top