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gillumhouse

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Hooboy!! I got my renewal form in the mail today from the benevolant bedandbreakfast.com who realize these are difficult economic times. That is why they are offering me a renewal of my Silver Level (remember this is the lowest that gives you any link to your site, e-mail or anything other than names, address, and phone (Bronze Level)) for the MONTHLY fee of $34.99 and I can use credit card or a direct withdrawal from my checking account. HOWEVER, if I would like to pre-pay for the year they will give me a 5% discount for a total cost of - $ 398.89 - plus of course they magnanamously offer the $5 off per month if I get a review for a total disount of another $60 for the year. Hmm, are they going to send me the $5 a month if I prepaid?
Someone told me I was brave to wave bye-bye to bandb.com. Until enough get up and say ENOUGH!! tey will do whatever. Will it hurt me? I do not know, but I have made the personal decision to say this is MY business and I have no problem paying a fair amount for a listing, but this amounts to "juice" to me. I cannot wait to find out what I will now be charged for Webervations when that renewal comes up. I guess I had best start looking around for something else if this is any indication. As more and more of the aspects of the industry get bought up by one company, innkeepers are going to have to pay up or go out of business. It is bad to me when an entire industry quakes in their shoes and pays up because they think that ONE directory controls their survival.
Sorry for getting on my soapbox. Just totally aggravated that I am expected to pay a buck and change less than $400 a year for ONE listing. My answer is NO.
Edited to add I just sent an e-mail of non-renewal to bandb.com, more than 30 days prior since I do not expire until Feb 26.
 
I just grabbed my tax file in excel - in 2006 I paid $249. for silver.
in 2005 I paid $229
Now it is $400!!!
I would love to hear what others plan to do. Weberv has been screwed up and I know plenty are ready to jump ship.
WE ARE NOT RICH BEDANDBREAKFAST.COM PLEASE READ THIS!!!! MOST OF US HAVE ONE SPOUSE WORKING TO MAKE ENDS MEET!!!
Our state health dept permit went up 333% what it was last year! EVERYTHING WE PAY IS HIGHER!
"Come on innkeepers, take your lumps...it is all for the your benefit, this hurts us more than it hurts you, always remember that." I think they said the same thing to the stepford wives.[/h3]
 
Oh, by the way, the useless Bronze level that gets you name, address, phone but no link os offered for a mere $19.99 per month - do the math about $240 per year. For what???
Remember the $400 per year was INCLUDING the 5% discount for paying in one lump sum. $34.99 per month totals to $419.98 for the year.
One place Eric would never get his long fingers is a direct withdrawal from my checking account!! And if they think I an upset, allow me to say I am not upset, I an quite angry - but had already decided on a non-renewal when someone here said their renewal in 2008 was $349.
I will also be making an adjustment to my Aspiring materials. Yes, I will tell Aspirings all the names of who is out there, but I will also be telling them how much each charges and let them take it from there.
 
SWIRT:
re the online booking agent (webervations) that many of us have now owned and controlled by BandB.com as well - I would GLADLY give the same $ to the owner and controller of this FORUM WEBSITE. Should he be inclined to put his expertise into an online reservation system of his very own. Accountability means something to me. Having an owner/operator with experience in our business is also very valuable. Nothing fancy, just a simple secure form like the old webervations (which I still cling to).
 
gillumhouse said:
Someone told me I was brave to wave bye-bye to bandb.com. Until enough get up and say ENOUGH!! tey will do whatever. Will it hurt me? I do not know,
Well you will never know the answer to that question until you try! Good for you
cheers.gif
!
 
Kathleen, if you want to pay less, you simply have to move to a different country. B&B.com offers "international rates" about half the price you pay in the US.
They emailed me just before xmas with a limited time offer which also included 3 months free with no obligation to buy.
From the email ad:
"Here's how it works:
• Join BedandBreakfast.com by December 31 at the Silver membership level or higher using promo code BOCT-34FI.
• We will give you the first three months of membership absolutely free.
• If you're not happy with the results, cancel at any time during the first three months of your membership, with no further obligation.
• If you're pleased with the results, do nothing! After your free three months, if you do not cancel your membership, we will begin billing you monthly for the remaining nine months of the annual membership at our new international member rates of 50% off our regular rates!"
See for yourself. Here's the link to the International Rates page on B&B.com:
https://www.bedandbreakfast.com/Members/chooseLevel.aspx?cc=1
 
Kathleen, if you want to pay less, you simply have to move to a different country. B&B.com offers "international rates" about half the price you pay in the US.
They emailed me just before xmas with a limited time offer which also included 3 months free with no obligation to buy.
From the email ad:
"Here's how it works:
• Join BedandBreakfast.com by December 31 at the Silver membership level or higher using promo code BOCT-34FI.
• We will give you the first three months of membership absolutely free.
• If you're not happy with the results, cancel at any time during the first three months of your membership, with no further obligation.
• If you're pleased with the results, do nothing! After your free three months, if you do not cancel your membership, we will begin billing you monthly for the remaining nine months of the annual membership at our new international member rates of 50% off our regular rates!"
See for yourself. Here's the link to the International Rates page on B&B.com:
https://www.bedandbreakfast.com/Members/chooseLevel.aspx?cc=1.
Oh, c'mon, you know that's like giving crack away.
wink_smile.gif
That fee is good for a year until you realize you can't live without them and then you're hit with the higher rates! They need more international listings. If they needed more US listings, they'd cut us some slack, too.
I have to say that there is a certain devil-may-care attitude out there right now in re membership fees.
 
Kathleen, if you want to pay less, you simply have to move to a different country. B&B.com offers "international rates" about half the price you pay in the US.
They emailed me just before xmas with a limited time offer which also included 3 months free with no obligation to buy.
From the email ad:
"Here's how it works:
• Join BedandBreakfast.com by December 31 at the Silver membership level or higher using promo code BOCT-34FI.
• We will give you the first three months of membership absolutely free.
• If you're not happy with the results, cancel at any time during the first three months of your membership, with no further obligation.
• If you're pleased with the results, do nothing! After your free three months, if you do not cancel your membership, we will begin billing you monthly for the remaining nine months of the annual membership at our new international member rates of 50% off our regular rates!"
See for yourself. Here's the link to the International Rates page on B&B.com:
https://www.bedandbreakfast.com/Members/chooseLevel.aspx?cc=1.
Oh, c'mon, you know that's like giving crack away.
wink_smile.gif
That fee is good for a year until you realize you can't live without them and then you're hit with the higher rates! They need more international listings. If they needed more US listings, they'd cut us some slack, too.
I have to say that there is a certain devil-may-care attitude out there right now in re membership fees.
.
Bree said:
Oh, c'mon, you know that's like giving crack away.
wink_smile.gif
That fee is good for a year until you realize you can't live without them and then you're hit with the higher rates! They need more international listings. If they needed more US listings, they'd cut us some slack, too.
I have to say that there is a certain devil-may-care attitude out there right now in re membership fees.
Oh I know their game is to get us hooked then jack up the rates. That's what they did to you folks stateside. That's why I won't join and why I hope they have no success trying to build their international listings. In fact, I actively discourage any B&B's in my area from joining them. I even use them as a case study (in a course I teach) as an example poor customer relations strategies.
Notice how B&B.com posted recently about the $60 credit that members could earn towards their membership fee? Notice how at the time they never mentioned they were raising their rates $50+ at the same time? Slimy.
 
SWIRT:
re the online booking agent (webervations) that many of us have now owned and controlled by BandB.com as well - I would GLADLY give the same $ to the owner and controller of this FORUM WEBSITE. Should he be inclined to put his expertise into an online reservation system of his very own. Accountability means something to me. Having an owner/operator with experience in our business is also very valuable. Nothing fancy, just a simple secure form like the old webervations (which I still cling to)..
LOL sorry that isn't going to happen. That thing crushed its creator and it would do the same to me. ;)
 
Quick response to my non-renewal e-mail. Had a call from Willow telling me about all the benefits they offer and I am not using them all (as in without her saying a word Hot Deals/GC) and I cut her off by telling her no bites from Hot Deals waste of my time. I also informed her that no lonk for $240 was a rip - why I just had a call from a small inn telling me that was working great for her. She does not have a web site and this works... I cut her off saying that anyone who does not even have a web page is no one to cite. Not in this day and age. I told her I am taking bandb.com money to get on targeted sites that will do better for me than the scatter-gun approach.
I pay horsemotel.com $40 per year and in July 2007 31% of my business was horses. Last year and this year on Jan 1 I had business from horses and tonight I have business from horses. All the horse sites together cost me about $100 for the year. THAT is ROI!!
I stand by what I said - for a 3-guestroom inn in Podunk, $400 is highway robbery in my not humble opinion.
 
Kathleen, if you want to pay less, you simply have to move to a different country. B&B.com offers "international rates" about half the price you pay in the US.
They emailed me just before xmas with a limited time offer which also included 3 months free with no obligation to buy.
From the email ad:
"Here's how it works:
• Join BedandBreakfast.com by December 31 at the Silver membership level or higher using promo code BOCT-34FI.
• We will give you the first three months of membership absolutely free.
• If you're not happy with the results, cancel at any time during the first three months of your membership, with no further obligation.
• If you're pleased with the results, do nothing! After your free three months, if you do not cancel your membership, we will begin billing you monthly for the remaining nine months of the annual membership at our new international member rates of 50% off our regular rates!"
See for yourself. Here's the link to the International Rates page on B&B.com:
https://www.bedandbreakfast.com/Members/chooseLevel.aspx?cc=1.
THAT really ticks me off. Yes, we all know it is a "come-on" but for even a year it is a lot better than what they give us. Every time we turn around I feel as if we are being given the bird and told screw you because we are too big for you to do without us. Well I am small enough to say - Watch me!
Someone has to stand up to them. I may be standing in the wind by myself, but it is principle of the thing to me.
 
I am sorry to see that their rates have gone up. Even though I though I have been listed on bandb.com for two years if the prices are going to be that high I might just have to cancel them too. Sorry! I hope that you listen to your customers bedandbreakfast.com or you won't have anyone left!!!!!!!!!
 
Kathleen,
No, we do not offer the rebate credit on annual payment plans, only monthly. Sorry to see you turn a creit porgram for somethign that helps innkeepers sell more rooms, into a negative...
Why do you feel our pricing is not fair? I understand we are the most expensive, but when we look at basically every metric that is available to us such as: innkeeper's Extremne Tracker pages, the Google analytics for the sites we host for innkeepers stats from companies like Moriah and INsideOut, or even to simply comparing us to other directories on independent third-party sites like Quantcast - they seem to unanimously support our pricing as fair. If you do the math on traffic, conversions, reservations or dollars - we deliver an order of magnitude more business to our member inns than other directories, and we do not charge an "order of magnitude higher price". So we are actually a better deal than most if not all other directories when you look at ROI. You seem to be solely looking at the cost. Why do you not look at the return? I do not understand, but would like to understand the logic behind this reasoning
You also make it sound like it is bad that we have acquired other companies in this industry that we are going ot force innkeepers to "Pay up or go out of business". What the heck are you talking about??
If we wouldn't have bought BBCOM back from WorldRes, who knows what would have happened to it since WorldRes basically went out of business. WorldRes also owned Guest Tracker and made us take them with our purchase of BBCOM back from WorldRes. Had we not done that, Guest Tracker would probably also be out of business. We just acquired Webervations and while it is a greta product that many innkeepers love, it had one programmer that basically worked his entire live on maintaining this product to keep it from crashing, add functionality, etc. (David Swain). The man had not had a vacation in 10 years and had a cot in his office... You think that is a good way to run a company? It certainly is not fair for you to expect David Swain to not have a life so you can save a few bucks. His business was not sustainable. You cannot run a business long-term without a family or personal life. THAT IS WHAT IS NOT FAIR. Now that we have acquired it, aside from a few short0lived issues with transitioning an entire website and database - which should be expected), we have made a lot of improvements to the back-end that will protect innkeepers using the product with things a core piece of any innkeeper's website should have that were lacking. Things like security, redundancy, back-ups, exception reporting, etc.). Had we not acquired it, at some point David would have thrown in the towel - and he was close. Then if you look at the actual facts around Property Management Software - since acquiring Guest Tracker, we have brought the price down from $599 to $199 (and many times it is completely FREE) while becoming Microsoft Gold certified, spending 6 months and lots of money to become security certified (soon), created an agreement with Intuit (industry first) to integrate with Quickbooks, moved to a much more robust SQL database, added much morte online support (videos, FAQ, Wiki's, etc.). We have also led th eindustry in dropping the price of our real-time online booking engine product from 5% er reservation to a flat monthyl fee that saves innkeepers 80% over what they use to pay for this product. And you say we are forcing innkeepers to "pay up or go out of business"..??? The ONLY thing we have increased pricing on is for listings on BedandBreakfast.com and we have already clearly explained by how much per average per year, and why we did. So how on earth are you saying it is bad that we kept these comapnies alive and continued ot invest in and improve them and dropped prices for many things.???
To answer your question about the Bronze level, it is for folks to get a listing on our wesbite. Not everyone wants a link. So we offer those that don't a level without a link. Again, I don't see where that is bad...??? It is our lowest number of members by category, but these folks get business or we would not see the renewal rate as high as the other levels and these folks would drop off.
If you really wan tto be helpful to aspirings, tell them all of the directories, their cost, the amount of traffic they get (check Quantcast or something), their page rank on Google, and an estimated ROI. Otherwise that is like saying that newspaper A cost X, newspaper B cost Y, and newspaper C cost Z. Without knowing their circulation, the information is not that useful/meaningful. The prices are based on their reach (number of eyeballs).
Man, I really thinnk this group is full of a bunch of "glass half empty" folks. HappyJacks - Our new offer for international members is less for international members because we drive less traffic to them - and therefore provide less value - and therefore charge less. It really is pretty simple and straightforward. It is not because we are trying to screw anyone...?
The free 3 month membership is for ANY new member, not just international. So now we are bad guys for offering innkeepers 3 months up-front with absolutely no risk?????????????????
There is never a "devil-may-care" attitude here about our rates for ANY product. We spend lots of time making sure we price our products and services fairly.
How is it HappyJacks, that we have over 7,000 members with a 90+% renewal rate if we have "poor customer relations"?? I seriously cannot figure out where you are coming from unless since this board allows people to post without identifying their true indentity, you are from a competiting directory.
So we realize we do not have a smuch traffic in Europe as we do in the US, so we offer discounted rates, free trial, invest in SEO and SEM, and you feel we are bad for doing it. Hmmm... Sorry, you lost me...
We launched a program to offer innkeepers an opportunity to earn a $60 credit per year and you say it is "slimy"...? We raise our rates every year. We were not hiding anything. The "credits" starting applying immediately to all monthly paying members regardless of if they are on the new pricing or not. It is not only working for folks on the new pricing. So how exactly is it slimy?
Kathleen - If you can put your money to work somewhere else and get a better return, we have advocated that ALL ALONG (even on this board). But what is up with such negativeness? I am sorry if our ROI is not enough for you. But just as innkeepers have to price their room and cannot price so every single perosn that wants to stay there can stay there, we also have to price our business at the level that gives US a fair ROI on OUR investment. I promise you though that if I come across a B&B/Inn?Hotel that is charging more than I am willing to py, I won't begrudge them. This is capitalism. They should charge a fair price for the value they provide. I am not going to throw them under the bus for it...
Have a nice weekend folks.
Eric
PS. Here is a comment I JUST got from an innkeeper. a BRONZE innkeeper. Maybe this will help you understand that we have to meet the needs of many differnt types of innkeepers and as I stated above, some of them only want a Bronze membership with no link - so we offer it. You don't need to beat us up for it because you don't need it or you think it is a rip-off. It works or innkeepers would not buy it and we would not offer it.
"Thank bedandbreakfast.com for all of your help and quick responses to my questions. A huge percentage of my guests the first year of membership have been from bedandbreakfast.com and I'm thrilled! I love this site.
Carolsue McCue

THE HERB COTTAGE"
 
Kathleen,
No, we do not offer the rebate credit on annual payment plans, only monthly. Sorry to see you turn a creit porgram for somethign that helps innkeepers sell more rooms, into a negative...
Why do you feel our pricing is not fair? I understand we are the most expensive, but when we look at basically every metric that is available to us such as: innkeeper's Extremne Tracker pages, the Google analytics for the sites we host for innkeepers stats from companies like Moriah and INsideOut, or even to simply comparing us to other directories on independent third-party sites like Quantcast - they seem to unanimously support our pricing as fair. If you do the math on traffic, conversions, reservations or dollars - we deliver an order of magnitude more business to our member inns than other directories, and we do not charge an "order of magnitude higher price". So we are actually a better deal than most if not all other directories when you look at ROI. You seem to be solely looking at the cost. Why do you not look at the return? I do not understand, but would like to understand the logic behind this reasoning
You also make it sound like it is bad that we have acquired other companies in this industry that we are going ot force innkeepers to "Pay up or go out of business". What the heck are you talking about??
If we wouldn't have bought BBCOM back from WorldRes, who knows what would have happened to it since WorldRes basically went out of business. WorldRes also owned Guest Tracker and made us take them with our purchase of BBCOM back from WorldRes. Had we not done that, Guest Tracker would probably also be out of business. We just acquired Webervations and while it is a greta product that many innkeepers love, it had one programmer that basically worked his entire live on maintaining this product to keep it from crashing, add functionality, etc. (David Swain). The man had not had a vacation in 10 years and had a cot in his office... You think that is a good way to run a company? It certainly is not fair for you to expect David Swain to not have a life so you can save a few bucks. His business was not sustainable. You cannot run a business long-term without a family or personal life. THAT IS WHAT IS NOT FAIR. Now that we have acquired it, aside from a few short0lived issues with transitioning an entire website and database - which should be expected), we have made a lot of improvements to the back-end that will protect innkeepers using the product with things a core piece of any innkeeper's website should have that were lacking. Things like security, redundancy, back-ups, exception reporting, etc.). Had we not acquired it, at some point David would have thrown in the towel - and he was close. Then if you look at the actual facts around Property Management Software - since acquiring Guest Tracker, we have brought the price down from $599 to $199 (and many times it is completely FREE) while becoming Microsoft Gold certified, spending 6 months and lots of money to become security certified (soon), created an agreement with Intuit (industry first) to integrate with Quickbooks, moved to a much more robust SQL database, added much morte online support (videos, FAQ, Wiki's, etc.). We have also led th eindustry in dropping the price of our real-time online booking engine product from 5% er reservation to a flat monthyl fee that saves innkeepers 80% over what they use to pay for this product. And you say we are forcing innkeepers to "pay up or go out of business"..??? The ONLY thing we have increased pricing on is for listings on BedandBreakfast.com and we have already clearly explained by how much per average per year, and why we did. So how on earth are you saying it is bad that we kept these comapnies alive and continued ot invest in and improve them and dropped prices for many things.???
To answer your question about the Bronze level, it is for folks to get a listing on our wesbite. Not everyone wants a link. So we offer those that don't a level without a link. Again, I don't see where that is bad...??? It is our lowest number of members by category, but these folks get business or we would not see the renewal rate as high as the other levels and these folks would drop off.
If you really wan tto be helpful to aspirings, tell them all of the directories, their cost, the amount of traffic they get (check Quantcast or something), their page rank on Google, and an estimated ROI. Otherwise that is like saying that newspaper A cost X, newspaper B cost Y, and newspaper C cost Z. Without knowing their circulation, the information is not that useful/meaningful. The prices are based on their reach (number of eyeballs).
Man, I really thinnk this group is full of a bunch of "glass half empty" folks. HappyJacks - Our new offer for international members is less for international members because we drive less traffic to them - and therefore provide less value - and therefore charge less. It really is pretty simple and straightforward. It is not because we are trying to screw anyone...?
The free 3 month membership is for ANY new member, not just international. So now we are bad guys for offering innkeepers 3 months up-front with absolutely no risk?????????????????
There is never a "devil-may-care" attitude here about our rates for ANY product. We spend lots of time making sure we price our products and services fairly.
How is it HappyJacks, that we have over 7,000 members with a 90+% renewal rate if we have "poor customer relations"?? I seriously cannot figure out where you are coming from unless since this board allows people to post without identifying their true indentity, you are from a competiting directory.
So we realize we do not have a smuch traffic in Europe as we do in the US, so we offer discounted rates, free trial, invest in SEO and SEM, and you feel we are bad for doing it. Hmmm... Sorry, you lost me...
We launched a program to offer innkeepers an opportunity to earn a $60 credit per year and you say it is "slimy"...? We raise our rates every year. We were not hiding anything. The "credits" starting applying immediately to all monthly paying members regardless of if they are on the new pricing or not. It is not only working for folks on the new pricing. So how exactly is it slimy?
Kathleen - If you can put your money to work somewhere else and get a better return, we have advocated that ALL ALONG (even on this board). But what is up with such negativeness? I am sorry if our ROI is not enough for you. But just as innkeepers have to price their room and cannot price so every single perosn that wants to stay there can stay there, we also have to price our business at the level that gives US a fair ROI on OUR investment. I promise you though that if I come across a B&B/Inn?Hotel that is charging more than I am willing to py, I won't begrudge them. This is capitalism. They should charge a fair price for the value they provide. I am not going to throw them under the bus for it...
Have a nice weekend folks.
Eric
PS. Here is a comment I JUST got from an innkeeper. a BRONZE innkeeper. Maybe this will help you understand that we have to meet the needs of many differnt types of innkeepers and as I stated above, some of them only want a Bronze membership with no link - so we offer it. You don't need to beat us up for it because you don't need it or you think it is a rip-off. It works or innkeepers would not buy it and we would not offer it.
"Thank bedandbreakfast.com for all of your help and quick responses to my questions. A huge percentage of my guests the first year of membership have been from bedandbreakfast.com and I'm thrilled! I love this site.
Carolsue McCue

THE HERB COTTAGE".
I'll just say that I'm not seeing the same ROI that you speak of, either in click thrus to my site or referring traffic. But I'll reserve final judgment for the term of my current membership. Your directory is #3 for me after Google Biz (free) and my local C&VB (also free) and to top it all off your hits are 1/3 of my #1. There are a fair number of hits for my city but I don't get many click-thrus from your directory (there are only a few B&Bs here btw & I am #1 on TripAdvisor). I do not have one single guest that lists your directory as how they found me on my booking info. Just the facts, sir, just the facts...
 
wasn't it $349 last year for the lowest with link to site? i signed the inn up about mid year.
and i totally agree, an online listing without a link is pointless.
 
Happyjacks wrote: Notice how B&B.com posted recently about the $60 credit that members could earn towards their membership fee? Notice how at the time they never mentioned they were raising their rates $50+ at the same time? Slimy.
Slimy is to nice of a word for them...but I understand you could a more not use the more appropriate word
potty-mouth.gif
to describe them. I just joined them during the last quarter of 2008 and pay by they month $29.95, or I could have paid $349 for the year. Yes, I too thought it was very nice when I read about the $5 credit each month I got a review. John really knows how to word things in a possitive manor.
Many (including me) gave B&B.com glowing praise for the reveiw program. It came at the peak of economic downturn and the rollout gave some innkeepers a warm and fuzzy feeling that B&B.com was understanding the effect on innkeepers. All along I was wondering if something was going to come back and bite me (typical B&B.com fashion)...and it will come next renewal...No wonder there is so much criticism for this company.
Soon B&B.com will no longer list B&B's at all, none will be able to afford them. They will only show large inns and small luxury hotels.
All the time we here John and Eric claim to be the voice for the B&B industry and want all the praise we can give all while stabing a knife in our hearts, then they come back time and time again and pour salt in our already open wounds.
Oh, and just to note, so far I have had only ONE booking that saw us on B&B.com...so far they have not even paid for their monthy charge.
 
woah, everyone.
to quote Eric: 'Man, I really thinnk this group is full of a bunch of "glass half empty" folks.'
please keep in mind this is a forum where people RANT. that means folks come in here and spout off when they are upset. everyone needs a place to vent. this thread is one of those places.
but there are also happy, positive threads.
and supportive, helpful threads.
and silly, off-the-wall threads.
i'd say the innkeepers here are very, very real.
 
woah, everyone.
to quote Eric: 'Man, I really thinnk this group is full of a bunch of "glass half empty" folks.'
please keep in mind this is a forum where people RANT. that means folks come in here and spout off when they are upset. everyone needs a place to vent. this thread is one of those places.
but there are also happy, positive threads.
and supportive, helpful threads.
and silly, off-the-wall threads.
i'd say the innkeepers here are very, very real..
Thanks for reminding them, SS!! We do tell it like it is and get goofy and post all kinds of stuff here, too.
We are just like all other small businesses though...just because someone keeps hitting us over the head and telling us what a great product they have, doesn't make it so for each of us as individual businesses. I don't see this as "glass half empty", I see it as reality. If it pays off for me and works, I'll keep going with it. To date, I'm not sure about that particular directory, especially for the money.
What I am doing is sending MY GUESTS to that site though, by encouraging them to post reviews for me. Which probably means they are taking a look around at the rest of the directory.
 
Kathleen,
No, we do not offer the rebate credit on annual payment plans, only monthly. Sorry to see you turn a creit porgram for somethign that helps innkeepers sell more rooms, into a negative...
Why do you feel our pricing is not fair? I understand we are the most expensive, but when we look at basically every metric that is available to us such as: innkeeper's Extremne Tracker pages, the Google analytics for the sites we host for innkeepers stats from companies like Moriah and INsideOut, or even to simply comparing us to other directories on independent third-party sites like Quantcast - they seem to unanimously support our pricing as fair. If you do the math on traffic, conversions, reservations or dollars - we deliver an order of magnitude more business to our member inns than other directories, and we do not charge an "order of magnitude higher price". So we are actually a better deal than most if not all other directories when you look at ROI. You seem to be solely looking at the cost. Why do you not look at the return? I do not understand, but would like to understand the logic behind this reasoning
You also make it sound like it is bad that we have acquired other companies in this industry that we are going ot force innkeepers to "Pay up or go out of business". What the heck are you talking about??
If we wouldn't have bought BBCOM back from WorldRes, who knows what would have happened to it since WorldRes basically went out of business. WorldRes also owned Guest Tracker and made us take them with our purchase of BBCOM back from WorldRes. Had we not done that, Guest Tracker would probably also be out of business. We just acquired Webervations and while it is a greta product that many innkeepers love, it had one programmer that basically worked his entire live on maintaining this product to keep it from crashing, add functionality, etc. (David Swain). The man had not had a vacation in 10 years and had a cot in his office... You think that is a good way to run a company? It certainly is not fair for you to expect David Swain to not have a life so you can save a few bucks. His business was not sustainable. You cannot run a business long-term without a family or personal life. THAT IS WHAT IS NOT FAIR. Now that we have acquired it, aside from a few short0lived issues with transitioning an entire website and database - which should be expected), we have made a lot of improvements to the back-end that will protect innkeepers using the product with things a core piece of any innkeeper's website should have that were lacking. Things like security, redundancy, back-ups, exception reporting, etc.). Had we not acquired it, at some point David would have thrown in the towel - and he was close. Then if you look at the actual facts around Property Management Software - since acquiring Guest Tracker, we have brought the price down from $599 to $199 (and many times it is completely FREE) while becoming Microsoft Gold certified, spending 6 months and lots of money to become security certified (soon), created an agreement with Intuit (industry first) to integrate with Quickbooks, moved to a much more robust SQL database, added much morte online support (videos, FAQ, Wiki's, etc.). We have also led th eindustry in dropping the price of our real-time online booking engine product from 5% er reservation to a flat monthyl fee that saves innkeepers 80% over what they use to pay for this product. And you say we are forcing innkeepers to "pay up or go out of business"..??? The ONLY thing we have increased pricing on is for listings on BedandBreakfast.com and we have already clearly explained by how much per average per year, and why we did. So how on earth are you saying it is bad that we kept these comapnies alive and continued ot invest in and improve them and dropped prices for many things.???
To answer your question about the Bronze level, it is for folks to get a listing on our wesbite. Not everyone wants a link. So we offer those that don't a level without a link. Again, I don't see where that is bad...??? It is our lowest number of members by category, but these folks get business or we would not see the renewal rate as high as the other levels and these folks would drop off.
If you really wan tto be helpful to aspirings, tell them all of the directories, their cost, the amount of traffic they get (check Quantcast or something), their page rank on Google, and an estimated ROI. Otherwise that is like saying that newspaper A cost X, newspaper B cost Y, and newspaper C cost Z. Without knowing their circulation, the information is not that useful/meaningful. The prices are based on their reach (number of eyeballs).
Man, I really thinnk this group is full of a bunch of "glass half empty" folks. HappyJacks - Our new offer for international members is less for international members because we drive less traffic to them - and therefore provide less value - and therefore charge less. It really is pretty simple and straightforward. It is not because we are trying to screw anyone...?
The free 3 month membership is for ANY new member, not just international. So now we are bad guys for offering innkeepers 3 months up-front with absolutely no risk?????????????????
There is never a "devil-may-care" attitude here about our rates for ANY product. We spend lots of time making sure we price our products and services fairly.
How is it HappyJacks, that we have over 7,000 members with a 90+% renewal rate if we have "poor customer relations"?? I seriously cannot figure out where you are coming from unless since this board allows people to post without identifying their true indentity, you are from a competiting directory.
So we realize we do not have a smuch traffic in Europe as we do in the US, so we offer discounted rates, free trial, invest in SEO and SEM, and you feel we are bad for doing it. Hmmm... Sorry, you lost me...
We launched a program to offer innkeepers an opportunity to earn a $60 credit per year and you say it is "slimy"...? We raise our rates every year. We were not hiding anything. The "credits" starting applying immediately to all monthly paying members regardless of if they are on the new pricing or not. It is not only working for folks on the new pricing. So how exactly is it slimy?
Kathleen - If you can put your money to work somewhere else and get a better return, we have advocated that ALL ALONG (even on this board). But what is up with such negativeness? I am sorry if our ROI is not enough for you. But just as innkeepers have to price their room and cannot price so every single perosn that wants to stay there can stay there, we also have to price our business at the level that gives US a fair ROI on OUR investment. I promise you though that if I come across a B&B/Inn?Hotel that is charging more than I am willing to py, I won't begrudge them. This is capitalism. They should charge a fair price for the value they provide. I am not going to throw them under the bus for it...
Have a nice weekend folks.
Eric
PS. Here is a comment I JUST got from an innkeeper. a BRONZE innkeeper. Maybe this will help you understand that we have to meet the needs of many differnt types of innkeepers and as I stated above, some of them only want a Bronze membership with no link - so we offer it. You don't need to beat us up for it because you don't need it or you think it is a rip-off. It works or innkeepers would not buy it and we would not offer it.
"Thank bedandbreakfast.com for all of your help and quick responses to my questions. A huge percentage of my guests the first year of membership have been from bedandbreakfast.com and I'm thrilled! I love this site.
Carolsue McCue

THE HERB COTTAGE".
Hi, Eric -
We are supportive of Bedandbreakfast.com and are pretty locked in. However, that rate hike means we are going to drop our two secondary city listings and that means we will drop all of our inn-of-the-month bidding (because you don't allow the inn-of-the-month bidding from B&Bs in neighboring towns and we are not inclined to bid in our town.)
P.S. All, in previous year's we were a Platinum subscriber... that is now $900 a year.
 
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