Comments on: 15 Questions - The Ambleside Inn

by: Peggy Moffat - Ambleside Inn Bed & Breakfast - London, Ontario

Wed, 02 Mar 2005 23:24:46 +0000

Jim, thank you for the feedback about our website. We do actually have an exterior photo on each of our pages, in the upper left hand corner. If viewers click on it, it enlarges.

I couldn’t agree with you more about having a tracker. The provider of our hosting gives us access to all that information through a separate and private URL. We can actually access it daily, if we want to.

We will likely be doing a little “tweaking” of our site this year. We’ve considered adding more content but at this point the feedback from our guests is that they love the “feel” of our site and the way our site is so easy to navigate. We’re doing well on the search engines too so our “tweaking” will likely be minimal.

by: Jim

Wed, 02 Mar 2005 18:02:28 +0000

I totally agree with your marketing tip that advises to invest in a well-constructed web site.
However, after looking at your site, and not finding any exterior photos, I believe you somewhat fail to take your own advice. I’m not trying to be overly critical here, as all web sites can stand improvement, but there is so much more content that could be easily included at reasonable prices that it is a shame you haven’t done so. The major cost incurred with a web site is in the development stages. Adding content and “tweaking” are rather economical and necessary as the site evolves.
One of the things that I find invaluable is the addition of “tracker” software that enables you to find where your hits originate and allow you to see if your marketing is working. This software can be added free or enhanced versions are available at reasonable rates.

by: Roger and Jim

Tue, 01 Mar 2005 02:14:56 +0000

We know Peggy and Tom well (in fact are looking forward to dinner with them tomorrow night!) and always stand in awe of how well and apparently effortlessly Peggy operates Ambleside, one of the warmest bed and breakfast wxperiences we’ve ever enjoyed.

One of the many skills that Peggy failed to mention (or did you catch me skimming again, Peggy?) is her incredible gift for statistics.

We have different approaches to room rates and minimum stays, for example, and in any discussion of why “our way is the right way” - Peggy completely takes the air out of our overinflated egos with a few well tracked statistics proving that, in her case at least, “her way” is the right way - and what’s worse, we don’t have anything nearly as conclusive to justify that even for us, we are right.

The moral: track your guests, your sources of guests, the reason for their visit, their frequency, best days of the week, weeks of the year, everything you can about them. KNOW your guests and mould your product to fit them like a glove and they will be yours for life. And the only way you can really be sure you have done that right, is with statistics.

Ask Peggy to write an article on that subject for you one day!