Last week we went to the opening of a hotel in town – newly renovated, it is a historic hotel brought back to life. We toured the hotel rooms and while very nice, they are still hotel rooms and lack all the personal touches of a B&B. All the local B&B owners were invited so we chatted to some of them during the event.
It was during one of these chats that an innkeeper told my husband that he was full the week before and referred some people to this new hotel. When this was passed on to me I was livid. We have 3 fairly new B&Bs in town and rather than refer to them, this innkeeper (in town and operating for about 14 years) chose to refer to a HOTEL! I was truly appalled and considered writing him a snitty letter. So far I have done nothing but I am still tempted to tell him what I think of him.
It would not affect my business as he very rarely refers anyone to us (maybe twice a year) and apparently he does not refer to these newer B&Bs in town. Should I suggest they all contact him and ask for referrals? This is our 4th B&B in 4 different towns and 3 different states and I would have to say that in all these places the other innkeepers were distant, if not downright unfriendly! This is after my husband inaugurated a fax system on a weekly basis showing availability for all the B&Bs for weekend rooms for 4-6 weeks ahead, which he did for 2 years. When he decided someone else could take over, no one did. I suggested one of the new B&Bs might like to do this and she turned me down. While I do not expect to be chums with other B&B owners it would be nice to think we all supported each other in terms of keeping potential guests in town and staying at B&Bs. Even this basic nicety is not adhered to! Any suggestions?
10 Comments »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
Leave a comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.
It sometimes takes a while for people to see the benefits before they can really see the benefits. Even at the B&B level people are still skeptical of the kindness of people they see as competitors.
Two years ago I asked if other B&B’s in my area were interested in starting a site where I would list who had openings for the upcoming weekend. I got no positive response..innkeepers were skeptical. So after several months I decided to just include the 15 B&B’s that were members of a local chamber of commerce. I just went ahead and told them what I was doing, I didn’t ask. After the first year the last minute vacation page became the top refering site for many B&B’s and was responsible for making sure many B&B’s (old and new) were filled. In its second year, the site has 30 participants and I had to cut off the number of B&B’s participating because I couldn’t handle all the updates. If I had waited for people to buy in, I’d still be talking about the concept.
My suggestion would be to just start actively refereing to the new inns and make sure you tell people to tell them you sent them. After they get enough calls, they’ll grow to understand. Regarding the guy that likes to refer to hotels, he may be afraid to refer to his competition, or he may be hesitant to refer to places he can’t vouch for, or he may just be an idiot. Invite him and the other new innkeepers for a visit. If you can get him to refer to other B&B’s, GREAT. And if not, never send any traffic his way and send it to the others.
Comment by Steve Wirt — 10/19/2005 @ 9:02 pm
The members of the MountainState Association of Bed & Breakfasts (West Virginia) refer overflow to other members in the area - rarely to a hotel (extreme circumstances as in once I had a full house and people needed to stable horses - nothing else within 100 miles). We (at least I do not) do not recognize non-member inns. Our members are inspected so we know what they are and we pay dues so why give business to those who do not.
I find that my members are friendly toward each other. Most of us keep a MABB Directory next to the phone to give phone numbers rather than just the name. If we find the caller has no clue about where we are to where he wants to be, we give names and numbers of our member inns in the area the caller wants.
We do not keep an availability roster because none of us have the time for that, we are all involved in many civic things besides being innkeepers, but if it is a weekend that we know the hotels are sold out, we do call each other about who has rooms.
Comment by Kathleen Panek — 10/20/2005 @ 1:30 pm
I opened my first B&B in Florida five years ago. The other two B&B’s in my town were very “upity” and never refered any guests to me. I invited them to see my inn several times and sent them holiday cards withing them well. When I sold my inn, the two inns had new owners and they were just as distant and upity.
I just purchased a property in Pittsburgh and a neighboring inn is already sending me guests. The owners are terrific and very supportive.
My view on this is you can’t change the stripes on a tiger and if you have compeditors with an attitude, forget them and forge your own path. They’re not worth the effort.
Comment by ed menzer — 10/20/2005 @ 7:33 pm
I am a member of the Galveston B&B Association and was surprised to read how other B&B’s consider each other competition. I consider the hotels our competition. We, as an association, have a joint website, have a weekly availabilty roster circulated within our organization, and we refer only to members. We also do joint advertising in publications that would be to expensive on an individual basis. The number of rooms we offer as a group does not even equate to a small hotel. Our goal is to promote the B&B experience, which we can do much more effectively on a collective basis.
My advice to you regarding the old timers who do not understand the concept of cooperation, is to disregard them but when new B&B owners come to the area, welcome them in and create your own association and leave the other “old codgers” in the dust.
PS. Some of my best friends are the other B&B owners, we get together on a social basis regularly.
Comment by Connie Porter — 10/21/2005 @ 5:45 pm
Several years ago we started an association called Inns of the Valley. We currently have 13 Inns in our association. We started a calling tree and every week or every two weeks someone takes the calling tree and does referrals to the Inns in our association. Through Webervations we have a group page so we can tell who has rooms available. Its easy and efficient. Our group is fabulous, friendly and not affraid to do referrals. It all comes back sooner or later and we keep our guests in our own circle. Try it……..You might just find this beneficial……….and yes there is a cost to be in the association and then the money we take in is used towards group marketing. It works and is a great way to network with other Innkeepers.
Kathy Jarvis
Afton House Inn, Afton, Minnesota
Comment by Kathy Jarvis — 10/22/2005 @ 7:37 am
We have an area B&B association that is quite friendly - we get together several times a year at different B&Bs. This gives us a chance to check out each others’ inns, so we can feel comfortable referring people. I’ve done this frequently when I’m full - haven’t been the recipient of many referrals, though!
Comment by Nancy Galloway — 10/28/2005 @ 4:02 pm
What this Innkeeper does not realize is that the other B&B’s are not his competition, the hotels are. Hotels, in general, have enough branding to bring in the customers, most B&B’s, if not all, have no common branding and only have each other to rely on. If your city is like ours, major urban, they do not promote B&B’s only the upscale name brand hotels. If this Innkeeper is not a strong promoter of the B&B/Inn market then why did he open or buy one. You have to believe in the product or you will not be successful.
If I have not personally visited another B&B and someone wants a referral then I just give the name, but say that I have not personally been there and that they should view their website and make their own decision.
All the B&Bs in our city refer to each other and are all friendly to each other. We want each other to succeed, because if they succeed and are full they refer to the rest of us.
Comment by Connie McCreight — 10/28/2005 @ 11:03 pm
We have an association in Guelph that all of our members have joined a site called www.hostoncall.net. We can post our rooms that are vacant or not. The customer can veiw what we have to offer and make their own choice of where to stay and in what room. When we are full we always refer th ecustomer to this site so that we are impartial to who gets the business.
Comment by norfolkguesthouse — 11/22/2005 @ 6:20 pm
In December 2003 I set up the Bed & Breakfast Network of London (www.londonbbnetwork.com). The Network is an advertising co-operative made up of 10 very nice B & Bs. We share the cost of all advertising, have our own website and make a committment to refer our overflow out to 2 other properties within the Network. When we started, we visited each others properties so that we would know what each other had to offer.
Each Wednesday, we send an e-mail to the members of our group advising them of who has rooms available for the weekend. Our Network members have been taking turns taking on this task for a three month period. So far, the system is working well.
Twice a year, one of our members volunteers to host a social get together. At that time, we talk about new advertising initiatives.
Setting up such a Network among your competitors takes a certain amount of trust, but the payback is well worth the effort.
Comment by Peggy Moffat Ambleside Inn Bed & Breakfast, London, Ontario — 11/23/2005 @ 12:36 pm
We have been in business 10+ years. We are well established and the oldest B&B in our area. For the first 5 years we were open, I had a hard time helping new B&B’s in the area to get up and running in any way. I felt like I paid to go to seminars and my own sweat and toil to get where I had, and that I was not giving away my trade secrets for free. But at the five year mark things really turned around for us. We developed a new attitude. We needed a place to refer our guest. We realized we could not take care of everyone. We have since assisted four new B&Bs in our area in any way we could. We have given insight on decorating, design ideas, where to place bath rooms, where to buy matresses, where to advertise and we have referred guest to them as well. We have come to realize that if we keep treating our guest like royalty, that there is enough business to go around for all of us, and that it keeps tax dollars in our area. Some of these B&B have become very competitive with one another, and we have made a genuine effort to keep neutral when ever possible. We have really enjoyed being able to have friends in the business near by. We have not suffered in any way by being willing to help the competition. We also have motels in the area and when someone is looking for a family place to go I refer there as well.
Comment by Sharon Cluck — 11/30/2005 @ 3:41 pm