The Innkeeper's Resource

Fine Wine, Smart Ploys, and Bookings

Wine and travel go hand-in-hand. For those of us who love a good bottle of our favorite (or maybe an undiscovered favorite!) wine, no journey or evening meal are complete without a glass of the nectar of the gods. So it comes as no surprise that many of your guests also love a great bottle of wine.

Regardless of a traveler's budget, there are great wines out there today from around the world. But this isn't a column about wine, per se, and The B&B Team doesn't recommend (officially) any wine at all. However, we love to talk about service, ingenuity, and personalization in the travel industry, so I enjoyed reading a recent article in the Wine Notes section of the Wall Street Journal called, "Bringing Your Own to Fine-Dining Places." It seems even the toniest restaurants are having to be creative in this challenging economy.

Most people know that if you want to (and are allowed to) take a special bottle of your own wine to a restaurant, you'll pay a (sometimes hefty, even punitive) corkage fee to have the sommelier open it for you. That hasn't completely changed, but there is writing on the wall.

Dorothy Gaiter and John Brecher write, "More and more restaurants are offering special deals on wine - 50% off on Mondays, say. But we were looking out for something more - BYOB with no corkage at top-notch places." As it turns out, they found a few experimenting with a range of variations from "corkage-free" specials to discounted wines on otherwise slow nights, or even every night. The goal was to encourage folks who might otherwise stay home or go somewhere less pricey to dine with them and save on the cost of wine. Danny Meyer of the Modern restaurant in Manhattan is quoted saying, "We decided ... there would be a graciousness behind it, that you would actually flatter us bringing in something from your cellar to have with our food and hospitality. We decided that if we did this, we have to actually go overboard to demonstrate our appreciation."

Does this sound familiar to innkeepers? It should, because those of you who make your living offering gracious hospitality are experimenting with variations on this theme to generate business. Stay three nights, get the fourth free. Stay with us five times, and your sixth stay is 50%. Book our best room for Friday and Saturday, and we'll include a gift card for our favorite restaurant (or maybe a bottle of your favorite wine). You get the picture.

Creative packaging is all about adding value and personalizing, recognizing that creating an incentive to spend time/money with you can generate win-win scenarios, whether it's no corkage fee for your wine while at a fine dining restaurant or special promotions and add-ons to stimulate the desire to book a night at your bed & breakfast now.

Are there any great restaurants in your area offering a deal on wine or "no corkage Mondays?" Do I hear "weeknight rooms?" 

Peter

The Innkeeping Conference / Atlanta / April 2009

What a great conference! 

High energy, a true sense of camaraderie and a realistic and renewed optimistic outlook for 2009.  Kudo's to all the attendees who made the trip to Atlanta, the PAII staff, the vendors for their support, the sponsors and all the speakers who shared so much information and thought with us all.

Peter and I had the "Privilege of the Podium" for several different speaking opportunities.  One of the highlights, for us, was a collaborative effort with Peter Yesawich, of Y Partnership, on "Inside the Heads of Your Guests....How the latest on Traveler Behavior Affects B&B's and What To Do About It!" This presentation incorporated the latest information from Y Partnership's most recent travel and hospitality industry overview and is now blended with The B&B Team's overview and information about the B&B and Country Inn industry.

Key areas covered include: Web 2.0,Travel 2.0, Social Media Tools, Blogs, Twitter, Reputation Management, Mobility and more.  For those of you in Atlanta, thank you for joining us in this session.  For those of you who did not attend the conference, we would be pleased to share the findings, observations, recommendations and suggestions that will help you navigate the 2009 season.

For more information,  Peter can be reached at 434-286-4600 or I can be reached at 207-967-1995.

Rick

2009 Inns For Sale Study Released

After much anticipation, the 2009 Inns For Sale Study researched by Hilary Jones of Inngenium, LLC was released at the recent Innkeeping Conference and Trade Show hosted by PAII, the Professional Association of Innkeepers International, in Atlanta.

The study, now in its fifth year, takes a snapshot of the bed and breakfasts and inns for sale in March of the year and breaks the statistics down into several categories by price, size, state, region, and the country as a whole. The core criteria is that the property be currently operating with two or more guest rooms, be for sale, and be advertised in at least one of several primary "inns for sale" websites.

In March, 2009 there was an increase over 2008 of 6.4% in the number of inns for sale across the country, rising to 990 properties. New to the study this year was an examination of how many inns had verifiably sold since the previous study. 82 properties had sold, indicating that there is currently a twelve year supply of inns for sale, assuming no changes and no additions!

On average, despite a soft economy and a devastated real estate market, prices on average were up 0.7% nationwide, though this varied by region and property size. The increase was "1.5% for inns in the 5-10 room class and 10.9% in the 12-15 room class. Prices did however drop for larger inns (17-40 rooms) by almost 2%." Regionally, prices trended up everywhere except in the New England, Pacific, and South West regions. Only the East North Central region remained static.

Another important observation of the study is that inns appear to remaining on the market longer with 21% being for sale for two or more years and 5% still available after three or more years. The B&B Team, sponsors of the study, believe that this 2-3 year time period to sell a bed & breakfast inn is not unusual, but there is clear statistical evidence to support this. Additionally, a large number of properties which are still operating dropped off the list in 2009, indicating discouragement with the marketplace.

In light of the large numbers of B&Bs and inns for sale, The B&B Team believes that the smaller properties, those that would be desirable as residences, should focus their efforts on selling as residential real estate rather than as B&B's. This will increase their owners' chances of a successful sale in a timely fashion. Inns that are viable going concerns should ensure that their asking price reflects what an over-saturated marketplace and lenders will find "reasonable and defensible."