The Innkeeper's Resource

Green Luxury

I recently read a great article written for Eco Salon, an on-line lifestyle blog featuring eco-friendly advice, entitled Trend on the Wane: Hotel Toiletries. The author, Kim Darby states that: "Luxury in the past has implied waste, but increasingly, luxury is being defined as what is most comfortable and thoughtful, not disposable.  I find it refreshing that luxury can now rest graciously in the same sentence with words like recycle, conserve and green consciousness."

As an Innkeeper I always hated throwing away so many little plastic bottles and barely used bars of soap. For a time we were able to donate them to a local women's shelter but were then told we couldn't do that any longer because of a new ordinance stating this practice was unsanitary.  The B & B Team is always looking for current information that we can share with our aspiring and current Innkeeper clients.  That is why I was so excited when I found Clean the World at PAII'srecent Innkeeping Conference in Austin. This program offers Innkeepers a great solution in managing their amenities waste.  Clean the World offers a Bed and Breakfast Partnership Program where Innkeepers simply collect used amenities and ship them to the Clean the World Recycling Center in Orlando, Florida. They then process the donations into products and donate them to countries that use them to help fight diseases caused by lack of cleanliness. All your staff time and goods donated are tax deductible and the organization will provide Innkeepers with quarterly statements detailing the amount of soap and shampoo donated during that period.

Another solution to amenity waste management is the use of refillable wall-mounted dispensers.  This practice has been used in European hotels for many years and is now being used more and more in the states. Many of the PAII vendors that supply amenities offer a limited choice of their luxury products in bulk containers. Innstyle offers Natura brand shampoo, conditioner and body wash in bulk containers as well as attractive dispensers.  Pineapple Hospitality offers a variety of 'green' amenities and dispensers.  Gilchrist and Soames and Greenwich Bay Trading Co.offer some of their luxury products in bulk containers as well. Some of the products are now offered in more bio degradable plastic containers as well as paper bottles.  As an example, Gilchrist and Soames offers their Beekind brand in the paper bottles.

I love the fact that Innkeepers now have more choices of 'green' luxury amenities to offer their guests as well as a great solution to managing amenity waste with the Clean the World program. We would love to hear from Innkeepers that have signed up for the Bed and Breakfast Partnership Program as well as what luxury green amenities you are currently using.  Go Lux Green!

Janet Wolf

What Niche Market Does Your Bed & Breakfast Target?

To stand out from all the rest, ANY product needs its unique selling feature that will lure the shopper to its website, and ultimately make the purchase. Bed & Breakfast Inns are no different. Your search engine optimization efforts will get your site high on the results page of the search, and then the attractiveness, navigation, and functionality of the site will keep the surfer from hitting the back button.

But what makes your inn stand out above the rest? Professional photography is certainly a strong asset, as is the ease of providing the info the surfer is looking for...in an attractive and eye-appealing manner. But what will grab them..and then keep them searching for more info? Whatever it is that makes you special...that which makes you different from all the other inns...should be up front and central.

But that's not how we found this particular B & B. I can't even say we stumbled on it. Actually we flew  (kinda) into it! Marilyn and I, along with cousins Sue and Floyd, had some time after the PAII convention in Austin. We hooked up our harnesses, helmets, and gloves, took a couple of minutes of training, and went Zip-Lining through the tree tops of Cypress Valley Canopy Tours. I've never hung in a harness on a   wire over a gorge before, but we had a blast...especially for old people not used to this soft adventure stuff!

And then there it was. Suspended in the tree-tops at the end of the 4th zip, was one of the most unique bed and breakfasts I've ever seen. Not advertised...hidden in the back pages of their website...was Lofthaven. One room, with private (although hardly ensuite!) bath. Marilyn and I were immediately distracted from our zip lining adventures. You can only access the tree house from the zip line from this side. Once you check in, there is a nearby parking space and walkway past the bathroom, with its solar powered hot water heater (everything about this adventure is eco-friendly) for the shower. The room itself was very spacious...with queen bed, canopy which could double as mosquito netting although the room is fully enclosed with screened windows. There is a walkway around the room with a "porch", with a bench, looking out over the peaceful gorge 60 feet below. No need for a sound machine to lull you to sleep here! The babble of the brook below in the gorge, birds everywhere, and, absolutely no sounds of people, or cars, or neighbors...that is the sound machine!

The bathroom was complete with shower supplied by the roof top solar water heater, built in sink,   commode and all the fine amenities of any B&B. It is a short walk across a rope bridge from the room...but no need to wear a robe! There's nobody out here!

When we finished zipping, the kind folks at the nature center gave us a golf cart ride out to the B&B. I tried to get a feel for occupancy performance. But I only got anecdotal info from the fellow behind the counter. Mostly filled on the weekends during the good weather season (March-November) and some bookings during the week. I estimate annual occupancy at about 25%. At $300 weekdays and $325 weekends, that puts annual revenue at about $30,000...not bad for an unadvertised little surprise in the woods! And what guest memories that can bring them back time after time and brag about it with their friends. You can't buy PR like that.   BUT NOBODY KNOWS ABOUT IT!

Imagine what it could be if people knew they were here! If they were in the B&B directories, had B&B keywords in the right places on their website, marketed to past guests and included guest photos in their newsletters and blogs. If they would make this unique lodging adventure a dominant feature on their website, with pages of photos, TripAdvisor testimonials, Facebook links with friends and Twitter exposure, just think of the potential!

People should NOT have to stumble into this kind of adventure by happenstance. A lesson for all of us innkeepers...we need to take our message to them.    Scott
 

Three Ways to Make More Money in 2010

It’s spring, the time of rebirth and renewal. We’re coming out of a deep recession, and every Innkeeper would like to make more money in 2010 than in 2009. How do you do that? Do the right thing. Be smart and courageous. And be clever in our brave new world. Read on to see what I mean.

There was a great piece recently in Hospitality News about a company that handles vacation rentals on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Eastern Shore Vacation Rentals has embraced “voluntourism” in a big way. In the off season, renters can get one free day for every three paid days for each day a guest volunteers with the local Habitat for Humanity. Not only does the company benefit by being socially conscious, but Habitat gets additional willing volunteers, and the vacationers get something to do that makes them feel good, and they save money in the process. Does anyone lose here?

Andon-Reid Inn Bed and Breakfast in Waynesville, NC is trying to raise money for breast cancer research by donating $1.00 for every new fan over 200 that they get by a certain date. They get the fans; the Susan G. Komen Foundation gets some money, Andon-Reid Inn looks great, and new fans can feel like they did a good thing, and it didn’t cost them anything!  Do the right thing.

Timothy Coleman, a member of the HSMAI Revenue Management Advisory Board, wrote a great article called “How about a ‘race to the top’ for 2010-2011?” In an obvious reference to the Obama administrations plan for education, Mr. Coleman echoed the words of Bob Gilbert, President and CEO of HSMAI, that with all the discounting that has gone on the past year or two in the hotel industry in a frustrated (and largely unsuccessful) effort to fill rooms and make more money, it’s going to take a long time to get those rates back to where they should have been and should be unless property owners are willing to make the tough calls.  That effort should start now by finding ways to increase rates ahead of immediate demand.

Travelers want an experience, right? Innkeepers are great at delivering that experience. And Innkeepers have been MUCH better than hoteliers at resisting the urge simply to cut rates but instead have added value and incentives. But your rates should still see upward creep. If you have a policy of raising your rates in small amounts every year, most people won’t notice it. And if you deliver on that promised experience, they won’t mind even when they do notice. Holding rates steady means losing income over time. So be smart and realize that your ADR is in your hands. Be courageous and willing to buck the trend. Lead the pack by raising your rates in 2010.

And then there was the article “Social media best practices for hotel marketers” on Hotelmarketing.com. Annemarie Dooling writes about the five basic tips to remember.

1.    Make your “friends, fans, and followers” feel special by giving them incentives that don’t go out to the general public. It’s a compelling reason to become part of an inn’s social network. And you can employ “flash marketing” (short-lived specials just for recipients of the messages) with your “inner circle,” which makes them feel special, generating loyalty.

2.    Create an open and transparent dialogue. When you respond to a negative review properly, you are doing this. Taking it a step further and contacting the complainer personally and offering to do something to make up for a deficiency (if it was there) and not wanting to remove the negative review. Honesty pays.

3.    Give your friends and fans tools to spread the word. Find ways to engage your social media circle and post some of what they post on your blog/Facebook page, etc. Wouldn’t it blow away your guests if they happened to be tweeting about something they were doing while staying at your inn, and you knew about it (because you were also following them) and were able to do something special as a result? Try it; it could be fun. And they just might tell everyone what a cool thing you did.

4.    Feature fans in your communications. If you’re adept with a flip video, ask to film some short “reviews” or interviews of guests and post them on your blog. If fans write about staying with you on their page, re-tweet or re-publish their remarks. Their bragging is better than you bragging, but you’re helping them help you spread the word.

5.    Establish relationships on your guests’ terms. At The B&B Team® we’ve talked about the need to have a social media presence, because some people don’t check email but do look at their Facebook page every day. Likewise with Twitter or others who live by their RSS feeds (from your blog and others).  And, by engaging and watching what your guests do, you may find even more ways to reach out and touch them in personal ways that just might blow them away!

Have a wonderful spring, and make 2010 the year to break all records! You just might do it if you do the right thing, are smart and courageous, and are clever at embracing the real world of social media.

What ideas do you have that are making a difference in your business? Let’s hear about them.