BedandBreakfast.com PR and Marketing Update

BedandBreakfast.com has been In the News recently!  

SmarterTravel.com featured "Five Affordable Seaside Hideaways," which was also included in USA Today’s weekly travel e-newsletter.  

SmarterTravel.com also gave a nice shout-out to BedandBreakfast.com’s Diamond Collection when it included L'Auberge Provencale Bed & Breakfast in Boyce, Virginia, in its "Irresistible Country Retreats" story.

BedandBreakfast.com also was included in an MSNBC TV story on gas-saving tips for summer travel.  

Make sure to watch Wheel of Fortune the week of October 10 for "B&B Week."  Each night, the show will offer a romantic getaway to a special B&B as its featured prize.   The #1 syndicated game show with more than 26 million viewers each week, the Wheel of Fortune promotion with BedandBreakfast.com offers tremendous publicity for the bed and breakfast industry.

By Emily Starbuck Crone

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BedandBreakfast.com PR and Marketing Update

BedandBreakfast.com sent out a news release and infographic in May announcing that nearly one in three soon-to-be-married couples plan to take a short honeymoon instead of the more traditional week or longer honeymoon, and reminded the media that B&Bs offer popular “mini-moons” for newlyweds. The release was picked up by more than 200 news outlets, including a terrific blog post by Sherman’s Travel.

Our Top Summer Destinations release resulted in a taped interview with Westwood One Radio, which distributed the story to more than 5,000 radio stations.

We also announced there are more than 200 Diamond Collection properties now on BedandBreakfast.com.

We have also added two new documents to our Press Room: Myths and Facts about B&Bs and BedandBreakfast.com Facts and Figures.

Finally, during a trip to New York City, we met with prominent travel and feature writers from the following publications to talk about the benefits of staying in a B&B: Ladies’ Home Journal, Brides, Family Circle, Sherman’s Travel, Wall Street Journal, Travel + Leisure, and Real Simple.

By Emily Starbuck Crone

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BedandBreakfast.com PR and Marketing Update

BedandBreakfast.com has received a large amount of media coverage recently. Our list of haunted B&Bs for Halloween was mentioned in USAToday.com’s travel section. Several other publications covered our haunted B&Bs, such as Frommers.com and The Palm Beach Post.

Our Best of BedandBreakfast.com awards were picked up by Forbes.com and RedOrbit.com. It was also covered by several local outlets, including the Americus Times-Recorder, the Bureau County Republican, and the Coshocton Tribune.

HomeAway’s acquisition of property management software maker Instant Software led to coverage of all HomeAway brands, including BedandBreakfast.com. We were mentioned in articles about this in MSNBC.com and the Austin American-Statesman.

BedandBreakfast.com was also mentioned in an article on SmarterTravel.com about America’s coziest B&Bs. The article was also picked up on Yahoo Travel.

By Emily Starbuck Crone

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BedandBreakfast.com PR and Marketing Update

BedandBreakfast.com’s PR year-in-review revealed that in 2009 more than 1.2 billion impressions were generated by the BedandBreakfast.com publicity campaign. If purchased as advertising, this coverage would have cost nearly a half million dollars. Yet the credibility of a story in a newspaper, on TV, on the Internet or in a magazine is the real payoff to BedandBreakfast.com’s publicity efforts. Study upon study shows that the stories travelers read are far more likely to result in a buying action than advertising. In addition, the search engine optimization and branding for the B&B industry doubles the value of this campaign. BedandBreakfast.com maintains the most extensive PR campaign for the B&B industry, focused entirely on helping the media to discover and publicize the B&B experience.

A property on BedandBreakfast.com was recently featured in Frommer’s as a great accommodation choice in the midst of the New York ban on vacation rentals.  The site was also highlighted in the Athens Banner-Herald as the premier outlet for booking bed and breakfasts.

WPIX.com recommended BedandBreakfast.com as the go-to place to find cooking classes at small inns. The Chattanooga Times Free Press wrote about an inn and mentioned its stellar rating on BedandBreakfast.com. The Philadelphia Inquirer quotes an innkeeper who discusses his reviews on BedandBreakfast.com.

SmarterTravel’s “Five Reasons to Travel Over the Holidays” suggests BedandBreakfast.com as a prime resource to search for deals on holiday travel.

The BedandBreakfast.com PR machine also did a major push toward promoting B&Bs in the Gulf Coast area. Here is the press release we ran for this:

08/12/10
HUNDREDS OF B&BS IN GULF COAST AREA UNAFFECTED BY OIL SPILL AND OPEN FOR BUSINESS

By Emily Starbuck Crone

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BedandBreakfast.com PR and Marketing Update

SmarterTravel recommended BedandBreakfast.com as the go-to place to find cooking classes at small inns. Goodlife Destinations wrote three articles about inns in which BedandBreakfast.com was mentioned. GoErie.com recommends using BedandBreakfast.com to save money on traveling, and the article was reprinted in the Wichita Eagle.

We had several specific press initiatives this quarter.

One major initiative was the globalization of BedandBreakfast.com. This was mentioned by AOL Daily Finance, GlobeTrekker.com, Market Watch, and dozens of business journals and local news outlets.

Another push was for beer lovers getaways, which was covered by websites like ManTripping.com.

The BedandBreakfast.com PR machine has been in high gear has been in high gear throughout the summer. Click the links below to read BedandBreakfast.com press releases from the last few months.

06/21/10
THE INTERNATIONALIZATION OF BEDANDBREAKFAST.COM
BEDANDBREAKFAST.COM extends global reach with the addition of sites in French, Italian and Spanish

06/17/10
BEDANDBREAKFAST.COM REVEALS SEVEN SAVINGS SECRETS FOR SUPER SUMMER FAMILY SOJOURNS

05/24/10
IF DIAMONDS ARE A GIRL’S (AND GUY’S) BEST FRIEND, DIAMOND COLLECTION PROPERTIES ARE IDEAL HONEYMOON CHOICES
BedandBreakfast.com Diamond Collection Inns are Perfect Places to Honeymoon

05/20/10
CHEERS IS THE WORD FOR BED, BREAKFAST AND BEER PACKAGES
The beer is here at these B&Bs offering packages for brew masters and meisters

05/07/10
BEDANDBREAKFAST.COM SURVEY SHOWS GEN-X & GEN-Y TRAVELERS PLANNING TO TRAVEL & LOOKING FOR A NEW LOOK IN ACCOMMODATIONS & FOOD
Survey also shows travelers of all ages planning one or more trips in second quarter

05/07/10
BEDANDBREAKFAST.COM ADDS NEW DIRECTOR, GIFT CARD PROGRAM

04/14/10
SURVEY SAYS: MOM WANTS YOU TO SEND HER AWAY FOR MOTHER’S DAY
BedandBreakfast.com survey shows B&B getaways rank with a family dinner for top Mother’s Day gift choices

By Emily Starbuck Crone

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BedandBreakfast.com PR and Marketing Update

The BedandBreakfast.com publicity machine was active throughout the spring with continuing coverage focused on BedandBreakfast.com and its members. The sale of BedandBreakfast.com to HomeAaway spurred a number of stories including coverage from HotelExecutive.com and the Washington Post.  A number of blogs including Iloveinns.com and tech blogs like tnoz.com also covered the sale.

Chris Eliot, syndicated writer and a leading authority on the travel industry, wrote a story about reviews for the Chicago Tribune; in it, he quoted Bill Chamberlain of the Blue Heron Inn in Darien, GA, mentioning he asks guests to post reviews on BedandBreakfast.com.  A FoxNews writer quoted Sandy Soule extensively in a story about alternatives to hotels. NewsMax’s May issue included a story about Peter Greenberg naming BedandBreakfast.com among his top 10 favorite travel sites.

The LA Times Blog featured BedandBreakfast.com’s Value Vacations.  The same press release was also featured  on Deals blog. Additionally, this deal was featured on The BedandBreakfast.com Blog, Examiner.com, and on EllenBarone.com.

BedandBreakfast.com’s Mother’s Day promotion included a suggestion to send Mom far, far away this year with the gift of a Getaway Gift Card from BedandBreakfast.com.  This press release was picked up by media including Forbes.com, Yahoo!, AOL Daily Finance and hundreds of TV stations’ websites throughout the country.

BedandBreakfast.com led the way with a special offer for midweek savings in the Washington Post’s What’s the Deal weekly column. It also appeared in a similar column in the Philly Inquirer.

We were thrilled to learn that BedandBreakfast.com has been taking up a lot of this Wall Street Journal reporter's time.

Marti Mayne and a number of other BedandBreakfast.com members, including Tim Brady at Forty Putney Road B&B and Leslie Mulcahy of the Rabbit Hill Inn, were quoted in a story about innkeepers using social media in the Technorati blog. This story also appeared in five other blogs.

Don’t forget to set Google News Alerts to monitor coverage of your inn.

Click the links below to read BedandBreakfast.com press releases from the last two months.

04/14/10
SURVEY SAYS: MOM WANTS YOU TO SEND HER AWAY FOR MOTHER’S DAY
BedandBreakfast.com survey shows B&B getaways rank with a family dinner for top Mother’s Day gift choices

03/30/10
NANO BREAKS PERFECT FOR RECESSION-WEARY TRAVELERS
B&Bs turn mini escapes into maxi values

03/30/10
THIS MOTHER’S DAY, SEND YOUR MOTHER-IN-LAW AWAY. FAR AWAY.
The Getaway Gift Card™ from BedandBreakfast.com will whisk your mom-in-law away to her choice of 4,000 luxurious B&Bs -- she’ll thank you for the send-off and you’ll get 10% off.

03/16/10
B&Bs WORLDWIDE ENTICE TRAVELERS WITH VALUE VACATION OFFERS
From free overnight stays and dinners to discounts, gifts, picnics, and ice cream, B&Bs entice travelers with reasons to choose bed and breakfasts

03/05/10
DIAMONDS ARE A GIRLS (AND GUYS) BEST FRIEND
BedandBreakfast.com Diamond Collection Inns are Perfect Places to Pop the Question – the first in a series

03/03/10
HOMEAWAY ACQUIRES BEDANDBREAKFAST.COM
HomeAway Family of Websites Now Provide Travelers with the Most Comprehensive Alternative to Hotels

By Emily Starbuck Crone

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BedandBreakfast.com PR and Marketing Update

The BedandBreakfast.com PR machine has been in high gear since January. Click the links below to read BedandBreakfast.com press releases from the last two months. 

03/03/10
DIAMONDS ARE A GIRL'S (AND GUY'S) BEST FRIEND
BedandBreakfast.com Diamond Collection Inns are perfect places to pop the question – the first in a series

03/03/10
HOMEAWAY ACQUIRES BEDANDBREAKFAST.COM
HomeAway family of websites now provide travelers with the most comprehensive alternative to hotels

02/09/10
YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE A PRESIDENT TO SLEEP IN THE WHITE HOUSE
Celebrate President’s Week at a B&B with White House connections

02/04/10
GUY’S GUIDE TO GIFT GIVING: DELIGHTING YOUR WONDER(FUL) WOMAN

01/28/10
BEDANDBREAKFAST.COM JANUARY, 2010 SURVEY SHOWS AMERICANS PLANNING LEISURE TRAVEL BUT BUSINESS TRAVEL CONTINUES TO LAG IN 2010
More than seven out of ten survey respondents plan to take several trips in first quarter 2010

01/26/10
A TRIFECTA OF VALENTINE'S DAY OFFERS FROM BEDANDBREAKFAST.COM
This Valentine’s Day, surprise your sweetie with the #1 request for Valentine’s Day made affordable with three special offers from BedandBreakfast.com

01/22/10
INNKEEPERS KISS CUPID GOODBYE AND OFFER SPECIAL PACKAGES FOR THE 89 MILLION SINGLES ON VALENTINE'S DAY

01/12/10
B&Bs WITH UNDERGROUND RAILROAD TIES
Commemorate Martin Luther King’s Birthday and Black History Month by staying in stops on the road to freedom

01/06/10
NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS: GREAT GETAWAYS, GREAT SAVINGS FROM BEDANDBREAKFAST.COM
Make 2010 your travel year with free nights and plenty of extras

Recent media coverage

The BedandBreakfast.com publicity machine was active throughout January and February with continuing coverage focused on BedandBreakfast.com and its members. BedandBreakfast.com’s compilation of inns with connections to the Underground RR was featured in AOL’s blog called Gadling as well as in former CNN award winning reporter’s blog called Women at Forty.

BedandBreakfast.com was included in a number of Valentine’s Day stories including a Washington Post story where BedandBreakfast.com was called upon to offer romantic choices. A wire Service sent BedandBreakfast.com’s ideas for Valentine’s for Singles out to media throughout England and the UK Independent did a story on the five “Anti Romance” getaways. BedandBreakfast.com’s Valentine’s Day for Singles release inspired ABC News Travel to create a story focused on the 89 million singles in the U.S. BedandBreakfast.com’s Janice Hurley and Avenue Inn’s Joe Rabhan were interviewed and quoted, and the story was featured on ABCNews.com/Travel’s homepage for a full day. Additionally many websites carried BedandBreakfast.com’s story about Valentine’s Day offers including Forbes.com, Yahoo.com, and more than 150 business journals and TV stations. Sandy Soule was quoted in a SmartMoney.com story about value Valentine’s vacations, including a reference to the Napa Old World Inn.

BedandBreakfast.com gift cards got the nod as great last minute Valentine’s gifts from Shave Magazine and also from PlanetEyeTraveler.com.

An Associated Content writer sought out Sandy Soule for her advice on B&Bs in Virginia. The first resulting story featured BedandBreakfast.com member South Court Inn and the second story included Piney Hill B&B.

Gary Stoller of USA TODAY included stories from Marti Mayne and mentioned BedandBreakfast.com’s compilation of ghost stories in his recent story about haunted hotels.

WanderingEducators.com featured BedandBreakfast.com’s suggestions for B&Bs with Presidential tie-ins for President’s Week.

By Emily Starbuck Crone

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BedandBreakfast.com PR and Marketing Update

Current Publicity: November 2009 - January 2010

Click the links below to read BedandBreakfast.com press releases from the last two months.

12/07/09
BEDANDBREAKFAST.COM LAUNCHES BIGGEST GIFT CARD SALE EVER ON CYBER MONDAY
15% off $100 or more gift card purchases, free FedEx shipping, free photo customization and no hidden fees

11/10/09
ONE FOR YOU AND ONE FOR ME; GIVE THE GIFT OF A GETAWAY AND EARN BONUS TRAVEL FOR YOURSELF
BedandBreakfast.com offers their best gift card offer of the season

10/23/09
ANNOUNCING THE LAUNCH OF THE BEDANDBREAKFAST.COM DIAMOND COLLECTION
An exclusive group of professionally inspected and guest-reviewed luxury inns with extensive modern amenities

Additionally, press releases about the Getaway Gift Card from BedandBreakfast.com were developed and sent to targeted media for inclusion in gift guides, holiday stories, articles and shows. These were not posted in the press room, but sent as individual pitches to a focused group of media – PR 3.0 at work! Although pickup of these releases don’t typically highlight specific members, they provide awareness of B&Bs as ideal holiday getaways.

Recent BedandBreakfast.com Media Coverage

Last year, 630.1 million impressions were made through BedandBreakfast.com’s publicity campaign. If purchased as advertising, this coverage would have cost nearly $1 million. Yet the credibility of a story in a newspaper, on TV, on the Internet or in a magazine is the real payoff to BedandBreakfast.com’s publicity efforts. Study upon study shows that the stories travelers read are far more likely to result in a buying action than advertising.

The BedandBreakfast.com publicity machine was active throughout November and December with continuing coverage focused on BedandBreakfast.com gift cards as ideal holiday choices. Ellen Barone’s popular blog posted BedandBreakfast.com’s entire release about BedandBreakfast.com’s buy-one-get-one gift card promotion. Additionally Eileen Ogintz’s popular syndicated column included the Getaway Gift Card from BedandBreakfast.com as the ideal gift idea for traveling families. The story about BedandBreakfast.com’s largest gift card sale of the year netted nearly 77 million impressions with pick up from throughout the world including on Yahoo!, Fox Business, and AOL, plus a wide range of Business Journals, including the Boston Business Journal, Atlanta Business Chronicle, Denver Business Journal and many more. News Services such as Reuters and Mega News Network carried the story about BedandBreakfast.com’s Cyber Monday Sale, along with nearly 60 TV station websites from KFVE in Honolulu, HI to KBSQ ABC3 in Palm Desert, CA and KGUN ABC 9 in Tucson, AZ, KATC ABC 3 in Lafayette, LA and about 55 other stations across the U.S. covered the story. MLive.com, the news source for Michigan recommended BedandBreakfast.com gift cards in their holiday gift guide too.

Additionally, AARP, the highest circulation magazine with 22 million readers, recommended BedandBreakfast.com in its “Best Bets on the Web” story, including information about Hot Deals and BedandBreakfast.com’s midweek promotion for online reservations. Jen Miller, author of Down the Shore with Jen, a New Jersey-based blog also recommended BedandBreakfast.com after discovering the site on Kayak when searching for accommodations for the upcoming NJ Marathon. She said "I put Asbury Park into kayak.com, which scours other travel websites for best prices, and it popped up options via bedandbreakfast.com. I scored a night in a nice Ocean Grove B&B for $100, one night stay only. So if you're looking for a B&B stay, give this resource a shot. I did a search through Cape May via the site, and it was spot on with options, prices and details. It's a great resource."

Don’t forget to set Google News Alerts to monitor coverage of your inn.

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