Dear Select Registry members,

Recently, SR sent a membership email stating: “We are aware that RezOvation and Webervations are not going to make the necessary upgrades to interface with SynXis,” the new CRS providing reservation capabilities for the Select Registry website.  
We’re writing to set the record straight: we never said that we were unwilling to provide this link. 

We plan to discuss this some more with Select Registry Executive Director Mike Palmer to learn why Select Registry told their members this innacurate information. Mike seems to have the impression that this would be an “easy few week project” for us and that we could drop everything to start working on it. In fact, based on the links we’ve already built to Expedia and hotels.com, and the one that we’ll shortly be completing with Travelocity, we know that it takes many months of skilled developers’ time to build, test, and launch a live direct connection. But first we need to evaluate this project and then allow a reasonable amount of time to make it happen.

We’d love to hear from you, the ultimate customers of this product. We’ve heard from a number of users who are not sure that they even want to connect via a two-way interface given the SynXis costs. The manual option SynXis provides is much more cost-effective; given that the monthly fees SynXis would charge our customers to use a two-way connection to Webervations or RezOvation are $100, in addition to the $50/month for manual plus transaction fees. Considering that Webervations only had a small annual fee of less than $100, we wonder how many people actually want to move to a product that is going to cost $1,800/yr minimum, with $350 up-front, $50/year IATA fees, transactions fees up to $12, plus travel agent commissions of 10% or merchant commissions more than double that? 

All this to say, if Select Registry member innkeepers don't want to pay for that connection, it doesn’t make any sense for us to build it. Ironically, we at RezOvation and Webervations only recently were made aware of the Select Registry decision to use SynXis. We learned about it from an innkeeper (not from Select Registry) less than two months ago. It wasn’t until the last Friday in September that we actually got a look at the connectivity specification. Typically when there is a connectivity project of this size at hand, a company like us that has so many customers using the current system would be given significant advanced notice to scope the project, schedule development time, talk to customers about their issues and concerns, etc.

As you are all aware, Webervations had been the provider of the Select Registry booking engine for quite some time, allowing folks to use any one of 18 different PMS products to connect to SR, all at very low Webervations prices. Supporting a shift of this magnitude to a hotel-style SynXis system is not something that we can make happen overnight. Interestingly, at the Select Registry conference in Williamsburg last winter, we were surprised to learn for the very first time that Select Registry was even looking for a central reservation platform; we  had not been made aware of it ahead of time at all. We were therefore unable to help assist the needs/specs and/or discuss how we could provide a painless and easy inexpensive solutionion, even though we power the majority of SR member’s website booking engines and availability calendars.

In our discussions with the interim Excutive Director in October, we explained that we didn’t know what we were going to do and that we needed time to figure out what this meant. What was it going to cost? What type of connection was it? Was it going to require all of our GDS customers to switch chain codes? Was it going to require everyone from Webervations to switch to using a full PMS? How long would it take to implement? Who at our company could be free to work on it? What other projects would get pushed back/delayed? The list goes on and on.  Select Registry did not have any details, so we reached out to SynXis directly. 

Here are some of the complications we are dealing with that make this not a "few week project" as Mike seems to think it should be:

1. Our internal team that handles connectivity is still working on the Travelocity connection we announced last spring. We have to complete this project before we can start on another.
2. Connecting to Synxis is not a quick project. It is a full-blown GDS connection; very few companies in our space have this. It’s similar to the Travelocity connection that has taken us six months so far.
3. Webervations itself was never built to support a GDS connection like this. There are numerous changes that would need to be made to the system in order to accommodate something like this, which means we would have to spend a large amount of time changing Webervations before it could even work correctly or launch a connection.
4. Many Webervations customers use any one of 18 PMS connections to get to Webervations. We are not sure if our customers would even use Webervations to connect rather than the PMS they are using.
5. It seems highly unlikely that properties who have been using Webervations as their own availability calendar would want to pay for this link. To my knowledge, we haven’t heard from anyone using Webervations that wants to pay for this connectivity. We have heard from a few RezOvation customers.
6. RezOvation does support connections like this, but any current GDS or Travelocity customer would have to switch GDS providers to Synxis and would not be able to participate in our Travelocity program through our chain code. Virtually all current GDS customers have paid for and have minimums under their current GDS contracts. They would either be double-charged, or would need to wait for up to a year before they switch.
7. This GDS connection is quite a bit more costly than our RezOvation GDS connection, so existing customers would see somewhere around $1,000 more in fixed fees/year than our current GDS connection.
8. Our entire company is taking a voluntary 3rd party Level 1 PCI Audit right now – we announced this in September. Before we could begin any work on connecting to a new CRS system, we need to complete the work on that audit, which is being handled the same team of expert developers.
9. No PMS that is not PA-DSS certified can take on new credit card processing customers right now, and by the middle of next year, support any credit card customers. RezOvation GT has already passed the 3rd party audit and is listed on the PCI site as compliant.  Webervations is going through that audit now. This is a more critical project to comply with credit card rules than anything else going on. I would caution any customer who is looking at switching to another PMS on this list, as many of the companies are not PA-DSS compliant at this point and are not allowed to take on any new customer for credit card processing until they are.
10. In addition to the all of that, we have a number of other projects that were months into development. Those include the enhanced credit card processing gateway for Webervations, new group management tools in RezOvation GT, an iPhone app for RezOvation, etc.

So our answer to Select Registry on whether we could connect was that we were not sure, and that we would need some time to figure this out. We told them that we would have some cycles to look into this more thoroughly in January as we would have breathing room to look into this with the amount of attention that it deserved. It seems like that would be a reasonable amount of time to scope out a project like this, particularly given no timelines were even conveyed to us from Select Registry as to when the new system was going to launch, or even how long we should continue to maintain the current SR/Webervations booking engine, being that we are the current provider, or the fact that we were notified of the choice weeks after the choice had been made. We ultimately want to hear from you - our customers - on this issue.  Some questions to consider:

• Do you want to connect to this new SynXis system? We’ve heard from some innkeepers that they get very few if any bookings from the SR website. Do you want all the expense of a GDS product? If the volume is going to be low, it would seem to make sense to stick to your current PMS provider, load a room or two manually into SynXis, and avoid the $1,200 surcharge to use a two-way connection. That way you only have the $350 up-front, $50/year IATA fee, and $600/yr minimum, not the $1800/yr minimum.
• If you are a current GDS customer with someone else, do you want to switch your provider and chain-code, and if so, when is your current contract up/what timeline are you looking at?
• If you are a Webervations customer, do you expect to use Webervations to connect to this system, or do you want to use your PMS for a direct connection to this system? If Webervations, does that mean you are using Webervations as your only system, or is it that your PMS company will not be connecting themselves?
• If you are planning on switching to a PMS provider on this list, do you understand that many of them do not connect to Webervations, and all of the sites that it powers?
• Do you understand that this connection does not automatically put a property into the merchant programs of sites like Expedia or Travelocity?

The issue we face is complex and your feedback would be greatly appreciated. We certainly want to connect to as many distributors as possible on behalf of our customers, and we’d love to be a part of this product. The truth is that we sent multiple different partnership proposals to Select Registry over the past 3-4 years only to have none of them come to fruition. Until we can move forward on something like this, we need to have some time to plan it and figure out what kind of customer demand even exists. Please let us know your thoughts so we can come up with a workable solution on this.

Sincerely,

Eric Goldreyer
BedandBreakfast.com / RezOvation / Webervations

I’m happy to announce that after months of hard work, Webervations now offers seamlessly integrated credit card processing through QuickBooks Merchant Services.

This is one of the biggest new features we’ve launched on Webervations since we acquired the product only a year ago. This new functionality allows innkeepers to automatically charge a deposit for online reservations, and process charges / swipe cards , etc. Customers can now do full lodging-certifed processing through Intuit/QBMS the same as RezOvation GT customers have been able to do. The new functionality will include full swiped-rates, as well as automatic deposit charging. This isn't just a virtual terminal tied into Weber 1.0, but a fully blown-out cc processing product that will take credit cards online in the booking path if you want to, charge them at reservation, take a deposit, and so on.  And to make it even better, it's the same exact pricing and deal as Rezo GT -- nothing up-front, no long-term contract, no early termination fees, and the same great low-rates. We are wiping out the $35/month surcharge that Webervations used to have. This will save innkeepers currently using Webervations credit card processing over $400/year.

This new feature is the latest in what is becoming a long list of upgrades we have made to Webervations in the short time we have owned it including:

• A ton of work on the back-end with server and databse response times and redundancy
• A new custom association building tool
• Linked it to the BedandBreakfast.com online reservation program allowing users to participate in the program and manage all of their rates/inventory through Webervations
• Fixed all kinds of bugs
• Fixed issues with analytics tracking
• Put in all new data security and encryption
• Installed Verisign and HackerSafe
• Launched optional monthly billing
• Are doing a full Level 1 PCI audit on the product

In general, we have really invested in the product all around. We think the new credit card processing is a huge addition to the product and we are really happy to be able to offer it while getting rid of the fee. 

As we have said all along, we have no plans to phase out Webervations, and as demonstrated by the list above, we continue to invest in it greatly to make it even better!

Eric

We’ve been hearing quite a bit of feedback on the new Diamond Collection program and I wanted to address it in more detail.  It seems like there are a couple main themes that keep coming up in the questions, and those are “why did you launch it, and is it going to hurt my B&B if I am not a part of it…”  Certainly there are other questions, but initially I’d like to focus on those two as I think they are the main questions folks have.

So why did we launch the Diamond Collection?  It has to do with our goal of expanding the B&B consumer market.  Everything we’ve read indicates that only 4% of traveling consumers have ever stayed at B&Bs.  That means out of every 100 travelers, only 4 of them will stay at a B&B.   While it seems that a lot of innkeepers are OK with that number, that is something that those of us here at BedandBreakfast.com are just not happy with at all.  We want that number to go up – period.  We want some of the rest of those 96 travelers to stay at B&Bs.

So how do help make that happen?  The answer is both simple and complex at the same time.  The simple part is figuring out why they are NOT staying at B&Bs.  We think we have a pretty good grasp on the two groups of consumers – the 4 that stay at B&Bs love them, and the 96 who may have a lot of inaccurate perceptions.  But as the saying goes - perception is reality.  Here are some of the things we hear from consumers:

1)      A lot of them still think that staying at a B&B is like staying in the private home of a stranger.  It’s not a “real” businesses, and they don’t want to stay in someone’s extra bedroom

2)      If they don’t think it is the extra bedroom, they are still afraid they’ll have no privacy, and will have to endure “death by doily”

3)      They don’t equate most B&Bs with a “luxury” experience

4)      They think it is hard to find B&Bs, and that once they do find them, it is hard to book them online

5)      Once they do find them, they find an incredible variety in the quality of websites, information, and find the whole “shopping” process on B&B websites to be very difficult

6)      They have the feeling that B&Bs don’t represent a good “value,” meaning the price of the stay is high compared to the experience

The complex part is figuring out how to act on those findings, change consumer perceptions, market and promote to consumers to grow the industry, and keep products and pricing in place that continue to provide innkeepers with a nice return on their investment.  This is what we try to tackle every day.

Clearly those perceptions are usually completely and utterly false.  At BedandBreakfast.com, our employees all share a common experience – spreading the word about how great it is to stay at B&Bs.  In virtually every case we hear the same response from inngoers after they try it out… “I had no idea how nice a B&B could be!  – I didn’t even know places like this existed…”  The responses are typically the same.

So we know that we need to change the perceptions of 96% of travelers.  That is a BIG job – but that is our goal and what we are in business to do.  Just think… what  if we can get only 2 of those 96 travelers to start staying at B&Bs?  That would mean a 50% increase in business for our industry!  This is the type of goal we are trying to achieve and efforts like our review program, gift cards, distribution through Expedia, Travelocity, etc. and this new Diamond Collection are ways we think we can further that goal.  If you are happy with only 4% of consumers staying at B&Bs, then you may not agree with that goal in the first place.  From what we can tell, most innkeepers would like to see that number grow.

Now keep in mind we are trying to achieve those goals with a site called BedandBreakfast.com.  Take off your innkeeper hat for a minute – and put on the hat of one of those 96 travelers who don’t stay at B&Bs.  If you were one of those travelers, what would you expect to see if you came to BedandBreakfast.com?  Would you expect to see a very comprehensive group of properties?  Would you expect to see consumer reviews?  Would you expect to be able to make bookings?  Would you expect to be able to link directly to a property website?  Would you expect to be able to easily find the right property for your exact travel needs?

These are the types of questions we ask ourselves at BedandBreakfast.com.  One of the things we have heard for quite some time now is that consumers felt they needed to look elsewhere to find luxury properties.  They felt that if they wanted a luxury stay, they needed to go to other websites like Relais & Chateaux, or look for AAA 4-Diamond properties for instance, rather than come to BedandBreakfast.com.  That really doesn’t do any member of BedandBreakfast.com any good at all.  If the luxury consumers shy away from BedandBreakfast.com, then they’ll never see any of our member properties.  These inngoers felt that we had a very comprehensive group of mid-range properties, but for something special, they had to look elsewhere.  This of course is a perception that we do not believe is a reality, but again – perception is reality.  So the question is – what do we do about it?  How do we make sure consumers realize that BedandBreakfast.com does have the widest selection of properties, and they should come to us to see them all, not just the mid-range?

So we came up with the Diamond Collection.  We think that consumers will be much happier with the selection on BedandBreakfast.com if it is clear there are all varieties of properties, and ultimately we think it is better for the industry if a large industry platform like BedandBreakfast.com has a broader offering.

Clearly every B&B may not agree with this strategy, but I’d ask each B&B to take off their “what’s best for my B&B” hat and put on their “how do we get more of those 96% of consumers” hat.  That is the hat we at BedandBreakfast.com have to wear if we are to grow the number of folks that experience our industry. 

We wear that hat often – and often times there are individual B&Bs that don’t agree with every business practice we adopt, but we feel that we have had good results on growing the industry.  We feel our proactive approach is what has kept us vital and growing and it needs to continue.

There are a lot of things we are proactive about that are often overlooked or forgotten.  PCI compliance for PMS and online availability calendars is a great example.  While many of our competitors are claiming compliance - and putting a lot of innkeepers at risk - we have hired certified, independent auditors to come into our business every year and make sure everything checks-out at the highest level of security available – the same type of audits major banks go through.  No one else is going to that trouble or expense that we know of.  Maybe our competitors are laughing at us for all we know since they seem to be happy to avoid it – but we do not – we don’t feel good about offering a sub-par product.

Our Gift Cards are another example.  We know that many innkeepers do not like our higher commission, but we knew as a business that in order to compete in the marketplace we had to have a better product than a simple piece of copy paper that is run through a laser-printer and we were going to have to invest heavily in getting the products on retailers shelves.  If we were going to take on the Marriott’s of the world on Safeway’s shelves, or if we were going to get into the Dell employee incentive program – we needed to have a card of matching quality.  So we invested a massive amount of time and money into these products and systems.  It comes back to wanting to change the consumer’s perceptions.  If a consumer gets a home-made looking gift certificate for a B&B that looks cheap – their first impression of the B&B industry is that it is home-made and cheap…  If you are happy with that perception as an innkeeper, than we are just going to have to agree to disagree – we’ll never believe that is the answer for the industry. 

What is ironic is that many innkeepers seem happy with a lower commission, cheaply made gift certificate, yet in the same breath, many complain that they don’t want a Costco consumer because they are worried that the Costco consumer only wants something cheap…  We understand that innkeepers want to pay as little as possible for any type of service, but it seems difficult to want to have it both ways.  It’s almost as though these innkeepers are the type of guest they would not want to stay at their own property…  The irony is that Costco has one of the wealthiest consumer groups of any business, buying everything from $100+ bottles of wine to $5,000 flat-screen televisions.  Our industry needs to get in front of these people with a great-looking high-quality product that gets them to notice how good B&Bs can be.  Getting in front of such large numbers of wealthy individuals is yet another way to grab some of those 96% of people that don’t already stay at B&Bs.

Just a few years ago innkeepers revolted when we launched our review product.  Can you imagine a world now where we didn’t offer reviews on our website?  Were we a bit ahead of our time?  Sure – our competitors only lately have started offering review products of their own, but our goal is to be the leader in this space, not a follower.

Likewise, a lot of innkeepers ask us why we haven’t launched an iPhone app yet. Our answer is that so far we haven’t heard from consumers that they really want one.  We have some things in the works, but it hasn’t been something that appears ready to drive a lot of business.  We’ll get one going in 2010, and in fact we are going to launch one for RezOvation within the next few months since we’ve heard that innkeepers themselves would really find it handy.

Ultimately our business needs to be a balance of getting traveling consumers what they want, and providing innkeepers with products and services to meet their needs while providing them with great ROIs.  All Innkeepers may not agree with our strategies in the short-term, but we do feel we put a lot of time and research into what is going to expand the industry.  The Diamond Collection is just such a product.  We expect only a few percentage points of our members to join this new product, so there will not be substantive changes to our underlying business.  Nevertheless, this product niche can better convince more consumers to come to the site and try B&Bs.  We think a lot of people drawn in by the Diamond Collection will be looking at all properties to find one that best suits their needs – but without the Diamond Collection those travelers may never have come to our site in the first place.  That is our take on it.  Clearly there are others who will have different opinions, but wearing our industry and consumer hats, we think the decision is clearly in the right direction to grow the market.

We are excited to announce that based on input from numerous consumers looking for the best of the best properties, we are now accepting applications for Charter Membership in the all-new BedandBreakfast.com Diamond Collection. Designed to give innkeepers with stand-out properties the ability to truly stand out, these innkeepers will now be able to market themselves as a distinct group of leading properties that have undergone a comprehensive annual inspection (conducted by industry leaders InnConcierge), have the highest level of consumer ratings & reviews, and offer the highest level of amenities. This enhanced BedandBreakfast.com Diamond Collection marketing includes: 

• Exclusive prominent placement on the BedandBreakfast.com home page (that has never before been available to innkeepers)
• Enhanced placement throughout the site on the state, region, city and property listing pages
• Enhanced search abilities for consumers, making it easier for them to search for Diamond Collection properties (coming soon)
• A BedandBreakfast.com Diamond Collection micro-site (coming soon)
• The ability to better market your stand-out property in your own marketing materials, on your website, and at your property with BedandBreakfast.com Diamond Collection graphics, plaques, and more

BedandBreakfast.com Diamond Collection properties will be required to meet certain standards and offer guests a higher level of amenities, including but not limited to:

• Have a property video online
• Offer guests the ability to book their room online on the innkeeper's own website/homepage (using any booking engine technology provider)
• Private baths
• Internet access
• Full breakfast

With more and more consumers demanding peer reviews and at the same time more consumers and innkeepers alike questioning the authenticity of peer reviews, we felt a truly comprehensive and regularly ongoing (annual) inspection program was needed for the B&B industry. In addition, we felt this new robust inspection process should work in conjunction with actual peer consumer ratings and reviews, providing potential guests with an assurance that Diamond Collection properties have not only passed a comprehensive on-site inspection, but also are consistently top-rated by previous guests. 

We feel that by continuing to listen to feedback from innkeepers and inngoers alike, and launching new products and service to meet their needs, we remain in the best position to continue to provide value to all innkeepers -- Bronze members to Diamond Collection properties. Check it out here: www.bedandbreakfast.com/innkeepers/diamondcollection

Need R&R? Go B&B!
Eric Goldreyer
Founder & CEO
BedandBreakfast.com

So, I have been reviewing a couple of surveys we have done recently here at BedandBreakfast.com. One survey in September was directed to inngoers and had over 3,500 participants; another went to innkeepers in June and had almost 1,000 participants.

After looking at the results side-by-side, the thing that struck me as the most odd, was the huge gap/disconnect between inngoers desire/demand to be able to book a room online, and innkeeper's perception of that demand.

Our September survey showed that a full 89% of consumers felt that the ability to actually make a reservation online (not just do research online then call the property) was between important and essential. That's almost everyone...!! To look a little deeper, 50% said it was "very important" or wouldn't book a room at the property without it. That's half of all potential guests saying they want to book their next stay online. If you do not offer them that as an option, you very likely may lose their business.

Now, I recognize that we sell software that allows innkeepers to offer this option/service for their guests. But let me assure you our research only supports virtually everything you read. Regardless of the research house you are reading industry publications from, they all say that consumers want to book online and that next to third-party peer reviews (another subject) and photos, it is at the top of the list of requirements.

So how can it be that only 8% of innkeepers felt that offering online reservatins for their potential guests would help them sell more rooms...? Somewhere, somehow we in the industry are not doing a good enough job of helping innkeepers understand the importance of offering their guests the ability to make a reservation without picking up the phone. I doubt many innkeepers would run a B&B without a toll-free number; online reservations have become as important. It does not matter whose technology innkeepers use -- there are many providers. But innkeepers have to choose one and get on board with online reservations before it is too late. The time seems to be fast approaching.

Now "maybe" if you are running 90% occupancy regardless of what you do with your rates (ie. you raise them and raise them and people just keep coming), you don't need online reservations "yet!"...  And clearly, like all innkeepers, all B&Bs are different, and that's one of the great things that makes B&Bs unique. But I truly feel that we as an industry have to make it easier for folks to come stay with us without picking up the phone (new guests but even repeat guests). Until we do that, we will continue to struggle with increasing our share of the lodging pie.

Thoughts? 

Need R&R?  Go B&B!

Eric

I was fortunate to get some quality down time with just my wife and I this past weekend.  We only had a few days without the kids arranged, so as is often the case for folks in situations like this, we wanted everything to be perfect so we would not waste any of this precious alone/down time.  After a quick review of places where we wanted to go, it was decided that we'd hop the Nerd Bird (the American Airlines Austin - San Jose Non-Stop that is being killed next month after over 15 years or so of operation) and head to San Jose, grab a convertible, and head down to Big Sur.  We had driven by two properties we wanted to try a couple of years before iwhen we had gone out to CA, and in speaking with JoAnn Bell (a long-time friend that lives in Santa Barbara and like me has spent many years in the B&B/Inn industry) we decided we'd go check them both out.  It’s was also nice ithat since we were headed two time zones West, we landed in San Jose, CA before 10AM and still got most of the day Friday. 

So we booked a rental car through Orbitz for the 72 hour period we'd be in California.  We wanted a convertible, but it cost $250 more than a regular run of the mill mid-size car so we opted to book the less expensive car and try to upgrade once we were at the airport in San Jose picking up the car.  When I checked in and asked about upgrading to a convertible, it was available for only $60 more - nearly $200 lower than the price we were quoted originally.  Sweet!  I mean why wouldn’t they make some additional revenue from us if the convertible was just going to be sitting there anyway.  It once again goes to show you that regardless of what you are spending to travel (these two properties are not known for their inexpensive room rates), we ALL like a deal/good value!  Just because folks want good value/to save some money – it does not mean that they are cheap or are bad customers.  Certainly a lesson to be learned here for some…

So off we went in beautiful sunny California leaving San Jose and we headed over to Capitola for lunch at a place right on the beach.  This was no Gulf Coast.  That wind was cold!  Even in the sun.  Folks were laying out in their bikinis/bathing suits and there was my wife and I having lunch with our fleeces on.  We then took a quick stroll around the neat little town, grabbed some taffy from a store that must have carried 100 or so flavors (my favorite - Peanut Butter) and headed for Carmel.

Upon arriving at Ventana, things just started to relax even more.  They offer you a glass of wine as you check-in, explain all the amenities the Inn has to offer, and whisk you to your room in a golf cart.  We booked a Pacific House Room and it was very nice! 

It had a nice modern laid back design that was very comfortable, over-size soaking tub with bath salts, a personal hot tub on the patio, a great couch/lounger  for two near the fireplace with a built-in small table  - perfect for grabbing your favorite book and your coffee or wine (depending on the time of day).  There are two nice pools with "bath houses" that have hot tubs.  We did the morning yoga session both mornings we were there and the instructor - Theresa, was very nice and personable.  Not only did she do a great job with the yoga, but she has grown up in Big Sur so she had a lot of local knowledge/insight.  After yoga every morning we’d head down to a complimentary deluxe continental breakfast - coffee, juices, cereals/yogurts, and fresh pastries.  You could order full breakfasts off the menu, but the included continental was very nice and plenty of food (especially after a yoga class and before a hike). 

We passed on the guided hour long hike on the property to go do a 9 mile hike up at Molera State Park.  It was a nice hike with a good amount of elevation change and beautiful coastal cliffs as well as tons of flowers in bloom in all colors.  The only negative was that there are signs EVERYWHERE about staying away from the Poison Oak, but a couple of the trials are so over-grown in places (because they had to divert resources to Pfieffer Park during the fires) that you clearly cannot avoid whatever is growing across the trails in these spots so you either turn around or forge ahead.  The concierge at Ventana clearly had not actually walked these trails or they would have recommended long pants.  After the long hike we drove down to Nepenthe and had a light lunch on the patio overlooking the Pacific Cloud Bank (that’s right, not the Pacific Ocean).  We only actually saw the ocean when we would be down at beach level since the marine layer of fog was solid the entire time we were out there.  It’s still an incredible area with amazing views.  But if you are wanting to have the views of the ocean, make sure you go at a time when the marine layer of fog will not be in full force or you will be bummed.

The Ventana also had a neat way to do the fire that I had not seen.  They had pieces of wood (or manufactured wood – like a Duraflame log) in small burlap bags so to light a fire you would just take a match and light the burlap sack. 

After two nights at Ventana, we loaded up the car and drove all the way across the street (literally the entrances to both of these properties are directly across from each other on Highway One) to the Post Ranch Inn.  Another incredible property on part of the grounds of the original Post Ranch. 

The check-in here was somewhat similar to Ventana in that we were offered wine (or water or whatever).  Since we arrived at one and our room would not be ready until about three or so, we decided to go for a hike on the property (they sit on 100 acres) and check out the soaking pools, trails, fitness facility, etc.  The hike was nice.  They have coolers throughout the property with iced down bottles of water in them.  If they could only ice down some beer and put in the moving walk-way…  ;^)  Unfortunately their maps need a little attention to detail.  The area to the left of the entrance has a few dirt roads/trails through it that are not well marked while you are hiking and the map is not accurate in that area so you are on your own a bit.  It’s no big deal though since it is not a huge area and it’s not like you have a 50 lb pack on or anything.  Just a bit frustrating.  The only other frustrating thing I can recall at this property which was trivial (goes to show you how well they nailed everything else) was that at check-in we were told the lap pool was 75 degrees which is to cold for our tastes so we decided to skip going to it which we had wanted to do (we actually thought about going back across the street to the pool at Ventana because it was very comfortable) and the next day after yoga we dipped our foot in and the pool was more like 84-85 degrees which was very comfortable.  We checked the in-room literature and it said the pool was kept at 85 degrees.  So a bit of a disconnect there. 

Anyway, by this time our room was ready so we headed to the room.  At Post Ranch we opted for the Pacific Room. 

Wow!  While the room and the amenities provided were certainly first-class, the thing that makes this property, and these rooms stand out is that they are perched 1,000 feet or so on the top of a ridge above the Pacific Ocean.  The room was large (just under 1,000 feet), had a very large balcony with a table and chairs as well as some chaise loungers and an umbrella.  You could do nothing but site here all day.  We however opted to go soak in the soaking pools (like large hot tubs with no bubbles kept at 102 degrees) that sit on the edge of the ridge overlooking the great expanse/ocean/clouds.  It felt as though we were in an airplane as we just looked down on a solid cloud layer the entire time. For most of the time we had the whole place to ourselves.  Which brings up a point – This property seemed quieter and more suited for folks that want to retreat /escape and not be around many other people.  While Ventana certainly can provide that as well and the room we stayed in was very open/airy and cozy, Post Ranch has less units and seems to be designed more for solitude.  The architecture at Post Ranch is amazing with some units in trees, some on cliffs/ridges, and all designed with a very funky California vibe to them.  Our unit had built in satellite radio, a fireplace (all ready to go/light), sun screens that automatically raised/lower with the touch of a button.  We also had a courtesy mini-bar that was all complimentary stocked with wines, water, juices, cheeses, crackers, fruit, chocolates, etc.  It was a nice touch for sure. 

Both properties had robes, sandals, and nice amenities.We were very impressed and had a great time at both properties.  Post Ranch had a bucket for recycle stuff which was another nice idea.

The staff at each was very helpful and nice and you can’t go wrong at either of these amazing places.

We can’t wait until we get to go back!

Have a Happy Fourth!

Eric 

Today we announced that we are going to start offering an extended line of products and services to help innkeepers better market and monetize their websites, including trip insurance, reservations for local attractions, and some new review tools.

B&Bs using either the RezOvation or Webervations booking engines will soon be able to offer potential guests additional products and services in the checkout path, providing innkeepers with both additional revenue streams and increased reservations. These new optional products/features include trip insurance sold through Access America and add-ons like event tickets and local sightseeing tours, purchased right on inns’ online reservation checkout pages. Properties will also be able to embed BedandBreakfast.com reviews in their check-out path, providing positive reinforcement to prospective guests at a key decision point in the reservation process. RezOvation and Webervations customers can also allow their guests to receive a BedandBreakfast.com review reminder after they have stayed at a property, minimizing the need for innkeepers to solicit reviews directly. Each property will have the option of using any or all of the additional features on its booking engine.

“Our goal is to enable B&Bs to offer the same kind of rich website features as larger properties,” explained Eric Goldreyer, CEO of BedandBreakfast.com. “Until now, smaller properties couldn’t offer trip insurance, generally considered a win-win for travelers and properties alike. In addition, consumers are increasingly demanding to see property reviews, and these new products will help innkeepers both increase the number of reviews they have, and display those reviews to prospective guests.”

None of the additional features require any website changes or work on the part of the innkeepers, except to let BedandBreakfast.com know which features they wish to use. Each feature will be rolled out over the coming months, starting with travel add-ons and the review products;innkeepers will be notified directly in advance of each new feature launch, including details on how to customize, add, or drop the services for their property.

Trip insurance will be sold through an agreement between BedandBreakfast.com and Access America. Consumers booking on a RezOvation or Webervations property website will see a check-box on the final page of the checkout and will be able to choose whether or not they want to purchase insurance. If they decide to take the insurance – which will protect them against such problems as trip delays, illness, and lost luggage – their information will be shared with Access America which issues the insurance policy. Properties will earn revenue on every sale made from their websites and can discontinue the program at any time; all billing and revenue sharing is done automatically. In addition, when travelers are offered trip insurance, it’s easier for innkeepers to implement their cancellation policies; after all, the prospective guests had the option to protect themselves with low-cost insurance.

Travel add-ons will be sold through an agreement between BedandBreakfast.com and Viator, a leading online resource for travel experiences, providing access to 5,500 tours, attractions, and activities in 450 destinations in 75 countries. This feature will be limited to U.S. properties in areas where Viator has coverage. Consumers who book via a RezOvation or Webervations booking engine will see a link to Viator on the reservation confirmation page; they can click through to a Viator web page with add-on activities relevant to their destination, and can purchase any of interest. As with trip insurance, properties will earn revenue on every sale, and the billing and revenue sharing will be done automatically.

The BedandBreakfast.com reviews widget can be displayed in the checkout path to help increase the conversion. The technique of putting third-party reviews into the checkout pages has shown tremendous conversion increases in the retail sector, and is expected to lead to more reservations by consumers wary of staying at lesser-known properties. It will also help generate more consumer reviews for participating properties. The monthly income from just a few travel add-on or trip insurance sales can cover the monthly cost of a booking engine; just one review a month on BedandBreakfast.com earns a property up to $60 annually in membership credits. The reviews can be shown in a separate window when someone checks availability on a property website or as a customized graphic embedded into the room results pages.

BedandBreakfast.com began offering the same embedded review widget in January 2009. More than 600 properties have already added the review widget to their own website, and those properties are generating four times as many reviews on BedandBreakfast.com as properties that do not use the review widget.

One of the most successful techniques for properties to get more consumer reviews is a follow-up email sent to a guest several days after check-out. While this is a very effective tool, many innkeepers are reluctant to solicit reviews, and guests may question whether their information will truly be kept private if an email comes directly from a property. RezOvation and Webervations users will soon be able to give consumers the option of having BedandBreakfast.com send a reminder email to their guests after check-out. This will help innkeepers who want to avoid soliciting reviews themselves and will convey to guests that they are working with a well-respected third party to generate their reviews. Properties using the feature can expect to increase the number of reviews as well as their review credits with no additional effort.

“Travelers will now start to see professional features on small property websites, and they will be more comfortable than ever booking a B&B when they see reviews from the leader in specialty lodging,” commented John Banczak, Chief Operating Officer for BedandBreakfast.com. “We are happy to be able to offer these products to help enable small lodgings attract broader audiences. The products and services available at B&Bs around the world are better than they have ever been; our goal is to help consumers realize what a wonderful travel experience awaits when they stay at B&Bs.” 

I often get emails and questions from innkeepers about the BedandBreakfast.com Online Reservations program (AKA our "Global Partners Network" that makes properties bookable on sites like Expedia, hotels.com, Kayak, Sidestep, Travelocity and others in addition to BedandBreakfast.com).  With any program of this magnitude, it is only natural that there are questions. I felt it was worthy of a thorough/detailed blog post explaining how the program works, and helping distinguish the facts from the fiction.

In the not too distant past, our industry could only have dreamed of having similar access to consumers as a 300 room chain hotel.  We’ve put together that access, along with convenient ways to manage the inventory, at competitive and often better rates than hotels get.  If you need more exposure and revenue, there is no comparison to what this program can do.  Let me go into some details. 

First, the BedandBreakfast.com Online Reservations Program is an optional program available to all members.  Our members are not required to participate in this program, although almost 2,000 of them do. Our standard memberships we’ve had in place for over a decade are still based on a flat monthly or annual fee with no commission – although some of our competitors would try and have you believe otherwise - even though they know it is not the case.

Secondly, this program has no hidden fees.  There are no additional up-front or annual fees like most GDS providers charge, no hidden transaction fees, and your property is given great billing and content on distribution sites. To explain a bit of history, when companies like Expedia and Travelocity first started out, they got a lot of properties onto their sites through the Global Distribution Systems.  We know these systems well – we actually provide this type of link for properties that want it through our technology company - RezOvation.  As times changed though, virtually all of the major travel sites launched preferred booking programs known as the “merchant model,” or “net rate model” where they started favoring the sales of rooms from properties that give them a rate that they can mark-up and resell, rather than earn a commission.  In addition, they tended to not only focus on the larger chains for their inventory.  In most cases, properties that were listed in the GDS were usually relegated to the bottom of the display pages, or in some cases just removed, and usually didn’t have much content included in their listing often lacking simple items like photos.  Properties could join these preferred programs through a GDS connection, but then they wound up paying the GDS fees on top of 25-30% required net rate discounts.  You can imagine that didn’t work very well for B&B’s as it was costly, and very few B&B’s were in the GDS in the first place.

So we set out to change the game for small properties.  Our connections with these sites get properties full content, photos, etc., and have no GDS transaction fees, or up-front fees, and connect directly to the properties PMS in many cases.  This enabled properties to join with no risk and only pay when they get a transaction, and thus came the day that thousands of B&B’s would become available to the masses on the leading travel  sites.  

Third – With our program, you control your inventory, and you do it all in one place.  You are not required to give us any inventory you do not want to.  Even when you give us inventory, you can pull it back if you are able to sell it yourself.  This enables properties to have the flexibility they need.  We do require you to load at least six months of inventory to get  listed on Expedia and hotels.com, but if you don’t have that much then I would wonder why you even want more exposure, and of course you can still black out peak dates you feel you can sell on your own.  We even worked out a system where if you do put in a room or two in for every day of the next year (that you can still sell yourself), we can get you a reduced effective commission of five percentage points.  Best of all, you are able to manage all your reservations from all these top channels from one convenient location.  Many hotels don’t even have this luxury.  When you participate in this program through BedandBreakfast.com, you become visible and bookable on Expedia.com, hotels.com, Travelocity.com (and their affiliates including American Express Travel, Yahoo and AOL among others - coming this Fall), Kayak.com, SideStep.com, TravelPost.com, Away.com, UpTake.com, LATimes.com, NexTag.com, iExplore.com, Vast.com, and many more. ).  You do not have to manage each of these sites individually.  You can do it all easily and directly through BedandBreakfast.com, RezOvation GT/GTO Software or now even through Webervations.Most PMS’products in our industry also work with Webervations – which means you can also manage your inventory in this program through any of those.  If your PMS doesn’t connect to Webervations it Is not because we have not allowed it to force folks to use our PMS.We’ve approach every major PMS product we can think of in our industry and we will allow them to connect to Webervations without charging them anything.  Some simply are apparently not interested in giving their users this optional value.

Okay – so that all seems pretty straight-forward.  Usually the next question is - So what are the real costs?  Some innkeepers get caught up on the fact that at face value the program costs between 25-30% (depending on the amount of inventory you put in the system).  If you look at the true costs however, you quickly see it is much less than that and that 25 or 30% is typically more like 7-15%.  Let me explain.  First off, we cover the credit card fees in every case which saves you an average of 3%.  So right off the bat, the true costs is only 22-27% not even considering any other impact.

Next, if you look at any independent third-party travel research out there you will see that it has been clearly demonstrated that for every reservation you get through a channel such as Expedia, you can expect to get another 2 reservations directly from folks that saw you on a leading travel site and then went to a search engine to find your actual property and booked directly with you.  They call this the Billboard Effect.  Innkeepers love to question this “fact” as well call it.  It seems so foreign to folks, yet there is a great example that everyone recognizes right away of this very thing happening right under their noses.  I always ask innkeepers “do you get any business from Trip Advisor?”  The answer is usually “of course I do… (you fool!)”  Well the next question I ask is how?  Trip Advisor has no direct links to your website?  “Well they see my property, then they search on me directly…”  Bingo – there is a site that has no links to your property, and everyone knows they still send business.  So why is it so hard to believe that this would happen from sites like Expedia or hotels.com?  The answer is it isn’t – the exact same thing happens.  Large research firms like Forresster have documented this, and hotel marketing firms like Travel Tripper say this number could be as high as 4-to-1.

So if you take the effective 22% rate, then factor in another 2 reservations that come direct, your true landed cost of a reservation through these channels is  just over 7%.  This isn’t hocus-pocus or black-magic – this is the true cost for those of you that really want to truthfully evaluate a program like this.   This is a very reasonable effective commission to pay, particularly when you compare it to the true cost of the traditional GDS.

In the good ‘ole days, the GDS got you onto Travel Agent screens.  It still does.  Typically you pay up-front to be loaded into the GDS.  RezOvation charges $700 up-front and $500/yr maintenance, and we are about the lowest priced out there.  You also pay per transaction.  We charge $15 per transaction and again are about the lowest out there as well.  This isn’t a big money-maker for us.  On top of that, you have credit card fees of 3%.  So lets look at a $200 reservation through the GDS and just assume that a property does 10/month.  In the first year, per reservation, that is $7/up-front fee, $15/transaction, $6 for credit card fees, and another $20 to the travel agent.  On a $200 reservation, that is an average of 24% landed cost per reservation.  In later years that would drop a bit due to the lower annual fee than up-front.

Keep in mind though that there is no Billboard Effect at all – you are only displayed to Travel Agent’s, not on a website for everyone to see.  So the 24% landed cost per reservation through the GDS and a Travel Agent compares to the 7% through our program.  Quite a difference…  And if you actually use the GDS to manage rates and inventory on major websites, you will likely have to pay them their 25% - not just the 10% you would to a travel agent.  Which means the cost of a reservation goes up to 36% (but of course there is a Billboard Effect now, so there is some benefit there).

We occasionally hear from innkeepers that they are upset with the program because we charge 25-30%.  These innkeepers don’t seem to realize that that these leading travel sites are in business to make money and there is a cost to buy “shelf-space” if you will to display our rooms.  It’s sort of like a grocery store in a way, if you have a product to sell and the store cannot make as much or more money from selling your product than they can from selling their existing products – guess what, they do not sell your product.  These sites are used to working with large hotel chains that represent hundreds (if not “thousands”) of rooms and have a single point of contact and are willing to pay the fee for the exposure.  If we as an industry are not willing to bring all the properties together on a consolidated platform and accept a price that is competitive with what the travel sites can make selling rooms at other places, we just won’t get sold. So we don’t decide what the price is going to be so much as the market sets the price along with the travel sites.  

In any case – I think you are starting to get the picture.  Innkeepers often see the 25-30% commission and their first impression is that it is too-much.  It is only after truly looking into the details and comparing the pricing that they start to realize that it is actually pretty darn reasonable.

Now I am not saying you wouldn't rather sell the rooms directly on your own website.  You should be doing both!  For folks that find you on your website, absolutely make sure you offer them the ability to put their credit card number down and get a reservation.  For the millions of folks that will not make it to your website, get in front of them as well.  There is no excuse – we’ve made it risk-free and easy to do.  You will most likely not always be able to sell all of your inventory yourself so by utilizing this program correctly you can sell more rooms and not only make more revenue today, but create more repeat and word of mouth business which is my next point.  

The majority of travelers have never experienced a B&B – most industry figures say only 4% of travelers have tried one!!!  Imagine if we as an industry can get that to even 6%!  Innkeepers would see a 50% increase in business on average!  To be on the big travel sites where travelers aren’t necessarily looking for a B&B, but rather just looking for lodging, your property can stand out as a nice alternative to staying at a big box hotel.  You can find new guests that can ultimately turn into repeat and referring guests.  After all, once your new guest stays with you that first time, you aren’t going to encourage them to go back to Expedia to book another room at your property….you’re going to hand them your card and/or brochure or direct them to your website where you pay no commissions or fees other than for the technology – no marketing costs there.  Travelers that know they want to stay at a B&B will likely end up on sites like BedandBreakfast.com where they will find your B&B.  It’s the travelers that don’t necessarily know they want to stay at a B&B that we as an industry need to reach out to.  That is done by being on the larger travel sites listing right alongside your local hotel competition.  And don’t get me started on the whole “These aren’t B&B guests”.  How do we grow our industry if we don’t start converting non B&B guests to become B&B guests!?  One thing is for certain…if your room is sitting there empty and people can’t find it where they book the majority of travel, it is doing nothing to add to your revenue.  

We’ve heard stories and misperceptions from our member innkeepers with claims from our competition that they can provide the same connectivity or exposure through their proprietary programs.  The fact is, this is rarely true.  There is no other option out there for B&B and inn-type properties that gets them anything close to the exposure this program provides.  We’ve spent over four years time, countless development hours, and countless dollars to create this program.  No one in the B&B space has dedicated that kind of resources or has come up with the results.  Our properties using this program are considered “merchant direct” properties with our partners Expedia & hotels.com.  “Merchant direct” properties enjoy the same exposure as the merchant direct hotels that Expedia and hotels.com work with directly.  Other connections to these sites are typically GDS connections and they just aren’t the same thing.  For lack of a better way of describing it, I would call the GDS listings second rate listings on these sites.  We all know that over 80+% of travel is booked from the first page of the search results so if you are on an online travel site through the GDS on page 3, is it really doing as much good as you think it is?  I mean if it drives no reservations, it is not working.

I hope this helps you better understand the program and why it is such a great tool if you use it correctly as one tool in your overall marketing arsenal. 

Please feel free to add any comments or ask any questions.

Thanks for your time!

Eric

While we have been emphasizing the increasing importance of offering online reservations both on your website as well as through distribution channels such as Expedia, hotels.com, Kayak, Travelocity, etc., this new study from the well-known Ypartnership makes it clear how important online reservations are to running a successful inn. (CEO Peter Yesawich is recently spoke at the PAII conference in Atlanta, and is well known to many innkeepers).

As reported in Hotel Marketing.com:

"While the percentage of leisure travelers who report making reservations online has grown more than thirty-seven percent (37%) since the year 2000, “Consumers’ search behavior has changed in recent years as people have become more familiar with search technology and the number of travel planning/purchasing sites has grown exponentially,” said Peter C. Yesawich, chairman and CEO of Ypartnership.

"According to the just-released National Travel MONITOR(SM), fully sixty-six percent (66%) of leisure travelers now use the Internet to plan some aspect of their travel (versus 35% in 2000), while fifty-six percent (56%) now report making reservations online. The nationally representative survey of 1,590 active travelers was conducted during the months of February and March, 2009, and is co-authored annually by Ypartnership and Yankelovich, Inc.

"Travelers visit search engines such as Google, Yahoo or MSN first (34%) when considering vacation destination alternatives. The Web sites of specific countries or destination boards are visited next (23%), followed by online travel agencies such as Expedia and Travelocity (22%). Only one percent (1%) of travelers commence their search for a vacation destination by visiting a blog.

"Search patterns for selecting an airline or lodging accommodation are understandably different. Consumers who are searching for these travel services first visit the Web sites of online travel agencies (42% and 31%, respectively). Brand-specific sites (41%) follow closely when leisure travelers are selecting an airline, yet significantly less so when they select lodging (21%). Meta search engines that compare fares are visited first by over one-out-of-ten travelers (13%) when selecting an airline."

If the only way prospective guests can book a room at your property is by telephoning or emailing you, there is absolutely no question that you are losing reservations every single day.  Adding the RezOvation Booking Engine or Webervations to your website will increase your occupancy immediately, and at no risk, so please contact Sales@RezOvation.com or call (866) 565-1800 for details.   Participating in BedandBreakfast.com Online Reservations is now easier than ever, thanks to seamless links for both RezOvation and Webervations customers, and gets you in front of those 22% of travelers who head to the big online travel agencies mentioned above.