BedandBreakfast.com on Live Canadian Radio Show

We are excited that this morning, BedandBreakfast.com was featured on Tommy Schnurmacher's radio show on CJAD 800, a Canadian news and talk radio station.

Tim Wilson, the manager of the BedandBreakfast.com Diamond Collection program, did a live interview with the show. He debunked myths about B&Bs, mentioned some of our great Canadian properties, talked about the great value that B&Bs offer, and more. You can download the audio file below to hear the interview.

T S Planning A Vacation & B&B Tim Wilson From bedandbreakfast.com - Mon Aug 20, 2012.mp3 (4.62 mb)

By Emily Starbuck Crone

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BedandBreakfast.com PR and Marketing Update

It’s the dog days of summer, and BedandBreakfast.com is HOT when it comes to getting publicity for our member inns!

USA Today covered our Top 10 B&Bs with the  Coolest Pools.  USA Today’s travel blog reaches 17.8 million visitors monthly!

MSNBC’s Travel on TODAY reminded its millions of readers that bed and breakfasts are for kids, too – highlighting several inns we provided as examples.

SmarterTravel.com shared our Top 10 B&Bs with a View – showcasing 10 B&Bs around the world with spectacular views. This popular travel site reaches more than 20,000 visitors a day.

We announced our Top 10 Most Dog-Friendly Inns and are promoting them with a Facebook contest where BedandBreakfast.com fans can vote for the B&B with the best dog amenities. We are donating $1 for every vote to the ASPCA – up to $1,000. The top 10 list and the contest was picked up by PetRelocation.com.

Last, but definitely not least, we worked closely with the TODAY Show on a live TV segment during the Olympics called “London for Less,” providing photos and prices for London inns. Jetsetter Editor Kate Maxwell mentioned bed and breakfasts as an affordable lodging option. Watch the edited version here.

Promotions

Make sure to check out two promotions BedandBreakfast.com is doing with Smarter Travel and the TODAY Show!
•    SmarterTravel.com Photo Contest : BedandBreakfast.com is providing a $xx gift card to the winner of this photo contest, which ends (date).
•    TODAY Show with Hoda and Kathie Lee Fan of the Week: BedandBreakfast.com, together with The Farmhouse Inn, is providing a three-night weekend getaway to a lucky fan, tentatively scheduled for September 10.

Monthly Awards & Feature Stories

Should your inn be considered for any of these upcoming awards and feature story topics? If so, email Marketing & Communications Manager Emily Gerson.

•    Leaf Peeping
•    Inns in Unusual Structures
•    Most Unique Amenities
•    Haunted B&Bs
•    B&Bs with Pubs
•    B&Bs for Bikers

Society of American Travel Writers

In a few weeks, BedandBreakfast.com's PR manager will attend the Society of American Travel Writers Conference in Indianapolis to share story ideas, trends and facts about the bed and breakfast industry with travel writers from around the country.

Innkeeper Testimonial About Our PR Efforts

Kudos to BedandBreakfast.com for the “excellent” PR and support you’ve provided La Maison in Midtown, an urban B&B in Houston, Texas. As a new bed & breakfast, your marketing and Communications department has helped La Maison in Midtown gain visibility locally, nationally, and internationally at an affordable price. You have made it possible for us to be featured in The New York Times, Huffington Post & Culture Map Houston online news. The value and exposure we’ve received far outweighs the monthly fee. As innkeepers, we highly recommend joining BedandBreakfast.com to other new and seasoned innkeepers. It has boosted our online reservations. Thank you again for the exposure.
-Sharon Owens and Genora Boykins of La Maison in Midtown in Houston, Texas

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Featured Recipe: Baked Herb Eggs

The following recipe for baked herb eggs comes from the innkeepers at Black Bear Lodge in South Lake Tahoe, California. The small luxury lodge has five guest rooms, plus three cabins. This recipe is easy to make, but offers a tasty dish that you won't easily find elsewhere. Enjoy!

Servings: 6
Prep time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 9-10 slices thin slices good deli ham
• 12 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons whole seed pub mustard
• 1 tablespoon roasted garlic mustard
• 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes
• 1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1 cup Monterrey Jack cheese, shredded
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
• 1/2 tablespoon pepper
• 1/2 cup green onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
• dash of oregano
• dash of thyme

Step 1:
Preheat oven to 350. Spray 6 ramekins with Pam. (I use shallow, oval ramekins that are about 5 inches long.) Pull the ham slices into small pieces and place in ramekins.

Step 2:
In a medium bowl, beat eggs. Add mustard, sun-dried tomatoes, cheeses, pepper, green onion and herbs. Stir well, then spoon into prepared ramekins. Use a fork to push ingredients below egg mixture.

Step 3:
Bake for 30-35 minutes, until golden and set.

What is your favorite egg dish?

By Emily Starbuck Crone

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New Feature: Detailed Map Search

Last month, we announced a change to our reviews program that was requested by many innkeepers. Today, we are announcing a brand new maps feature that makes it easier for travelers to find properties in the exact area they want to stay. It also makes it easy to see how many B&Bs are in any given area.

There is still a map on the city page in the right sidebar, which you can see in the image below:

Starting today, when a traveler clicks on the map on a city page, it will take them to a new page with a large map like the one below. When they click on a pin, they will see the name of the inn with some quick facts, plus a link to the listing. If they drag the map to another area, it will automatically repopulate with properties in the new area. BedandBreakfast.com Diamond Collection properties are noted with a blue icon.

We think this change will make it even easier for travelers to find the perfect B&B. What do you think?

By Emily Starbuck Crone

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Members Speak Out: How Do You Find Time for You?

Our members speak out! This month's question comes from an aspiring innkeeper, though your responses will be just as helpful and interesting for current innkeepers.

Our question:
How do you balance your time spent running the inn with other things in life that you enjoy or need to do, especially on the weekends when your business may be the busiest? How do you fit in time for family gatherings, religious services, or other obligations? Do you ever have outside help fill in for you, or do you use other strategies to keep the inn running when you need to take out time for yourself?

Leave a comment below with your response, and be sure to mention your inn's name. We'll give you $50 in free Featured Property Auction credit simply for answering by the end of June!

By Emily Starbuck Crone

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Changes to Our Traveler Reviews Program

We are excited to announce a change to our traveler reviews program that we think our members will really like!

Previously, when a traveler went to review a property, each of the five categories (rooms, service, value, cleanliness, dining) showed three stars as a default baseline. Travelers could keep the three-star rating, or they could click and change each one to a higher or lower rating. However, we heard complaints from innkeepers that many travelers kept the three-star rating by default and were concerned that this kept travelers from choosing a higher ranking since a value was already chosen for them.

We have just removed this default ranking, so when a traveler goes to review your property, there are no stars already selected. Travelers will be forced to pick their own rating. You can see below what this now looks like. We hope this change will lend even more credibility to our reviews. We now have well over 200,000 traveler reviews on our site!

Several other changes to the reviews will be coming in the following months. One is that we will make the "Write a Review" button easier for travelers to find on your listing.

What do you think about this change?

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BedandBreakfast.com PR and Marketing Update

In the News
BedandBreakfast.com issued a news release on June 11 announcing its Top 20 Summer Destinations for B&B Travelers and some B&B traveler trends. You can view the release here.  Here are some tidbits:
•  One in four B&B travelers report they will take more weekend trips this summer than last year
•  Two out of three will return to destinations previously visited.
•  Interestingly, nearly three out of four B&B travelers (71%), when traveling to a destination they’ve visited previously, choose a bed and breakfast they haven’t previously stayed in to enjoy new experiences.

Help us promote B&Bs by sharing this news release link on Facebook, Twitter and your email newsletters.

Breakfast Recipe Contest
Thanks to the B&Bs that participated in our first-ever Breakfast Recipe Challenge. With the help of our guest judges Danielle Contray of Budget Travel and Helen Anders of the Austin American-Statesman, we narrowed down the finalists and put them to a Facebook vote over several weeks. The winners were featured in USA Today, Budget Travel, and Austin American-Statesman, among other publications.

Monthly Awards
Our monthly awards program and feature articles continues to get media coverage. Better Homes & Gardens ran an online story about our Top 10 Outdoor Spaces winners.  Take a look!

Feature Articles
We are still looking for inns with presidential ties. Email EGerson@BedandBreakfast.com to let us know about your inn if you fit the criteria! You might find your B&B featured in the news, which can help attract visitors. See this note from John Holst, innkeeper of the Red Garter B&B in Williams, Arizona, who we helped get featured in a USA Today article last fall about haunted inns:

“Thanks again for the great exposure you created for the Red Garter B&B Inn this past year. While we have been mentioned in various publications over the years due to your efforts, the article Ten great places to sleep with a ghost that appeared in USA Today last October was over the top. The morning after that article appeared, Phoenix's best known talk show host called for a live radio interview with hundreds of thousands of listeners. The article also prompted the local Fox TV affiliate in Phoenix to send a crew on a three hour road trip to Williams, to film a Twilight Zone style clip of searching for the "ghost of the Red Garter" that they played just prior to the seventh game of the World Series.... promotions just don't get better than that. I have, and will continue to, put heads in beds due to the efforts of BedandBreakfast.com's various publicity campaigns. I would encourage B&B owners to take advantage of every opportunity to submit an article or recipe, host a Vet or any other chance to show off your inn. You never know when lighting will strike.” - John Holst, Innkeeper

BedandBreakfast.com and Pinterest
Have you seen the BedandBreakfast.com Pinterest page?  It has received some media attention among social media publications.  The Next Web and Bank of America’s Small Business Online have run stories on how small businesses can use Pinterest to build their business, using B&Bs and BedandBreakfast.com as examples.

If you have an interesting story about how social media has helped you grow your bookings, let us know!

Travel Bloggers Conference
BedandBreakfast.com will attend the Travel Blog Exchange Conference, June 15-17, to meet with travel bloggers and share with them story ideas and facts about the exciting B&B industry. Meeting with travel writers and bloggers is a priority for BedandBreakfast.com as we promote bed and breakfasts and our member inns.

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Seeking Inns with Presidential Ties

***Update: The submission period for this has closed***

Election Day will be here before you know it. In anticipation of the upcoming election, we plan to write an article this fall that features B&Bs with presidential connections. This will be shared with our database of thousands of travelers and pitched to the media.

Did an active president go to your inn as a retreat? Was your property once a hangout for ex-presidents? Was your B&B once the home of a president? Please email Marketing & Communications Manager Emily Gerson (EGerson@BedandBreakfast.com) with your inn's name and details about the presidential connection. Thank you!

By Emily Starbuck Crone

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Members Speak Out: When Do You Require Payment?

Our members speak out! This monthly feature is a great way to gain insight from other innkeepers.

Our Question:
When do you require payment from your guests? Do you require a deposit when they book? If not, do you accept full payment upon arrival, or upon departure? Has one strategy worked better than the other for you?

Leave a comment below with your response, and be sure to mention your inn's name. We'll give you $50 in free Featured Property Auction credit simply for answering by the end of May!

By Emily Starbuck Crone

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Seeking Inns With Amazing Bathrooms and Stunning Views!

***Update: The entry period for these awards has closed***

We are seeking B&Bs that have amazing, over-the-top bathrooms. We are also trying to compile a list of inns with breathtaking views. This will help us with some upcoming PR and award campaigns. If you fit it one of these categories, please email our Marketing & Communications Manager, Emily Gerson, at EGerson@BedandBreakfast.com. Please note that you must have reviews on BedandBreakfast.com in order to be in the running. We prefer a minimum of 10 reviews.

Remember, one way to increase the likelihood of getting featured in PR and marketing is to have high-quality photos on your listing. We've found that media outlets only want to feature properties with well-lit, high-resolution photos. It also helps to have a thorough listing description so that it's easier to find you when searching for specific amenities or characteristics.

By Emily Starbuck Crone

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