Promoting the Industry

Our goal is to generate great publicity for BedandBreakfast.com members specifically, and for the B&B industry as a whole. In this issue we cover:

Current Publicity for BedandBreakfast.com Members
Upcoming Publicity
Recent Media Coverage

Current Publicity: September - October 2009

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

10/13/09
GIMME A BREAK-ATION THIS HOLIDAY SEASON
The Getaway Gift Card™ from BedandBreakfast.com offers the perfect gift for travelers in need of a break

10/02/09
THE BEST OF BEDANDBREAKFAST.COM AWARDS 2009-2010
BedandBreakfast.com Reviews Determine Best B&Bs Worldwide

10/01/09
BEDANDBREAKFAST.COM SURVEY SHOWS RECESSION IS RELAXING ITS GRIP ON B&B TRAVELERS
B&B travelers are willing to cut back on coffee, cigarettes and ice cream to save for travel; nearly 85% of B&B travelers will take the same number or more trips in the coming months

09/15/09
GREAT PLACES TO SLEEP WITH A GHOST
BedandBreakfast.com's annual 2009 roundup of bootiful and spirited "dead and breakfasts"

BedandBreakfast.com Blog: Each time an editor visits a BedandBreakfast.com member, trip reports are posted on our blog. Additionally, we’ve added many great photos and stories from innkeepers. Keep the news and photos coming! BedandBreakfast.com editors also love to stay with members when they travel. If you’re interested in hosting us, let This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it know, and thank you to those who have sent invitations already. Please know your invitations are appreciated and are collected for future travel if an editor will not immediately be in your region. You can see where some of us will be by checking the Innkeeper News Calendar; we’d love to post a trip report about your region on the blog.

Change photos often; add video too: We know we say it over and over, but we repeat our photo mantra each month because it is such an important part of promoting our members. Media are always on the lookout for timely photos. Photos from your listing pages are often linked to releases posted in the BedandBreakfast.com Press Room, also visited by media worldwide. Most importantly, timely photos on your BedandBreakfast.com page motivate consumers to book. Now that fall is almost here, replace the summer photos with visions of fall and winter; don’t be afraid to add photos with people enjoying your inn!

Not sure how to post photos? Click here to log in to your Home Base on BedandBreakfast.com, click Photos under Free Member Benefits , then upload photos following the easy instructions. Don’t forget! If you have high-resolution photos or videos, please post them on BedandBreakfast.com. When the media wants high-res photos and videos, we look for them on BedandBreakfast.com, so be sure to post yours soon.

To add specials: Click here to log in to your Home Base on BedandBreakfast.com, then click the Specials link to add your packages. Be sure to include all relevant information including rates, validity dates, whether children/pets are welcome, and the costs. (Silver-level members and above may post specials. Bronze member? Please click here to upgrade. Not yet a member? Join today!)

What’s new? With the newspaper and magazine business in crisis, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to get print coverage for B&Bs. On the other hand, Internet media coverage is increasing rapidly, and you can easily use Google Alerts to see who’s writing about your property specifically and the B&B industry in general. The Examiner.com (“your inside source for everything local”) is a good example of the new media covering travel (and much more). Marti Mayne is the new B&B Examiner on the Boston Examiner.com Guide; her column features stories about B&Bs throughout New England and beyond.

To receive email alerts, go to the Boston B&B Examiner page and click SUBSCRIBE TO EMAIL next to Marti's photo. You can also read stories that have already been posted there. Innkeepers are encouraged to comment on stories as other innkeepers have; it’s a great source of extra publicity!

Marti welcomes story ideas. It doesn’t have to have a travel angle, just a B&B theme. Stories about all the cool ways to use vinegar or seasonal cooking tips work well and give your B&B good publicity. Email all ideas for Examiner.com stories to Marti at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or Sallie at Holden House.

Upcoming Publicity

For Presidents’ Day in February, we’re going to cover Great Places to Sleep where Presidents Slept.  We’re seeking inns and B&Bs where U.S. Presidents have either stayed or have some other presidential connections. Perhaps your B&B was formerly owned by a President’s son or daughter, or a President stayed at the inn while campaigning.  Do you have a room that is named after a President?  Please send details of your “Presidential connections” to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Recent BedandBreakfast.com Media Coverage

In 2008, 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 September and October. With coverage of Great Places to Sleep with a Ghost, Best of BedandBreakfast.com Awards and articles about consumer surveys, the media has been abuzz with stories from BedandBreakfast.com.

The Best of BedandBreakfast.com Awards
BedandBreakfast.com sent the Best of BedandBreakfast.com Awards announcement out via PR Newswire. Distribution reports showed that nearly 130 television stations posted the release to their websites, and additional Internet coverage resulted in a potential for 130 million readers. More than 25 business journals, including the Atlanta Business Chronicle, Austin Business Journal, and the Business Journal of Phoenix carried the story. Both Yahoo! and Yahoo! Canada posted the Best of BedandBreakfast.com winners. Yet, the real value of the Best of BedandBreakfast.com Awards comes from the regional and local coverage generated by the winners. We’ve tracked countless examples of stories from local media including television coverage of Adele Turner of Traveler’s Rest B&B by WMAZ13.

Additionally, the Cleveland Plain Dealer included a story about Barn Inn, Garden Get-A-Way, Garden Manor and Lake House Inn in a recent story about the BedandBreakfast.com award winners. The Citizen Times ran a story about Andon Reid B&B's award, Mount Airy News mentioned three area winners: Pilot Knob Inn, Sobatta Manor and Scenic Overlook, and the Inn of the Patriots was mentioned in the Cleveland County, NC Star for their Best Place to Enjoy History award. Haven of Rest B&B sent press release out on PRWeb, the 1874 Stonehouse of Cottonwood Falls, was included in a story in the Emporia Gazette, and the Huron House was included in a story on Mlive.com. Kudos go to all the innkeepers who promoted their Best of BedandBreakfast.com Award resulting in coverage like the story about Mission Oak Inn mentioned in story in the Bloomington, IL Pentagraph and the Caldwell House mentioned in a story in the Photo News, in Hudson Valley, NY. Additionally, InnCuisine, a popular B&B cuisine blog, acknowledged the winners and provided a link to the winner page on BedandBreakfast.com. The list of Best of BedandBreakfast.com stories is too long to cover here, yet from past experience, we know that stories about winners will continue appearing well into 2010.

Great Places to Sleep with a Ghost
According to distribution reports, the Great Places to Sleep with a Ghost release was listed by hundreds of websites reaching 128 million potential readers. Coverage of BedandBreakfast.com’s compendium of haunted B&Bs appeared on more than 120 TV stations’ websites, plus AOL, and Kayak.com’s blog. Tribune Media Services carried a story by Eileen Ogintz about haunted inns, mentioning BedandBreakfast.com as a good resource for haunted inns along with a number of individual inns including the Kehoe Inn and Coach Stop Inn. The same story was picked up by CNN.com, Frommers.com, and many newspapers across the country.

Additionally, Newsday ran BedandBreakfast.com’s story about haunted inns, specifically mentioning a number of New England B&Bs, and Forbes.com, Reuters News Service and Yahoo.com all included BedandBreakfast.com in stsories about Great Places to Sleep with a Ghost. Marti Mayne shared stories of haunted inns on Travel Talk with Ellen Barone. The list of media creating stories from BedandBreakfast.com’s Great Places to Sleep with a Ghost is long. Additional stories appeared in Passport Magazine, and Home and Away Magazine where 8 B&Bs were featured, including Texas White House, Foley House, Magnolia Mansion, Colonial Taylor B&B, Magnolia Mansion and many others.

Additional coverage
Additional coverage of BedandBreakfast.com stories included an article in Frommers.com covering results from the Q3 consumer survey, Additionally, BedandBreakfast.com worked closely with Laura Bly of USA Today on a story about B&Bs, helping to arrange a visit in Lenox, MA where her story was datelined and providing input about B&B trends. The Washington Post Q&A story quoting Marti Mayne’s suggestions for romantic New England B&Bs appeared in a number of locations throughout September, including the Belleville, IL News Democrat. BedandBreakfast.com worked with the LA Travel Deals blogger to provide photos for a story about Labor Day deals and SmarterTravel.com recommended BedandBreakfast.com to a Mom looking for affordable family vacation ideas.

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