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
What's New?
Recent Media Coverage

Current Publicity: November 2009 - January 2010

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

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

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.

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 trips. 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 winter is here, replace the fall photos with visions of winter and spring; 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.

Upcoming Publicity

We’re already receiving media requests for Valentine’s Day ideas. We’re compiling two releases for Valentine’s Day – one that outlines affordable romantic options for couples and another that focuses on Valentine’s Day packages for singles. The media has always loved both these stories. All information for the releases will be gathered from the Specials posted on BedandBreakfast.com. If you haven’t posted your Valentine’s Day packages yet, be sure to post them today. The more creative, the better – don’t be afraid to add a little humor to the packages – especially the Valentine’s for Singles option. Visit BedandBreakfast.com’s Specials Section and click on Valentine’s Day Specials or Valentine’s for Singles to get ideas from other innkeepers.

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!)

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 .

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.

Are you a HARO ... reader that is? HARO stands for Help A Reporter Out and is the newest "must have" subscription in your marketing tool box. HARO connects journalists with resources, allowing the media to meet their deadlines while giving small businesses the chance to generate great PR. More than 100,000 sources now receive HARO’s 3x-daily emails, and some 1200 journalists use it weekly. The Haro Report is a compilation of story and article requests, TV casting calls and media opportunities. Best of all, it’s completely free! For those seeking PR, it’s a dream come true. Each HARO Report lists anywhere from 20 to 50+ requests from media working on stories ranging from business to technology to lifestyle and travel topics. BedandBreakfast.com has responded to hundreds of requests from the HARO Report, and have placed stories in such publications as AARP Magazine, USA Today and the Wall Street Journal, plus a number of blogs and websites as a result of responding to HARO requests. With over 100,000 subscribers – both from media and businesses, it’s quickly becoming one of the most popular social networking tools in the PR world.

Click here to subscribe to the HARO Report.

Peter Shankman is the founder and brainchild behind the HARO Report. Click the video below to view Peter’s interview with MarketingProfs CEO Ann Handley to better understand HARO along with some great tips for social networking in the next decade.

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.