Maximizing your Membership for 2005

Dear Member Innkeepers,

BedandBreakfast.com’s goals are to stay one of your top sources for referrals and reservations, to keep you up-to-date on new developments in Internet travel, and to build community among our members. To make sure you aren’t missing out on our many free and low-cost member benefits, just log in to your home base with your property ID and password.

Search Engines: To drive more traffic to your listing on BedandBreakfast.com, we fund major pay-for-placement ad programs with top search engines such as Google, Overture, and others, and are also investing significant resources to optimize our organic (free) search results. As you know, on-going changes by the search engine companies require constant attention, and we continue to make this a top priority.

Referral program:  Bank account in a holiday slump?  Refer another innkeeper to BedandBreakfast.com and earn three months free membership! Get four new members and you get a year for free!  

Traffic statistics:  Although you can always check your statistics on your home base, to make it even easier, we’re now sending you a monthly email with all the details.

Feature Your Property: Make your B&B or inn the "Featured Property" on your city, region and/or state page(s) to direct more potential guests to your website. Featured Property Auction bids start at only one penny per page view. An improved interface makes it easier than ever to place bids and track traffic.  As our holiday present to you, BedandBreakfast.com will match your deposit with an additional 50% in free advertising money. Hurry! This offer expires December 31, 2004.

BedandBreakfast.com Innkeeper Message Boards: Make the members-only message boards your "virtual water cooler" -- the place to go for the latest on industry issues, advice from your fellow innkeepers and industry vendors, and lots of honest opinions. All comments will be posted instantly, and with over 5,500 member properties and vendors, a lively debate on a wide variety of topics is developing.

Best of BedandBreakfast.com Awards: Don't miss out on this great B&B marketing opportunity. If you have not yet started telling your guests about this program, wait no longer! Increase your chances of being an award- winning B&B by posting a voting badge on your own website and distributing reminders to your guests. The 2004 awards produced over eight million media impressions for the winning inns; we expect even better results for 2005. Of course the ten top winners get a year’s free Platinum membership, a $559 value.

BedandBreakfast.com Press Room: Visit the Press Room to find a wealth of media information. We’re delighted to report that in the last 12 months, BedandBreakfast.com garnered nearly 120 million impressions for its members, for a total value of almost $200,000.  In 2005, we’ll be facilitating media access to high-quality photos, so start upgrading your photography now—good pictures are the key to media coverage.

BedandBreakfast.com Publicity Leads: This free member benefit can bring you thousands of dollars in reservations. Every month or two, we email you, outlining upcoming publicity initiatives; the responses are used to create the press releases that may include your B&B. In addition, you can follow up on story leads from specific writers by clicking the link on your home base. A few minutes of your time can result in major press coverage.

Secondary Listings: To gain even broader exposure, add a second listing for your property in a nearby city.

Availability Calendar Linking Program: If you have an electronic availability calendar displayed on your website, you can link it to BedandBreakfast.com from your city page listing and from your full listing.

Hot Deals: Get the word out on last-minute availability to thousands of interested travelers.

Inn of the Month: Give your B&B or inn maximum exposure by making it the top-listed property on your city page. Most cities are available at the $50 minimum bid.

Specials: Although you can post specials of any kind, our themed specials are designed to tie in with our publicity campaign.

Maps: Our U.S. maps are the best in the industry, with detailed information on the state, regional, city levels; we even show the street where your B&B is located.

BedandBreakfast.com Gift Certificates: Sales are up substantially this year, due to our “instant gratification” print-your-own instant gift certificates, significant press coverage, and distribution through such additional sites as www.giftcertificates.com and www.800giftcertificate.com.  As a result, participating properties can expect more reservations than ever from brand-new guests, experiencing their B&Bs for the first time.  Don’t miss out.

Member Checklist: Click here to be sure you are getting the most out of your BedandBreakfast.com membership. 

Contact Information: Don’t forget to log in to your home base to check that your contact information is up-to-date; you don’t want to miss out on special opportunities and money-saving offers!

Finally, I want to reiterate how pleased I am to be working with you, and to emphasize our dedication to helping increase your reservations.

On behalf of the entire BedandBreakfast.com team, I want to wish you and yours all the best for a joyous holiday season, and a healthy and happy New Year.

Eric Goldreyer

President, ELG Hospitality (BedandBreakfast.com, Inns.com, RezOvation

PS. We have some exciting plans for 2005! Keep your eyes out for new programs to help you increase occupancy with our new BedandBreakfast.com online reservations program.

This Month's Sponsor

Online Trade Show

Click to visit our newest vendor members:

• Bath Plus Inc.
• Clawfoot Supply
• Earthly Delight Soap
• Big Kahuna Hawaiian Coffee
• Northwest B&B Inn Consulting
• B&B Team Realtors
• Innkeeping Specialists
• New England Inn Brokers
• Association Management Services
• DVTour.com

More vendor info...

Gift Certificates

BedandBreakfast.com Gift Certificates have changed to an electronic format. Funds for redeemed certificates will be transferred directly into your bank account within four business days! No more certificates to mail! Don't miss out! To join the 3500 participating inns, just log in to your home base with your property ID and password, or click here for more information.

Traffic statistics

Log in with your property ID and password for details on the number of page impressions and click-throughs your B&B has received as a result of all BedandBreakfast.com online marketing, including property listings, Featured Property, and Inn of the Month advertising. More information

Member Information

To update your entry, post specials, and renew your membership, please log in with your property ID and password. Can't remember your password? Click here, then enter your property ID and we'll email it to you. Don't like your password? Once you're logged in to Home Base, just click "Membership," select "change password" (#7 in dropdown menu), and choose another that's easier to remember. More information

Inns for Sale

"We advertised our B&B in your Inns for Sale section in January, and started getting inquires a week later. In February, a couple came from Florida to visit us in Cat Spring, Texas. We made a deal, and they begin officially on April the 5th as the new owners. What you are doing really works." Sunny and John Snyder. Email us today and we'll put you on our special offer mailing list. Read more

Online Bookings

Taking real-time, online reservations is the most effective way to transform your Internet presence from an informational resource into a 24/7 sales engine.  Read more

Innkeepers Information Center

Need more info? You’ll find lots of educational articles on our site for your convenience.

•  Resource Library
•  Member Checklist