Innkeeper Updates

RezOvation acquires Webervations
More than 80 videos live on BedandBreakfast.com
BedandBreakfast.com Blog

RezOvation acquires Webervations
In November, BedandBreakfast.com sister company RezOvation announced its acquisition of Webervations. Click here for the press release. All BedandBreakfast.com member properties that use Webervations will get  free availability calendar links on BedandBreakfast.com! You don't need to do a thing; the links will go live automatically in January. RezOvation Booking Engine customers have received a free availability calendar link for the past year and will continue to do so.
 

More than 80 videos are live on BedandBreakfast.com
Don't forget that Silver members and above get one free video on their listing. Mail us a copy of your video on a CD or DVD, or use the free website MegaUpload to send your video files to us. On the MegaUpload home page, click Language at the top of the screen, then select your country. Next, browse to select your file, enter our email address (Support@BedandBreakfast.com) and your inn's name and contact information, and click Send!

When we get your video (by either mail or email) we will send you a confirming email to let you know we’ve received it. If you've sent a video but haven't received confirmation of its receipt, please contact us; we may have not received it.

Here are the requirements:

• Size: Maximum 100 MB.
• Video compression format: Video files from most digital cameras, camcorders, and cell phones in the .WMV, .AVI, .MOV, and .MPG file formats are OK.
• Time: Three minutes is ideal; 10-minute maximum.

We will format your videos to the right compression and size. Click here to see a sample video.

Please don't hesitate to contact with any questions:  Support@BedandBreakfast.com, 1-800-GO-B-AND-B or 1-512-322-2700.

BedandBreakfast.com has a blog
Check out our new blog! BedandBreakfast.com editors regularly post trip reports, B&B specials, and interesting B&B-related tidbits. Sign up to receive updates via email. Who knows? You might soon read about your inn!

If you have a blog about your property, please let us know and we can do a link exchange.

Travel Trends

U.S. online travel market slows to single digit growth in 2008: “Annual growth of the U.S. online leisure and unmanaged business travel market will slip to single digits in 2008. This marks the first time online travel growth has fallen below double digits since PhoCusWright began tracking online travel in 1998. While online travel is experiencing the inevitable deceleration of a maturing market, its annual growth will continue to outpace the total travel market through 2010. PhoCusWright's U.S. Online Travel Overview Eighth Edition presents comprehensive analysis and forecasts of the U.S. total and online leisure/unmanaged business travel market.

Key findings include:

• U.S. leisure/unmanaged business travel bookings will reach nearly $100 billion in 2008, more than one-third of the total travel market, and a 9% increase over 2007.
• Despite broad economic turmoil, softening consumer spending and declining travel demand, the U.S. online travel market is projected to grow far faster than the total travel market through 2010.
• Dynamic packaging is experiencing a moderate resurgence as bargain-hungry consumers respond to the "book together and save" proposition.

European online bookings to jump 19% this year: As the European travel industry faces global economic pressure, online booking channels continue to increase market share. Online sales growth for leisure/unmanaged business travel for 2008, projected at 19%, is significantly greater than the 3% rate expected for the European travel industry as a whole. Internet bookings of leisure/unmanaged business travel will represent 29% of the €246 billion European travel industry at the close of 2008, according to the fourth edition of PhoCusWright’s European Online Travel Overview.

Six star hotel ratings system to premiere summer ’09: “With the development of a whole new level of service and amenities at hotels around the world, ProfessionalTravelGuide.com aims to shake up the hotel industry with the debut of the Six Star rating for luxury hotels in summer 2009. The new category will be added to the industry’s official Five Star Rating System, the Star Service, which is owned and operated by ProfessionalTravelGuide.com. ProfessionalTravelGuide.com revealed that the site will simultaneously unveil a six-star system for airlines; a six-star rating system for luxury cruise ships will follow in the fall.

Star Service developed the star ratings system in 1939 and is the most stringent of ratings systems for the hotel industry. The Star Service ratings system is widely considered the industry standard and used extensively throughout the travel industry.

Video sites see spike in viewers: YouTube’s audience jumped in September to nearly 82 million unique viewers watching more than 5.3 billion streams, according to the latest figures from Nielsen Online. Other Yahoo drew nearly 30 million unique visitors in September watching 264 million streams, up from about 20 million uniques viewing 169 million streams. Fox Interactive Media, led by MySpace, saw a burst in unique viewers, but they watched fewer videos: 19 million unique visitors checked out 242 million streams in September, compared with 16 million uniques viewing 278 million streams in August.
 

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