Our Members Speak Out

Question for our next issue: What are your best stories connected with April Fools' Day or Mothers Day? Make us laugh, cry or both!

Email your responses to Sandy@BedandBreakfast.com. If we publish your comments, we’ll thank you with a $25 credit in our Featured Properties Auction program!
 

You were asked: Have you started a blog, or do you plan to start one? Why or why not? Are you happy with the results of having one?

“Blogs, Twitters etc. are in our opinion quite overrated. The time one spends on them and the results one gets seem to be out of kilter. Many blogs from innkeepers are not what they are supposed to be; the innkeepers simple write a publicity monologue and one cannot comment on the points raised. The idea is surely to raise a discussion?

“Also we find few of our clients actually use this medium for our type of business and those that do often admit to doing so to waste time in the office … something innkeepers generally do not have time to do!

“We are also aware that the internet is so full of tripe and happenings from total strangers’ blogs, that the very idea of trawling though all the thousands of blogs fills us with boredom. Why oh why would want to share the thoughts of a complete stranger?

“We just don’t get it but obviously many ‘geeks’ do … and we assume they spend their evenings and weekends sitting in front of a computer screen rather than lining innkeepers pockets with cash!

“However we are more than happy to see some evidence that the thoughts of the innkeeper in where ever does result in reservations!” -- Dora & David, The Woodstocker Inn, Woodstock, VT


"A blog is personal, so it is what you make it. I research my topics and always learn while doing this. Our city's travel and tourism office loves Chloe's Blog, and they refer their patrons to different articles that I have published.

"I have been doing Chloe's Blog for about two years, and I love it. In checking Google Analytics, Chloe's Blog drives traffic to my website, and that is good. And my guests love it. I had one man enter the front door, look at me and say, 'Don't double the recipe.' I had just posted a Blueberry Jam recipe and I had told the folks not to double the recipe. So he had read every word. Guests also come in with articles printed out, especially about things to do and local down-home restaurants.

"If you search 'Sunnyside Oyster Bar, Eastern North Carolina,' sometimes my article comes up before the Sunnyside website. So guess where the folks stay....yep, they stay at Big Mill.

"For me, maintaining the blog keeps me in the loop, keeps me out there connected with the internet world, and I plan to keep at it.

"If I only wanted retired folks and Baby Boomers here at the inn, maybe my blog wouldn't be important. But I want to "connect" to the younger folks too; and social media/blogging is one way to do this." -- Chloe Tuttle, Big Mill Bed & Breakfast, Williamston, NC

What do you think? Are blogs beneficial to your inn, or a waste of time? Go to our innkeepers' forums and post your opinion! Log in to your Home Base and click Message Boards.

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