Promoting the Industry

Marti Mayne The BedandBreakfast.com Press Room is a popular feature for the media: Visit the Press Room to find a wealth of information on package ideas, travel advice for guests, press releases, and a complete editorial calendar, offering B&B story ideas for each month. Additionally, you'll find B&B industry history, facts and figures, as well as links to Sandy Soule's wonderful travel tips and advice columns. If you're interviewed by a writer, please refer him or her to the press room for great background information. We're very proud that BedandBreakfast.com offers one of the most comprehensive one-stop story shops in the industry, one that can also serve as a great resource for your own publicity efforts.

Special Promotions & Media Relations

In January, we sent a flurry of press releases offering great stories for Valentines Day and affordable winter travel. The stories appeared in newspapers, magazines, and on television throughout February. In the months of January and February, BedandBreakfast.com stories reached a potential 50,845 readers and viewers with a value of over $32,589. Details below.

As always, we thank all the innkeepers who continue to provide information and photos in a timely manner. These efforts pay off with coverage in magazines, newspapers, and even television. We know that not all our press releases that are pertinent to your B&B. However, when our information requests apply to you, we encourage you to respond quickly, so you can be among the other BedandBreakfast.com members who see their name "in lights".

Just in case you missed the article in November, click here to read all about the value of publicity .

January and February press releases:

• TOP TEN REALLY GREAT B& FAMILY SKI PACKAGES Who says families can't enjoy the ambiance of a B& on a family ski vacation? Package ideas for skiing families who love B&Bs.
• BED AND BREAKFAST.COM HOT DEALS From ski country to sun and fun, get great getaways where hot is hot and cold is still hot. A focus on Hot Deals offering examples of packages in sun and ski country.
• BED, BREAKFAST AND BUSINESS BONUSES Increasingly, business travelers weary of hotel extra fees and cookie cutter décor are turning to B& for personalized service and modern amenities. A comprehensive list of business-oriented B&Bs compiled from responses to our publicity lead.
• FIND LOVE ON A SHOESTRING Select an affordable Valentine's Day getaway from BedandBreakfast.com.
• OUT OF THIS WORLD VALENTINE'S DAY PACKAGES A wrap-up of fun-filled Valentine's Day packages.

BedandBreakfast.com members appear on The Today Show: In February, we got a message from Peter Greenberg, travel producer for the NBC TV Today Show that he was looking for "B-roll" (film clips shot in a Beta SP format) for their upcoming Valentine's Day segment. As is often the case, there was an immediate deadline for the footage. While few B&Bs have such tape, the Stargazers Inn, Oak Park Inn, and Alexander House Booklovers B&B hustled to get B-roll footage by the deadline. The outcome was that both the Oak Park Inn and Alexander House Booklovers B&B were covered in the Valentine's Day segment on the Today Show, and consequently filled their inns for Valentine's Day, and booked rooms well beyond too.

We share the comments of Linda Mossman and Steve Sendele, innkeepers at The Oak Park Inn in Whitehall, WI to demonstrate the value of responding to BedandBreakfast.com's publicity leads:

"When Marti called us in December for more information about Valentine packages we gladly shared details of our Outdoor Winter Package with her. When the e-mail request for special video was received from Marti on January 25th, we began contacting a production company. Even though there was an unbudgeted cost to us to produce and edit a 60-second network quality film, we knew first-hand the exposure from national television could never be replicated. You see, this was not the first time Marti had called; in October our Inn was featured in BedandBreakfast.com's press release about family Halloween packages.

"MSN.com picked up this press release, and when it appeared in October, the telephone never quit ringing for two days, we booked the inn, and received 26,000 hits to our homepage.

"The Today Show segment has been equally amazing! It is now three days later, and we are still receiving requests for the weekend. It will be many weeks before we realize the impact to revenue, as requests from local radio, newspapers, and television are yet to be seen."

Increasingly, we are hearing from innkeepers with comments and suggestions for press releases. We encourage you to share ideas that will benefit a wide range of innkeepers, by sending them to Marti.Mayne@BedandBreakfast.com. Here are a sampling of letters we received from innkeepers following media coverage:

Post Your Specials Today: BedandBreakfast.com specials are popular with both the media and inngoers. Specials can be posted by theme or by state/province. For best results, post your specials both on BedandBreakfast.com and on your own website. Not sure how to post your specials? Here's the free deal for Silver members and up:

• Log in with your property ID and password, then select "Edit Listing" from the toolbar at the top of the page. From the drop-down menu, select "Specials."
• Under "Special Summary," click the theme of your choice from the drop-down menu, and combine a promotional rate with whatever tempting treats or special event tickets your guests might enjoy--it's up to you.
• To see the specials that have already been posted by your fellow innkeepers, visit our Specials page and click the drop down box marked "Select Special."

Bronze member??? Don't miss out on these specials. Try our 100 percent risk-free upgrade guarantee.

Publicity Leads: BedandBreakfast.com offers you two ways to stay up-to-date on publicity leads:

1. Email publicity leads: Every few months, we send you a text email, outlining upcoming publicity initiatives; we use many of the responses to create the press releases we send to the media. Please make sure your spam filter isn't blocking these BedandBreakfast.com emails or you may miss out on some great opportunities.
2. Online publicity leads: These are specific requests from travel writers needing information for stories. To read them, log in to your home base with your property ID and password, then click "Publicity Leads" under "General Information."

BedandBreakfast.com Media Coverage

Our efforts to promote the B&B industry through articles in magazines, newspapers, television, and on the Internet paid off again in January and February when BedandBreakfast.com recorded over 30.8 million impressions. Here is a sampling of some of the articles written:

Tom Parsons of Bestfares Magazine and Bestfares.com included BedandBreakfast.com and as well as the Rico Hotel Mountain Lodge, Brooks Street Inn and Bryce Trails B&B in his syndicated articles about cold places offering hot travel deals. To date, we've seen the article appear in the Detroit News & Free Press and The Dallas Morning News.

Sandy Soule's article about choosing a B&B for your next business trip appeared in USA TODAY. BedandBreakfast.com members including the Asa Ransom House, Capitol Hill B&B, Country Dreams B&B, Walnut Street Inn, Montford Inn, Inn at Woodhaven, and Windy City Urban Inn were all mentioned, and BedandBreakfast.com was listed as a great resource.

BedandBreakfast.com was included in an article on MSNBC entitled "Clip it, save it, use it-and never lose it!"

The BedandBreakfast.com release about Girlfriends Getaways netted articles in the New York Daily News, Atlanta Constitution, and American Woman Road and Travel.

The press releases recommending great winter packages and Hot Deals were both included in LycosFinance.com, KGW-TV (Portland, OR), CBS Marketwatch.com, DallasNews.com, MiamiToday.com, RockyMountainNews.com, TheEagle.com and Frommers.com

The Houston Chronicle included a number of suggestions for Valentine's Day packages from BedandBreakfast.com members including StarGazers Inn, Alexander House Booklovers B&B, and The Love House in an article entitled After the big game, Cupid is in charge.

The Denver Post included the Best of BedandBreakfast.com Awards in their contest suggestions.

This Month's Sponsor

Online Trade Show

Click to visit our newest vendor members:

• VintageTubs.com
• DNJ Specialties
• Cloth & Clay
• InnVisibility
• Rare Brick Design
• Flavia Coffee Beverage Systems
• RezOvation

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Woolverton Inn, Stockton, NJ

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