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We are delighted to announce that in less than two weeks, the Best
of BedandBreakfast.com awards program received nearly 3000 votes.
B&Bs in 49 U.S. states and the District of Columbia have been nominated, as
well as inns in 20 countries around the world. If you have not yet started
telling your guests about this program, wait no longer!
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ)
What is the goal of this program? You've worked so hard to make your
property the best it can be, and we want to help you get the recognition it
deserves! The Best of BedandBreakfast.com is an awards program designed to let
inngoers vote for their favorite B&Bs. The major goal of this program is to
get maximum publicity for the B&B industry by creating a first-ever
international online awards program. With over 750,000 users to our site every
month, plus the additional support of our member inns and B&Bs, we should
be able to get some great participation and give our industry the kind of
prestigious exposure magazines like Conde Nast and Travel & Leisure
provide to hotels.
What is the deadline? The voting deadline is April 30, 2004, so don't
delay!
What does it cost? Absolutely nothing. Any property that meets
BedandBreakfast.com
eligibility requirements qualifies for this free recognition program.
How will it benefit my property? Winners can place a "winners" badge on
their website and on their BedandBreakfast.com listing, and receive an
attractive certificate (suitable for framing). They will be featured in a
national media campaign, and will be assisted in publicizing the award to their
local media. The top ten winners overall will also get a one-year free Platinum
membership. Consumers will be able to find award-winning inns via a new search
tool that will be added to the BedandBreakfast.com website.
How can people vote for my inn? We will be encouraging travelers to vote
using several methods:
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BedandBreakfast.com website: Badges, banners, and website copy will
encourage people to "Vote for their favorite B&Bs." A button on your city
page and your property page will link to a voting page that will automatically
display the name of your B&B. All voters will be eligible to win
BedandBreakfast.com gift certificates in monthly $100 drawings and $500 grand
prize. Over 750,000 site visitors a month will have a chance to vote for your
B&B.
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Voting link on your website: To place both the badge and the text links
on your home page
please click here for instructions.
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Print reminders: We suggest that you print out reminders to encourage
guests to vote. Place them in your guest rooms, information folders, and/or at
your check-out area. Print ballots will not be available or accepted.
Click here to print:
a.
One voting reminders per page
b.
Four voting reminders per page
 These files are in Adobe Acrobat® Reader™ format.
For a free download please go
to:
How many winners will there be? Winners will be announced all for these
categories on a state/province, national, and international basis. We
anticipate that there will be over 500 winning properties worldwide.
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Best overall
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Most romantic
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Most family friendly
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Most business-traveler friendly
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Most pet friendly
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Best food
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Best service
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Best value
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Best hospitality
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Best breakfast
What if someone tries to "stuff the ballot box?" The voting process is
programmed so that if someone tries to vote for the same property, in the same
category, more than once, they will be reminded that they have already voted in
that category. In addition, when the voting process ends (April 30, 2004),
votes for the winning inns will be checked, and email addresses tested for
validity. If suspicious voting patterns are detected, the affected inns will be
disqualified.
Why are BedandBreakfast.com awards badges different from those of other Internet
inn directories? Follow the easy instructions provided above and your
inn's name will appear on the voting page when the badge and/or text link is
clicked. Use the code we provide to ensure that the voting page appears in a
new browser window, and doesn't take folks off your own website. To see your
inn's own voting page, go to your listing on BedandBreakfast.com, then click
the link that reads Vote for this B&B in the upper right-hand corner of the
page. Your inn's name is there automatically!
Some inn websites display multiple badges, linked to the home pages of other inn
directories. Consider carefully whether this really benefits you. Although
experts disagree (what else is new?), the current thinking is that links off
your website offer little or no enhancement to your standings in the search
engines. We recommend adding such links only when a specific advantage exists,
such as a link to an availability calendar, to information on local events and
attractions, and/or to an awards program that can bring your inn significant
benefits. When linking, be sure to code it so that another browser window is
opened, to lessen the chance of potential guests leaving your website.
Doesn't BedandBreakfast.com get a big boost in the search engines from all those
additional links? By asking our members to link to us, our standing in
the search engines may be enhanced, just as our members' search engine results
are enhanced by our links to them. In this win-win situation, the more traffic
BedandBreakfast.com gets, the more reservations are produced for our members.
In addition, unlike the links used by some of our competitors, which take
inngoers from an inn's website to the home page of another inn directory, our
links are taking them to a voting page personalized with their inn's name.
What is BedandBreakfast.com going to do with voters' email addresses? We
will not do anything with the addresses unless we receive the voter's
permission. Once we have their permission, we can promote programs that benefit
our members, from Hot Deals to Gift Certificates to our free travel newsletter,
the BedandBreakfast.com Report.
Why have you selected this time period for the voting? We launched the
awards program as soon as the technical aspects were complete. We selected the
deadline to ensure maximum media exposure for the winning inns during the peak
travel season. After this initial period, we expect voting to be on-going on a
year-round basis.
Do larger inns have an unfair advantage? Bigger properties have access to
a larger audience of potential voters, but bigger is not always better when it
comes to choosing a favorite B&B, especially in the categories of best
service and hospitality. Any innkeeper who links the voting badge from a
prominent place on their website and who makes the printed voting reminders
readily available will have a huge advantage over innkeepers who just wait for
travelers to vote only from the BedandBreakfast.com website. If we find that
the results are skewed towards larger properties, we will consider adding
separate voting categories for both large and small categories in future years.
Do inns in smaller states have an unfair advantage? It may be easier to
be voted the most romantic inn in Delaware than for California, given the fact
that Delaware has just a fraction of the number of properties as California. On
the other hand, California attracts far more traffic and its B&Bs will get
many more votes. If a particular state or region doesn't receive a critical
mass of votes, no winner will be chosen. If a state or region gets a huge
number of votes for a particular category, second and third places winners will
be added.
We want to hear from you! The Best of BedandBreakfast.com is a brand-new
program, and we welcome your recommendations, suggestions, and criticisms, so
that we can change, adjust, and improve it as much as possible, to provide
maximum benefit and recognition for all.
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