Consumer reviews on BedandBreakfast.com

Ratings and reviews are now live on the BedandBreakfast.com website. For full details, please log in to your Home Base and click on the link labeled Reviews in the table under Free member benefits. You'll be able to read the review FAQ and writing guidelines for innkeepers, set up website links, and read existing reviews for your property. The BedandBreakfast.com Review Program consists of three key elements:

1. Add a link to your website review page: You can now link from your BedandBreakfast.com reviews page to the reviews/guestbook page on your own website (Silver level members and above; to upgrade from Bronze, click here). If you don't have such a page, we advise you to add one, complete with guestbook comments as well as quotes and/or screenshots from media articles on your inn. (This added link also benefits your search engine optimization.) To add the link, please click here.
2. Reviews posted by your guests: We will post positive reviews on a daily basis; and unlike other review sites, we will email you every time your property is reviewed so you are aware of it and can respond if you wish. Please add Support@BedandBreakfast.com to your email program's Safe List so that these emails get delivered to your inbox and not your junk folder. If an extremely critical review and/or negative rating is entered, we will require the person submitting the review to provide proof of having stayed at your property. When we receive that information, we will contact you for your feedback before deciding whether to post the review. If guests cannot prove that they stayed at your inn, we will not add the review to your listing on BedandBreakfast.com, although you will be able to read it in the “un-posted reviews” section of your Home Base. For more information about the review process, please read the following:
             Innkeepers: Review FAQs for Innkeepers
             Consumers: Review Guidelines & FAQ
3. Best of BedandBreakfast.com Awards: Top-reviewed B&Bs will be recognized in the Best of BedandBreakfast.com Awards. Both the quality and quantity of reviews will be considered in the selection of the winning inns; balanced comments are vital. Votes registered between June 1, 2005, and the present will also be taken into consideration. The 10 top overall winners will receive free Platinum memberships, and all winners will receive recognition plaques or certificates and badges to display on their websites, as well as inclusion in our winners’ publicity campaign recognizing the top B&Bs. It is anticipated that winners will be announced in June 2007.

Although most of these questions are answered in the Review FAQ and other information on your Home Base, we thought it would be helpful to respond to some specific innkeeper concerns:

Who can post reviews? Any traveler can set up an account with a login name, password, first/last name, and date of stay. Only one review per property can be posted by a registered user. We also ask them to give us their age range, reason for stay, frequency of B&B visits, and travel budget. Only one review per property per reviewer is permitted. Member innkeepers are notified of every review and can easily post a reply. We will not post reviews for non-member U.S. properties. If you’ve stayed at B&Bs you enjoyed, please go ahead and post a few reviews – the innkeepers will thank you for it! More importantly, start encouraging your guests to post reviews on your inn. Just click the Links and Awards link from the Reviews section of your Home Base for information. If a review posted on your listing refers to the previous owners, just let us know and we’ll remove it.

Are reviews a good thing? Some innkeepers wrote to tell us how pleased they are about the reviews program, others were very concerned and were worried that people would post comments only when they were unhappy. We thought this comment was especially pertinent:

“I do not find anything at all wrong with having reviews on your site. Sometimes innkeepers amaze me at how fearful they are -- if you are running a good inn you will get good reviews. I have worked at several different inns and am familiar with many more, and can tell you that most of the reviews I’ve read on Trip Advisor are very accurate—both good and the bad comments. Some have fabulous websites that are not truly representative of their properties. Sometimes guests do have a point and a right to complain...”

What about negative reviews? Undoubtedly, some member properties will get a few negative reviews. For innkeepers with well-run properties that advertise truthfully and provide good customer service, their good comments will far outnumber the negative ones – and that will make the positive ones more believable. Caring innkeepers will use the constructive criticism to make their B&Bs better than ever. The few innkeepers who operate poorly run inns, have misleading advertising, and/or do not provide good hospitality, are likely to get bad reviews. We will most likely lose those properties as members of BedandBreakfast.com – and that’s OK. When travelers try their first B&B and have a bad experience, it hurts the entire industry. We’d rather lose a small number of sub-standard B&Bs and have a site that consumers can trust. We expect it to work well for 98% of innkeepers.

Why it works: We are confident that posting reviews has substantial benefits for you and the entire B&B industry. Here's why:

1. Reviews by guests for guests: For BedandBreakfast.com to continue to be the leading B&B directory and continue to drive potential guests to your property as well as increase traffic to your website and produce reservations for you, balanced guest reviews are essential. From Amazon to Expedia.com, TripAdvisor to Yahoo!, consumers demand independent reviews from leading websites. Third-party research clearly shows that consumers now value reviews more highly than maps and photos.
2. We're on your side: You have our pledge that B&Bs will never be treated like second-class citizens at BedandBreakfast.com. We will notify you whenever a review is posted, and you will have the opportunity to respond to all reviews. We only do well if our site does well for innkeepers; we have nothing to gain by launching a program that does not help the vast majority of members on our site.
3. Highly critical reviews will be verified before posting: Highly negative reviews will not be posted until we've verified their legitimacy.
4. Credibility is key: Reviews that contain only glowing comments are dismissed by skeptical consumers as advertising fluff. Potential guests want honest recommendations.
5. Reviews generate reservations: Balanced reviews convince potential guests to make reservations because they feel more confident that they'll enjoy a quality experience. You can see the BedandBreakfast.com Gift Certificate reviews by clicking here. Posting customer reviews has not only improved sales, it has helped us build a better product which has resulted in an increased number of repeat buyers.

To recap, when folks are looking for a place to stay on a weekend getaway, vacation, or business trip, they want to be sure that there's substance behind the glowing phrases and lovely photos on your listing page and website. Adding independent reviews to BedandBreakfast.com allows us to maintain our competitive position with the large Internet travel companies, and continue to increase the website traffic and reservations we offer to your property and the B&B industry.

Questions? Please contact us at Support@BedandBreakfast.com or 800-GO-B-AND-B (800-462-2632).

We appreciate your time and attention! Thank you for your business.

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