|
|
|
|
- Presidents Letter
- Regional Meeting Wrap Up
- What Do You Need to Get It Done?
- Roll Up Your Sleeves and Get To Work!
- Scam Alert
- Facebook Forum
- Our Associate Members
|
|
|
|
Information for Our Members
|
|
|
Download presentations from the 2014 Meeting from our website. Visit the Members Only section and choose Member Resources.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Letter from the President
|
|
I hope that this finds you busy and engaged with your guests. For most of us, summer is the busy season and summer seems to have happened ahead of schedule this year. As you grapple with the problems of managing your reservations, please remember that if you don’t have a spot for a guest inquiry, a referral to other WBBG properties is a safe bet, likely to please your potential guests.
The work we have been doing on improving the Search Engine rankings for WBBG.com is starting to pay off. I know this because the traffic is up about 50% year over year at WBBG.com. I also know it because my traffic from WBBG.com to meritagemeadows.com is up dramatically over last year and I justified my membership 5 fold in the last month alone. Thanks to Dave Petro (Ravenscroft in Port Townsend) who is heading up that effort.
How do I know all that? Well, most of you are aware  that I’m a Google Analytics (GA) junkie. I follow my website’s performance on GA and we have set up the wbbg.com on
GA as well, so I have 5 years of data on my inn’s site and 2 years of data on wbbg.com. That history tells you a lot about progress in SEO. The reality though is that you can get very useful information in a couple of months. That leads us to offer a special class at this year’s Annual Meeting November 3-4 in Walla Walla.
If you are interested in getting GA set up for your inn’s website, respond to me at bob@wbbg.com and I will touch base at your convenience to discuss how to get set up. If you already have GA set up on your site, plan to attend one of the two sessions at the Annual Meeting and learn how to get the maximum value from this amazing free tool. We will look at real data on real sites and learn some helpful tricks about how to learn what referrers bring you value. We will figure out how to filter out bots and spammers. We will look at ad words and campaigns to improve your positioning on the Google Search engine. After a brief presentation, we can set up personal sessions to look at your data on GA and make sure you are getting the most from GA. Again, if you need to set up GA for your site, email me at bob@wbbg.com and I’ll work with you at your convenience to get set up. Regardless, plan on participating in the working session at the Annual Meeting this year.
Bob Spencer
President, WBBG
|
|
WBBG finished five regional meetings last month at locations around the state (Orcas Island, Leavenworth, Port Angeles, Olympia, and Newport) as well as a networking dinner on Whidbey Island. About 100 innkeepers attended at least one event and 2 new innkeepers applied for membership in WBBG. Thank you to our speakers Bob Spencer (Meritage Meadows) Dave Petro (Ravenscroft Inn) and Alan Fielding (Cameo Heights Mansion) for sharing their insights and ideas with all us. There was also a lot of sharing of ideas and socializing with each other.
We also appreciate our hosts for opening up their B&B’s or organizing a restaurant for lunch and a tour: Otters Pond, Enchanted River Inn, Farmhouse Bed & Breakfast, Sea Cliff Gardens, Inn at Mallard Cove, and Inn at the Lake. Want to host a future WBBG meeting? Please contact Deanne Fielding at fieldingmama@yahoo.com or Julie McAferty at vpmembership@wbbg.com.
|
|
What do You Need to Get It Done?
|
|
There are just some tasks that you know you should do, that everyone says you must do, and that aren't really that difficult. But you're not doing them: Sending E-Newsletters, Facebook, Pinterest, even tweaking your WBBG listing to better showcase your inn.
Help is on the way! At the WBBG Annual Meeting and Conference November 2 and 3 in Walla Walla, several hands-on mini sessions will help you either get started or jumpstart your efforts on several fronts. HELP US HELP YOU by fine-tuning the topics to be addressed. Send an email to VPmembership@wbbg.com with notes, comments, questions, and suggestions about any or all of these issues:
• E-Newsletters (e.g. , setting up a Constant Contact, YMLP, or other account; creating mailing lists)
• Facebook (e.g., setting up a business page, understanding how to post as a business vs. person)
• Pinterest (e.g., setting up an account, what to post)
• WBBG Listing (e.g., logging on, finding your listing, editing your listing) What do you
want to know?
No question is too basic. Did we miss a topic? Tell us!
|
|
 This year's WBBG Conference and Annual Meeting promises productivity -- both during the conference and after. At the conference, sessions will include hands-on learning experiences that will put you in good stead to implement productive principles back at your inn. Among the speaker lineup is Matt Bare of Q4Launch, a  company with an integrated approach to marketing designed to put heads in beds. Matt will delight us with his unique perspective on two separate topics.
The first, 7 Strategies to Increase Traffic to Your Website, will help you do just that, and give you a tool to use your own data to generate bookings from more visits to your site. The second, How to Design a (or Tweak an Existing) Killer Website, will look at actual B&B websites (volunteers welcome), pointing out the good, the bad, and the could-be-improved.
Matt's extensive experience with Internet marketing and social media -- combined with his love of travel -- will entertain, inform, and inspire you to get
and keep your marketing efforts on track.
WBBG's 2015 Annual Meeting and Conference will be held November 2 and 3 at the Marcus Whitman Hotel in Walla Walla. Watch this space for information about other sessions and activities. To stay informed about conference sessions and registration, click here.
|
|
For several years, 3rd party reservation sites have been popping up across the Internet to help guests book in a variety of hotels, resorts and even BnBs across the world. In many cases these 3rd party sites are endorsed by Expedia and actually utilize Expedia's inventory information to reserve rooms. (If you use Expedia, then you will receive legitamite bookings from 3rd party sites.) As so often happens, scammers are now utilizing this information to gain access to guests info, credit card information and more.
Recently, several of our members have encountered this issue. A guest will show up with a reservation that looks quite legitimate. The reservation was made through a 3rd party reservation site that the innkeeper does not do business with. The guest may have a printed reservation record with the inns information as well as location, room description etc. Often times the reservation site has already collected money from the guest.
After you have informed the guest that this is a 3rd party site that you are not aware of and that you do not do business with, what next?
1. The guest should contact the 3rd party reservation site and notify them of the mistake. (It may actually be a mistake).
2. The guest must pursue reimbursement of a deposit from the reservation site, since you are not holding their money.
3. Finally, and probably most importantly...assist the guest. If you do not have an available room, assist them in finding another great room nearby. No doubt they will be quite frustrated with the entire situation, and this is your opportunity to extend the hospitality BnB owners are known for.
A number of articles have been written on this. For more info, check out our WBBG Innkeeper Facebook Forum, or check out these links:
Bogus Booking Sites: Avoiding Scams
Booking Online? Watch Out for these Airline & Hotel Scams
Third Party Booking Sites Can Mislead Consumers
|
|
Visit the WBBG Member Forum, our private group on Facebook. The Member Forum is a great place to ask questions and get support from other members. If you want to be a participate and did not receive your invitation, please contact Jill Britt at qa@wbbg.com, or Julie McAferty at vpmembership@wbbg.com.
|
|
Support our Associate Members
|
|
Bed Voyage
Eco-luxury bamboo bedding
Sharon Stuart and Val Thorkildsen
sharon@bedvoyage.com
425-949-8216
|
|
|
Heart N Soul Innsitting
Interim Innkeeping
gizlar3@w-link.net
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
