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Early Bird Renewal Starts NOW for WBBG
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In This Issue

  • Presidents Letter
  • WBBG Early Bird Renewal
  • Red Chair in Washingon
  • Who Says "NO" to More Money?
  • Member News
  • Facebook Forum
  • Our Associate Members

Information for Our Members

Take Advantage of our Early Bird Renewal Offer in August.
Login to WBBG.com.  It is fast and easy!

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Letter from the President


July President’s Message

What a summer! It has been hot – hot temperatures and hot bookings in our region. I’ll admit, I’m starting to look forward to a somewhat quieter season after October.

This is an important season to remember to provide referrals to other WBBG members. There may be times when you can’t handle all the guests who want to stay or who are travelling in WA, and that is a great time to use WBBG.com to find other opportunities for guests. You know you can always trust other member inns.

My traffic has doubled year over year. My traffic from WBBG.com has tripled. We invested in SEO  (Search Engine Optimization) and the responsive site and this seems to be bringing WBBG.com back to better performance. Now, the Red Chair is coming to Washington and we can make this a great publicity splash for B&Bs in Washington. It is exciting and rewarding to see the progress we have made and to imagine the bright future ahead for B&B’s in Washington State.

Enjoy your summer!


Bob Spencer
President, WBBG

Early Bird Renewal Discount for WBBG Membership

The time has come to renew your membership in WBBG. Our Early Bird discount starts on August 1st and runs until August 30. If you renew during that time, you will save yourself money. About 80% of our members took advantage of this savings last year. 

Why would you want to renew? Here are a few good reasons: 

 
  • The Innkeeper’s forum 
  • Extensive SEO work on our new responsive website has increased traffic 
  • We are lobbying for fair and equitable treatment of all B&B’s through our government relations efforts with State legislators and committees 
  • Regional Meetings and a great Annual Meeting in Walla Walla offer education and the chance to network with other innkeepers 
  • Marketing via the red chair, WTA (WA Tourism Alliance), WLA (WA Lodging Association)  and other tourism promotion agencies 
  • Good contacts and special deals for members at key Associate Member businesses 
  • You know that you are supporting the only professional association for innkeepers for all of Washington.

Starting August 1st, you can renew online at wbbg.com. Log into your account and at the top right hand side of the “My Inn” page you will see a button that says Renew Membership. Just click that to get started.   You can be done with the whole process in 5 minutes! 

Thanks for your continued support of the Washington Bed & Breakfast Guild!

 

The Red Chair Comes to Washington

The Red Chair is a symbol, a movement, a phenomenon, a happening. Not just a simple wooden chair, this bright red vintage object is moving from place to beautiful place, and inn to inn exploring the best of America, via gracious innkeepers anxious to show their hospitality. Nearly 500 innkeepers signed up to host the now famous Red Chair. It not only has a website but it also loves social media and has its own Facebook page and Twitter account.

The Red Chair’s story started on Cape Cod, where is the spring of 2012 it started visiting the finest inns of the Cape. From the Cape the Red Chair has gone on a cross country journey from the mid-Atlantic to Georgia, Texas to California and up the coast to Oregon and WBBG was honored when we were asked to host it as it continues its journey.

The Red Chair arrived in Washington State in early July and it’s first stop was Inn at Blackberry Creek in Walla Walla. Our long time WBBG Member Barbara Knudson owner and innkeeper at Inn at Blackberry Creek shared with us “Having the Red chair visit our Inn was a great experience, we got out to see some of the sites we direct guests to daily, and had a lot of fun doing it”.

The Red Chair will continue its journey visiting 21 WBBG Member Properties and will experience beaches, lakes, river fronts, mountains, pastures, canyons, landmarks, statues and the secret places we send our guests to for great photos and memory making. All the places that make Washington so special and why we chose to live here and share it with our guests!


Read The Red Chair Travels blog HERE
Check out The Red Chair on Facebook HERE
 

Who Says "NO" to More Money

Why attend a WBBG Conference and Annual Meeting? To boost your bottom line, for one thing. How to do that? Well, come to the conference and find out.

This month we’re featuring a speaker who was so popular at last year’s conference that we’ve invited her back to talk about two topics to help you put those heads that make you the most money in your beds:

Understanding the Affluent Traveler – The economy is up, tourism is up, and people with money are not afraid to spend it. Learn how you can tap into this lucrative market.

2015 Traveler and Travel Technology Trends – It pays to stay abreast of what travelers want so you can figure out how to provide it. And, gaining insight into their booking habits can help you gain their bookings!

Speaking on both of these topics is Janice Hurley, from BedandBreakfast.com. She is a 12-year veteran of the B&B industry, having managed a 12-room inn and event center in Central Vermont. Janice now works with thousands of properties around the
world helping them market their inns through BedandBreakfast.com and their own websites.

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.


 

Member News

The bad news...The Lake House, Sammamish B&B will be closing its doors September 1, 2015.  The good news...the innkeeper, Darlene Bartron has decided to retire and move on to new adventures.  Darlene has been a member of WBBG for a number of years and The Lake House has been a valuable addition to our organization.  Both will be missed, but we wish you happy travels and many fun adventures.

WBBG Facebook Forum



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

English Insurance Group
Bed and Breakfast Insurance
Kristin English
kristie@englishinsurancegroup.com
http://englishinsurancegroup.com
Heartwarming Treasurers
Specially designed gift baskets
Sue Wolfe
heartwarmingtreasurers@yahoo.com
http://www.heartwarmingtreasurers.com
Comphy Co.
Quality Bed linens
shantell@comphy.com
TRC Insurance
Bed and Breakfast Insurance
Scott Roberts
scott@trcisu.com
http://www.trcisu.com
Think Reservations
Reservation Systems
Richard Aday
richard.aday@thinkreservations.com
http://thinkreservations.com
Bed Voyage
Eco-luxury bamboo bedding
Sharon Stuart and Val Thorkildsen
sharon@bedvoyage.com
425-949-8216
Serta Mattress Company
Mattresses at wholesale prices
Ed Baran
503-349-5056
ebaran@sertanational.com

 
Greenwich Bay Trading Company
Specialty soaps for inns and bnbs
Denise Huntley
customerservice@gbsoaps.com
http://www.gbsoaps.com

 
Heart N Soul Innsitting
Interim Innkeeping
gizlar3@w-link.net

 
Copyright © 2015 Washington Bed and Breakfast Guild, All rights reserved.


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