The B&B Team Blog

Inn Consultants and Brokers Since 1993

Rick Wolf and Peter Scherman (that’s Rick on the left and Peter on the right) are both experienced speakers who have presented on a range of innkeeping related topics at the state, regional, and national level. They gather and analyze research for the Innkeeping industry and welcome the opportunity to share it with others. Contact Us

 

Archive for July, 2010

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Real Estate Terms: Good Will

July 27th, 2010 by Peter Scherman

by Peter Scherman of The B&B Team

What exactly is “good will?” Good will is what is known as intangible personal property that is part of a business. With an inn, as we discuss in the article, “The Components of Inn Value,” the base value is real estate. On top of that you have FF&E (furniture, fixtures, and equipment, or tangible personal property). Tangible property can usually be valued fairly objectively. However, often times a business property is transferred at a price that exceeds the sum of the physical parts. The difference is good will.

Good will is the price a person is willing to pay for a business’s marketplace presence (that would otherwise take time to establish), a guest or customer base and list, a good reputation, a track record, good staff and management, and, because of these things, the ability to generate a reliable stream of income.

You can’t see good will, but you can measure it by the price a person pays for it. And the IRS treats it as depreciable property, so you know it’s real!

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Real Estate Terms: Letter of Intent

July 27th, 2010 by Peter Scherman

by Peter Scherman of The B&B Team

Frequently in searching for an inn to buy, you find something that looks like it just might be the one. Unfortunately, you don’t really know, because there is a lot yet to be learned before making a firm commitment. If, however, you know enough (especially the financials) to be able to formulate a basic offer, a good way to start the process is sometimes with a letter of intent.

This simple document is nothing more and nothing less than what it is called. It can be quite formal and detailed or remarkably simple. Essentially a letter of intent is directed from the prospective purchaser to the seller stating the buyer’s intention to buy the inn. The very basic terms of the offer delineated in the letter should include the price, proposed closing date, and basic financing conditions. It should also include provisions for the itemized inventory, financial review and verification, home sale contingency (if applicable), inspections of the facilities, formal contract preparation, and any other terms which may be required or requested by the buyer. All of these contingencies should be met or waived within a specified study period.

When presented to the seller, the letter of intent can be negotiated. Since only the main points of the offer are covered, it’s relatively simple to reach agreement or learn that no agreement can be reached, at which point the parties can go their separate ways with little out-of-pocket expense. However, if the parties do agree, then the framework for a binding contract has been established, and each party has set pen to paper to express and accept that intent.

In most jurisdictions, a letter of intent is not binding, so a contract should be prepared as quickly as possible. The attorneys. however, have the framework with which to draft the main points.

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Real Estate Terms: Turnkey

July 27th, 2010 by Peter Scherman

by Peter Scherman of The B&B Team

Do you know what they mean by “turnkey”, “mostly turnkey”, or “real estate only”?

The terms are frequently seen in advertising of bed & breakfast inns for sale: “turnkey,” “mostly turnkey,” “real estate only,” “real estate and good will.” They provide clues to what is included in the purchase price. Prospective purchasers of an inn need to know exactly what they mean.

Essentially, “turnkey” means that everything that is in place in a bed & breakfast or inn is included in the purchase price. The image conjured is that of a seller leaving the premises, locking up, and handing the key to the new owner, who needs only “turn the key” to be in business. “Partially” or “mostly” turnkey is a more realistic description of an inn sale, as most innkeepers have some personal items distributed around the inn which they plan to keep. While those personal items will be removed, most everything needed to run the inn will remain and is included in the purchase price.

In most cases where a bed & breakfast is being sold, many or most of the furnishings are included. If not, the purchaser is buying “real estate only” or “real estate and good will.” For “real estate only,” only the real property is included in the sale price. In some cases, the personal property may be negotiated separately from the real estate. In rare cases, where a seller is planning to remove all personal property from an inn which has otherwise enjoyed a strong business and loyal following, there may be a premium for the good will, that intangible asset which has value in the market place.

Whichever term has been applied to the sale of an inn, all parties are served by a detailed inventory of all personal property included in the transaction, which is ideally itemized room by room for ease, and should identify those items which are specifically excluded from the sale and which items are not included but are negotiable.

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B&B Website Design — The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

July 27th, 2010 by Peter Scherman

by Kit Cassingham, The B&B Lady

You know it when you see it and use it, but what is it about a bed and breakfast website that makes it good? Your website is an imperative B&B marketing tool. The quality of the website creates the first impression of your inn and hospitality; it sets the tone for the guest experience.

The beauty of a website, though it can be the curse too, is the additional options websites offer in their design and execution. Websites should be designed for search engines as much as for people. Search engines index websites so that people can find them. If the site isn’t search engine “friendly”, it’s effectively not available to people, at least not without their prior awareness of the site.

Is your website categorized as ugly, bad or good?

THE UGLY:

An ugly site is one that is hard to use and doesn’t take advantage of technology’s advances for either human interface or search engine activity. It’s badly written, badly designed, and ineffective.

One of the best examples of an ugly site is one that is structured of a long continuous page rather than a collection of small, focused pages, forcing people to scroll up and down to find information. This kind of site is ugly because it’s not search engine friendly and specific information can’t be book-marked by people.

Words tell stories. Make sure you tell the right story by choosing your words well, editing and polishing them before going “live” with your site. An ugly site is filled with typos and grammatical errors, and the writing is uninspiring. The “guest experience” isn’t successfully shared, leaving it to everyone’s imagination — not what you want to convey as your inn’s story.

An ugly site usually has hidden contact information, making it difficult for potential guests to reach you with questions, or make reservations. And often visitors are forced to make contact via telephone rather than email. Match the technologies and give your site’s visitors options, especially making sure your email address is available.

On an ugly site, pictures are badly reproduced or utilized, if they are used at all. What a shame to not show people what you have to offer. Pictures can help sell your bed and breakfast inn as the place to stay. The lack of any artwork or ornamentation to break up the text is hard on visitors’ eyes, encouraging them to leave rather than browse your site.

One thing that makes a site ugly is a “virtual tour” with sound that starts automatically. Technology and its advancements are good, but shouldn’t be forced on unsuspecting visitors. People visiting your site may be on a slow dial-up connection, or may be trying to book a holiday from work and don’t need to have sound suddenly emanating from their computer.

The domain name of an ugly site is long, tedious, and unmemorable, like “some-domain.com/your-state/your-town/business/~your-inn.html”. Your search engine placement isn’t ranked as high, meaning people won’t find you as readily. Furthermore, you are promoting other businesses over yours when you don’t have your own domain name. Why would you do that? It can’t be price because domain names are inexpensive, and are usually considered synonymous with your name, so choose it carefully. Inn owners are in the people business, so cater to people’s needs for simplicity and have a user-friendly domain name, like “yourinn.com”.

Site navigation is how people find information on a site. In a one-page ugly site, if navigation exists at all, it takes you to the part of the page that shares the information visitors are seeking when they click a link. A multi-page ugly site navigation system is one where the navigation is so vague that visitors are challenged to find what they want. This kind of site may or may not be search engine friendly, but it’s definitely not people friendly.

An inconsistent design helps create an ugly site. The design can be plain or garish, but either way it doesn’t set the desired tone or hold visitors’ attention. An example of an inconsistent one-page site is the use of varied fonts and graphic styles, and a lack of balance or apparent design. An example of an inconsistent multi-page site is where each page has a totally different and inharmonious background, style, font, and color. These jarring aspects are hard to reconcile and make people wonder if they’ll have a jarring experience at the bed and breakfast.

THE BAD:

Sites don’t have to be ugly to be bad. What makes sites bad? They’re less polished, use technology without thought to its usefulness, are hard to navigate, and/or are slow loading.

Words that don’t help people’s understand why they should stay at your inn contribute to your website being bad. People want to know facts and feel emotions from the copy of B&B websites. The absence of facts or emotions will leave questions unanswered, which means a delayed or nonexistent reservation. Using flowery copy filled with adjectives and adverbs can be misleading and sets your guests up for disappointment, which works against your business success. The adjective “gourmet” is an example of misleading text that creates disappointment more often than not; “gourmet breakfast” is more misleading than informative. Polish your words so they tell the story you intend.

Contact information that’s difficult to find is bad design. If people can’t contact you when and how they want, they may not bother booking with you. Give people browsing your site the options of emailing, calling, and writing.

Pictures on websites that are out of focus, have badly lit subjects, or that are too high a resolution for fast loading are worse than having no photo at all. When dial-up users try to load a page, they’ll gravitate to sites that load quickly and skip those that load slowly. Pictures and graphics can also be a problem when text overlays them, making the text unintelligible if the images overpower it. Deeply colored or heavily textured backgrounds can interfere with text legibility too. How hard will you work to read website copy? Your site visitors won’t try very hard either.

A bad site design concerning virtual inn tours is one where visitors are forced to download software to view your tour. You’ll lose many of them because either they don’t want more software on their computer or they don’t want to take the time to download new software.

Long domain names like “some-domain.com/your-inn.html” (note the use of dashes between words; they make the name more legible but harder to convey while speaking) are hard for people to remember and difficult to share verbally. What people can’t remember, or write down correctly, they can’t visit. That means reduced traffic to your site, and less business. Additionally, you lose brand name power without your own domain.

Poor navigation, where the site’s layout isn’t clear, will frustrate site visitors, causing them to abandon exploration of a site. Owner’s won’t garner much business from your site if it’s difficult to use. I’ve seen beautiful looking sites with navigation I couldn’t understand, so didn’t spend much time there. On each page provide readily apparent links that take your site visitors to the desired information. The links should be obvious, clear and consistently positioned, seen as buttons or tabs in a navigation bar at any of the four edges of your page.

An inconsistent look and feel to your site detracts from visitors’ experiences and may send a message you don’t intend. A bad site’s inconsistent look isn’t as bad as an ugly site’s inconsistencies, but still incongruous enough to raise concern. Examples of what I mean by inconsistent include a hodgepodge of backgrounds through the site, illegible or varied fonts, or different colors for each page (though I have see this technique used effectively).

Using a splash page, or “Enter Here” page, is one that doesn’t tell people much about your inn, and requires they click again to enter the site. This is disrespectful of your visitors’ time. The problem with making them click again — remember, they already clicked your link to look at your site — is the more clicks people make the more likely they are to leave. Making them click repeatedly to get information they thought was one click away doesn’t give a feeling of hospitality or welcome. Splash pages also reduces your search engine effectiveness. Search engines consider the first page in the site THE most important. If you have nothing of value there, your search engine ranking will suffer. One time I was forced to click 11 before I reached the sought information. I clicked the Google link (an expected click), then the enter page (an unexpected and unnecessary click), then I clicked on room descriptions (an expected click), then clicked on room descriptions again (an unexpected, unnecessary, and annoying click), and then had to select each of the seven rooms individually to learn what I wanted (a series of unexpected clicks that by that time was very annoying). That was too many clicks and annoyance for me and my busy schedule. Few visitors will bother with 11 clicks; make information obvious and easy to find, or potential guests will go somewhere else — probably to your competitor.

Javascript and Flash programming are popular in website development, can create beautiful looking sites, but also can contribute to bad website design. One problem with them is that they aren’t search engine friendly. And another problem with Flash is that many web surfers turn Flash off, effectively wasting your efforts at creating the effects you paid for because the information is then impossible to see.

THE GOOD:

Obviously you want to avoid creating an ugly or bad site, but what makes a good one? A good site is one that is artistic, informative and well written, easily navigated, fast loading, and offers options for accessing the information available to site visitors. It’s user friendly to both people and search engines. A good site takes advantage of the ability to share photos, virtual tours, and sounds, but at the visitors’ discretion.

The words on your site convey not only the emotional connection to people, but also the facts they need to help them make their decision about booking a reservation. The use of nouns and verbs, avoiding adjectives and adverbs, creates clear, accurate copy. Addressing your market niche by describing the offered guest experience helps create a connection with those who will value your inn most.

Evident contact information shows your interest in hearing from the people browsing your site. People are busy and don’t want to dig for information when they are ready to book a reservation or to ask questions. Make it easy for them to spend their money with you. Place your contact information on each page, and have a “Contact Page” with the same information. A note about email addresses: to help minimize your spam problem, consider either a contact form for guest communications or a .gif of your address, rather than having a standard email link.

Another aspect of contact information is online reservations. I don’t mean a system whereby people email you asking if certain dates and rooms are available, but a system that lets people see availability so they can book what and when they want. A reservation is the ultimate contact.

A picture is worth a thousand words, so use pictures to speak volumes about your inn and the guest experience. Use pictures of guestrooms and common areas, of the breakfast table, views to and from the house, and guests having fun and interacting with others. Be sure to use photos that load quickly for those on slow dial-up internet connections. In consideration of slow connections, use pictures judiciously; show the cream-of-the-crop photos on appropriate pages, and give visitors the chance to see more pictures by clicking a link. Give people options of how much they learn and see so they feel they are getting what they want and need during their visit.

Inn tours have become popular and if used well are effective marketing tools. People love seeing the total picture, and a tour is gratifying. Having an optional tour, with the click of a button, lets people see more when they are ready. Tours should be easy to use, and viewable without having to download any software first.

Another technological advancement that can enhance websites is sound, speaking and music being the two most common uses of sound files on B&B websites. Allowing site visitors, at their option, to hear a description of the inn and guest experience can augment the visitors’ sense of the inn; that’s good for business.

Registering your own domain rather than using someone else’s domain for your site is also good for business because of the power of branding. Your URL should look like “myinn.com”. Your domain name is part of your marketing, so be sure it stands out.

Clear navigation makes it easier for people to find the information they want or need. Clear navigation uses “tabs”, “buttons”, or a navigation bar that directs the user to the desired content. You would want “Home”, “Rooms”, “Policies”, and “Contact Information” links, for example. Some web developers use a Site Map (available from each page) to help visitors find the information they want that might not be obvious. For example, under the “Policies” link you might place your business policies and green philosophy. That’s not an obvious placement for your environmental philosophy, so the site map provides clear navigation.

Having a consistent look and feel to your site speaks of attention to detail, quality, and care. Your guests want that in their inn experience; showing it at your site comforts them that will be their experience at your inn too.

You only have one chance at a first impression; make it good impression with your well designed and executed bed and breakfast website. Make the website an accurate reflection of your B&B inn and the hospitality you share with guests, making their experience outstanding and memorable.

Posted in Innkeeping Business, Marketing, Web/Tech | 1 Comment »

Build Your Brand

July 27th, 2010 by Peter Scherman

by Rick Wolf of The B&B Team

“Building Your Brand” is a key component of your overall marketing strategy. When we talk about your brand, we are not simply talking about imprinting your logo on everything. We are talking about your Inn’s identity. In the simplest of terms, this is about your building an Emotional Connection with your guest through your brand. Did I just hear someone say, “What is he talking about?” “What is an emotional connection?” “Why is it important?”

Fair enough. We all work in the fascinating and wonderful world of hospitality, and this is all about you, increasing your business, and your bottom line. We will focus on five ingredients to Building Your Brand and Creating an Emotional Connection with your Guest.

YOUR BRAND AND ITS AUTHENTICITY: What is your brand? What does your brand stand for? What separates your brand from all the others? You need to be crystal clear and obsessively focused on examining your brand to answer these questions. Then your brand must be constantly reinforced through everything you do to maintain its integrity and authenticity. Remember, great brands (Inns) are always being improved and refined…not changed, but improved.

YOU: You are the face of your business to the public and also just as importantly to your community. Marketing yourself is an essential ingredient to your business success. Are you as visible to the community as you are to your guests? Are you involved? If the answer is yes, then you are on your way. If the answer is no, then today is not too late to start getting involved. Since you are the keeper of the brand, it is essential that you be an active participant in the health and nurturing of it.

YOUR SIGNATURE ITEMS: These are the special touches, recipes, amenities, and services that are yours and yours alone. Signature items don’t always need to be exotic or unusual. A signature item could be something as simple as a special and uniquely prepared breakfast menu, offered every Sunday morning, 52 weeks a year. Guests can be made aware of these signatures via your website, and repeat guests will come back to your property looking forward to enjoying them again and again. Caution! Your signature items must to be yours, they must be special, and they must be real and unique. When all of these criteria are met, you then have a true signature item that supports your brand.

YOUR LEGACY: We’re now well into fortifying your brand’s strength and building the emotional connection with your guests. Your history is your legacy. Your actions create your legacy. Whether this is your first season or your 21st season, your actions and expressions of hospitality, the sharing of good times, and creating community roots are all a part of your legacy. It is so easy to forget this, but this component, too, is ever so important as a part of your brand.

YOUR PROMISE: Your promise is one that is uniquely yours. You are marketing your brand, yourself, your signature items and legacy into a promise of guest satisfaction that is supported and sustained by your product (your inn and your brand). To restate: you are making a promise of satisfaction that is supported by the excellence of your inn. This is a promise that only you can make…not your neighbors…not your competitors…only you!

These five components will help to create your brand and, through them, allow you to build that important emotional connection with your guest. The people who stay with you are not just your customers but are your guests in the truest sense of the word…they are visiting company in your home. You have invited them to share an experience with you, your Brand, your Signature Items, your Legacy and your Promise. Very personal experiences are things you share with guests…and this is precisely what you are doing.

Your inn, regardless of technology, WiFi, flat screen TV’s, smart phones, etc. is an escape from the daily reality of the times we live in. B&B’s and Country Inns are a reminder of good times, romantic times, and maybe even a simpler time too. You and your brand, effectively and genuinely marketed, can capitalize on these experiences and cement this emotional connection with your guest. When effectively done, your guests will be back again and again and in the process, they will be referring you to their family and friends.

The cultivating, nurturing, care and feeding of your brand should help to make it the single most important tool in your marketing arsenal. The B&B Team welcomes the opportunity to discuss your brand with you and to assist you in making your brand the brand of choice as you build that ever important emotional connection with your guests.

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Make Your Inn's Website Great!

July 27th, 2010 by Peter Scherman

by Peter Scherman of The B&B Team

In the world of small hospitality properties, as for most small businesses, the Internet is the Great Equalizer. It has brought more democracy and more opportunity to more people in a more profound way than could have been imagined even ten short years ago.

If you own an inn or are simply looking for one to buy, the Internet is (or should be) your best friend. There are a few key elements which all good websites employ, especially in the bed & breakfast market.

Your written descriptions should be clear and inviting and cover not only the inn but the area you serve. Don’t let poor grammar, spelling, and punctuation get in the way of a wonderful property. If the written word is not your strength, get a pro to help you. You’ll find professional contractors of all kinds on www.Elance.com or www.Guru.com.

All inns simply must have wonderful photographs. Digital photography has made it easy for everyone to take a picture and post it on the web. However, “easy” and “good” are not the same. An experienced architectural photographer knows how to compose, how to light, and how to make your rooms look inviting. If you’re not a skilled photographer, hire one. But look at their portfolios and compare prices. Look at great websites of your competitors and find out who took their pictures.

Lastly, remember to have your contact information on every page of your site. Too often even lovely sites make it hard to find out how to contact the inn. If someone prints off any page of your site, they should be able to call or email you without having to go to the “Contact Us” page. Make it easy for the consumer.

With a great website, consumers will reward you with their business.

Posted in Marketing, Web/Tech | Comments Off

Value vs. Price…There is a Difference!

July 27th, 2010 by Peter Scherman

by Rick Wolf of The B&B Team In a highly competitive environment, we in the Bed and Breakfast / Country Inn Industry are faced with the dilemma of how to compete while maintaining the integrity of our business and our Inn’s reputation. Most assuredly, how we price our rooms and services has a huge impact on our bottom line; however it is a topic worth discussing. Let’s take a look at how value and price enter into this equation.

Value is defined as worth or importance; the adequate or satisfactory return on or recompense for something. Things have value, or are of value, or are valued.

Price is defined as cost of something bought or sold; to state or fix the exact price that a customer or consumer must pay for something. Things have a price that may or may not have value.

As Innkeepers, we are always striving to find that perfect balance of the highest level of hospitality, service, and amenities while offering our guests the best possible rates and for us, at the lowest possible price. Quite a daunting task!

Quality has a price, but the price is either one of value or not. If there is value in the eyes of the guest, then there is inherent quality. Simply because the price is low (or cheap), may not be an indicator of value. Yes, we all have made expenditures and commented that the price was really inexpensive and how we were truly amazed at the value we really did receive for our dollar. Why? Because we received good value and quality.

For the most part, we understand the concept of “no free lunch”, “no free rides”, or “something for nothing”. Human nature cautions us when it seems to be “too good to be true” that it usually is” too good to be true! While there are no absolutes, when we see the above, we are often confronted with an experience of disappointment and one that is, most likely lacking in value and quality too.

In conclusion, providing value, and even better, added value, for the price is a far better position for any business to stake out, position themselves and then own that business model. Anyone can be cheap but this is an indefensible marketing position, because only one can be the cheapest. When price becomes the driving force, everyone loses! This is not a position to build a brand or level of service or hospitality on.

It is a far stronger and superbly defensible position to be the provider of quality, service and hospitality, with value. Tie this in with authenticity, your legacy and promise and you have created a brand marketing position with ground rules you own. Take the high road and let everyone else chase you; the standard bearer of a quality experience that offers true value, customer satisfaction and the ultimate measure of success for any brand…repeat and profitable business!

Posted in Better Way to Buy and Inn, Better Way to Sell Your Inn, Marketing | Comments Off

Guest Room Staging, The Innkeeper’s Art

July 27th, 2010 by Janet Wolf

by Janet Wolf of The B&B Team

We were very fortunate in our innkeeping career to have had wonderful housekeepers who always went above and beyond their job description. One in particular stands out. She once told me that she would stand at the doorway of a room after she was finished cleaning and ‘critique’ her work. If anything was off kilter, a dust ruffle, an area rug, a curtain, she would see it as she scanned the room with her eyes. As an innkeeper, you can also use this same technique to know when it is time to refresh a ‘tired’ room.

Refreshing is a process you can go through when you may not have the time or the funds to completely redecorate a guest or common room. Whether you are preparing an inn for sale or you are a new innkeeper ready to tackle your rooms for the first time, we suggest some helpful tips.

1. The Four Corners and In Between

In your mind’s eye remove all of the furniture from the room and look at the room with a fresh eye. Look at the ceiling, crown molding, fireplace mantel, built-ins, baseboards and floor. Let your eye focus on these architectural details. You may not be able to strip off years of paint but you can repair chipped paint and cracks. These flaws can be easily touched up without repainting an entire room. Paint colors are very easy to match these days. Old wood floors and baseboards take a lot of beating. Giving your wood surfaces a good polish and buffing can often make these surfaces look like they have been refinished. Clean up scuff marks from your painted surfaces with some baking soda or a mild abrasive cleanser. Finally, look at your wallpaper. Gently washing your papered surfaces will remove any dust and grime and brighten up the surfaces, but test a small area first. You will also want to repair any torn or pealing corners and seams.

2. Upholstered Furniture

This is the most difficult and usually most costly to refresh. Cleaning a piece that is dirty but is otherwise in good condition is an obvious solution. But what about those pieces that are simply tired, worn out, or out of date? Reupholstering is expensive and is only recommended for well made hardwood, jointed, and nailed pieces. Slip covers are another way to go, but it can be just as expensive to get good, custom made slipcovers as it is to reupholster the piece. Ready made slip covers are often ill-fitting and look messy after each sitting. Often your best alternative is to replace the piece. You can find inexpensive upholstered furniture that is both comfortable and durable. These pieces may not last a lifetime, but they will fit the bill. Whether you replace, reupholster, or slip cover, we recommend choosing solid and/or textured fabrics in a neutral palette for the larger pieces. Tip: “neutral” doesn’t necessarily mean beige! Your larger upholstered pieces are background pieces. Complicated patterns and bold colors can be utilized more effectively for smaller pieces, accent pillows, coverlets, drapes, and area rugs.

3. Non-upholstered Furniture

These pieces are the working surfaces of a room; end tables, sideboards, coffee tables. The placement of these pieces is important because they are both decorative and functional. Seating should never be more than arm’s length from any of these pieces. Because these items are functional they get a lot of abuse. Vacuum cleaners leave marks on the legs; lack of coaster use leaves rings, and moving furniture for cleaning loosens legs and tops. Simple handyman work can tighten screws, re-nail or re-glue arms and legs. Antique dealers will tell you not to refinish fine pieces because it diminishes their value, but there is a wonderful product that restores wood furniture without messy stripping. It is Restor-a-Finish and is recommended for antiques. This product will eliminate or minimize white rings, water marks, and scratches without removing the existing finish. Check out their website for more information, www.howardproducts.com.

4. Accessories

Often times you see your décor as filled with treasured mementos. A potential buyer or guest might simply see clutter. Do you want a buyer (or your guest) to see fifteen coffee table books stacked on top of your beautiful antique side table? Or do you want them to see the polished and glowing surface of this wonderful piece of furniture with a few well placed accessories? We all know the answer. Realtors call this the ‘staging of a home’. When the home is your inn and your business, the staging is even more important because the staging items, the furniture and accessories, most often will stay with the property. These items need to be properly presented along with all the other aspects of your property. You really need to be brutally honest with yourself when you are critiquing your collections and mementos. You want to focus on a few well placed pieces that add sparkle and interest. Avoid a table full or shelf full of dust gatherers. A helpful process to go through is to strip the room of all accessories, including pillows, wall prints and paintings. Start from scratch. Replace these items in groupings with an empathsis on color and scale. Avoid a lot of small items that cannot be seen from the threshold of the room.

5. Lighting

The lighting in a room is most important in creating mood but it also needs to be functional. There are three lighting areas in a room: above, mid-range and floor. Any light from above is best for spotlighting accent objects and special paintings. Mid-range lighting comes from table and floor lamps. Sit on your chairs and lie on your beds to make sure the lamps are the right size and the right bulb wattage for reading. Floor lighting can add dramatic effect placed behind furniture or plants. Take a good look at your lamp shades. Have they seen better days? You can replace worn out shades fairly inexpensively. For a final touch, add a new top finial. Dimmer switches can be wonderful. Dimmed lighting can add romance to your whirlpool bathrooms and to selected areas in your common rooms.

In closing, with a thoughtful view of the room, elbow grease, and ‘do-it-yourself’ spirit (which all innkeepers have!) your ‘refreshing’ projects will add life and sparkle to your rooms. The end result is an atmosphere that demonstrates to a buyer and to guests that yours is a loved and well maintained inn.

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Posted in Interior Design, Market Trends, Marketing | 1 Comment »

A Soothing Sanctuary: Room Design That Works

July 27th, 2010 by Janet Wolf

by Janet Wolf of The B&B Team

A warm and inviting, well appointed and soothing sanctuary. Isn’t that what every innkeeper wants to provide for their guests?  How do you achieve that?  Interior design can be a daunting task and choosing the right style for your inn is a very personal and individual journey.  I have come up with a few basic guidelines to consider when redecorating a guest room or when you start the process of making your newly purchased inn your own.

o   Clean Lines

o   Classic Style

o   Balance

o   Absence of Clutter

o   Gender Neutral

o   Thoughtful

To help define these terms I have chosen examples of guest rooms from two different inns.  The innkeepers of these two inns were graduates of our Aspiring Innkeepers Seminar and have created some exceptionally beautiful rooms as well as becoming very successful innkeepers.  We at The B&B Team are very proud that we could play a part in their success.

Maury Place at Monument www.mauryplace.com is a newly opened urban bed and breakfast in Richmond Virginia.  Innkeepers Jeff Wells and Mac Pence have lovingly restored and decorated their urban inn in a style they describe as “both sophisticated and refreshingly modern, while still taking cues from the dramatic neo-classical architecture.” Go to their Rooms Page, and while viewing the rooms read the following comments.

·         Their window treatment choices enhance the classic lines of the window frames by not covering up the beautiful details of the woodwork.  The shutters, shades and fabric have either vertical or horizontal lines which give the windows a streamlined clean look.  The use of less instead of more fabric in the window treatments emphasizes the architectural elements and the views.

·         Many of their major pieces of furniture are classic traditional reproductions or antiques. The beds, dressers, desks and chairs are all timeless designs, not trendy.  This classic style creates a stately quietness and a visual balance to a room.  The beauty of these pieces will be enjoyed for a long time without going out of style.

·         A good example of the use of symmetrical balance is found in the Fontaine Suite with the elegant elongated mirrors placed behind the bedside lamps.  The bedside tables are not a matching pair which is an example of the use of ‘near’ symmetry.  The tables are the same height and wood tone which creates equal visual weight and complement each other.

·         The bedding in all their guest rooms provides a neutral background for a few well placed accent pillows.  This is another example of creating clean lines.  The classic style of the beds is a perfect silhouette for the clean, fresh, crisp linens.  Their beds make a guest want to slip into their comfortable depths!

·         Another good example of balance is the wall prints that are placed in harmonious groupings in all of their guest rooms.  Many of the groupings consist of lovely, classic old prints that create interest and color to the neutral background of the walls.  You will also notice that the colors in the prints and paintings compliment the pillows, window treatments and coverlets.  The eye picks up on these accessories and helps bring the rooms together.

·         There is clearly an absence of clutter in these rooms.  An uncluttered environment is very conducive to a good night’s rest.  Using a few well placed decorative items that do not take up a lot of room on the bedside tables and dressers is also thoughtful.  Guests need enough space for their stuff!

·         Providing a desk or table with comfortable seating is also a thoughtful addition that guests appreciate and may require, especially in an urban setting where the possibility of having business travelers is higher.  You can see in the floor plans they provide that three of the four suites have desks.

·         When viewing these rooms you can see very clearly that they would appeal to both men and women.  The clean lines, neutral colors, and absence of clutter and inclusion of well-appointed accessories would appeal to all, thus the term gender-neutral.

2.       Addison on Amelia www.addisononamelia.com is a beautiful inn in the historic district of Fernandina Beach, Florida (Amelia Island).  There are three separate antebellum style buildings that surround a fountain courtyard with many architectural details inside and out.  Innkeepers Bob and Shannon Tidball have decorated the guest rooms in a style they describe as “Old Florida elegance with understated hints of the tropics.”  Again, view their rooms on their website while reading the following comments.

·         The neutral and occasional bolder accent colors in their rooms reflect the inn’s tropical location.  Corals, leafy greens, sky and ocean blues, sunny yellows, and sandy beiges are used to create a clean, restful, and soothing environment.  The color scheme is repeated in each of their guest rooms as well as the common rooms, which provides a common harmonious link from room to room.

·         The bed treatments in their rooms are very ‘spa’ inspired.  Natural textured cotton or bamboo coverlets and luxurious and tailored linens are used to create a clean and inviting effect.  A guest can definitely see themselves slip between these cool , crisp, and clean lined linens.

·         The use of ceiling to floor drapes in many of their rooms enhances the 11 foot ceilings, delivers elegance and adds accent color that is artfully repeated in other areas of the rooms.  The use of the drapes and the wooden blinds produces the vertical and horizontal lines that create the clean streamlined look that is so pleasing to the eye, allowing the guest clear and unobstructed views.

·         Not having everything in the room match does not throw off the balance.  As an example many of their rooms have fanciful tropical style bedside lamps that do not match.  Yet they are of equal visual appeal and weight and attract your eye which achieves a balanced look.

·         Some of the rooms at the inn have more traditional classic four poster beds, armoires, and bedside tables that are timeless in their design.  These pieces help create the “Old Florida elegance.”  Other rooms have more modern rattan and woven wood pieces which reflect the “hints of the tropics.”  They have done a wonderful job of blending these two styles to create an easy, relaxed atmosphere.

·         There is a definite absence of clutter in these rooms.  Their guest rooms are accessorized with a light touch.  A well placed orchid plant and jardinière on a mantel piece is just enough.  A potential guest can view these rooms online and picture themselves in the calm uncluttered environment that has been created.

·         Besides providing desks and comfortable seating for your guests, another thoughtful and often times neglected necessity is providing enough lighting in a room.  As you can see in these rooms there are always two bedside lamps, a desk lamp, and a lamp beside a seating area, at least four sources of illumination.  The height and size of a bedside lamp is especially important.   The illumination from the lamp must cast enough light on the bedside so a guest can read comfortably.

·         The successful use of cool, soothing, and restful colors, natural textures, clean lines, and uncluttered environment that has been created in these guest rooms would be pleasing to all, definitely gender-neutral.

Interior design is the art of shaping the experience of interior space.  When you have created a warm, inviting, and well-appointed (thoughtful!) soothing sanctuary you have succeeded in creating an experience for your guests that they will remember in their hearts and minds and return for more! As seen from their guest comments, I believe Mac and Jeff, and Shannon and Bob have most assuredly succeeded in creating sanctuaries any guest would come back to experience again and again.

 

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An Inn Tune-up for Your Bed and Breakfast

July 27th, 2010 by Peter Scherman

by Peter Scherman

Innkeepers are the best when it comes to delivering a great experience for their guests. Smiles come easily, breakfast is delicious, and the world just looks, well, rosy. Or does it? On the best of days even the best inns, as we well know, aren’t perfect. But if perfection is what you strive for, and if that perfection includes a healthy bottom line, it’s a good idea to tune up your inn just as you would your automobile.

So what’s an Inn Tune-up™? Just as a mechanic goes over your car from end to end, checking fluids and connections, looking for wear, and ensuring that the electronics are functioning at their peak, an Inn Tune-up™ looks at your inn from top to bottom looking for the things that will make your inn run as smoothly as it can, helping you garner rave guest reviews, making you money, and increasing your satisfaction with your Innkeeping lifestyle.

We are all guilty of not seeing the forest for the trees sometimes. It’s human nature. When you live in an environment day after day, it becomes like a second skin. But your guests see it for the first time when they walk across your threshold. And they will often see what you no longer do. Take some time to look for details that, if improved, will improve your guest’s experience and, in turn, increase your revenues and improve your reputation.

Rooms become tired and need to be touched up regularly, annually at the least. How is your style and décor? Is it looking a bit frumpy and old fashioned, or are you updating to stay current with trends? Even Victorian ladies like to look their modern best! Look at all your rooms to see if you have adequate lighting wherever a person might sit or lie to read. Is there adequate space for guests to lay down their “stuff” without moving yours? And is there a place for them to plug in all their “stuff” without moving furniture or unplugging lamps and clocks? Power strips are a simple answer to a big annoyance. Do you still have clock radios or clock/radio/CD players in your rooms? Try changing them out for clock/radio/iPod docking units that look and sound great and meet the contemporary traveler’s expectations. In short, are your rooms thoughtful?

How are your bathrooms? Are they behind the times and worn out? How’s that caulking around the tub? If it isn’t in perfect condition and perfectly white and clean, you should change it. Make sure that grout is free of mildew.  It sounds elementary, but we at The B&B Team® see too many tubs that are simply neglected and are less than inviting. Your guests, as you know, form really strong impressions and opinions, and they tell others about it. In fact, cleanliness (or lack thereof) everywhere is the number one complaint of travelers. Look around your B&B with fresh eyes, run your finger along the tops of picture frames, get down on your knees and look under beds, under the cushions, in the drawers, inside lampshades, and be sure that everywhere is spotless and that you have systems in place to ensure they stay that way.

Beyond your rooms, how’s your website? Is it working for you, or are you losing potential guests because of the “three second rule?” Do you know what this rule is? Is your site homemade or more than three or four years old? If so, you probably need a new one. How are the photos? Do you know what your visitor counts and bounce rate are? You should. And if you don’t know how to find that out, ask someone who does.

Your business’s financial health is also essential to its running well. Do you know exactly where you stand week to week, month to month, relative to last year and the year before? How do your occupancy and ADR stand up against industry norms? How are your advance bookings running? Do you track your business using simple accounting tools like QuickBooks Pro, or are you putting all those receipts in a box and just hoping there’s enough money in the bank to pay the bills? You simply must do this the right way!

Innkeepers who really pay attention to their inn, from the physical plant to policies and procedures, from marketing and social media to the latest style trends are those who are doing well. If your B&B business is running a little sluggish, maybe you should give yourself a tune-up. Block out a day or two without guests, take a note pad, and go through your rooms looking for the things that could make them better. Then fix them! Not everything costs a lot: some attention to details, a fresh coat of paint, swapping out a piece or two of furniture can sometimes make a big difference for your guests even as it inspires you to be more enthusiastic.

Tax time is a good time to take stock of the health of your business. Look at your expenses and find out where you could save money and where you might want to increase your budget. Spend some time looking at what others are doing; those “others” should be inns that you admire, maybe even feel a little jealous of. When was the last time you stayed at another inn that wasn’t owned by a friend of yours and that’s really different from your own? How was the style? How were the details? How was the service? Did you learn something new or get a new idea to take home? Get out of your comfort zone and explore. Be a stealer of great ideas!

At The B&B Team® we encourage you to get inspired! Don’t let your inn’s engine run rough; it won’t perform as well, last as long, deliver as much satisfaction, or preserve its value. And if you feel you could benefit from a professional Inn Tune-up™ rather than an oil change in the driveway, we’d love to help you out! We have many clients who have grown their business simply by reaching out for professional assistance. Can we help you?

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