Even though our industry was able to largely withstand the economic fallout of the Great Recession, I'd bet most innkeepers would welcome more business. And while a glance at the full-page ads and slickly-produced commercials of chain hotels tells you they’re in the catbird seat, there’s always room for B&Bs.
Lots of room.
Inspired by a 2009 PAII and TripAdvisor study that revealed that travelers didn’t choose B&Bs because inns simply because never even entered their mind as a lodging option, the Professional Association of Innkeepers International (PAII) decided to remedy that oversight. PAII teamed up with hundreds of B&B associations, directories, vendors and innkeepers to introduce the program A Better Way To Stay to educate travelers on their B&B lodging choices and convert hotel-and-motel stayers to inngoers.
Looking Back on 2011
During BWTS’s inaugural year more than $100,000 was raised or pledged to support the initiative.
• A premiere video – ‘I’m An Innkeeper’ – was created and subsequently joined by a multi-part video campaign. Videos utilized humor and facts to compare the B&B experience to the chain hotel, and a special Better Way to Stay YouTube channel was created to showcase professional and innkeeper-contributed videos.
• The www.Support.BetterWaytoStay.com website was created to include a number of resources for innkeepers such as:
- Downloadable logos and artwork
- A blog site where travel experts can share ideas and insights about B&Bs
- Sample letters association leaders can use in encouraging members to support the campaign.
- ROI for donors
• In 2011 Jay Karen, CEO of PAII, attended dozens of allied association meetings and conferences to explain the Better Way to Stay campaign.
• Brand Pandemic, creators of BWTS video content, created a mapping function for the website to highlight special offers from participants in the promotion.
• Supporting promotional campaigns that received the support of more than 1,000 inns included B&Bs Kick Gas! (emphasizing nearby B&Bs) and B&Bs for Vets in which vacant rooms were reserved for members of the armed services. More than 200 million impressions were created from these two campaigns which received media attention from the
• A Facebook ad campaign doubled the BWTS fanbase in two weeks and is maintained along with other Facebook pages Better Way To Stay and B&Bs for Vets.
• Google Analytics cites an average visit of five minutes as readers learn more about BWTS promotions, an average look at five pages as viewers search for the right B&B, and a below-average bounce rate of 30 percent (a good thing – and about half the average bounce of 55 percent).
If you haven’t looked into the BWTS program, it’s there to help innkeepers everywhere.
Americans are on the move again, and B&Bs – your B&B – has the potential to offer travelers a Better Way To Stay.
