It's always exciting to find inns that really "get it" when it
comes to marketing their properties. It's not that there is just
one way to do it, but that most successful inns follow one
consistent pattern: they all pay a great deal of attention to
what is happening: at their inn, in the marketplace, and in
trends that will affect them.
I recently did some work at
The
Folkestone Inn in Bryson City, NC. This is a true country
inn, rural, close to
Smoky
Mountain National Park, the
Cherokee
Indian Qualla Boundary, and the
Nantahala Outdoor
Center, to name but a few attractions. At 10 rooms,
Folkestone Inn isn't huge, but it's big enough to be a viable
business. One of the things that impressed me is the way the
owners track their business. They want to know not only what is
happening now in real time, but how that compares to last year
and the year before. If there's a change, they ask themselves
why? What are the leading indicators that would suggest a reason
for a change. What should they be doing to anticipate a change
or even a recurring event? They have beta tested almost every
reservation system to pick the one that works best for them, for
the information they want to be able to analyze. They have real
time online booking. And they utilize a professional phone
service when they are away, even for a few hours, to be sure a
human answers the phone whenever possible.
They leave their web work to professionals, but they direct
those pro's as to what they want featured, and when. They
artfully integrate the style of their inn with the amenities
they offer. Scrupulous attention is to paid to the basics like
extreme cleanliness and good food. They monitor websites like
TripAdvisor to know what people are saying and plan to put those
reviews on their own site. In short, they pay attention to the
details.
Importantly, they spend their time on the high value tasks
which they can do better than anyone and hire the help that is
easier to come by (not that great housekeepers are easy to come
by, but you know what I mean!). Are they blogging yet? No, but
who knows what the future holds once
The B&B Team gets our hands
on them!
Peter
