Idaho Bed and Breakfast Association Newsletter #28

Summer 2016

 

Hello from the Idaho B&B Association
 
News From The President

  ,

Thanks for taking the time to read our newsletter.
Another grant cycle year has almost come to an end. Our new grant cycle is approaching and, as always we welcome your additional ideas for ways to utilize these funds that come directly from the 2% bed tax that each of you collect. Drop me a note anytime at info@idahobba.com 

 

Our award winning brochure & maps appear to still be flying off the racks through Certified Folder and Rack in all the surrounding states enticing your guests to "Stay & Play Longer" in our great state! We do keep track of this and if you have any questions regarding them, please don't hesitate to call me at 208-651-2191. Please see the article below about the success we have had with our 3 month Advertising Campaign. Of course, we would like to promote a 6 month campaign in the future and our grant funds and your dues just might make that possible.


We often get questions regarding why such a large portion of our grant funds are spent on the design, printing and distribution of our maps and brochures. You might say it is another spoke leading to the hub of the wheel of your advertising, like having a booth at a travel show, or your own personal brochure for your unique lodging facility, or being a member of your local Chamber of Commerce. It is another way, a spoke in the wheel, that points future guests to the hub of your reservations whether your booking hub is listed with booking.com, trip advisor, badandbreakfast.com, or your own personal booking system, that is where we want them to end up. These materials help point them in the right direction providing the opportunity for travelers to know where and who you are. The IBBA maps and brochures have been approved by the Idaho Travel Council as a method of sharing the small lodging that Idaho has to offer throughout the state. In fact, the brochure design won an award.

 

Please call or email us if you would like any of these materials for your lodging facility, your Chamber of Commerce or your Idaho sponsored Visitor Center.

 

Thanks,

Brian Scott, IBBA President

Advertising Campaign Results
 

Shannon Balmes, our wonderful campaign promoter with Certified Folder & Rack, has sent us the results of our 6 month campaign. Of course our most popular map and fastest moving again this year was the beverage map. There is high interest in the surrounding states for the breweries, wineries and distilleries & the small lodging associated with them in ID.

Utah requested an additional shipment of 1,000 of our maps & brochures adding to the 10,000 we had already shipped, midway through the campaign, as they moved very quickly. They have already requested more for next year.

Portland was steady and the 11,000 we shipped them was just about right.

Seattle would like to double the B&B Brochure shipment for next year from 2,000 to 4,000. We also sent them 9,500 maps.

Montana reported that the bike map was the fastest moving map there, but that all the brochures and the wine map did very well.

Results from the Yellowstone route where there are 108 sites,   and the Glacier Route with 95 sites, show the amount shipped to Glacier was perfect but Yellowstone would like 3,000 bike maps next year instead of 2,000.


 

 


2015 Bonzey Award
For Inn-Spirational Innkeeper of the Year

The original recipients of the Idaho B&B Association Inn-Spirational Innkeeping award were Jack and Betty Bonzey, for whom the award is named. It is given annually to inn-keepers that have shown the Bonzey's same creativity, and uncommon, unselfish giving of time to make themselves available to help others in the industry and in the community as well as providing their guests with the kind of hospitality that leads to a memorable stay in Idaho. The nominees for this year's "Bonzey Award" for "Inn-spirational Inn-Keeping" in the state of Idaho for 2015 exhibit these qualities.
For the first time, the board received nominations from every region. We included all nominees at the awards banquet, not just the winners. To help encourage the nominees attendance, IBBA covered the $45 fee for the Tuesday evening Awards event In Moscow. It was wonderful that 7 of the 8 nominated B&B's were in attendance, (two were unable to attend).  It was rewarding to have the opportunity to present all the attendees at the conference with information about the owners and their properties, as each one had the chance to stand and be recognized during the introduction about themselves and their facilities. We had 12 B&B's  attending the conference, about 23 attendees from our industry, which accounted for about 20% of the attendance at the banquet! Way to go IBBA!
The following is a list of the nominees:
Fox Creek Inn, located in Victor, managed by John & Ellen Christenson. The Gooding Hotel Bed and Breakfast, located in Gooding, owned and operated by Dean and Judee Gooding. The Grey House Inn, located in Salmon, owned and operated by Dave and Sharon Osgood. Heartland Inn, located in New Meadows, owned and operated by Steve and JoBeth Mehen. Inn at St. Gertrude, located in Cottonwood, operated by the Benedictine Sisters of the Monastery of St. Gertrude with Innkeepers, Sister Corinne Forsman and Sister Chanelle Schuler. Lion's Gate Manor, located in Lava Hot Springs, owned and operated by John and Tami Clark.
 Western Pleasure Guest Ranch is located in Sandpoint and is owned and operated by Janice and Roley Schoonover. Wylie Lauder House is located in Moscow and is owned and operated by Otto & Barbie Keyes.

And the winners of this year's Inn-Spirational Innkeeper of the year award goes to....

The Inn at St. Gertrude
and
Western Pleasure Guest Ranch

*T o read more about the nominees, go to the website and review the ICORT conference report.

 
In This Issue
IBBA Google Analytics
Step Up
Grant Review

Quick Links

 
IBBA Website Google Analytics
Results
 

IBBA presents an overview of the year so far:

Jan-115 sessions with 87% new users viewing 3 pgs per session, with a 3:14 minutes per session.

April-514 sessions with 89% new users viewing 2.5 pgs per session, with a 2:17 min av. duration per session.

June-587 sessions with 94% new users with over 1,419 page views at 2.42 pages per session and an average duration of 1:50 minutes per session.

  

 

Of course this is not a complete analysis of individual B&B page views, but it does show that the website is getting used and that the number of sessions continues to increase throughout the year.

www-abstract-globe.jpg   

 

 

More Exciting News re. Maps & Brochures
 
We are so excited to let you know that we are getting  results from our website. On the front page there is a button to order maps/brochures for interested future guests. We ship out about 5-10 per week based on the email requests sent to our website. Here are just a few of the places we have mailed to: Emmett; Challis; Rathdrum; Caldwell; SW Gateway Teton Visitor Center; Driggs; Pine Valley,UT; Seattle; Desert Mountain Visitor Center, ID; Billings, MT; OR Visitor Center; DeWay Beach, FL; Eastbourne, East Sussex; Reedley, CA;  Larchmont, NY; even as far away as Bulkham Hills, Australia and many more.  

Step Up and Help IBBA

Job opportunities in exchange for free membership: 

  • Map & Brochure Mailing
  • Membership Invoices
  • Newsletter

Call if you are interested:

208-651-2191 

 

Grant Review With ITC Council Member

Rick Shaffer 

 

Prior to submitting our grant to the Idaho Travel Council, we had the opportunity to meet with the multi region Idaho Travel Council Representative, Rick Shaffer to review the ideas proposed by IBBA for the new grant cycle.  

It was nice to have him visit the Bed and Breakfast for a 1:1 meeting with some of our Board Members. He was very supportive of the new ideas we presented regarding increasing membership through the organization of road trips to each region, as well as the creation of maps focusing on each individual region.  

We would like to take this opportunity to thank him taking on the role of multi-region representative to the ITC and for taking time out of his schedule to meet with us!