How to Market a Bed & Breakfast?

Should an Innkeeper Market their own Bed & Breakfast?

Marketing a bed and breakfast can be a rewarding and fun experience for some owners, while it may be more challenging and stressful for others. Here are some factors to consider:

• Skillset: Owners with marketing experience may find it easier to market their bed and breakfast than those who are less experienced. Marketing requires skills such as writing, graphic design, social media management, and networking. Owners who lack these skills may find marketing more challenging.

• Budget: Marketing efforts can be costly, and owners may need to allocate a portion of their budget towards advertising, creating marketing materials, or attending events. Owners who have limited budgets may find it more challenging to market their bed and breakfast effectively.

The level of fun and enjoyment an owner experiences while marketing their bed and breakfast can vary depending on their personal interest, time commitment, skill set, and budget. However, with the right approach, marketing can be a rewarding and effective way to promote a bed and breakfast and attract new guests.

So How to Market a Bed & Breakfast?

There are many marketing tactics that can be effective for a bed and breakfast, but some of the most important ones are:

Experiences are the Key to Differentiating a Bed & Breakfast

As a bed and breakfast, you have the opportunity to provide your guests with a unique and memorable tourism experience. Here are some ideas to promote:

But Go Deeper – Connect Experiences to Local Culture

The standard experiences provided by B&Bs are a useful starting point, but what will make these types of experiences truly memorable is aligning experiences with local culture and the anticipation of the target audience. Using Asheville, NC as an example, guests might have deeper and more memorable experiences from the following:

• Brewery Tours: Asheville is home to over 40 craft breweries, and a brewery tour can be a great way to experience the city’s beer scene. Offer your guests a guided brewery tour, complete with tastings and a behind-the-scenes look at the brewing process.

Remember, the key to creating a memorable tourism experience is to offer something unique and authentic that reflects the local culture and community. Be creative and think outside the box to create a truly unforgettable experience for your guests.

When Should an Innkeeper use a Consultant?

There are several reasons why an owner of a bed and breakfast might consider hiring a consultant:

• Business expertise: A consultant can provide valuable expertise and experience in running a successful bed and breakfast. They can help the owner to identify areas of marketing that need improvement and provide guidance on how to make the necessary changes.

• Market research: A consultant can conduct market research to help the owner better understand the target market and competition. This can include analyzing trends, surveying customers, and researching best practices in the industry.

• Operational efficiency: A consultant can help the owner to streamline marketing operations and improve efficiency. This can include evaluating staffing levels, optimizing the marketing and booking processes, and identifying opportunities to reduce costs.

• Marketing strategy: A consultant can assist with developing a marketing strategy to attract more guests and increase revenue. This can include creating a website, and social media presence, and implementing targeted advertising campaigns.

Overall, hiring a consultant can provide valuable insights and expertise that can help an owner of a bed and breakfast to improve operations, attract more guests, and increase revenue.

What Hospitality Consulting Services Does Galileo Tech Media Provide?

As a Hospitality Marketing Consultant, we have extensive experience in developing and implementing effective marketing strategies that drive measurable results. We specialize in helping businesses create and build anticipation for Memorable Experiences that drive better brand loyalty and increased repeat purchase intent. Joseph Franklyn McElroy, CEO of Galileo grew up in a small motel that he now owns, and in the intervening years helped hospitality and lodging businesses from small to Fortune 500 businesses like Marriott achieve great results from their efforts.

Our Hospitality Marketing Consulting services include:

• Memorable Experiences Strategy Development: We will work with you to develop a comprehensive Memorable Experiences Strategy that aligns with your brand, location, and target audience. B&Bs traditionally might offer tours, cooking classes, outdoor activities, wine tastings, and cultural experiences. But what will make these types of experiences truly memorable is aligning experiences with local culture and the anticipation of the target audience. In Asheville, as an example, these might include brewery tours, live music, foraging classes, beer pairings, and festivals. We will also look at your breakfast foods, which probably look lovely, but are not particularly aligned with local culture – for example, a Quiche Lorraine might be replaced with a Rustic Ramp and Mushroom Quiche that is accompanied by a story on local ramp foraging.

• Direct Booking Optimization: We will conduct a thorough analysis of your website and direct booking process. We will provide recommendations to improve the user experience, search engine optimization, anticipation building, social proofing, and conversion rate optimization.

• Content Marketing: We will help you develop a content marketing strategy that engages your target audience with the emotional factors that make memorable experiences and increases brand awareness. We will provide you with a Memorable Experience Article Framework to guide you through making content. We will show you how to use Artificial Intelligent tools to create content plans and quickly create content that doesn’t require hours of labor.

• Customer Communications and Service: We will evaluate your social media, email, and SMS marketing campaigns to advise and develop a communication and growth strategy to encourage customers to book directly and repeatedly. We will devise strategies to increase engagement, followers, subscribers, and local adherents. We will advise on memorable experiences, customer service, personalized offers, promotions, sweepstakes, impactful content, templates, loyalty rewards, and other factors that result in more direct bookings. We will show you how to use limited social media advertising and boosted post buys to attract an audience and fill rental gaps.

We will, if needed, provide ongoing management and improvement of your Memorable Experiences marketing that leads to increased direct bookings and reduced OTA commissions. We can also source you affordable and skilled freelance talent to supplement your own internal resources.

Please contact us to discuss any of these services.