The economy weighs heavily on everyone’s minds.  Many of us are wondering where our businesses will be in a few years, if not in the coming months.  Travel and tourism are closely linked to economic trends.  Travel has grown at a declining rate, and is even down in some areas.  Resort areas are showing declines in business this season.  What about small hotels and bed and breakfasts?  There’s strong demand still in U.S. urban areas, but other less concentrated regions are experiencing a slowdown.

Nevertheless, North American room rates are still rising, bolstered by the weak dollar, which has been attracting more overseas travelers.  What does this mean for small hotels and B&Bs?  Prepare to draw in more international clientele.  Not only is the domestic population growing more culturally diverse, but the international travel population is where the future of tourism is at.  U.S. and Canadian bed and breakfast innkeepers should be prepared to cater less to the home crowd, and attract more culturally diverse guests.

So how do we keep occupancy rates high during a downtrend in travel?  How do we keep the beds filled night after night?  The answer rests in your marketing strategy.  Be prepared to start leveraging the internet as a more important part of your marketing gameplan.  Beef up your website, and be prepared to take calls and bookings from more overseas customers.  Sign up with more than just one online marketing provider.

Today’s online marketing providers for bed and breakfasts, hotels, and small lodgings of all kinds are uniquely suited to take your marketing plan to the next stage.  Not only do you gain online exposure quickly, but online marketers focus on multi-national customers.  If you’re online marketing is limited to the handful of U.S. bed and breakfast marketing sites that focus primarily on the North American market, be prepared to look elsewhere for marketing support.  An increasing number of travelers will be coming from Europe, Central and South America, and even Asia.  You want to make sure you are using one or more online marketing sites that focus on a global audience, not only in their hotel population, but also in guests.

So often I hear from innkeepers and hotel managers that they’re frustrated with one or another online booking/marketing service.  They say, ‘I haven’t received a booking in several months.  Why should I stick with them?’  The answer is that you want to maintain your exposure in more than one online venue.  Even if you’re not getting bookings today, you’re still building web recognition.  Your property’s name is being spread more rapidly with more than one service.  It’s like a geometric equation.  When you double the number of sites you’re exposing your bed and breakfast on, the traffic doesn’t double, it grows at much higher geometric rates.

Look for online booking sites with strong marketing campaigns on Google and Yahoo, which together cover about 80% of global online searches.  Only a few sites, including BedBreakfastTraveler.com will actually advertise your unique property in pay-per-click campaigns.  Also, look for sites that don’t charge you annual membership fees.  Large sites that need to keep charging you for a declining return in their services are going the way of obsoletion.

If the bookings don’t come today, don’t worry.  Be patient.  They will come at one point, and may surface in waves.  The internet is like a vast, turbulent ocean, and you need to be persistent with your online marketing.  It’s the persistent presence of your property on the various sites you use that will collectively gain you the exposure you need over time.  Bookings may come one month, and then disappear the next.  But, little by little, you will be growing along with the best online booking sites.  But, you must get in on the game early and stick with it.  As far as online bookings, as they say, if you build it, they will come.  But, patience is the key.

BedBreakfastTraveler.com is one of the few leading online marketing and booking services these days that are offering a free telephone consultation to bed and breakfast and hotel managers.  A little intelligence goes a long way to winning the online marketing game, and BedBreakfastTraveler.com is backed by the know-how and authority of Instant World Booking, a respected global provider of online marketing solutions for B&B’s and hotels.

The Intelligence for Bed and Breakfasts Blog promised to bring you the most valuable online advice for B&Bs and small hotels, as well as controversial intelligence that you won’t find on other websites.  Let’s talk about what matters most to your business: Value.  When you shop support services for your bed and breakfast, what’s the most important factor?  Price.  Let’s face it, we’re all looking to keep costs down and compare for the most valuable services at the lowest price.

There are a number of big online marketing services out there, offering online booking and advertising of your property.  You know who they are.  In the Bed and Breakfast market, they’re charging you an annual fee to list your property.  Do you really need to pay annual service fees for online listings year after year?  Many B&B’s list with multiple services to maximize exposure.  Costs can quickly add up.  These fees are not insignificant.  The biggest player in this online marketing game charges annual fees ranging from $99 to $559.  Then they take up to 25% commission on any online bookings they send your way.  Use their booking engine on your website and pay 30% commission.  Add this to several other online services, then your membership in a professional innkeepers association, and you have a serious online budget to contend with.

Why do they charge so much?  Didn’t they know that the internet is the most efficient value distribution system available today?  Perhaps they’re taking advantage of the fact that the North American B&B population is by and large behind the curve with online technology.  Many of these service providers do not even offer there services outside the US or Canada.  How does one B&B booking engine justify a 30% commission for a booking engine on your website?  To paraphrase, they claim that “70% profit on a booking is better than no booking at all”.

The good news is that you don’t have to be captive to services that charge large fees and commissions.  It’s true that a correctly executed internet marketing strategy can increase your net profit by at least 20% in the first year.  Don’t throw away your profits with high service fees.  You internet spend should only be a fraction of what these companies are charging you.

Let’s remember that we’re in the 21st century now.  Many online booking providers are offering tools adapted from 1980’s style tourism industry technology.  Beware especially of services requiring you to install software on your desktop computers, and pay periodic fees for updates.  None of this should be necessary with today’s online technology.

And what about the big question.  What should I be paying for online bookings and marketing on the internet?  The answer is you should pay nothing at all to sign up for online listings.  The most advanced online booking and marketing services are offering membership for free.  BedBreakfastTraveler.com  is one of the services in this category.  Look for firms that list properties globally, not just in the US and Canada.  Global services are the ones with real experience in offering advanced booking capability.  As for commissions, throw out companies charging more than 15% (including the 25% example above).  The best services today are offering commission rates of only 8 - 10%, providing advanced booking technology and allowing you to increase your profit margin.  Finally, what about booking engines for your own website?  You should be paying no more than 15% (compared with 30% for the provider mentioned above) if the provider is collecting the entire booking amount up front.  If only a small deposit is collected at booking, you can expect to pay only 2-3% commission.   BedBreakfastTraveler.com  offers an industry-low special price of 1.9% for this service.

Don’t be held captive by booking and marketing services with annual membership fees and commissions.  They’re just not worth it, and you can get the same and better service for almost free in today’s advancing marketplace.  If you’re using a service that you like today, but think you may be paying too much, post your arrangement here for comments.  Or, contact Instant World Booking directly.  Instant World Booking stands ready to beat any price for a competing service offering, and will offer superior technology in the process.

One final tip.  If you’re using one of the several major “booking by request” engines for your bed and breakfast website, this is not real online booking.  These are services that pretend to offer online calendars or rudimentary availability to guests, while requiring you to manually confirm every booking.  You may only be paying a small monthly fee for the service, or no commissions at all.  However, with “booking on request” services you are losing business.  There are many B&B owners in North America who desperately hold on to this form of booking.  But, there is no doubt that this form of booking loses you business.  Many guests seeking lodging online today refuse to book with this method because there is no instant confirmation.