SURVEY RESULTS ON B&B USAGE OF THE INTERNET

B&B Getaways believes that the Internet is fundamentally changing the way that consumers search for and make decisions about which B&B to stay at. Understanding how these changes effect them has become an increasingly important topic for Innkeepers. To assist Innkeepers we have and continue to co-sponsor market research programs that help Innkeepers find out and understand what other Innkeepers are doing - To identify what is working and what's not. We are happy to share the study findings with you and hope you will find the results helpful in developing your own strategy re: Internet Marketing. This is the first in a series of tracking studies that we plan to conduct on Internet trends for B&B's.
	If you would like to participate in future studies please send us your name, the name of your B&B and your e-mail address.	Please visit the B&B Getaways Site

We recently invited Innkeepers that are using the Internet as part of their marketing strategy to help separate fact from fiction, real from hype, data from anecdote and to share their experiences with this new medium. Is the Internet working or not working for B&B's? Can it deliver the types of guests that you want? We asked for data, numbers and facts. Interestingly, we also received a number of anecdotal comments that also tell a tale. We'd like to share some of these comments with you first:

The quantitative data and results support these positive anecdotal comments. During the past three years the Internet and Web have become easier to use and more accessible; this technology provides new ways of communicating with potential guests. Some Innkeepers and Bed & Breakfast owners have adopted this technology with enthusiasm and anticipation.

We conducted two waves of research called "The Innkeeper and the Internet." Many Innkeepers around the United States participated in it. We used traditional tools for the first wave and the new digital medium for the second. The research and its analysis are the basis of this article.

OVERVIEW
The results of our first wave of research are astonishing. Having just entered our lexicon some 3 years ago, the Internet has become one of the most important sources of business for B&B's on it. First a few statistics based on the first wave. Presuming that the 611 B&B's who responded are representative of the industry, 30% of B&B's now have an e-mail address, 18% have a URL and 16% have both. Some 85% of B&B's are included on at least one Internet listing service. Even though we were not able to statistically quantify the amount of business generated from this new source of advertising & promotion based on the data from the 2nd wave of research, the qualitative results suggest conclusions. Directionally, there is no question that the Internet is a significant source of new business for B&B owners. This new digital medium is easy enough for the typical, always-too-busy innkeeper to learn and to incorporate into their portfolio of marketing/promotional tools, however it does require effort and time. The vast majority of innkeepers surveyed overwhelming concur that it is worth making the investment and that there is a return on the time and monetary investment. Their experiences are helpful for all Innkeepers and B&B owners.

SURVEY RESULTS
The results of the second wave geographically cover 27 states. We interviewed Innkeepers who either have their own Home Page, have a URL (someone else is maintaining a Web presence for them), or are listed on an Internet Listing Service. The participants reflect a cross section of urban, suburban and rural areas. On average the responding innkeepers have owned their B&B's for six years, have five rooms and are open year round. The self reported occupancy rate averages 44% while repeat business guests represent only a small percentage of their total business -- 50% saying that they have 20% or fewer guests who have stayed with them before. Across all respondents the average length of stay is 2.6 nights and average dollar amount predictably varies --$100 or less, $101-175 and $175+ categories each having 33%.

Of those interviewed 72% had their own Home Page. Of those that did not have a Home Page, 75% expect to have one in the next 12 months. Interestingly the B&B owners who report that they do not intend to set up a Home Page in the next year have higher than average 44% occupancy rates. The majority (73% )of those that currently have a Home Page expect to update or expand it. Nine out of ten web sites were designed specifically for the Web as contrasted with taking a brochure and putting it up. Generally the site includes most of the B&B's informational and factual points and on average 6 photographs/graphics (usually an exterior shot and interior shots ranging from the bedrooms to the common spaces).

Profile of those we talked to:

Location:

23% -- Urban

10% -- Suburban

67% -- Country/Rural

How long have you owned your B&B:

42% -- Less than 5 years

29% -- 5 to 9 years

29% -- 10 years or more

Four out of five Innkeepers decided independently to have a Web presence -- a Web site. Additionally over two thirds reported that they thought it would be a cost effective way to advertise and to reach prospective guests. Just over half (54%) of the B&B's have been on the Internet for less than one year. Of those, 46% were "Early Surfers" -- who had a Home Page more that one year (34%) or two years (12%).

Do guests that found the B&B from the Internet differ in any way from guests that found the B&B through other sources? Since B&B owners are always attentive to the type of person that stays with them, one set of questions probed to determine this question. We wanted to quantify some anecdotal information that was shared at a recent industry convention in Phoenix: that Internet guests spend more, stay longer and are more upscale. Therefore we asked whether the Internet guests were more or less desirable on these three characteristics. The majority of the Innkeepers neither agree nor disagree that the Internet sourced guests differ significantly on the first two characteristics; however as regards the 'upscale nature' of Internet guests 46% of the participating Innkeepers agreed that guests from the Internet were more upscale. Maybe even more significant was the fact that only 7% disagreed (indicated that Internet guests were less upscale) with the balance expressing a 'no real change' opinion. Innkeepers with longer experience with Internet Guests, our Early Surfers, definitely feel that Internet sourced guests are more upscale 53% versus 46% overall. One word of caution -- because there is not strong confirmation that these 'upscale guests' either stay longer or spend more money, we are not certain how 'upscale' was defined or means.

How much do you agree of disagree that guests that found your B&B via the Internet are more

Guest characteristics aside, there is no ambiguity about the importance of the Internet as an increasing source of new guests for their Inn -- nearly 90% agree that this is an increasing important source. Early Surfers hold this opinion even more strongly -- 95%. In addition nine out of ten believe that the importance of the Internet as a source of new business will continue to increase in the future.

How much do you agree of disagree that the Internet is becoming an increasing source of new guests for your Inn?:

90% - Agree

9% - Neither Agree nor Disagree

2% - Disagree

Somewhat predictably there is 100% agreement among Innkeepers who have a Web site. Whereas their expectations and actions may be driving the results, or the results are causing new expectations, 74% of Innkeepers will be making additional investments to update and revise their sites within the next year. 64% of Innkeepers intend to upgrade their existing site so that they will be able to take reservations.

SOURCE OF BUSINESS
"Where does your business come from?" Innkeepers were asked to provide what percentage of business came from various sources. The results were eye-opening. Nine specific sources were listed along with a catchall category (all other sources): Tour Guides/Books, Word of Mouth, Advertising, Chamber of Commerce, B&B Associations, Other B&B referrals, Reservation Services, Travel Agencies and The Internet. Innkeepers who participated in the survey indicated that the Internet is now as important a source of business as the next most important source "Word of Mouth." Overall, 23% of business comes from "The Internet" and another 23% from Word of Mouth. For those that have their own Home Page, the Internet provides 27% of their business. For those that we have termed Web Devotees (Innkeepers who maintain their Home Pages and register their URL's on the search engines themselves) the Internet provides a surprisingly strong 33% of business.

The Occupancy Rate for those Innkeepers who have a Home page is 46% versus 39% for those who do not. Based on the survey we cannot draw a direct causal relationship between having a HomePage and a higher occupancy rate. However, the data strongly suggests one.

LOGISTICS OF CREATING A HOME PAGE
When Innkeepers were creating a web site an average of 80% initiated the creation and 95% spent $50 or less, though some have paid as much as $1000. Once the home page was created, 37% of the owners are maintaining the site while the remainder are looking to another party (a design firm or Internet Service Provider) to maintain the site. 'Maintenance' includes responding to e-mail messages coming from the site, refreshing the copy, rates and design, arranging for links to other sites, registering with search engines, and monitoring traffic --'hit' reports.

About two thirds of innkeeper continued to independently market the site within the Web community by actively registering the sites with search engines and focusing of Web visitor traffic through the use of metatags and with specific links.

Nearly four out of five B&B owners have registered with global and regional search engines -- the easy-to-use indices that help Web visitors find those items they are looking for. The most commonly used search engines are: Alta Vista, Yahoo, WebCraweler and Excite. Two thirds are using metatags to increase the odds of being found in a search. The most common embedded words, also known as metatags, include the phrases: "Bed & Breakfast," "City name," "State name." Another marketing tool includes judicious linking relationships. This means becoming associated with another site which allows the B&B to be accessed through cross referencing on such commonly important topics as local points of interest and local tourism Internet sites. Nearly two thirds of the home pages have links pointing to them.

An incremental marketing tool many B&B owners have employed to create excitement and hence traffic to their sites includes participating with listing services. Seventy-seven percent of B&B's are listed with at least one listing service with an objective to increase the odds of being found. The majority are listed on more than one listing service. Whereas currently two thirds of the Innkeepers say Listing Services are more important than their own Home Page, over time Innkeepers anticipate having one's own Home Page will more important than being included in Listing Services.

The last marketing tool a B&B can employ is the inclusion of the their Web site address (URL) and e-mail and the Home Page/URL address on their promotional material. Whereas the majority of Innkeepers have incorporated these two new pieces of information on their brochures and other promotional material, surprisingly there are a large group 32% that has not included their e-mail address and 42% who have not included their URL. This seems to be more a timing issue of printing promotional material because only one out of ten Early Surfers have not included these new addresses on printed material.

"Hits" is the term used to describe loosely the count of "sets of eyeballs looking at a single page" of an Internet site. It is the barometer of traffic-visitors looking at a home page. Whereas it is not a great measure of what is seen and ingested, it is similar to the number of "impressions" in print media. But overall, generally the more Hits the better. More that half of the Innkeepers report that they do not know how many visitors come to their site with the exception that nearly two thirds of the Early Surfers know their traffic statistics. On average Early Surfers have 4 times the traffic than Innkeepers with new Home Pages have.

CONCLUSIONS
With all of the proceeding statistics and information, it is evident that those Innkeepers who have actively decided to have a Web presence and who are managing the details of search engines and links are seeing results. Hence unequivocal recommendations are:

1. Get on the Internet; create your own Home Page, 2. Work on getting yourself on the Search Engines, and 3. Get on as many listing services as you can on the Internet. The caveat to these recommendations relates to the most frustrating and elusive characteristic of the Web --tracking specifically how Internet users found out about your B&B. This was the survey question which Innkeepers found the most difficult to answer. When people find a B&B through the Internet, rarely are they able to describe "where" they found you, other than in generic terms -- "On the Web," "A B&B Web site." They rarely recall the specific site on which they found you. As a result -- it is very difficult to trace the exact path through which the digital visitor found you. Whether they were just hunting around, they by chance 'meandered' over, they heard of a B&B and wanted to check it out -- it is very difficult to trace the exact path through which the digital visitor found out about you and/or your Web site. Maybe that's not so terrible, which is why we currently recommend to get on as many Listing Services and Search Engines as you can until appropriate technology develops that will enable you to track how guests find you.

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