THE WEB: HYPE or REAL? IT'S REAL!
FOURTH ANNUAL TRACKING STUDY

During late summer we again invited Innkeepers who are using the Web as part of their marketing strategy to help separate fact from fiction, real from hype, data from anecdote and to share their experiences. They participated in the 4th annual Tracking Study - Innkeepers' Use of the Web. During that same time period we also conducted surveys amongst Guests to determine how they use the Web to find a B&B and what they think as regards to on-line availability and on-line reservations. This article, the 1st of a series of 4, presents the findings of those surveys.

OVERVIEW
Last year we took a strong research position and said, "For a growing segment of travelers, if a B&B can't be found through the Internet - the B&B won't exist"! This year's growth continues to be explosive - The Web now accounts for almost as many guests than all other sources combined. Overall 49% (vs. 38% last year) of business comes from "The Internet". Lest we forget 3 years ago Word of Mouth and the Web were tied at 23% share -- that really is eye-opening growth!

KEY SURVEY RESULTS

Investing in the Web pays off in higher Occupancy Rates: Innkeepers report that they have allocated more of their advertising budgets to Web marketing both in share of budget and in absolute dollars. Last year we reported on the emerging pattern: Innkeepers who were on the more "committed" end of what we called a CTU (Commitment To Use) bi-polar scale that we developed had significantly higher occupancy rates than those who were on the opposite end of that scale. Again this year Innkeepers who are making investments in time, proactive in their use of the Web and investing in professional services (where appropriate) are seeing a financial payback.
Listening to the Guest: Increasingly the first contact with guests is moving to e-mail in lieu of the traditional telephone and mail/fax. E-mail is becoming the preferred form for the Guest to ask that first question - do you have room availability. In spite of the uniqueness of B&B's, an incredible 95% of guests contacted more than 2 B&B's before making a selection. It's definitely a competitive world for Innkeepers.

I. PROFILING THE INNKEEPERS WHO PARTICIPATED:

Location
21%	Urban
18%	Suburban
60%	Country/Rural

Financial Profile
36%	Average Room rate $100 or less
31%	$101 - 125 Average Room Rate
33%	$125+ Average Room Rate
6.8	Rooms (average # of rooms)
49%	Average Occupancy Rate

How Guests find B&B	Contribution
The Internet	49% (38%)
Word of Mouth	18% (20%)
Travel Guides/Books	6% (10%)
Print Media Advertising	6% ( 9%)
Visitors calling the Chamber of Commerce	5% ( 6%)
(last years results within brackets)

Level of use of the Internet is maturing - Innkeepers are increasingly using the tools
We surveyed Innkeepers in 49 States. Eight of out ten Innkeepers now use their own domain name as their Primary URL (vs. 53% 2 years ago). Fewer are planning to make non-rate changes/update their sites in the next 12 months (62% vs. 72% last year). The majority use tracking software (62%) purportedly as a decision tool, but don't look at the data as frequently as noted in earlier years.
Innkeepers are more aggressively cross-marketing their web sites in both print and other ways: 95% of Innkeepers now include their Web site address (URL) on their printed promotional material while 35% (up from 26% last year) are now providing their URL address as part of their messages on answering machines. Increasingly Innkeepers require a URL identity that is tied into their names - one that is easy to communicate and one that builds on their brand-name identity and helps in URL recall. Most interestingly 18% of properties have changed or modified their names to increase rankings and search engine hits.

Don't miss the rest of this series - Upcoming subjects

What are the strategies that are paying off in higher Occupancy Rates? Click to Read
How are Innkeepers and Guests using On-line Availability/Reservation Tools? Click to Read
Listening to the Guest - Never mind what you think - What do Guests think? Click to Read

Here is a preview on the subject of on-line availability vs on-line reservations:
On-Line Availability -YES - On-Line Reservations - NO.

Make certain that you stay informed!
Some of the trends that we will be reporting on relate to developments and changes in how Innkeepers and Guests communicate once the Guest has discovered the Inn/B&B on the Web. Whereas the traditional means of contact (phone, mail and fax) remain the predominate form of contact, the new digital tools - e-mail, e-mail forms and other inquiry (on-line availability) tools - are increasingly be used. Learn what smart Innkeepers are doing to gain a clear competitive advantage.

The authors, Peter Schleim and Paula Saint-Amour, thank our co-sponsors -- B&B Getaways (www.bbgetaways.com), PAII (www.paii.org) and the many Innkeepers who contributed their time and input. As in all good research, you often raise more new questions than you help answer, so these may form the basis of future research surveys that we may conduct and share with you. If you have additional questions you would want to include in future surveys, or if you want to participate on future surveys, please drop us a note by e-mail: info@bbgetaways.com or write us at: DDM, A Communications Agency, Inc., P.O. Box 1039, Kingston, NY 12402.

Nothing contained in the above article can be used or reprinted without the express prior permission of the authors.