INNfo
Tuesday, April
24, 2007
Volume 2, Issue 16
PAII
News & Announcements:
Good News for Vendors & Innkeepers! New PAII Staff!
Good
News for Vendors & Innkeepers!
We are pleased to announce that Marlene Sapir has been promoted to the
position of Vendor Services & Sales, a new position at PAII. Our vendor
members are a very important segment of our membership and we want them
to know how much we appreciate them! Marlene will continue to handle
all of our advertising programs and will be happy to create a personalized
marketing plan to meet the specific budgetary requirements of each of
our vendors. She will also be responsible for trade show booth sales and
exhibitor programs. We invite our vendors to contact Marlene with any
special needs or issues and she will be happy to help.
The good news for innkeepers is that Marlene will be attending several national shows over the next year to find new and unique vendors with products and services that are a good fit for our inns. We have received many recommendations on the types of products that you would like to see available in our Vendor Marketplace as well as at our trade show, so she will be focusing on these areas. If you have a company that you work with or a product you think is terrific and would like to share, please e-mail her at marlene@paii.org. Remember, you get two free months membership if the company you refer joins!
New PAII Staff!
Please join us in welcoming Kristin Strong, PAII's new Membership
Sales Coordinator. Kristin comes to PAII with 10 years experience in the
hospitality industry, including creating leisure packages for groups and
individuals, reservations, sales, and customer service team leadership
for key accounts. We are very happy to have her on board!
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PAII
Membership Minutes:
Staples Discount Program
We
would like to remind you that PAII has a member discount program with
Staples Business Advantage. This program is designed to provide your properties
with substantial savings on everyday business expenses like office supplies.
This program offers an average discount of 60% off manufacturer list prices
on items featured in their pre-priced "Unbelievably Low-Priced Catalog"
and an average 40% off their large stock catalog. Whether you phone, fax,
or order online, Staples offers fast and free delivery, so your order
is always there when you need it. This contract is offered exclusively
through Staples Business Advantage, the business-to-business division
of Staples, Inc. You will not find these prices in your local Staples
retail stores, Staples Direct mail order catalogs, or Staples.com
without signing your property up today.
Register your property today and begin taking advantage
of the savings. Go to our website at www.paii.org
and click on the Staples link at the bottom of our homepage or contact
peter.dangerfield@staples.com
for more information.
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PAII
Forum Digest:
Waiting for Guests to Arrive, Cookbooks,
& More!
If you have not had time to log on to the Forum
located in the Members
Only section of www.paii.org,
here are some of the interesting topics that have been discussed this
past week.
Waiting & Waiting for Guests to Arrive
I am sitting here waiting for a guest that said they were going to arrive
at 2 p.m. It is now almost 4:30 p.m. What do you do? It seems I spend
much of my time waiting for guests to arrive. I ask each guest when they
expect to arrive and I wait. I do ask them to call if the arrival time
changes and still I wait. I have a regular check-in time of 4 p.m. to
6 p.m. but many people want to arrive at other times which I don't mind
if they would just arrive. What do you more experienced folks recommend?
I am a solo innkeeper and do not have a housekeeper. I am growing grey
waiting...
Cookbooks
In response to many requests from our guests, we are contemplating creating
a cookbook for sale at the inn. We have received some good information
from Morris Press Cookbooks, but wondered if any of you had any experience,
guidance, suggestions, etc.
Self Check-In
For those of you who have self check-in available, how do you
go about it? I am thinking of trying it since 3 a.m. is not a good time
for guests to be ringing the bell and waking the rest of the guests! Also,
I wonder/worry about them missing the personal touch!
Getting Started! Any Suggestions to Acquiring More Bookings?
I've just opened on February 1st of this year and was wondering
if there is anything more I can do to get business going? I'm on several
directories, have over 1,500 brochures in the public, and am putting them
in every hand I can! Everyone who has stayed here takes along brochures
and is very positive and supportive of my inn, loving it. Could some of
you experienced innkeepers give me some advice on this subject? Any input
would surely help. I get referrals from an inn nearby when they're booked,
but it seems slow in coming.
Getting Started: Any Suggestions to Acquiring More Bookings?
I agree with the earlier responses, and would also like to direct
your attention to the article on websites I just wrote for the April
Innkeeper News:
http://www.innkeepersonly.com/innkeepernews/April-07/featured.htm
Question About 2-Night Minimum Weekends
We were discussing our policy regarding the peak fall season and 2-night
minimum reservations. Would a Thursday/Friday or Saturday/Sunday reservation
be acceptable or does it have to be Friday/Saturday?
Slippers in Guest Rooms
I am interested in putting slippers in each of my guest rooms.
Would anyone who does provide slippers give me an idea of how you handle
this? Do you just assume guests will take the slippers home with them
and build the cost into your room price, or do most people leave them
in the room after using them and you then wash the slippers in a sanitizing
fashion? Do they get misshapen quickly or last quite a few washings? Do
you just provide a disposable type of spa sandal?
Suggestions for Room Locks & Front Door Locks
We are very interested in learning what lock systems (brands/models)
have worked well for inns in the 7-10 room size category. In addition
to being as convenient as possible for guests, we want to meet AAA standards.
Our inn is best described as casually elegant and we would prefer to find
something that is attractive rather than totally utilitarian/commercial
in appearance. But guest convenience and ease of use is the most important
factor.
Suggestions for Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Management Companies
As a result of the latest Overture "improvements," we have lost
a lot of our PPC traffic. Presently, we are looking to hire someone to
manage our PPC campaign, and get the results we used to have. Does anyone
have someone like Acorn do theirs, and can they make any recommendations?
I am looking for a company who can handle the changes and get things back
on track, and yes we are having Acorn create a new website for us very
shortly.
Re: Best Sheets After Washer/Dryer . . . Thread Count?
It's a very confusing issue and the biggest problem is the linen/sheet
industry doesn't need to print specifics on the back of the packages.
The most important thing you need to know is this: The fabric needs to
be a long staple thread, and if you can get ultra fine thread, even better.
It's when they are short, or double that you run in to the roughness issues
and no amount of thread count is going to fix the problem. Thread count
comes second. You can get a really nice 300 thread count and people will
compliment you on them. I personally aim for the 450-600 count. The other
thing these days is that Egyptian cotton is no longer regulated, so again
you do not know what you are getting. Look for Supima long staple cotton.
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PAII
Food Feature:
John F. Craig House's Monkey Bread
Let us feature a recipe from your inn!
Please send your submission (and a photo of the dish if available) to
L1simpson@msn.com.
Chip and Barbara Masemore from the John F. Craig House (www.johnfcraig.com)
in Cape May, NJ, offer this delicious, unique recipe for Monkey Bread.
Serves 10 to12.
Ingredients
2 Cups pecans, chopped
1/2 Cup butter
1 Cup brown sugar
2 Tablespoons water
2 Cans flaky biscuits
Instructions
Grease a tube or bundt pan. Sprinkle bottom of pan with 1-1/2 cups pecans.
In a small saucepan, melt butter and add sugar, water and pecans. Set
aside. Cut each biscuit into halves and form each half into a ball. You
should have 40 balls. Place 20 balls in the bottom of the pan. Drizzle
balls with half of the melted mixture. Place the remaining 20 balls in
the pan and top with remaining mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to
25 minutes.
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PAII
Pointer: Pumice Prowess
Toilet bowl rings getting you down? Have no fear,
pumice stick is here! Softer than porcelain, but harder than a toilet
ring, pumice is a mild abrasive that can save the day. Make sure the porcelain
and the pumice are wet, and then gently rub!
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About INNfo
INNfo is published weekly. Annual subscription is included in the price of membership.
Publisher
Professional Association of Innkeepers International (PAII)
Editor-in-Chief
Stacey Bleistein
Production Coordinator
Laura Middleton
Editorial Staff
Laura Middleton, Stacey Bleistein, Karen Hudgeons, Jeanine Zeman
Editorial Suggestions and Contributions
Editorial comments and suggestions are welcomed. In addition, if you have
a suggestion or would like to contribute news and announcements for
INNfo, please contact INNfo’s Editor-in-Chief, Stacey
Bleistein, at 856.310.1102 or stacey@paii.org.
Advertising Rates &
Information
Weekly sponsorship ads are available. Please send all inquiries to Marlene
Sapir at marlene@paii.org or 856.310.1102.
MC/VISA/AMEX/DISCOVER accepted.
Editorial Offices
c/o PAII
207 White Horse Pike
Haddon Heights, NJ 08035
Phone: 856.310.1102 • Fax: 856.310.1105
membership@paii.org • www.paii.org
Title Image Courtesy of Jumping Rocks