INNfo
Tuesday, June
26, 2007
Volume 2, Issue 25
PAII
News & Announcements:
Members Receive Innkeeping Quarterly (IQ)
Our new four-color magazine, Innkeeping Quarterly (IQ) has
been mailed to all members so be sure to look for it! IQ was mailed in
bulk, so please allow some time for delivery. However, if you do not receive
your copy by the end of this week please email Laura
Middleton at laura@paii.org and she
will forward another copy. You won't want to miss
it!
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PAII
Membership Minutes:
Spring Business Survey, 2007 PAII Convention Success Story, &
2007 PAII Convention CDs on Sale until June 30th
Spring Business Survey
Would you like to know how your spring business compared to other
inns across the country? Just click on the link below before July 10th
and complete a 5 minute anonymous survey. The results will be posted in
INNfo so you can gauge your business against other PAII members
nationally, this year versus last year. It's important for all of us to
know how the industry is doing as a whole so please participate!
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=oRktgdOuZeHZLaEvgKJK8g_3d_3d
2007 PAII Convention Success Story
"I learned that I have much more to learn about converting incoming
calls into room nights from Don Farrell, presenter of It's No Mystery:
Converting Callers to Guests. Both Dan Brown and I took action by hiring
Don and having him come to work directly with our staffs. He spent an
entire day with the front line staff of The Inn at the Round Barn and
the nearby Swift House Inn, and we are both taking advantage of his services.
Just today one of my staff was the subject of a mystery shop call. After
the call, the trainer called back offering feedback as to how we could
have converted the call into more dollars for the inn. It's been great
working with Signature Worldwide, and without attending the 2007 PAII
convention, we would have never made the connection."
- AnneMarie DeFreest, Inn at the Round Barn Farm, VT
2007 PAII Convention CDs on Sale until June 30th
Get the entire PAII Convention on one CD set for only $169.95 (regular
price is $199.95). Listen to sessions you missed and have your staff listen
to sessions as part of their training. This is the only educational product
of its kind on the market: sixty educational sessions on current topics,
tailored specifically to the needs of innkeepers.
To order, go to 2007 Convention CDs. To take advantage of
the special sale price of $169.95 for the entire Convention CD set, enter
a Redeem Code under Discount Coupons during checkout: PAIIDeal.
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PAII
Forum Digest:
Sneaky Credit, & 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.
Sneaky Credit
Just got a "credit card" in the mail from Five Point Capital
which appears to be a bank. The "credit card" has my name and
business name plus instructions on the activation procedure. Very similar
to the instructions a credit card has. Difference is the card does not
have a magnetic strip. This prompted me to read the verbiage which the
card was stuck to. Turns out that this is a leasing company not a bank
and clearly states that the card is not a credit card.
Separate LLCs to Own Property and B&B Business
We are considering setting up an LLC to own the property and another LLC
to own the B&B business to protect ourselves from potential lawsuits.
Is this necessary or is owning the property in our individual names with
an LLC business sufficient protection? Creating an LLC to own the property
will have significant tax consequences due to capital gains on the value
of the property.
Warning! Spam/Virus from your Webmaster?
Be on the lookout for e-mails which look like they come from your webmaster/web
hosting company but are actually spam or worse. We received an email with
2 attachments. The email from field was a legit looking address as it
appears in all of our emails. I shudder to think what might have happened
had we clicked on one of the attachments thinking it was safe as it was
from our webmaster. I didn't recognize the email so I checked it out and
found out it was bogus.
Waffle Iron and Mix
I am looking for a self timing waffle iron and mix for my guests to use
something simple and safe. If anyone has any source for something of that
sort, please contact.
Kudos to PAII Staff for "IQ" Premier Edition
Words evade me, trying to express appreciation and admiration for this
first issue. Layout-outstanding. Words from PAII Chair, Debbie Mosimann.
Inspirational article on Ellen Chenaux ("Yes You Can"). Another
on Ray and Kris Rosset (Mixing B& B with a Marriage). Featuring a
state association, North Carolina Bed and Breakfasts and Inns (how important
our state associations are). Several articles on food-with recipes (highlighting
"culinary tourism"). An article explaining Select Registry,
about which we often wondered, "Should we, or should we not?"
And finally, a really super article about marketing our web site by Scott
Seaman. Thanks PAII staff for an outstanding job. Keep up the good work.
OpenList.com
Marchex operates a website openlist.com which is a local guide that includes
comments and reviews from across the Web. Someone who had never seen or
visited our property put up a misleading and malicious review on Trip
Advisor. Trip Advisor subsequently removed that review.
Marchex should have removed it as well. Over the past several months we
have repeatedly attempted to contact Marchex to get the situation corrected.
Our emails have gone unanswered.
Spa Services on Premises
We are looking at converting one of our rooms to spa services. We have
talked to an owner of a spa in a different city, she is in more of a resort
type, and we are in a city with 400,000 and are located in an urban area.
We have offered packages with massages through one of the local spas.
We have had a few takers on the massages not a lot. In our conversations
with her she suggested we package all our rooms with a massage on the
weekends and during the week as an addition to the room. Has anyone done
this, any other ideas?
PAII Conference Location Question
Who decides where the conference is going to be held from year to year?
Does PAII ask the membership in a survey for preferred locations?
Aspiring Innkeeper Seeks Shadowing Opportunity
Do you have a small inn? An eco-groovy inn? If any current innkeepers
are open to it, I would interested in coming out to your inn and spending
some time helping out to learn firsthand about being an innkeeper. I have
a flexible schedule an am willing to pay my travel costs and my personal
expenses while there. I would love this kind of opportunity.
Wood Burning Furnaces
It "seems like an eternal" quest to find the right property.
We came across a B&B that uses an outdoor wood furnace to heat their
house. What is really interesting is it sits outside, burns up to 5 ft
lengths of wood, in dead of VT winter, needs to be stoked about once a
day (every few days as the weather warms up). She said it burns really
clean too—not a lot of dust that most wood heat brings. Anyway thought
if people were looking to replace their heating systems might be worth
looking at.
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PAII
Food Feature:
Iced Coffee Slush from WelshSpirit Coffee Company
Let us feature a recipe from your inn!
Please send your submission (and a photo of the dish if available) to
Laura@paii.org.
Linda J. Welsh, Founder / Owner, of WelshSpirit Coffee Company
(www.RabbitsRunJava.com)
offers this recipe for Iced Coffee Slush. You can keep this coffee in
the freezer and serve anytime. Yields 12 servings
Ingredients:
3 cups hot strong brewed coffee
1 ½ - 2 cups sugar
4 cups milk
2 cups half and half
1 ½ tsp. vanilla extract
Directions:
- In a freezer-safe bowl, stir coffee and sugar until sugar is dissolved.
- Refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.
- Add the milk, cream and vanilla.
- Freeze. (Freeze in smaller containers so you don't have to thaw it all
at once.)
- Remove from the freezer several hours before serving.
- Chop mixture until slushy, serve immediately.
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PAII
Pointer:
Guests with Allergies
For
those guests with allergies and asthma conditions, minimize the number
of toss pillows to decorate the bed. They collect a lot of dust and allergens.
Also, when cleaning use natural, unscented cleaning products—along
with natural alternatives such as baking soda and vinegar.
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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
Laura Middleton
Production Coordinator
Laura Middleton
Editorial Staff
Laura Middleton, 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, Laura Middleton,
at 856.310.1102 or Laura@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
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