Slovenia Uncovered - The Country and its B&Bs - We'll go if we win!

With just over two million people, Slovenia is a tiny country, but for one so small it offers a vast diversity of landscape. And with prices from 16 euros a night, it could be certainly worth a visit! (Only If England win...)

Slovenia is an independent republic bordering Italy, Austria, Hungary and Croatia. The best-known and most visited part of the country is the short (47 km) but important Adriatic coastline. This region has a Mediterranean type of climate with mild winters and warm, sunny summers. With around 40% of the country’s land mass being elevated, the temperature inland is much cooler being more akin to Austria.

Slovenia is one of the greenest countries in the world with more than half of its total area covered in forest. In recent years it has become Europe's activities playground.

Staying in Slovenia’s chain hotels can be a little expensive with prices from 90 euros a night, (£75) however with a good bit of web research you can find some excellent independents that range from a mind-blowing 16 euros, which at the current rate is £13 -  fantastic! http://users.volja.net/jpapler/papler_gb.html%200">This B&B in the village of Naklo looks a great place to de-stress and for that price it's cheaper than living at home!

Other interesting points in Slovenia are Triglav National Park, with lakes Bled and Bohinj. This superb guesthouse in Triglav Park is priced from 18 euros a night and offers a range of activities from fishing and skiing to mini golf.  You can't expect 5 * luxury but you can expect wonderful scenery.

Staying in the capital, Ljubljana costs around 60 euros a night in summer (£50) which is amazing value for a City. Imagine finding a bed and breakfast for that price in London. Petra Varl has some excellent reviews on Trip Advisor.

Quick Factfile

Capital Ljubljana

Famous for hiking and skiing, Lake Bled

Official language Slovene

Phrases dober dan (hello); živijo (hi); prosim (please); hvala (thank you); oprostite (excuse me); nasvidenje (goodbye)

Population 2.018 million

Size 20,273 sq km (0.2% of Europe’s total land mass)

Informative film with beautiful Euro pop

Does this look like paradise or what? Amazing place…

The awe-inspiring lake bed

Never get Slovenia mixed up with Slovakia or this girl will come for you!

England has 25 times the population of Slovenia - 48 million more people. A bit more pressure for our boys! Hope we can do it!

Why Online B&B Promotional Videos Are a Terrible Idea

The gaudy music, cheesy voice over’s and awkward one-liners. All reasons why you shouldn’t let anyone talk you into a promotional video.

They are really awful aren’t they? I’ve seen countless promo videos, made by so-called ‘production companies’ (who actually charge to make these things!) and 95% of them are as dull as a ditch full of dull ditch water.  

A wooden voice reading a script, along with an IMovie music track and zooming in and out shots just don’t convey any kind of personality or distinctiveness to potential guests. As a B&B owner your USP is you, not the bricks and mortar.

So what to do? How does one present a video that will stand out in the online world without coming across like some kind of hotel chain B&B?

The answer is simple and will only cost a free night stay.

Get a friend to film their visit.

We all know someone who knows someone who is into film editing. Offer them a free night for a short video of their stay.  

Post the video stating that it ‘s a video one of your guests has made. This is completely true, it is a guest video.

I guarantee that something made by a guest will get more visits than a promo video. Viewers won’t expect anything of particularly high quality but will be looking for A) the quirky amateur feel and B) an unpolished view of your B&B.

We are so used to seeing professional productions on TV; that an amateur film makes for a refreshing change.

The secret to making these kind of videos work is to give them a focus. Something else of added value to fill the piece out a little and add more interest. The big local event would be perfect.

 

Here’s an example of a video sequence from my fictional B&B

Scene 1

Guest arriving at B&B and having a good look around before putting their bags in room.

Scene 2

Guest at Local cheese festival tasting lots of cheese and local beers.

Scene 3

Guest at B&B speaking to me about how and why I set up the B&B in an informal manner.

Scene 4

Guest sets up camera on tripod in dining room and films breakfast being served. Then makes lots of nice appreciative noises of beautiful breakfast and says he would recommend staying at my B&B.

Simple, fun and effective. 

Below is my video of a gothic B&B in Whitby. The owners weren’t keen to be on camera so I took the local sunset boat trip to add a little extra value, and also because I like sunsets. Admittedly it’s about as amateur as it gets and the sound is awful, but it sure beats a hotel promo video.

Paul@bedandbreakfastclub.co.uk

Sell Your Area - Even The Rubbish Bits!

I was on my way to work this morning and there were some foreign tourists on the train. I’m not sure where they were from but they were very excited.

They were laughing and taking lots of pictures and having fun. When we arrived at Stockport they got off and each posed for photos in front of Branson’s Virgin logo.

I get on that train every day and have never been excited like them. I barely even look up from my Blackberry!

This got me thinking, which doesn’t happen very often… The mundane things around us, that we take advantage of, others from far away lands may find very appealing.

And now we have this tool. ‘The Internets’, as my colleague Gavin likes to call it; we can reach the far away places and tell them all about our mundane things!

You may have a list of top tourist destinations on your website (if you haven’t you should have) but I ask you to re-visit and really have a long hard think about what may interest others that you have missed.

If you are affiliated with a distribution channel, think about the areas where they are distributing your B&B and what the locals there might fancy in your area.

If tourists are coming from Switzerland for a watch convention, be the source of information on local watches. With blogs you can be anything you want to be. 

You can’t provide too much information about local attractions.  By becoming the area's messiah you both increase your hits on Google and become a trusted source of information, so therefore a trusted accommodation provider.

I can hear you now saying , ‘Sod off telling us to do things, I've got the beds to sort out!’ Here's an answer… Contact the local College/University's marketing lecturer. Ask if any of their students would be keen to write a tourism blog about the area, linked to your Bed & Breakfast.

The students will relish the work experience and provide good content (with assistance from their lecturer) and your business will benefit.