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. 

A Completely Uneducated Biased View of Distribution Channels

Ok so I'm writing a blog here. This means that, according to my blog mentor, David Meerman Scott, what I write doesn't necessarily have to be fact. Blogs are not fact-based like journalism (should be!), they are just opinions, like people talking in the pub. If you don't agree with someone's opinion in the pub (as long as they aren't too big and scary!) you would tell them wouldn't you?

So here's my opinion of distribution channels for hotels. None of it is fact, it's just what I think and could most probably be wrong (it isn't though!)

I won't name any particular channels but if you run a hotel you will know who I mean. They sell rooms for you online, at a cheap rate, and charge outrageous commission for doing so - the hotel loses 50% on the room in some cases!

They do this by using their brand name and SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) methods to get you up to the top of the list in Google. 

There are two ways of looking at this kind of activity. The channels would like you to believe that some money is better than no money. Without them you won't sell the room, so you may as well take the hit rather than miss out completely.

Another way to look at it is this - the distribution channels are completely monopolizing the internet like a mafia gang would do with a city's drug trade. They make it an unfair playing ground by being so large and not allowing you access to your customer base. Because they have a million hotels on their books in your area, they will always come up first when people search.

It's a bit like what's ruined and 'globalized' every town in the UK. Shopping centres. Big companies buy huge spaces and charge extortionate rates for global names to sell their over-priced wares in. Meanwhile the small shop owner gets put out of business. 

The small shop owner has three choices. He either pays the extortionate rates and tries to make a go of it, competing in the shopping centre with larger names. He does the best he can to market his shop and attract people out of the centre, or he goes out of business and lets them win.

Let's take this back to the internet and with distribution channels for hotels. Thanks to the world of social media the web now has no walls and the shopping centre is wide open. Everyone can reach their customers directly with Twitter, Facebook etc and the boundaries of technical know-how are behind us.

So why are hotels still using the distribution channels to sell rooms and paying their extortionate rates?

Educate me please.

paul@bedandbreakfastclub.co.uk

 

 

Energy Savers - How to Save Money and the Planet

'It's not easy being green' may have been Kermit's sorry mantra but it's not the B&B Clubs! Going green isn't all that difficult and can be kind to your bottom line! Here are some great green products to save you money, all typed in lovely green ink..

 

Put Out the Red Light

Figures from the Energy Saving Trust show that VCRs, DVDs and TVS left on standby cost British households £282 million and produce 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 every year.

First seen on BBC 2s Dragon’s Den, the Standby Saver cuts all standby power, by detecting when an appliance is switched off.

For £22, the six-socket extension claims to save the average home £43 a year. Payback time – six months.

http://www.thestandbysaver.co.uk

 

Wonder Wash Balls

The bulk of evidence out there suggests we should be using Eco Balls for every day use. Not only are they chemical-free and environmentally friendly, but could save around 85% compared to brand leading washing powders.

Place three eco-balls in your washing machine and for just £29.99 the makers claim they will last for 1000 washes.

http://www.ecoballsdirect.co.uk/

Heat Spreader

This Radiator Booster uses a small fan to draw heat from a standard radiator, gently distribute it into the room and warm it faster. The result is a saving on lost energy and a reduction in heating bills.

The maker’s claim an average household saving of between £70 and £140 per year.

£19.99 

http://www.radiatorbooster.co.uk/test.html

Precision Boiling

Every time we brew up we boil on average twice the water needed. Which means twice as much energy and twice as much time.

The ECO Kettle has an internal reservoir that holds a full capacity of water ready for use. Simply turn the control knob to select the required number of cups.

Tea for two, or three. Precisely.

£30.00

http://www.ecokettle.com/

Supreme Shower Power

This shower head boasts a turbine vane innovation which drives water in cloud burst releases, harnessing the physical properties of water drops like no other. But you don’t need to know the science bit!

According to the Norwegian makers an average shower head releases 19 litres per minute. Using Nordic the release is just nine litres per minute.

£44.99

http://www.nordicecoshower.co.uk/

 

Water Hungry Hippo

If your toilet was installed before 2001 then it could be flushing away nine litres per visit. Toilet’s fitted today only use six. Instead of fitting a new toilet, install a Hippo Water Saver and you could reduce flush volume by up to three litres.

Three litres at 10 flushes a day = 30 litres a day!

£7.99 

http://www.hippo-the-watersaver.co.uk/

Super Sucker

This PerformAir bagless upright vacuum cleaner by Morphy Richards is part of their awesome energy saving range. It is light, and easy to carry and has a unique pivot point that is further back than on most vacuums, so can access hard-to-reach places.

Its 1000W low energy motor delivers the same performance as a 2000W motor, but without the running costs.

£78.99 

http://www.morphyrichards.co.uk/ProductDetail.aspx?Product=73383

 

 

USB Kidding?

 

These batteries can be used like any other normal battery, only they can be recharged by plugging into a USB port.

What did we do before computers? They’ll be walking the dog next.

 

http://www.usbcell.com/