April 15, 2015

Continued - Building guest loyalty for your B&B
”ev Davis and Rick Litchield, who have been innkeepers for more than years, go a step further with their frequent
-visitor program at The Captain Lord Mansion in Kennebunkport, Maine. “s Litchield explains, We provide gifts of
increasing value to each guest couple at every ifth visit to the inn. On their tenth visit to the inn, they are honored
with an engraved [paving] brick in what we call our Memory Garden.
The garden adjoins the guest entrance of the inn, and has a beautiful fountain with radiating walkways. Since inaugurating
the program in , the innkeepers have awarded more than engraved bricks to returning guests, so that
the walkways are now nearly illed with names of repeat visitors. We have been amazed at how much of an inducement
this program is for building repeat traic, Litchield says. Once guests have come to the inn several times,
they really seem to strive for the brick!
In , the inn celebrated the th visit of a guest couple by naming the fountain itself for them. Many other couples
have stayed at the inn or more times. Litchield says that the program is the single most successful thing we have
done in our years as innkeepers.
Think about the guests who come to your ”&” and what might make them return. What could YOU do to promote
more loyalty among them?
Contributed by: Lisa Westlake Chen,
Bedandbreakfast.com and Homeaway
htp://www.bedandbreakfast.com and htp://www.homeaway.com
W. Fifth Street, Suite , Austin, TX
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