PAII newsletter November 2015

Executive Director‘s Welcome
November 2015
“It’s déjà vu all over again” is one of my favorite Yogi Berra mangled quotations.
And, it’s so applicable as I’ve just wrapped up a successful multi-state innkeeper conference
and now continue the planning of another multi-state/province/noncontinental
US conference…our PAII Innkeeping Show in Austin TX. Innkeepers in
the Midwest attended sessions from top tech trends, solving marketing challenges,
OTA’s, PMS, to aerial virtual tours (think ‘drones’) and napkin & towel folding.
You’ll choose from like topics and more in January!
Do you say “I do” to hosting weddings at your inn? If you do – or want to – our
Weddings track is what you need to please every bride and mother-of-the-bride!
Our expert wedding planning resource is The Knot, with the #1 wedding planning
website, they’re nation's leading wedding resource and reach nearly every couple in
America. In their survey of 16,000 brides (2014 weddings), these trends caught our
eye:
PERSONALIZATION IS ON THE RISE, INCLUDING CHANGES IN
VENUES: Couples are showing their unique style by choosing unexpected places to wed. Since 2009, historic buildings/homes
and farm venues have grown in popularity. Historic buildings/homes make up 14% in 2014, compared with
only 12% in 2009, and farms make up 6% in 2014, up from 3% in 2009. While banquet halls (22%), country clubs (11%)
and hotels (11%) are still popular options for couples, about 40% are looking for unusual venues that better reflect
their personality.
COUPLES ARE SPENDING MORE ON THEIR RECEPTION ELEMENTS, AND LESS ON THEIR
CEREMONY.
Spending is on the rise across reception categories, and couples are spending more on their catering, musicians and cake in
2014. Spending for cocktail hours also rose to 76% from 69% in 2010. Couples are spending less on the ceremony. In
2014, 33% of couples hired pianists and organists for their ceremony, down from 49% in 2009, and 28% of couples held
their ceremony in a religious institution, down from 41% in 2009.
We also note: the average number of guests has declined to 136 … while the overall budget has increased to an average of
$31,213.
All indications are weddings and B&Bs are the perfect match…the PAII conference is the perfect opportunity to get to
know the weddings business before you commit!
‘see you in Austin!
Kris Ullmer, PAII Executive Director
Professional Association of Innkeepers International (PAII)
295 Seven Farms Drive, Suite 236-C
Charleston, SC 29492 Phone: (856) 310-1102
http://www.innkeeping.org

HACKED: How Innkeepers Become Sitting Ducks…
This post is designed to educate all Innkeepers about the HACKING of Bed and Breakfast Websites throughout the US
and Canada. Acorn Internet Services Hosted Websites are NOT AFFECTED by this current incident.
A short story, if I may …. Once Upon a Time… In a land not so far away, I met a representative of the Oregon Bed and Breakfast Association at the
2015 PAII conference in New Orleans. This representative invited me to speak at the OBBG conference in March 2015, and there I met a variety of
Innkeepers.
At that time, a few of these Innkeepers had hired a vendor in our industry to build them new WordPress web sites. During my session, and in oneon-one
meetings at the OBBG conference, I cautioned Innkeepers that they needed to be very, very careful about their hosting company, and to
make sure that any and all WordPress security patches and Plug-In patches their webmaster had programmed into their websites were being made in
a timely manner.
Fast forward to today. My crystal ball was working overtime, because as you can see on
the map, Oregon Inns, many of which attended my sessions at the OBBG conference in
March, are in the count of those having been Hacked, along with many other inns across
the US and Canada that are all using the same hosting company with the same IP address.
So, how do you know if you’ve been hacked?
1) Check your Google Console (assuming it’s been installed) you might have a message.
2) Use Google’s parameter Site: to see if you have any infected pages.
3) Look for a Blue Line Error message on your Google results “This site may be
hacked.”
4) Look for a Blue Line Error message in your Google results “This site may harm your
computer.”
5) Contact a reputable industry provider, and pay for consulting assistance.
Why should you care if you’ve been hacked?
If Google detects that you are not repairing your
HACKED website, over time they will ultimately remove
you from their SERPS (Search Engine Result
Pages). Of course, you will still be accessible from your
Directory listings, but as that Google is your number 1
Search Engine provider, and is typically in the Top 3 of
all your referrers, losing that amount of Google traffic
will ultimately cause a loss of income.
Also keep in mind that once Google displays the “This
site may be hacked.” message on your Google listing,
your guests are going to see this message and become
Very Leery of clicking on your website. If you have
been Hacked, they will likely not to want to have anything
to do with booking a room on your web site. If
you are lucky, you might get a phone call instead, but
either way, you are going to be losing business due to
the guest’s perception regarding the safety of clicking
on your web site, when it says in Google “This site may
be hacked.”

How can you do your best to prevent being Hacked?
1) First and foremost, hire a quality and industry proven web developer.
Unwise coding practices and poor plug-in selection is an open door to
Hackers.
2) Second, choose a hosting company that is going to MANAGE your
site, not just STORE it on some server out on the web. Managing your
web site should include:
a) Installation of Plug-in Security Patches and updates as available.
b) Installation of WordPress Security Patches and updates when available.
c) Login Limitations installed on the Server so Hackers cannot try thousands
of passwords at any one time.
3) Third, know what you are, and are not paying for. If you didn’t contract
to have your hosting company manage your site, as we’ve described
in number 2 above, it becomes your responsibility to guard
against Hackers all on your own.
Moral of the Story?
Education is Key! Choose your Web Design and Hosting Company
based on performance, references and quality due diligence. You want
to reduce the risk of having your website Hacked. Yes, it is possible for
any server on the web to be subject to Hackers. But taking preventative
precautions to make it difficult for Hackers to get into your site can definitely
be a strong deterrent, though not always 100% guaranteed.
Bottom line, being hacked just isn’t worth the loss in revenue, loss of
customer loyalty, possible ongoing issues with future Google placement,
and the overall headache and pain to get the site repaired and to keep it
clean, if it could have been prevented in the first place.
Follow Up
It is my intent to visit with these Innkeepers after they have had their
web presence repaired from these Hackers to see what type of “loss of
business” ramifications occurred during this time. And also to see if the
cheaper hosting and design plans were really worth it in the end. My
guess is, they will have lost more money in lost business, and their reputations,
than they would have spent to build and host their sites on a
more secure environment in the first place.
Finally, many thanks to the following state and national associations
for helping me to reach out to these various Innkeepers to let them know
they have been Hacked.
• The Washington Bed and Breakfast Guild
• Oregon Bed and Breakfast Guild
• Minnesota Bed and Breakfast Association
• Wisconsin Bed & Breakfast Association
• Michigan Lake to Lake B&B Association
• Professional Association of Innkeepers International
• Select Registry
Contributed by: Acorn Internet Services
http://acorn-is.com

THANK YOU!!!
Thank you so much to the vendors who
have taken time to do webinars with
PAII, we very much appreciate the time
spent this year so far, both speaking at
the webinars and answering questions as
well as the time it takes to put together
such informational presentations!!
Acorn Internet
http://acorn-is.com
Cloudbeds
https://www.cloudbeds.com
BedandBreakfast.com
http://www.bedandbreakfast.com
Little Hotelier
http://www.littlehotelier.com
LivingSocial
https://www.livingsocial.com
Legare, Bailey and Hinske, LLC
http://lbhcpas.com
Q4Launch
http://q4launch.com
Rez Stream
http://www.rezstream.com
WebDirexion
http://webdirexion.com

Association Corner
Recommended Reading:
7 Measures of Success: What Remarkable Associations Do That Others Don’t
by ASAE and The Center for Association Leadership
Some organizations perform better than others, despite facing comparable opportunities
and circumstances, says Jim Collins, best-selling author of Good to
Great and Built to Last, in his foreword to 7 Measures of Success. He goes on to
say that, every association can deliver better results to its members. And that
was the intent behind the rigorous multiyear study carried out by the ASAE and
The Center for Association Leadership: to identify the factors that set great associations
apart from the rest. Using the matched-pair research methodology pioneered
by Jim Collins and his partner Jerry Porras, the research group compared
15 years worth of data from nine pairs of associations to uncover seven commitments
consistently honored by the great associations that set them apart from the
merely good:
• A customer service culture
• Alignment of products and services with mission
• Data-driven strategies
• Dialogue and engagement
• CEO as a broker of ideas
• Organizational adaptability
• Alliance building.
With the purpose of providing readers guidance and inspiration to reach new heights, the book presents the research on
these seven factors with stories, data, and analysis. The result is a thorough-going exploration of what it takes to make a
good association into a great one.
Recommended Blogs to Check Out:
Meetings Memo, a Warm Welcome for Conference Attendees
http://associationsnow.com/2015/10/warm-welcome-conference-attendees/
All Aboard the Social Media Bandwagon (page 30)
http://digital.associationnews.com//launch.aspx?eid=b74ab952-632b-4ff5-86c2-83a6f9e2b2c6
Association Surveys that Score
http://associationsnow.com/2015/10/association-surveys-that-score/
4 Reasons Why You Need a Volunteer Onboarding Process
http://www.wildapricot.com/blogs/newsblog/2015/04/23/4-reasons-why-you-need-avolunteer-onboarding-process

A Message from Tripadvisor
(We are sharing this in case you missed it)
I am writing to you today to explain how we at TripAdvisor are tackling a challenge facing our industry, and to let you know how you
can help.
We are aware of individuals, often masquerading as legitimate companies, who contact business owners in an attempt to solicit money
from them. They do so with the false promise that they can manipulate the rankings on TripAdvisor and other online review platforms,
either through the submission of positive reviews or the removal of negative reviews. Some companies go so far as to claim to
have an official relationship with TripAdvisor.
These groups are known as optimization companies and their practices are wholly contrary to the spirit and terms of our site, are unethical
and often against the law. We believe these optimization companies pose a risk to millions of legitimate, honest hospitality
businesses around the world. To be absolutely clear, no optimization company is or will ever be affiliated with TripAdvisor, and the
practice of submitting any content that is not genuine and from travelers goes against everything we stand for as a company. Our entire
Content Integrity Team is dedicated to ensuring that all properties on TripAdvisor compete on a level playing field, driven solely
by the services they provide to our travelers.
TripAdvisor will take the strongest action possible against these firms, as well as any property attempting to engage with these companies
to distort the content available on TripAdvisor. It is common that owners have reported that once they engaged with these types
of companies, they have been subjected to blackmail, extortion and financial fraud when they have tried to disengage from their services.
Once you violate the law, you no longer have the protection of it – and the unscrupulous individuals involved in the optimization
industry know it.
The good news is that we’re very effective at catching them. Our investigation team uses advanced technology and investigation techniques
similar to those used in the banking and finance industries to track the activity of optimization companies all across the globe.
TripAdvisor has a zero tolerance for fraud, in fact; so far in 2015 we identified, investigated and shut down more than 30 optimization
sites, and will continue to pursue these companies until they are no longer a risk to our community.
We are tireless in our efforts because we know that, like us, most hospitality business owners want a clean system that allows every
business to compete fairly. But we also know that with your help, we could be even more effective in shutting-down these businesses.
This is where you come in.
If you have been approached or contacted by a company offering to boost your ranking, provide content or reviews to your listing or
any activity that would violate TripAdvisor’s policies, we would like to hear from you. Any information you provide, no matter how
minor, can assist us in our investigations. All reports should be made to our Content Integrity team and will be investigated and kept
confidential. With your help, we can continue to improve the service TripAdvisor provides to travelers.
To report an optimization company or contact from such companies, owners may utilize the functionality within the TripAdvisor
owner center by selecting “Report Organized Boosting” under the “Manage Your Reviews” tab on your dashboard. Additionally you
can report an incident through email at fightfraud@tripadvisor.com.
When reporting information about contact with optimization companies please include as much information as possible and attach any
email or solicitation received to assist our investigation team who will review every report received by our community. Thank you for
your assistance.
Kind regards, Steve Kaufer CEO TripAdvisor

PAII Innkeeping Conference & Hospitality Marketing Summit
and Trade Show Schedule
January 10, SUNDAY … all sessions at the Palmer Event Center, Austin TX
9-5 Aspiring Innkeeper Seminar
Financing, valuation, regulations, ADA, insurance, business plan, PMS / web basics, lifestyle … we’ll answer your
questions, raise questions, and provide the tools you’ll need to evaluate and explore the business of Innkeeping.
9-5 Taking WordPress to the next level – Trent & Kristen Blizzard (add’l fee)
3-7 Association Leaders’ Seminar
January 11, MONDAY
Opening Keynote (morning): Katherine Lugar, President and Chief Executive Officer of the American Hotel &
Lodging Association (AH&LA).
We’ve invited Ms Lugar to open our Innkeeping conference, and we realize you may be asking: what issues do
B&B Inns – small, independently owned properties – have in common with hotel properties? Both PAII and
AH&LA have the shared mission of education, advocacy, and communication. AH&LA currently represents nearly
2.5 million rooms, and serves as the sole national association representing all segments of the U.S. lodging industry.
Here’s a sampling of our shared issues:
• Level the playing field within the lodging sector: short term online rental companies, like Airbnb, should not be
able to skirt local, state, and federal tax and regulatory laws that protect consumers and support communities.
• Tax Parity: Online Travel Companies (OTCs) often fail to remit the appropriate level of occupancy taxes because
they calculate the amount owed based on the wholesale rate they pay to hotels, rather than on the retail rate
paid by consumers. This approach costs state and local governments significant sums of revenue.
• Extreme local wage initiatives hurt our industry and our ability to create jobs and grow the economy. Further,
increases that are too high and too fast negatively affect the jobs of the people they are purported to help.
• Tourism promotion: Critical to generating and maintaining this growth has been—and will be—continued focus
on increasing the flow of foreign visitors to the United States.
PAII and AH&LA can be stronger together, a collective and amplified voice on behalf of each innkeeper throughout
the country.
• 12:00 – 3:00 Hospitality Marketing Summit (HMS)
Acorn Internet Services and White Stone Marketing have joined forces to create the Hospitality Marketing Summit.
Their faculty is focused on improving your bottom line – through technological innovation, marketing trends, and all
the tips and tricks you need to elevate your business.

PAII Innkeeping Conference & Hospitality Marketing Summit
and Trade Show Schedule Continued…..
During the 3 HMS blocks of time, inn marketing topics will be explored via two tracks: the Executive track provides
high-level concepts for owners and managers, and the Technology Track provides the how-to’s and hands-on training
for Innkeepers and marketing Do-It-Yourselfers.
• 1:30 – 2:45 Break Out Sessions (non-tech marketing topics)
• 3:00 TRADE SHOW OPENS
• 5:30 – 7:00 TRADE SHOW Welcome Reception
Dinner out on the town on your own
g
January 12, TUESDAY
• 8:00 – 8:30 General Session
• 8:30 – 11:30 Hospitality Marketing Summit (HMS)
The Executive & Technology track presentations continue
• 8:45 – 10:00 Break Out Sessions
• 10:15 – 11:30 Break Out Sessions
• 11:30 – 3:30 TRADE SHOW & LUNCH
• 3:30 – 5:45 Hospitality Marketing Summit (HMS)
The Executive & Technology track presentations continue
• 3:30 – 4:30 Break Out Sessions
• 4:45 - 5:45 Break Out Sessions
• 6:30 – ? PARTY & ENTERTAINMENT
Remember “Family Feud”? While there’s no feuding involved tonight, we’ll play the game innkeeping-style: what’s
the most left-behind item? the most broken rule? the most common excuse for cancelling? …
‘
January 13, WEDNESDAY
• 8:00 – 10:00 General Session
• 10:15 – 11:30 Break Out Sessions
• 11:30 – 3:30 TRADE SHOW & LUNCH (Trade Show closes at 3:30)
• 3:30 – 4:30 Break Out Sessions
• 4:45 – 5:45 Break Out Sessions
• 6:30 – ? Dinner out on the town on your own
h
January 14, THURSDAY
• 8:00 – 10:00 General Session
• 10:15 – 11:30 Break Out Sessions
• ADJOURN … Explore Austin!
1919 Barn wedding venue at Justin
Trails B&B, WI
Intimate ceremony at
OH Hanson House B&B, WI

PAII Innkeeping Conference & Hospitality Marketing Summit
and Trade Show Schedule Continued…..
We’ll begin featuring breakout session topics with these:
Work Smarter & Grow Your Business Using Your Whole Brain
Improve teamwork and increase sales with a better understanding of how people think, process information and
make decisions. You’ll play an entertaining game based on the noted HBDI instrument used worldwide for 25 years.
Explore your thinking/working style, understand and recognize other styles, create strategies to improve communication,
teamwork and customer relations and learn to mitigate difficult situations and improve your closing ratio.
Then, create a plan to use what you learned to increase your team’s harmony/productivity, your guest relations and
sales success.
Elevate Your Game and Get Rave Reviews
See your guest experience from their point of view – and identify the key touchpoints that make or break their absolute
satisfaction. Map your customer experience, assess your service delivery/consistency at key points, and create a
plan for process improvements. You’ll take away your own improvement plan to create raving fans and customers
for life.
A quick review of conference registration options:
1. PAII Member Conference Registration EARLY RATE thru November 30 is
$349.00 (USD) You may register additional attendees from your inn for $199
2. Conference Registration Non-Member – $599.00 (USD)
We welcome you to the 2016 PAII Conference! You qualify for this rate as
you do not wish to be a PAII member at this time.
3. WORDPRESS Website Seminar SUNDAY 9-5 – $195.00 (USD)
(limit 25) Take your WordPress Website to the next level.
4. Future Innkeeper Seminar 9-5 Sunday – $169.00 (USD)
Considering an Innkeeping career? Our faculty of experienced innkeepers
and industry professionals present business, marketing, lifestyle, and industry
insight essentials.
5. Association Leaders' Seminar 3-7 Sunday (no fee for this session)
Executive Directors, Elected leaders, and Staff, this is your opportunity to
share & discover what works / what doesn’t at B&B / Inn Associations
whether regional or state based.
Register: http://www.innkeepingshow.com/attendee-registration

Are you a member with news,
helpful information,
ideas and recipes to share?
Please send your articles to
marketing@paii.org
Deadline is the 10th of every
month. Photos welcomed!*
*Please make sure photos are yours or
you have permission to use.
2016 Innkeeping Conference & Trade Show
Austin, Texas January 10 – 14, 2016
Palmer Events Center, 900 Barton Springs Road, Austin, Texas
http://www.palmereventscenter.com
PAII has put together a list of area lodging options at
http://www.innkeepingshow.com/lodging-information
We look forward to seeing you in Austin!

Interested in
advertising in
the monthly
newsletter?
Please send
inquiries to
Marketing
@paii.org

One month left to submit!!!……Contests!!!!!!
PAII members looking to stretch their chops at their photography skills and/or get competitive in the kitchen,
have we got a contest for you! Enter one (or more!) of five categories for best photography and/or best recipes
and the winners will be featured in the Winter issue of Innkeeping Magazine Quarterly!
For Our Winter Innkeeping
Now Magazine
Best Exterior Picture-Holiday Wreaths
Best Interior Photo-Holiday Decorations
Best Photo-Desserts
Get out your cameras, your smart phones,
and get ready to rumble! Questions? Email
marketing@paii.org
Rules for the Photo contests can be
found at
http://paiiinnkeepers.blogspot.com/2015/09/paiiphoto-contest-for-our-winter.html
This is great FREE publicity for your inn, take
advantage of it!
ALL contestants will be featured in the monthly newsletters as
well as their photos and recipes (with credit) posted on PAII’s
Facebook, Twitter and Google+ pages.
Each photo will be judged by an independent, team of
professional photographers.
The deadline for the last round of recipes and
photos will be December 15, 2015
Gwenn Eyer, Innkeeper
Blessings on State
Bed & Breakfast
www.BlessingsOnState.com
Joyce & Frank Stewart, Innkeepers
The Richmond Victorian Inn
www.richmondvictorianinn.com
Inn photo credit to goes to Paul O. Boisvert

B&B Jokes
Mary Poppins was travelling home but, due to worsening weather, she decided
to stop at a hotel for the night. She approached the receptionist and
asked for a room for the night. "Certainly madam", he replied courteously.
"Is the restaurant open still?" inquired Mary. "Sorry, no", came the reply,
"but room service is available all night. Would you care to select something
from this menu?" Mary smiled and took the menu and perused it. "Hmm, I
would like cauliflower cheese please", said Mary. "Certainly, madam", he
replied. "And can I have breakfast in bed?" asked Mary politely. The receptionist
nodded and smiled. "In that case, I would love a couple of poached
eggs, please", Mary mused. After confirming the order, Mary signed in and went up to her room for the night.
The night passed uneventfully and the next morning Mary came down early to check out. The same guy was still on the
desk. "Morning madam...sleep well?" "Yes, thank you", Mary replied. "Food to your liking?" "Well, I have to say the
cauliflower cheese was exceptional. I don't think I have had better. Shame about the eggs, though....they really weren't
that nice at all", replied Mary truthfully. "Oh...well, perhaps you could contribute these thoughts to our Guest Comments
Book. We are always looking to improve our service and would value your opinion", said the receptionist. "OK, I
will...thanks!" replied Mary....who checked out and then scribbled a comment into the book. Waving, she left to continue
her journey. Curious, the receptionist picked up the book to see the comment Mary had written:
"Supercauliflowercheesebuteggswerequiteatrocious!" (The Moral of the Story, Mary should have stayed at a B&B!)

Marketing Tip: Don’t Sell the Steak—Sell the Sizzle!
by Margot Hall
You have an opportunity to tell your story… and make it sizzle!
Born at the turn of the 20th century, Elmer Wheeler has long been lauded as the father of persuasion marketing. Known for coming up
with ingenious ways to upsell everything from shaving cream to crude oil, Wheeler has also been credited with coming up with some
of marketing’s most important adages, from “don’t ask if but which” to the concept we will be discussing today “don’t sell the steak—
sell the sizzle!”
If Mr. Wheeler were alive today, he could surely give us countless examples of sizzle. A New Yorker profile on the marketing maven
tells of how he would carry a square clothespin with him to illustrate the “sizzle” behind these everyday household objects. You see,
back in the days of yore, way before clothes driers, clothespins were round and–consequently–more likely to roll under furniture and
far out of reach. Then, in the 1920s, square clothespins entered the scene, and their “sizzle” (the fact that they don’t roll if you drop
them) helped them take over their round counterparts within a matter of years.
So you are a B&B and you serve breakfast…but what’s special about it? Do you make fresh juices? Have a special zucchini
bread recipe that guests keep asking you for? Do you cater to special diets? Source the herbs and veggies used in your kitchen
from an on-site garden?”
At Webdirexion, we believe that a big part of selling sizzle comes down to mastering the art of storytelling. We want you to sell experiences
rather than just rooms, to engage your audience in stories in order to convert them to paying guests. Whether you tell your
story through hotel videos, blog posts, or even just the occasional tweet, it’s important that you develop it in such a way that guests
feel like they are part of it. A good book or movie will have readers or viewers develop an emotional attachment. Your story should be
no different.
How is this relevant to hotels, inns, and B&Bs?
Simply put, the steak is your inn and the sizzle is what guests enjoy about a stay at your property. It’s important that you don’t just
show your property and its features to potential guests (i.e., visitors to your website and social media pages)—to stand out, you must
demonstrate what makes your hotel so special.
Left, the Edenwild Inn sells the
sizzle three ways: at bottom it sells
the romance of weddings and the
fun of outdoor banquets; at middle
right it sells food (literally
sizzling) and includes surrounding
area shots and a video of guests
dancing; and at top it takes the
steak (the physical Inn) and makes
it sizzle with professional lighting
and photography.

Marketing Tip: Don’t Sell the Steak—Sell the Sizzle! Continued…...
Of course, this doesn’t mean that you should neglect giving key facts about your property. Wheeler is quoted as saying “The sizzle
has sold more steaks than the cow ever has, although the cow is, of course, mighty important.” In other words, don’t neglect your
hotel’s key competencies in order to devote more energy to sizzle—rather, use sizzle tactics to strengthen the case for your already
solid property.
Three ways to find your sizzle
Look for seasonal or holiday-related themes that could be relevant to your hotel. Do you light up your property during the holiday
season? Hold Easter egg hunts in the springtime? Does your rooftop terrace provide a prime viewing spot for your city’s 4th of July
fireworks display? Let the world know!
So you are a B&B and you serve breakfast…but what’s special about it? Do you make fresh juices? Have a special zucchini bread
recipe that guests keep asking you for? Do you cater to special diets? Source the herbs and veggies used in your kitchen from an onsite
garden? Think about sharing recipes, food photos, and even just write-ups about what the dining experience at your property is
all about.
How do people experience your inn? Are there any special or unusual features of your property that guests are sure to remember?
Write about them! This could be anything from a sleeping porch to a fireplace in the bathroom to a koi pond. Any features of your
hotel or inn that might make a guest do a double take or blurt out a “how cool!” is prime fodder for sizzle-worthy content.
Contributed by: Webdirexion, LLC
4400 NE 77th Ave. – Suite 275
Vancouver, WA
http://webdirexion.com
Are you a member with news,
helpful information,
ideas and recipes to share?
Please send your articles to
marketing@paii.org
Deadline is the 10th of every month.
Photos welcomed!*
*Please make sure photos are yours or you have
permission to use.

PAII is delighted to welcome Trent
& Kristen Blizzard to the
Innkeeping Show,
for a special seminar!
This full-day seminar on Sunday January 10th is an
additional fee of $195 … their recent well-attended
seminar was offered at four times that – and according to
attendees, worth every cent at that price!
Take Your WordPress Website to the Next Level
Do you want to learn more about how to use
WordPress? Maybe you already have a WordPress
website already and want to learn how to update it?
Or, how to help it rank better in search engines? Maybe
you want to learn more about WordPress so you can build
your own site! In this class, innkeepers will learn how to
manage their WordPress site. Topics include: plugins,
widgets, blogging, media, SEO, security, backup and
more. Special attention will be given towards making
your website more usable by your guests and optimizing it
to rank higher in Google. Trent and Kristen Blizzard will
be teaching the class and providing lots of
one-on-one personalized attention.
Make sure you bring a laptop!
Find PAII online at:
https://www.facebook.com/Innkeeping
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Upcoming Webinars (more dates and topics coming soon!) Free for Members!
Register at http://www.innkeeping.org/?page=webinars (you must login to your account to register)
Wednesday, November 18, 2015, 2:00 PM EST
B&B Photography DIY Tips & Tricks Part One
How you can get good looking food shots with what you already
have to work with. We’ll cover things to consider before and
during your food shooting session, primarily using your smart
phone and available lighting. With the right planning and a
sharp eye, there’s no reason you can’t get some nice photos to
help entice those new visitors.
-Peter Billard Photography
Wednesday, November 25, 2015, 2:00 PM EST
B&B Photography DIY Tips & Tricks Part Two
Additional discussion to help finesse your food photography,
again using what you have available. Emphasis will be on styling,
arranging, props, accessories, and looking at the results with
a ruthless eye! Also we’ll talk about the factors under your control
that either make or break a good food shot.
-Peter Billard Photography
Wednesday, December 2, 2015, 2:00 PM EST
How to sharpen your online pricing strategy?
To run a successful business, innkeepers must maximise their
profit opportunities while ensuring they don't frighten their
guests by being perceived as expensive.
How do you work out a well-founded pricing strategy and policy.
How do you set the 'right' price?
During this webinar, you will gain insights in the components
that influence price, and get to know the different steps of an
optimal pricing process and innovative price determination. ... If
your pricing policy is not as strategic as it might be, you may
want to use some tools to help you both design it and implement
it.
-Xotelia
Wednesday, December 9, 2015
(rescheduled from October 14)
Top 3 Challenges for Bed &Breakfast's and Strategies to Increase
Business
In a recent poll we asked B&B's their greatest business challenges
and what strategies they used to overcome them. Hear
real life strategies and pain points from LivingSocial's featured
Travel Customer (TBA) and the Director of Travel, Dustin
Warr. Learn how to maximize your marketing programs and
generate more business. Don't miss out on this engaging webinar.
-Living Social
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
Bring in more guests and increase RevPar with Off Season
Booking Promotions
Many inns are fully booked during the high season but have
trouble filling openings in mid- week and off-season. Extending
your season by several weeks or getting a few more mid-week
bookings can dramatically increase your RevPar. This webinar
will show you how to use the power of unusual holidays and
special events to create booking promotions that will attract and
delight your guests. It will include live examples of successful
promotions implemented by innkeepers.
-Fully Booked Inn
Wednesday, December 20 & 30, 2015
(Happy Holidays Webinar Break)
Check http://paiiinnkeepers.blogspot.com/p/
upcoming-webinars.html
for more webinars already scheduled!

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Media Moment: 3 Key Blogging Tips for Innkeepers
We all know we should be blogging. But why? Well, for starters, to put it in real talk and not fancy acronyms, it’s the fastest way to drive traffic to
your inn’s website — and those online visitors could become offline guests.
In this Media Moment, Bed & Brunch pr talks with Sharon Rowe of Acorn Internet Services, Inc. and gets her top three tips for creating a clickworthy
blog post.
Tip #1: Write a Good Title
The blog post title is key to your blog post being found. There are a few rules to follow, and when executed well, you will drive traffic to your blog:
• Use smart keywords that describe what your post is about AND relates to what someone is searching on
• The title must be 55 characters or less (including spaces) – otherwise Google truncates it in a search result
• If your title is running long, put your best keywords first
Examples:
BAD: Read Local
GOOD: Anderson’s Bookstore in Lititz PA Supports Read Local (Descriptive and 53 characters including spaces)
BAD: Tomato Sauce
GOOD: Quick and Easy Recipe for Fresh Roma Tomato Sauce (Descriptive and 49 characters including spaces)
Tip #2: Mind Your Content
Blog Posts should be at least 150-250 words in length to gain credibility and authority with Google. If you are really creating good, quality content,
you can easily write a minimum of 150 words on any topic. And of course, your content should completely support the great title you just wrote
per tip #1 !
Also, every blog post should have at least one related image or photo, so that it instantly re-affirms to someone they’ve arrived on a page that
delves into the topic they thought they clicked on to get there. We’ll get into particulars in another blog post but for now — just make sure your
images are copyright-free, which means you’ve taken the photo yourself, have assured by all parties involved (in writing) that you may use the image,
or purchased it for this specific use. It’s not appropriate to post an image you find online as your own.
Tip #3: Link but Don’t Overdo It
Use links sparingly. This leads back to tip #2: your post should have enough detailed content to keep the reader on your blog post long enough to
gain all of the information they are looking for. If you are writing about an event that requires a ticket or other purchase, then link them back to
your website (if you are doing the selling) or to the third-party site to complete that part of the transaction. Too many links back to your own site or
to third party sites can start to look suspicious to the search engines.
So, if you searched for the name of the bookstore (we used in tip #1), in that town, in that state, it should have a very good shot of being picked up.
If you have a page on your website with seven bookstores, ten antique shops, and 17 restaurants, then things start to get really muddled. That bookstore
becomes a minnow in the ocean, and the likelihood of that page coming up in search engines is far less likely than if you wrote a blog post
about just that bookstore.
Not to mention, writing a blog post and linking it back, helps the synergy between you and that local business owner. In fact, someone searching for
information on that store may see your site, like how well written your blog is, and decide to stay at your inn, a thought they didn’t have when they
first stumbled upon your website.
In the end, keeping a regularly updated blog means there’s more and more for the search engines to index. It’s important to check that your blog has
been correctly integrated into your website, because if it’s done right, the more you write, the more you’ll grow, the higher you’ll rise in the search
engine rankings. How do you know if your website is properly integrated with your blog? If you use WordPress, your blog address should haveyour
site name, then a slash, then the word blog, like this: http://www.bedandbrunchpr.com/blog. If you’re on Blogger, then your blog address should
have the word blog, then a dot, then the site name and no www, like this: blog.bedandbrunchpr.com.
Contributed by: Maria Coder and Jay Hassler
(646) 559-8530
http://www.BedAndBrunchPR.com

Technology Corner
Focus On Online Copyright
Check for duplicate content online
http://www.copyscape.com
Check for similarities in online content
http://www.diffnow.com
Plagiarism Checker
http://smallseotools.com/plagiarism-checker/
Copyright infringement on Pinterest
https://about.pinterest.com/en/copyright
Some Good Articles and Blog Posts on Copyright:
Finding Stolen Content and Copyright Infringements
https://lorelle.wordpress.com/2006/04/11/finding-stolen-contentand-copyright-infringements/
How to detect copyright violations
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
Commons:How_to_detect_copyright_violations
Using Google Image Search to Detect Copyright Infringement
http://carterlawaz.com/2013/03/using-google-image-search-todetect-copyright-infringement/
Dealing with online copyright infringement in accordance with
DMCA
http://www.marketingdock.com/copyrights/dealing-withcopyright-infringement.php
How to Check Outsourced Content for Copyright Infringement
http://www.affiliatemarketertraining.com/check-outsourcedcontent-for-copyright-infringement/
The Best Ways to Be Sure You're Legally Using Online Photos
http://lifehacker.com/5992419/the-best-ways-to-be-sure-yourelegally-using-online-photos
Stay Tuned:
Maria Coder of Bed & Brunch pr has
launched a free monthly resource newsletter
for B&Bs called the The Innthusiast: PR tips
for innkeepers! The Innthusiast is loaded with
tips with tips on how to get your property into
the news.
Maria realized there wasn't a dedicated publicity
resource just for innkeepers So, they
thought they would change that.
They would love to hear how they can better
tailor each issue to best fit your publicity
needs.
Maria Coder and Jay Hassler
(646) 559-8530
http://www.BedAndBrunchPR.com