How Queen Victoria Inn Sells Valentine’s Gift Certificates for a Winter Income Boost

Modern Yet Warm, Inviting Website – Three Chimneys Inn, N.H. Our IT and design people really liked the accomplishment of this inn’s design because although lots of white space is popular on modern and more expensive websites, it often comes without evoking a warm feeling. Three Chimneys is an excellent example of a productive and fun site that keeps you long enough to get the warm feelings and message to make you want to stay. “This is what a good inn website should look like!” was overheard coming from our iLoveinns team.

“There’s lots to love about this inn’s website – a lot of white which can look sterile, but in this case some whimsical illustrations help to keep it light and not stuffy. It is laid out in an easy-to-absorb fashion. One element they might like to change is their booking engine. It has the old look with their old website’s colors. It’s important to keep the sensitive information (like credit cards) private, so a good solution is to have your booking engine people match the booking pages to your new site’s look and feel. That way it’s a seamless transition for potential guests to go your booking transactions.

Shopping for a New Website? Start Here!

One of the best reasons to send newsletters in winter is gift certificate income from Christmas and Valentine’s Day. Send your romantic gift certificate offer now through Feb.14. You’ll make a lot of people happy with a wonderful romantic gift. We can get you up and running in a matter of days. This includes managing your list and making a fresh custom template.

 

It’s always inspiring to see what new ideas thought-leaders Doug & Anna Maria McMain come up with in their monthly newsletter. This time Doug shared a very romantic memory of his own. Read the way he carries that thought to his guests…

“Every year about this time it occurs to me that I need to start thinking about a Valentines gift for my lovely bride (it is all the more important for me, as we were engaged on Valentine’s Day).
I’m sure you’ve done flowers, chocolates, and a nice card before. You could do those again, of course, but maybe it is time to step it up a bit this year and give that special person in your life a memory that will last forever.

“There are a few ways to proceed. Firstly, you could reserve a room for Valentine’s weekend, which is Fri/Sat Feb 10-11, or even on Valentine’s Day itself. You could also book a room for a future date and present it on Valentine’s Day. The other option is to purchase a gift certificate to present on Valentine’s Day and then start the exciting process of planning your next trip to The Queen Victoria. The last two options are the smart way to go for those of you who were already planning a return visit to Cape May in the coming year! Visit our website to book a room or purchase a gift certificate.”

 

 

What are keywords and why are they important? Keywords are the words and phrases that people “Google” into the search box to find what websites match what they are looking for.

That’s why you need to know the keywords that will bring you the most searches.
Here’s an example from Bourbon Manor Inn. I searched this: “Kentucky bed and breakfast bourbon trail”. Bourbon Manor came up as Number 1 and these are some of the keywords I found on their home page.

Bourbon 18 times
breakfast 13 times
bed 11
manor 8
inn 8
Bardstown 6
Kentucky 4

Another inn came up below Bourbon Manor and it included these words:
Room 6 times
Bed 4 times
breakfast 4
Kentucky 4

It’s always interesting to count keywords to see how they vary on competitors’ sites. From this simple analysis above, if I were Bourbon Manor I would add the word “room” a few times to my home page and wait a few months to see if my site was even further ahead of the competitor.

“Refuse to be average. Let your heart soar as high as it will.”
– A. W. Tozer