Did the Wrong Color Instigate This ADA Lawsuit? Have Vaccine, Will Travel, Thinking Outside the Kitchen

Attorneys and individuals are still filing ADA lawsuits and we are still getting calls.

As you know, it doesn’t have to do with your physical property but how your website is used by the disabled.

If you haven’t updated your site OR had it checked in the last 12 months, it is time. Technology changes daily and the ADA Compliance regulations can change at any time. Every time you add a photo, change text or add anything to your site, you are potentially putting it out of compliance. Annual checkups are recommended.

REMEMBER: It doesn’t matter if your inn isn’t PHYSICALLY compliant, your website must be.

This last Friday a wonderful little inn got served an ADA lawsuit. We reviewed their site and noticed the red on their pop up wasn’t the right red – it didn’t have enough contrast to the background. We tried a red that had more contrast to the background and then it got the high score we were looking for.

(Our team discovered that the innkeeper chose a Red #FF0000 for the font but it didn’t contrast high enough. It was the wrong red. It needed to be Red #EE000 in this case.)

If your website isn’t set up for ADA Compliance, take care to make that happen because many an innkeeper has told us of the financial drain these lawsuits are.

Note – If your website was ADA compliant 12 months ago, it might not be totally compliant now. It’s important to check it every year.

Help Our Inn With ADA Compliance

 

Have Vaccine, Will Travel

That’s the tile of a New York Times article this week. As people over 65 are getting vaccinated, more and more are booking travel. In fact, one researcher noted that more senior discounts were being used than any other travel incentive this past week.

So if that’s what travelers are responding to – senior discounts – maybe you have a discount or a value-added special to offer to those who have gotten their vaccines.

Seniors who travel, use email so an email newsletter is the most efficient way to reach out. – Or you could call.

 

Thanks for the Magic – Happy Saturday! The website is shaping up so beautifully … I’m thrilled! THANK YOU for making this magic happen! Amy< Snow Goose B&B

The Best February We’ve Had In a Long Time – We are back in the swing now (after atate-mandated Covid lockdown) and headed for the best Feb we’ve had in a long time!

Accepting Our Snowy Fate – We are accepting our snowy fate and stocking up on sleds and shovels. We’re hanging up our aprons tonight but … (will be back in business Friday.) Clever snowed in Penn. innkeeper

Website Refresh – It seems time to freshen our website with new imagery and perhaps a fun new plug-in or two. Any thoughts? Also, we want to expand our blog page.

 

Here’s What Happened After They Offered Kitchen Privileges

Innkeepers Dave and Katie Pollock are the owner/innkeepers at ForFriends Inn in Santa Barbara Wine Country.

A few weeks ago they started offering kitchen privileges, especially targeted to groups.

Here’s the Offer

Groups Can Cater-In Using Our Kitchen

Folks are traveling with their friends but unfortunately, restaurants are only allowed a max group size of 10 for the foreseeable future. So, we’re making available our kitchen should they wish to have meals catered in. In this case, the caterer is asked to provide an (industry standard) Certificate of Insurance along with one or two staff members who agree to follow our Kitchen Use & Clean-Up Policy.

For those that prefer to avoid the formality and expense of a fully catered event and instead prefer to bring in a large ToGo order, we have partnered with a local event staffing crew who are willing to come in for a few hours to serve and clean-up. This provides a positive service experience for the guests while eliminating the burden of clean-up while at the same time, addresses our needs for the kitchen to be ready for use when the breakfast crew arrives.

Here’s the Result

Dave reported, “We’ve recently booked several large groups of 16-20. This is simply too many for any of our local restaurants to accommodate at dinner. Inviting the groups to instead cater into the inn with use of the kitchen has certainly helped to secure the bookings.”

Dave is a business advisor to boutique inns and B&Bs and is available for that. He’s also willing to advise innkeepers on how the website building process works when teaming up with iLoveInns. Contact: Dave@forfriendsinn.com or call (805)390-9374

Talk to Dave