02
2016Increase Bookings With Exterior Colors – Color Consultant Claims, Town to Trade License for Tax
San Francisco’s Color Consultant on Victorian Color Combinations, Claims $$$ Increase for Owners
Architectural color consultant, Bob Buckter has chosen paint combinations for more than 15,000 houses, so if you’re thinking about tweaking your paint on your beautiful inn take a look at his work.
In an interview last week with “Dr. Color”, he believes “Image is Everything“. His approach is to get into the owner’s situation – what they like or what they want if the building is commercial. It’s not only Curb Appeal but actually increasing desirability which elevates the value of the building. (One customer raised the value of her property by more than $100k in San Francisco.)
“In the case of B&B inns, he reported, “it will definitely help increase business. First impressions are extremely important…”
3 shades of grey – http://www.drcolor.com/hist5.htm
Conservative/yet sharp http://www.drcolor.com/comm3.htm
Raspberry, blue and beige http://artisticlicense.org/?p=413
Before and After Example of Buckner’s Own House
Innkeeper Tells How to Make the Front Page of USA TODAY Travel
Last week I sent a lead to an innkeeper from a reporter and was delighted within a couple hours to get feedback and the exact kind of photo the reporter wanted – see below.
KEEP A LOT OF PHOTOS ON HAND – HIGH RESOLUTION
Tony Barthel of Featherbed Railroad, explained his photo philosophy: “Many years ago at a PAII meeting I learned that any lodging property should always have many high-resolution, high-quality photographs available to them in the event that the media is interested in running a story.”
POST ON YOUR WEBSITE SO THERE’S EASY ACCESS
“Not one to reinvent the wheel, I have a whole section of the Featherbed Railroad’s website full of beautiful, professional high-quality images. This helped us when USA Today’s travel section came calling about B&Bs and we made the cover of the travel section twice because it was so easy to get high-resolution images from us.”
“By having these pictures available quickly it has resulted in thousands of dollars of revenue over the years thanks to our being the featured attraction.”
SOMETIMES USE YOUR SMART PHONE CAMERA
“Incidentally the picture I sent to the reporter was taken with my iPhone 6S+ (see photo above) so you don’t always need a great camera, but having a real professional is absolutely worth it wherever possible. Great imagery is always worth the price.” by Tony Barthel
Town Will Trade Requiring Business License Numbers on Airbnb Listings if Air Collects the Tax
The town of Aurora, Colorado recently issued its first vacation rental business license “We’re mostly reactive at this point,” city fathers said.
They believe the rules proposed for homeowners using Airbnb should be the same as for other home-based business. Those rules require the resident to occupy 75 percent or more of a home, with businesses only being allowed to take up to 25 percent of a home.
Aurora officials now want to require residents to include a business license number as part of their Airbnb listing.
They say they would allow residents to advertise without the license numbers if they can come to an agreement with Airbnb to collect lodger’s tax at the point of sale. Airbnb has so far not responded to city requests about an official agreement… More
Another Maine Inn You Can Win
Almost Home Inn’s Essay Contest is seeking 8,000 entries from interested participants worldwide. The prize: a bed-and-breakfast in Ogunquit, Maine, and $20,000 in cash.
The contest calls for contestants to submit a 225-word essay titled “Why I would like to own and operate an Inn located in Ogunquit, a coastal town in Southern Maine.” The entry fee is $110 and is open to anyone in the world who is 18 or older.
Jacqui Grant, the innkeeper and native of Maine, wants to pay it forward and afford someone else the opportunity to own the Inn.
The contest deadline is Sept. 1, 2016. The winner will be announced on Sept. 25, 2016.
Click here for more information about the essay contest.