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2019Power of Page Speed for Your Bed & Breakfast Website, Airbnb Host Gets $123,000 Fine, The Number 1 Thing for New Inns, Make Ahead Cheese Dollars
The 3 Most Important Jobs for New Innkeepers
Photography is Job #1
“First get a few killer shots to boost your business” even before you finish any renovations. This according to former innkeepers who took their inn from 20% occupancy to 70% in 5 years. (Jumping Rocks)
Job #2
Reinvest the revenue generated from the photography investment to finance the other upgrades you envision.
Job #3
Get a new website and never hire a friend or relative.” Jumping Rocks photographers report “stacks of emails from innkeepers desperate for professional help” after friends made their website. They recommend hospitality experts.
Innkeeper Offers Community Continuing Education Classes at Inn
- Sushi 101, 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 12, Whispering Pines Bed and Breakfast, 2018 6th Ave. Cost $29.
- Pizza on the Grill, 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 15, Whispering Pines Bed and Breakfast, 2018 6th Ave. Cost $29.
- What To Do with All Those Apples, 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., Monday, Oct. 28, Whispering Pines Bed and Breakfast, 2018 6th Ave. Cost $29.
The Power of Page Speed
Practical tips to speed up your site
Google’s Page Rank algorithm makes website and page speed a high ranking factor in search engine results. Now 53% of mobile site visitors leave a page that takes longer than three seconds to load. Probably nearly the same for desktop.
Google has a speed test that tells exactly what is causing the slow down. Google then makes recommendations on how and what to fix.
Here’s How to Manage Your Speed
- Run the test and review your score
- Decide what items you want to fix. (Some items are easy to achieve while others may require a redesign.)
- Review hosting because it may be affecting speed
- Check your page speed regularly- it can change with additions and changes made to your website
Taking Too Long?
Consider Outsourcing Your Website Speed to i Love Inns
If you’d like help, here’s what we do – We’ll run the Google test on your site and create a report with your speed score. Then we review with you the list of areas that need to improve. These tasks generally involve programming. This service is $200 and it includes an estimate of the number of programming hours. After completed we provide a new report with your improved score. Contact DRingler@iloveinns.com.
Airbnb Host Ordered to Pay $123,000 Fine
Toby Harman rented out his studio apartment in Victoria, central London, by using a fake profile under the name “Lara” on the Airbnb website.
He was uncovered when anti-fraud software found reviews mentioning the tenant by name and thanking him for advice, Westminster City Council said.
Software helped: In this case the Council used special software to discover the fake account and there were more than 300 reviews. Forbes
Running an Illegal Airbnb May Get You Jail Time in Miami
Miami Beach is adding jail time to the list of penalties for hosts with illegal Airbnb listings in the city.
The city announced it will prosecute hosts who provide bogus business license numbers in order to list their properties on the site. The penalty for the criminal violation is 60 days of jail time and/or a $500 fine, according to Melissa Berthier, a spokesperson for the city. Miami Herald
Airbnb Host Seems to Get Revenge for Neighbors’ Reporting
Paints house hot pink with yellow emojis
Make-Ahead Cheese Dollars
Cheese Dollars from Orchard Hill Inn
Ingredients:
1 lb. sharp grated cheddar cheese
2 cups flour
1/2 lb soft butter
Small amount of red pepper flakes
Pecans
Directions: Preheat oven to 400°.
Mix the cheese, flour, butter and red pepper and create a roll onto wax paper to the size of a 1/2 dollar. Place the wrapped roll into the refrigerator until firm. Remove the wax paper and slice thin and place on cookie sheet. Put a pecan on the top of each one and bake for 10 minutes or less. Watch!
Note: You will have several wrapped rolls to keep in the refrigerator. Slice and bake as needed.