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How to Choose Your Bed and Breakfast Name

Posted on June 25, 2015 by Kristi Dement 2 comments

Your bed and breakfast name sets the tone for what your guests can expect. A good name says a lot about an inn. You want the name to be memorable and give a great first impression.

It is important to take your time and come up with a long list of potential names before deciding. Get a talented group of friends together and just start randomly calling out names. Have someone write down all the bed and breakfast name suggestions.

Permit your gathering of people to suggest whatever name comes to mind. By allowing everything to be spoken, eventually you will have a list of great potential bed and breakfast names.

Only after you have generated this list of names should you then start to evaluate them. Make sure that your bed and breakfast name is:

Simple to pronounce aloud by others (have others repeat the name aloud)
Spelled like it sounds (makes it easier to find)
Without an unintended meaning (think of the words in various contexts)
Not too common (make sure it is fresh)
Appropriate to your local surroundings (e.g. do not have beach in the name unless there really is one)
Not too funny (this may suggest you do not care about your hospitality business)
Easy for guests to remember (name recognition)

Other words for bed and breakfast include:

B&B
cabins
cottage
country inn
estate
farm
garden inn
guest house
hideaway
house
hotel
inn
lodge
manor
mansion
oasis
palace
place
ranch
resort
street inn
suites
valley
village inn

Visualize how your business name will look in a logo, outdoor sign, and on your website. Be sure to get your own email address to be something like:

innkeeper@yourbedandbreakfastname.com

When you know what you want to call your bed and breakfast, you must make sure that the domain name (website address) is available before you register your business name. If there are already bed and breakfast inns with that name, it is best to choose a different name to avoid confusion.

Above all, make sure you absolutely love your name since you will likely say it over and over throughout your time as a bed and breakfast owner. Smart innkeepers ask for ideas from others and take time when they choose their bed and breakfast name.

Image by Marcus Berg of Unique Angles Photography

Posted in Marketing, Promotion

You Can Do Pinterest

Posted on March 21, 2014 by Kristi Dement Leave a comment

You can do Pinterest! As promised when I started our series of blog posts on using Pinterest, I will share with you some of my Pinterest boards and how I organized them. This is for you to get some inspiration when you pin on your boards! It gets exciting when you grow more followers. You can see which pins get repinned the most.

Of course, food is a big deal for a bed and breakfast so I have more than one board for food. Perhaps I will have enough pins to have a separate board for eggs (including omelets and frittatas). I did have enough pins to have separate boards for crepes, French toast, pancakes, and waffles–even desserts! Currently, I have the following boards:

Bed and Breakfast Cooking

Bed and Breakfast Crepes

Bed and Breakfast French Toast

Bed and Breakfast Pancakes

Bed and Breakfast Waffles

Bed and Breakfast Desserts

I also have a board for cookbooks and for other books, including fiction related to bed and breakfasts and nonfiction about running bed and breakfasts.

B&B Cookbooks

Bed and Breakfast Books

Then I have few boards featuring bed and breakfast in the United States, bed and breakfasts in the world, and award-winning bed and breakfasts.

Bed and Breakfasts USA

Bed and Breakfasts World

B&B Award Winners

In case you are wondering why sometimes I spell out Bed and Breakfast and sometimes I shorten the name of the board to say “B&B”–it is so that the name of the whole board fits on the screen. Otherwise, if the name you give your board is too long, it will show a … after it to show that there are more letters, but not enough room. To me, it makes sense to name my boards short enough so that everyone can read its entire title.

I also name my boards with titles that are appropriate. For example, if it is a specific area of the house, I include that in the name of the board.

Bed and Breakfast Bathrooms

Bed and Breakfast Bedrooms

Bed and Breakfast Dining

Bed and Breakfast Kitchens

I also feature less thought of areas that can really look special in a bed and breakfast.

Bed and Breakfast Stairs

Bed and Breakfast Fireplaces

Bed and Breakfast Lights

B&B Stained Glass

Since so much of the visual appeal for a bed and breakfast comes from its outside, I put together the following boards:

Bed and Breakfast Entrances

Bed and Breakfast Porches

Bed and Breakfast Gazebos

Bed and Breakfast Gardening

There are some bed and breakfasts that specialize in an area. They could offer weddings, be located on a farm, have a spa, and/or a restaurant.

Bed and Breakfast Weddings

Bed and Breakfast Farms

Bed and Breakfast Spas

B&B Restaurants

Some bed and breakfasts are unique because they are located in a registered historic home or even located in a lovely castle!

B&B’s with History

Bed and Breakfast Castles

Because of what services I provide, I have a board for social media and one specifically for Pinterest.

B&B Social Media Success

Promote with Pinterest

Of course, I have not listed every board I have nor do you need to have the same boards as me. It is really deciding what you think visitors would like best about your bed and breakfast and featuring those in pins as well as pinning other B&B’s from non-competing parts of the country or those of your innkeeper friends and fellow association members.

Be sure to use the name of your bed and breakfast (or a shortened version of it) on your boards and in your pins as often as possible. This is key so when your pins get repinned they will know it was from your bed and breakfast.

What do guests say they like about your B&B? Start with that. You can also offer tips such as home organization, kitchen gadgets, decorating advice, etc. The sky is the limit. Whatever your strengths are as an innkeeper (ex: cooking, decorating, gardening, etc.) you can feature that in your pins.

You truly are free to make it what you want it to be! Once you get started, you may not realize how fast the time goes by! So starting pinning so you will be winning more business!

Image by Marcus Berg of Unique Angles Photography

Posted in Blog and Social Media, Promotion

10 B&B Bedroom Names

Posted on December 22, 2013 by Kristi Dement

10-bb-bedroom-names

Bed and Breakfasts traditionally name each bedroom available to guests. This allows B&B owners, as well as their guests, to be able to distinguish between the rooms. The B&B bedroom names can be based on any number of reasons. Here are 10 ways B&B bedrooms names come about:

Activity (such as a hobby or a sport like photography or football)

Amenity (like a private hot tub or their own personal fireplace in the room)

Color in the room (like red or lavender walls or bedding)

Country or culture the room represents (such as China or Mexico)

Famous people (including famous writers and leaders like Hemingway and Lincoln)

History (named after the original residents or names associated with the time period in which it was built)

Location (such as on the beach or in a castle)

Occasion (such as the Honeymoon Suite or Anniversary Room)

Style the room is decorated in (such as Victorian or French Country)

Theme (including a particular animal or season)

As bed and breakfast owners, you can have fun with what you name your rooms. Be creative and come up with names of rooms that people would like to say they stayed in. Sometimes B&B owners have signs by the doors to let guests know they have come to the right room.

Naming the rooms in your house gives your bed and breakfast character and distinguishes it from other B&B’s. This also allows your guests to recommend the particular room they stayed in by name to other people.

Image by Marcus Berg of Unique Angles Photography

Posted in Decorating, Guests

Send Out of Town Guests to Your Local B&B

Posted on December 12, 2013 by Kristi Dement

your-guests-stay-local-bb

Bed and breakfast owners, you can put on your website the question, “Are you overwhelmed because all of your out-of-town relatives want to stay at your house this year? Then have your family members stay at our B&B.”

Perhaps those entertaining guests cannot comfortably house all of their guests overnight or the task is too overwhelming
This easy solution puts less stress on the host family to cook and clean for visiting family
This gives the visiting guests a chance to stay somewhere new and visit their relatives at the same time without feeling like a burden
The relatives staying at your bed and breakfast can experience the beauty of B&B vacations

There is no reason for those entertaining family to pull their hair out this holiday season. They can refer their family to stay at your bed and breakfast. Everyone wins–those entertaining family, those visiting family, and the B&B owners who book more rooms!

Image by Marcus Berg of Unique Angles Photography

Posted in Guests

California B&B Recipes

Posted on November 28, 2013 by Kristi Dement

The California Association of Bed & Breakfast Inns (CABBI) is the largest and most influential bed & breakfast inn association in the nation. CABBI has a free online recipe collection of bed and breakfast and boutique inn recipes.

Encompassed in this online recipe box, you will find all the delectable flavors of California cuisine from quality-certified California bed and breakfast inns. Entertain with confidence and praise thanks to the owners and chefs who have shared their award-winning recipes.

Delight your guests, family, and friends with tasty recipes like: California Poachies, Occidental Eggs Benedict, Persimmon Orange Nut Bread, Old Yacht Club Inn Beer Bread, Best Friends Chocolate Cake, Rainbow Beet Salad, Mexican Soufflé and more!

Each recipe was carefully selected to tell the story of the inn from where it is served. Some recipes are house specialties, others are family traditions. Some dishes include locally-grown ingredients from an inn’s region, while other dishes are the reason guests return time and again.

The bed and breakfast inn was born of sharing food with friends. Regardless of where your B&B is located, enjoy these CABBI favorites with your own guests.

Posted in Associations and Ratings, Food

For Guests Who Love To Read

Posted on November 25, 2013 by Kristi Dement

For guests who love to read, your bed and breakfast can house a small library or even a parlor or study with a large selection of books on your shelves. If you are wondering what kind of books to have on the shelves, the following are some great suggestions:

Architecture–for those interested in construction and architectural styles

Biographies–of any legends about the people who live in your town or former tenants of your home or anyone famous in your area

Cooking–people may be looking for a new recipe–especially if it is your cookbook (that you have for sale)!

Fiction–if the setting in the book is in your local area it may really be attractive to your guests

Flora and fauna–for the garden lovers, horticultural experts, biologists, and green thumbs

Guidebooks–for people who want to get to know your area and its attractions

History books–many people love to read about history (especially the history of your location)

Home decorating–people who stay in bed and breakfasts usually appreciate home decor

Success books–people love reading about how to have success, achieve more, and reach their dreams

You need not spend a lot of money if you do not already have a wide collection of books. There are plenty of good used bookstores and even yard sales that sell them. Having good reading material for your guest helps them remember their stay at your bed and breakfast even more fondly. See the B&B Books listed for a great selection of Bed and Breakfast related books!

Posted in Amenities, Guests