Podcast appearances and mentions of yvonne halling

In the pursuit of direct booking success, the unexpected twist lies in the diverse and heartfelt narratives shared by industry experts. As each guest delves into their personal experiences, listeners are captivated by the emotional resonance of their journeys. From the quest for autonomy to the forging of authentic connections, the multifaceted nature of success unfolds in a tapestry of perspectives. But what will these inspiring stories ignite within you?In this episode, you will be able to:Master the art of direct booking success to increase your revenue and independence.Take control of your brand to stand out and attract more guests.Enhance guest experience and build sustainable practices for long-term success.Create a community around your rental and add value for a loyal guest base.My special guest are Kelly Odor, Yvonne Halling, Thibault Masson, Daniela Derin, Sarah Orchard, Rebecca Lombardo, Travis Wilburn, Lisa Roads, Bob Garner, Zach Busekrus, Adams Taranda, Sara Sokol, Heather Bayer, Louise Brace, Jane Mack, Tracey Northcott, Christianne Crump, Mark Winship and Annie Sloan.The key moments in this episode are:00:00:08 - Introduction to Direct Booking Success00:02:05 - Control and Brand Building00:07:38 - Guest Experience and Relationship Building00:10:01 - Security and Sustainability00:12:56 - Celebrating Direct Booking Milestones Show notes are available at: https://directbookingsuccess.com/podcast/Follow Jenn on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/directbookingsuccessJoin the Marketing Hub Free Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/marketinghubforholidayrentals

Discover the unexpected twist in Yvonne Halling's journey as she transformed her beloved hobby into a thriving hospitality business. From running a cozy bed and breakfast in France purely for joy, life's demands push her to shift gears and embrace the role of a professional businesswoman. But this transition is more than just a change in mindset; it's a profound revelation that challenges her to trade time for value, not just money. Join Yvonne Halling on this remarkable path of self-discovery and watch as she unlocks the true potential of her business, leaving you craving for more.There is a chasm between the hobbyist mindset and the professional hospitality business mentality. It's time to take the leap and cross that divide to unlock the true potential of your business. - Yvonne HallingIn this episode, you will be able to:Find out the pathway to turning your hobbyist business mentality into a professional attitude in hospitality.Recognize the impact of personal enhancement on your journey to becoming a top-tier host.Comprehend the importance of the Cash Flow Quadrant in driving success in the hospitality arena.Absorb the nuances of transitioning from a time-priced to value-prized framework in your hosting profession.Make sense of situating yourself not just as a host, but a business head honcho and CEO in the evolving hospitality sphere.My special guest is Yvonne Halling.Yvonne Halling is the founder of Bed and Breakfast Coach.com and the creator of B&B Money Maker Business Transformation Program where clients typically increase their business by at least 25% in one season, while working less, paying less commissions and having more fun. Yvonne ran her B&B in the Champagne region of France for 17 years, first as a hobby making less than €10k per year, before transforming it into a thriving and profitable business, making over €100k a year with just 4 rooms without any listings with online travel agents. She won several hospitality and marketing awards and is now an award-winning consultant, coach and mentor for independent owners worldwide. Yvonne believes that hospitality businesses are the hub of local communities, attracting new money by way of guests, and which couldn't have come by any other means, and returning that power to the owners, encouraging direct bookings via their websites, is Yvonne's mission.Connect with Yvonne Halling:Website: https://www.bedandbreakfastcoach.com YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/YvonneHallingTransformationalBusinessCoach Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CoachingforBedandBreakfastOwners/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yvonnehalling/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/yvonne3030 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bedandbreakfastcoach/ Join Yvonne's new Facebook Group - International Bed and Breakfast Owners' Lounge, for 12 months and you will receive a free PDF copy of my new book "How to Start, Run and Grow A B&B Business That You And Your Guests Love" before it's launched on Amazon later this year. The link to join is: https://bedandbreakfastcoach.comThe key moments in this episode are:00:03:51 - Understanding the Cash Flow Quadrant00:07:46 - Size Doesn't Matter00:10:32 - Taking a Personal Development Journey00:12:32 - Stepping Up as a Professional Host00:14:29 - Embracing the CEO Role00:16:30 - Overcoming Impostor Syndrome00:18:06 - Personal Growth and Unique Perspective00:19:46 - Transitioning from Hobbyist to Professional00:23:46 - The Journey of Personal Development00:28:41 - Elements for Turning into a Professional HostSign up to the Free Direct Booking Success Summit 2023:...

Ever thought of what it would be like to start your own B&B business in a foreign country, virtually on your own with children? That is what today's guest, Yvonne Halling did. And that's only the start of her amazing story of reinvention.  Yvonne Halling is a speaker at this year's Direct Booking Success summit this September. Yvonne's jaw-dropping story will have you hooked from start to finish. Plus, she has some fantastic nuggets of advice on how to fill your rooms throughout the year. Topics discussed Creating a B&B business as a mother, wife and British citizen in France Attracting guests before the internet When the hobby became a business Dealing with a home fire and family depression Personal development is essential in the direct booking business A direct bookings business is primarily mindset Creating the type of experiences that set us apart from hotels What Yvonne will be speaking on at this year's summit What direct booking success means to Yvonne CONNECT WITH Jenn Boyles: Website: https://directbookingsuccess.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/directbookingsuccess Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/directbookingsuccess/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennboyles/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennboyles/) CONNECT WITH Yvonne Halling: Website: https://www.bedandbreakfastcoach.com (https://www.bedandbreakfastcoach.com) YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/YvonneHallingTransformationalBusinessCoach (https://www.youtube.com/c/YvonneHallingTransformationalBusinessCoach) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CoachingforBedandBreakfastOwners/ Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yvonnehalling/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bedandbreakfastcoach/ Join me at the virtual Direct Booking Success Summit (27-29 September 2022). Get on the waitlist – https://www.directbookingsuccesssummit.com (https://www.directbookingsuccesssummit.com)

Think about a goal you would like to achieve in your business …. but you only had 24hrs to do it. Do you think you could achieve it? Or would you be completely overwhelmed?  This week, not only do I tell you about the rest of the amazing speakers at this year's Direct Booking Success Summit but I also give you a few tips on how to get the most out of the summit for you and your business. Topics discussed Introducing the second half of the Direct Booking Success Summit Speakers How not to get overwhelmed at the summit You're the one person who knows your business inside and out, think at what you want to learn about right now Focus on the topics that will help you now I want you to take action from what you learn at the summit The All-access Pass will give you ongoing access to all the presentations The VIP All-access Pass will give you even more to help you achieve more direct bookings CONNECT WITH Jenn Boyles: Website: https://directbookingsuccess.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/directbookingsuccess Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/directbookingsuccess/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennboyles/ Join me at the virtual Direct Booking Success Summit (27-29 September 2022).  Direct Booking Success Summit Speakers mentioned in this episode: Elaine Watt – https://stayworcestershire.co.uk (https://stayworcestershire.co.uk) Sarah Orchard – https://get-fully-booked.com (https://get-fully-booked.com) Yvonne Halling – https://www.bedandbreakfastcoach.com (https://www.bedandbreakfastcoach.com) Neely Khan – https://neelythere.co.uk (https://neelythere.co.uk) Bob Gardner – https://www.casaldeifichi.com (https://www.casaldeifichi.com) Louise Brace  – https://rentaltonic.com (https://rentaltonic.com) Damian Sheridan – https://bookdirect.show (https://bookdirect.show) And me… Jenn Boyles – https://directbookingsuccess.com (https://directbookingsuccess.com) CONNECT WITH Jenn Boyles: Website: https://directbookingsuccess.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/directbookingsuccess Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/directbookingsuccess/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennboyles/ Join me at the virtual Direct Booking Success Summit (27-29 September 2022). 

I'm joined here by Yvonne Halling, an Award-Winning Coach, Business Consultant, and Mentor at BedandBreakfastCoach.com. She is the creator of the B&B Money Maker Business Transformation Program. Today, we will talk about how she has turned her life around and her Bed and Breakfast “hobby” business in Champagne, in France, into a six-figure professional B&B in less than two years without the use of any third-party booking sites._______________________________________________________________________________________Yvonne Halling can be found here:LinkedinWebsiteInstagramTwitterBook a Discovery Call with Yvonne_________________________________________________________________________________________Doug Bennett can be found here:Website: http://dougbennett.co.uk/Email: doug@dougbennett.co.uk LinkedInTwitterNEW book launch :Goals Do Come True, is now live and available to buy on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3phcy6ZEnjoy, and come back for the latest podcast each Wednesday. Thank you for listening.

The Bed and Breakfast Business Post Covid-19 with Maria Rekrut and Yvonne Halling

Yvonne Halling is the founder of Bed and Breakfast Coach.com and the creator of B&B Money Maker Business Transformation Program where clients typically increase their business by between 23% and 600% in one season, while working less, paying less commissions and having more fun. Moriya Rockman, founder and CMO of Smiling House Luxury Switzerland, managing over 1.200 properties worldwide. Three years ago, together with her husband Ira, they founded Smiling House and Smiling Flats Holiday Rentals. Both companies are busy with creating a bridge between the New Age of travelling and Legacy Travel companies. Another angle is developing the concept of Rent-to-Buy and Buy-to-Rent – vacation rental properties as Real Estate assets.

Hello I’m Yvonne Halling and this video is about the changes already taking place in our industry, and those I see coming, so if you own or are planning to own and run a B&B, guest house or Inn, then please pay close attention to what I’m about to reveal. First, let me speak to you if you’re an established owner, and have become demoralised with the online travel agents, and the way they’ve positioned themselves between you and your guests online, and in many cases intercepted what should have been direct bookings for their own benefit. This is going to continue.  And even though they’ve been slapped recently for making false claims and offering fake discounts, and as a consequence the public have lost trust, resulting in fewer bookings via those channels, they will be back. And they’ll be more aggressive than ever in my opinion.  They want to completely dominate the market making it impossible for you to be seen on Google.  And Google is already preventing you from using some of the tools available to other small businesses, because they can see the enormous potential cash available to them if they manipulate the searches to their advantage. You cannot win in this game, so I encourage you not to play it. I’ll tell you how in a minute because there is a way, and it’s easier than you think Now let me speak to you if you have a dream to run a B&B, guest house or inn and you’re in the research and planning stages.   My one piece of advice to you is this. This business is NOT what you think it is. If you think you can invest in a beautiful property in a touristic area and make people happy with your stylish rooms and delicious breakfast and all will be well.  It won’t. It’s way more complicated than that these days. Now, I’m not here to burst your bubble, or destroy your dream. So if you’re established or brand new, then here’s what I see coming and how you can take advantage and have the business you dream of. First, build a brand and a platform for yourself.  By all means use the online travel agents if you need to, especially if you’re in the starting out phase, but know that they are not your friend and to depend on them year after year will be disastrous for you in the long term. Second, more and more people are travelling.  That’s one good thing to come out of the online travel agents’ activities – they’ve opened up the travel market.  It’s never been easier to book a weekend away at the drop of a hat. But more and more travellers are looking for an enriching experience, and that’s where you can really shine.  Larger hotels cannot offer personal experiences.  That’s not what they do.  But you can.  So give some thought to the actual experience you offer, beyond the stylish rooms and delicious breakfast, and lead with that instead.  This is your unique value that only you can offer. And third, put your unique value out there online.  If you’re giving out local knowledge over the breakfast table, then write about it, or better still, shoot a video about it and put it online, so those looking will find it.  The internet is not just for the online travel agents, it’s for everyone and that includes you.  Don’t hide behind your property.  Come out and show us what you’ve got. There’s a huge shift in human consciousness going on right now and from what I’ve seen from trusted astrologers, this will continue for many years.  Many of our trusted structures of the past, such as banks, governments and systems are breaking down, which means that new ones will emerge.  Be part of the new rather than clinging to the old way of doing things. Learn, grow, contribute and bring all of you to the online stage, so we can get to know you, like and trust you, and then book with you.   I’m taking a handful of owners through a brand new process called “From Commodity to Celebrity – the Antidote to the OTAs” and if you’d like more information on how you can get involved, then message me below or email me at yvonne@bedandbreakfastcoach.com and I’ll get back to you. In the meantime, if you liked this video, please hit the red subscribe button to be the first to know when I post the next one. 

Hello I’m Yvonne Halling and in this video I’m going to show you how to take yourself from a commodity to a “celebrity brand” in 3 easy steps, so you can attract the guests you want to welcome and charge the rates you want to charge. So if you’re frustrated by the guests you’re getting from the online travel agents and the commissions you pay to them for those guests, then this video will help you see why. First, let’s define what I mean by a commodity and a celebrity brand and why it matters. A commodity is something that can be bought anywhere usually at low prices, and has nothing much to differentiate itself from its competitors.  It usually looks the same as everything else in its market.   A celebrity brand is something that is exclusive, is rarely discounted and has a higher perceived value so it can command a higher price.  It usually looks and feels completely different from everything else in its market and it’s well known. So why is this important for you as a B&B owner or innkeeper? If you’re frustrated because you can’t seem to attract enough guests yourself, and you’re still relying largely on online travel agents to bring you guests, even after many years, then you’re probably looking like a commodity in the marketplace. I see very few owners building a “celebrity brand” and yet it’s the quickest and easiest way to attract guests yourself, without using the OTAs. Here’s the steps: Step 1 Decide on who you want to welcome.  Really dig into this, and you’ll probably feel some resistance to doing this, because you may think that honing in on a certain type of guests means you’ll be turning people away. But the truth is you won’t have to turn anyone away.  What will happen is that when your message goes out there into cyberspace, it will start to attract MORE of the guests you want to welcome and the others will be fade away naturally.  You won’t have to do anything. Step 2 Once you’ve decided on WHO it is you most want to welcome, then you craft a message that calls them out, and you put that message everywhere online.  That means firstly, on your website.  Go take a look at your website now and read the first piece of text your visitor will see when they land there, and ask yourself these questions – am I calling to the guests I most want to welcome?  If I was that guest, would what I’m reading inspire me to stay and read more? If the answer is no to those two questions then you have work to do. Step 3 Now that you have your ideal guests in mind, you’ll need to create some content for them to consume.  This can be in the form of blog posts, social media posts, and videos.  You’ll want to position yourself as the best source of information around for those guests, and online content is the way to do that.  Think about what content you’d like to create and play to your strengths.  If you like writing, do some blogs.  If you like talking, then video would be great for you. If you’ve liked this video, then hit the subscribe button to be the first to be notified when I post the next one, and if you’re curious to know how other B&Bs, guest houses and inns have put these basic steps in place to add at least 25% to their income in one season, while working less and having more fun, then click on the link below to register for my next Masterclass. Click on the link and I’ll see you there! Register here for my next Masterclass:  https://www.bedandbreakfast.com/masterclass/ (https://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bedandbreakfast.com%2Fmasterclass%2F&stzid=UgzdGGk7GJ47NMZ6iSt4AaABAg&redir_token=DNyLl-ZNLTQ2xuio-M5fBo55fnl8MTU2MjYzODY0MEAxNTYyNTUyMjQw&event=comments&html_redirect=1)

Hello I’m Yvonne Halling and in this video I’m going to talk you about how to use two simple and timeless strategies that will have you standing out from the crowd, and attracting more of the guests you want to attract, without listing on any more of the big online travel agents. So if you’ve been wondering how you can be seen and heard among all the competition out there, then this video will help you. First, let’s look at why you’re not being seen or heard. When you list with the online travel agents, you upload photos, create a listing and determine your price. All the online platforms follow this procedure, and it’s pretty easy to do. But how do you differentiate yourself from everyone else? How do you get to stamp your personality on your listing, on those sites? And how do you convey your unique value to the guests who are looking for you, on those sites? The answer is you can’t. And because you can’t do this, your potential guests don’t know who to choose, so they look for the best price or the best deal. So you’ll be chosen on price. This makes for a very empty experience for both you and your guests. So what do you do? Two simple things: You need a brand and a platform. Let me explain. Your brand is not just your logo, it’s a combination of your logo, colours, images, your message and your values.  It’s what you stand for, in terms of what you offer and for whom. One you’ve got your brand sorted, you can then wave your flag all over the internet and it will carry with it the message and the experience you offer for a particular group of people who would love to stay with you, because of who you are and what you represent. You’re creating an asset that will do your work for you, while you’re doing something else. Next is your platform. Once you have your brand, you’ll need a platform.  This means a place from which you convey your brand.  It will consist of all your social media accounts from where you’ll build your very own customer list. Just having your customer list in your online booking system is not enough, because you cannot email to them, make offers to them or communicate with them when you want to. You’re going to need a CRM system or Customer Relationships Management system, a place from which you gather people, communicate with them, build relationships with them and make offers to them. My prediction is that B&Bs, guest houses, inns and small hotels without a brand or a platform will die off in the next few years as those that do pick this up, run with it and thrive. There’s still time left, and you can find out more on how to do this easily and quickly by joining me on my next Masterclass by clicking on the link below. If you’ve liked this video, then hit the subscribe button to be the first to be notified when I post the next one.

Over the past 6 years I’ve been helping B&Bs, guest houses, inns and small hotels to increase their direct bookings, pay less in commissions to online travel agents, fill rooms in the low seasons, charge more and work less, freeing up their time to spend with those they love. The side effects of those changes have been more confidence, stronger boundaries, fewer disgruntled guests and the consequent negative reviews, and increased happiness. Clients like Marie, who in just one season, increased her turnover by 23%, Yvonne who increased hers by 38%, and Shelley by 67%. And John, who increased his turnover by 20% while being closed for 6 months. You can scroll down to read more comments from my clients. And then there’s the feeling of peace that comes when you put yourself in the driving seat of your business, and are no longer at the mercy of discount seekers, Airbnb or any other competition. All this and more is available to you too. But you may be wondering how I came to be doing this work. In 2000 I opened a B&B in rural France as a hobby, for me while my husband was travelling with his job. It was just for fun. In 2005, he was laid off, so we closed the B&B, rented out our home and returned to the UK and started a business. At that time the internet was exploding in the UK and there were gurus everywhere peddling internet marketing as the answer to everything. I spent a small fortune buying courses and mentoring from some of those gurus. I persisted and studied hard, learning all the marketing tricks in the book, but we still lost our business in the crash of 2008. Fast forward to January 2010 and we’re back in France, where my little hobby B&B business is suddenly our only source of income. So with the gas cut off and the bailiffs at the door with papers to re-possess our home, and no money in the bank, I decide to put all that internet marketing knowledge that I learned in the UK into my B&B business and within 2 years it was making over €100,000  I then put all my knowledge into an online group coaching and mentoring program called Bed and Breakfast Business Transformation which is where clients learn how to run their business their way. This year, I’m working with just 36 clients who want to finally take control of their time and their income, stop relying on the online travel agents, stop working 24/7 and make more money so they can enjoy their business, their guests and their lives. If you’re sick and tired of dealing with the type of guests the online travel agents attract, or guests who don’t read the description and cancellation policies and then complain about the accommodation not being what they expected, or having no time to yourself, working 14 hour days or even just overcoming your ignorance of technology, then let’s talk. Click on the link below to book a call with me, so I can assess what’s best for you. Book a FREE CONSULTATION here: https://meetme.so/YvonneHalling

Hello I’m Yvonne Halling of [www.bedandbreakfastcoach.com](www.bedandbreakastcoach.com) and this video is Part 4 in my series on how to use the internet to bring you more guests, more fun and more money, so if you’ve been frustrated and overwhelmed by so much conflicting advice out there on how to really use the internet for your benefit, then this series of 4 videos will help you. Just to recap, there are 4 basic principles of using the internet to bring you more guests, and they are: #1 Build a list #2 Nurture and care for that list #3 Provide regular content for that list #4 Make offers to that list In Part 1 of this series we talked about why you need to build a list and I took you through the steps of how to build a list by identifying the guests you’d most love to welcome and where to find them on Facebook, and then creating what’s known as a “lead magnet” for them to download. In Part 2 I showed you why you need to nurture and care for your list by providing a series of emails that go out automatically once someone has “opted in”, so you build the know like and trust factor. And in Part 3 I showed you how to provide regular content for that list, so you stay top of mind. In this video, I’m going to show you how to make offers to your list.  Now that you’ve taken the trouble to gather new friends which means start building a list of people who are interested in what you offer, and you’ve built the know like and trust factor in your follow up, and you’re now providing regular content for your list to consume, you’ve now earned the right to make an offer to them. If you don’t bother with Steps 1,2 and 3 and you’re online going straight for the booking, it’s like expecting sex on the first date – you may get lucky, but you probably won’t. So how do you make an offer to your new people now on your list? Step #1 Depending on how many people are there, and how long you’ve been building, will dictate what you do next. You could survey them and ask them what they’re interested in and then create that. If you do this you’re more likely to hit the jackpot, because you’re offering something they’re asking for. Step #2   If you don’t want to survey them you could offer a “first time discount code” especially because they’ve never been before and you want to show them what you’ve got. If you’re going this route, then use some of your reviews to back up what you say about yourself. Social proof is worth a lot more than what we say about ourselves. Step #3 Make your offer time-limited so they have to take some action within a given time period or they miss out. Human nature hates missing out, so you’re appealing to their natural tendencies to say yes to your offer. If you’re feeling slightly squeamish about making offers to your list, then register now for my next Masterclass where I’ll show you how to do this with integrity, as well as other proven and tested strategies that will add at least 25% to your income in one season while you have more fun. Click on the link below to register now and I’ll see you there. And if you’ve liked this video, then hit the subscribe button to be the first to be notified when I post the next one. www.bedandbreakfastcoach.com/masterclass

Hi I’m Yvonne Halling of [www.bedandbreakfastcoach.com](www.bedandbreakfastcoach.com) and this video is Part 3 in my series on how to use the internet to bring you more guests, more fun and more money, so if you’ve been frustrated and overwhelmed by so much conflicting advice out there on how to really use the internet for your benefit, then this series of 4 videos will help you. Just to recap, there are 4 basic principles of using the internet to bring you more guests, and they are: #1 Build a list #2 Nurture and care for that list #3 Provide regular content for that list #4 Make offers to that list In Part 1 of this series we talked about why you need to build a list and I took you through the steps of how to build a list by identifying the guests you’d most love to welcome and where to find them on Facebook, and then creating what’s known as a “lead magnet” for them to download. In Part 2 I showed you why you need to nurture and care for your list by providing a series of emails that go out automatically once someone has “opted in”, so you build the know like and trust factor. In this video, I’m going to show you how to provide regular content for your list so that you earn the right to stay in touch. Many people go out on social media just with their offers of buy now, buy now, book a room, book a room, and that can often be annoying, especially if I see you doing that, and I don’t know you. You need to build your network first, be someone people can relate to and then ask for the sale which we’ll cover in Part 4, but today, let’s talk about how and where to find regular content for your growing list. The very best way is to create stories about your life, your B&B and what’s going on in your area. If someone has joined your list they’re looking to you to lead them towards the booking. It’s like OK then, show me what you’ve got. So let’s not disappoint them, let’s show them. Step #1 you can re-purpose the email content you created for your new subscribers into more blog posts and send your people there. Step #2 you can go out with your iphone and take videos of things going on in your area and post them on your Facebook page and all around the internet, including Youtube, and send your people to them there. Step #3 you can take one topic that gets the most interaction in one of your new groups and make a blog post about that, or even a video and share that with your growing list. Step #4 you can ask other people to share your content, always leading back to your optin form so you’re constantly growing your list. This is so much fun to do when you can get over yourself and your own fears, because in the next video, I’m going to show you how to make offers to your list, but if you try to skip the list building, care and nurturing, providing interesting content first, you’ll have little to no chance of making any sales, and you might as well just list with the online travel agents. If you’ve liked this video, then hit the subscribe button to be the first to be notified when I post the next one, and if you’re curious to know how other B&Bs, guest houses and inns have put these basic internet marketing principles in place to add at least 25% to their income in one season, while working less and having more fun, then click on the link below to register for my next [Masterclass](www.bedandbreakfastcoach.com/masterclass). Click on the link and I’ll see you there! www.bedandbreakfastcoach.com/masterclass

Hello I’m Yvonne Halling of [www.bedandbreakfastcoach.com](www.bedandbreakfastcoach.com) and this video is Part 2 in my series on how to use the internet to bring you more guests, more fun and more money, so if you’ve been frustrated and overwhelmed by so much conflicting advice out there on how to really use the internet for your benefit, then this series of 4 videos will help you. Just to recap, there are 4 basic principles of using the internet to bring you more guests, and they are: #1 Build a list #2 Nurture and care for that list #3 provide regular content for that list #4 make offers to that list In Part 1 of this series we talked about why you need to build a list and I took you through the steps of how to build a list by identifying the guests you’d most love to welcome and where to find them on Facebook, and then creating what’s known as a “lead magnet” for them to download. In this video, I’m going to show you how to nurture and care for that list. Step #1 Once you’ve got someone to download your lead magnet and now subscribed to your list you’ll need to build a relationship with them. This means creating a series of emails that you can set up in advance and will automatically get sent out from your list manager, after they’ve downloaded your lead magnet. So what do you say in these emails. First thank them for trusting you with their details and reassure them that you’ll never share them with anyone else. Then let them know what to expect from you, what kind of information you’ll be sharing if they stick around. Step #2 - Invite them to take a look at a blog post on your website, or like your Facebook page or come and say hello anywhere else on the web where you frequently hang out. In other words, make friends with them, and take care of them with your friendly communications. You’re building the know like and trust factor here, so that when they’re ready they’ll book with you. You’re also establishing your authority here, with valuable information that no-one else is bothering to offer, so that when they think of coming to your area for a particular reason, they’ll only think of you. Step #3 Ask them to interact with you elsewhere on line or even become a friend on Facebook. You don’t need to let them in on your family events because you can add them onto a different friend list on Facebook, but you’ll be able to let them see interesting posts about your B&B and your topic about which you’re both interested and that will be valuable for them. I know this can be challenging for many people, but if you want to grow your business without paying commissions to online travel agents, then using the internet yourself, is the way to go. And the good news is that much of this can be done on a set it and go basis, which means that once you’ve got it going, it will free up your time for other things you enjoy. If you’ve liked this video, then hit the subscribe button to be the first to be notified when I post the next one, and if you’re curious to know how other B&Bs, guest houses and inns have put these basic internet marketing principles in place to add at least 25% to their income in one season, while working less and having more fun, then click on the link below to register for my next Masterclass. Click on the link and I’ll see you there! [www.bedandbreakfastcoach.com/masterclass](www.bedandbreakfastcoach.com/masterclass)

Hello I’m Yvonne Halling and in this video I’m going to talk you about how to use the internet to bring you more guests, more fun and more money, so if you’ve been frustrated and overwhelmed by so much conflicting advice out there on how to really use the internet for your benefit, then this series of 4 videos will help you. There are 4 basic principles of using the internet to bring you more guests, and they are: #1 Build a list #2 Nurture and care for that list #3 Provide regular content for that list #4 Make offers to that list In this video, I’m going to show you how and why you need to build a list of guests and potential guests, because without this first step in place, the other 3 won’t work. This just isn’t any list, this is a list of names and email addresses that you have control over, and can communicate with on a regular basis. So let’s start at the beginning. Why do you need to build a list? There’s a reason why the big online travel agents like booking dot com and Airbnb don’t share guests email addresses with you because they want to keep them for themselves. They’re building their own list, and right now, that list is so big they can do anything they want with it. They can send emails to that list offering anything they like, even other peoples’ products and services like insurance, car hire, rooms at other B&Bs in different parts of the world, or even in your town because having a list like that is pretty much a licence to print money. Every time they send out an offer to that list, a percentage of the list buys and they make money. Can you see why you need to build a list too? It doesn’t need to be as big as the online travel agents’ lists but you do need your own list, and the good news is you probably already have a list of guests, but you’re not controlling it. We’ll come to that part later, but today I’m going to show you how to start building a list of potential guests, meaning the people you’d love to welcome who haven’t yet made the decision to book a room with you. Step #1 is to know who you want to attract and why. The internet is a big place with lots of noise and if you’re trying to attract the attention of anybody and everybody, it’s going to be a lot more difficult than if you can narrow it down to just a particular type of person, who likes a particular topic or two, that you also know about, and who also is potentially likely to visit your area. Then you’ll be able to track them down much more easily. So let’s take an example. If you want to attract people who like crafting or quilting, you’ll be able to find them hanging out together in groups on Facebook. There are around 620 million groups on Facebook, all dedicated to their own particular topics, so do you think you can find a couple that relate to you? I think so too. Step #2 Now that you’ve identified who you want to most welcome and you’ve found out where they hang out on line, you can request to join the relevant groups and find out what they’re talking about. Taking the example of the crafters or quilters, you could ask them if they ever go on crafting or quilting retreats, and if so, where do they like to go. Ask lots of questions to learn about them. You’re gathering valuable intel which you’ll need for the next step. Step #3  Once you’ve gathered the information, make a list of the questions, challenges or topics they’ve raised and you can now turn their questions or challenges into content which will help them choose retreats, destinations and even you as their next retreat venue.  So open a Word Document and list around 7 – 10 questions or challenges they’ve raised in your specific groups and which you can answer, then answer them with around 200 – 300 words. Add a picture for each topic if you can, then pop your branding which is something similar to your website banner to the top of each page. Add a photo and short bio about you and finally your website contact details and you’ve created what is known i...

Hi I’m Yvonne Halling of [www.bedandbreakfastcoach.com](www.bedandbreakfastcoach.com) and in today’s video, I’m going to talk about using online travel agents for your benefit, not theirs, so if you’re depending largely on them to bring you guests, then my 3 tips in this video will help you to reduce the commissions you may be paying to them, and take back control of your business. Over the past few years, online travel agents have become a large player in running a B&B, guest house or inn, and why that is, is a subject of another video, but today, I want to help you to understand how you can use them as well as them using you. Tip #1 If you can think of them as your “lead generation” partner, then you can shift the way you perceive them, from something you resent and even hate, to something you can use. Lead generation in the online world means the practice of attracting a customer for the first time. Online travel agents can do this very well, because you pay them to do it in the form of the commissions. However, once that guest has become a customer, it’s now up to you to keep them as a customer, so you’re not constantly paying for the next one and the next one and the next one forever.   Tip #2 They’re in the business of making money, no matter how. They have to do this because they have shareholders, who’ve invested money in their business, and want a return on their investments. They’re constantly under pressure to make more and more money, so they’ll do whatever it takes to make that happen. So to make more money, they need more bookings, so they’ll want you to reduce your prices, because in their world, reduced prices means more bookings. But that might not be right for you, so don’t do it. The truth about reducing your prices is that you’ll start attracting a different type of guest, who may not match your product or the experience you’re offering. This will damage your brand, both in the eyes of those who do appreciate what you offer and are prepared to pay for it, and in the way you see yourself.   If you’ve ever done a promotion with Groupon for example, you’ll know that the people your offer attracts, aren’t generally the ones who would stay with you, because the only reason they’re coming is because of your reduced prices. Those people can’t afford your normal prices, so they would never book with you, and are very unlikely to come back either, so why would you waste your time and energy with that anyway? Tip #3 The online travel agents want total control of your business, so they can make more money. Resist that if you can. You don’t need to list ALL your rooms, ALL of the time. Can you just list one or two rooms just for online exposure? In some countries, you can put your prices up on those platforms, making it more attractive for your ideal guests to book directly with you, while covering the commissions you’re paying. Whatever you do with the online travel agents, make sure that you’re calling the shots, not them. Be proud of what you offer and resist the urge to discount your prices. In the long run, you’ll be much better off both financially and emotionally. If you liked this video and you want to know more about how to build a B&B, guest house or inn that works for you, instead of you working for the online travel agents, then click below to [register for my next Masterclass](www.bedandbreakfastcoach.com/masterclass), where I’ll show you the 4 key principles on how to add at least 25% extra to your income in one season, while working less. And be sure to subscribe to my [Youtube channel](www.youtube.com/user/yvonnehalling) so that when I post the next video, you’ll be the first to know. [www.bedandbreakfastcoach.com/masterclass](www.bedandbreakfastcoach.com/masterclass)

Hi, I’m Yvonne Halling and in this video, I want to talk to you about the importance of doing things YOUR way in your B&B, Guest House or Inn, so if you’ve been asking others about how to run things and not feeling right about what they’re saying, then today’s video will help you to understand why. If you’re just starting out, then it’s understandable that you’re looking for advice on how to do things properly. But first, you’ll need to understand the difference between principles or frameworks and opinions from other owners.   For example, you may be asking what’s the best reservations system to use. And you’ll get dozens of opinions from other owners.   The principle is that in today’s world, you need an online reservation system. The best one for you will depend on many factors, such as how many rooms you have, how many and which online travel agents you’re using or want to use, where you’re based in the world etc. There’s no one-size fits all. Yes, it’s good to get opinions from others, but they are just opinions – you’ll need to decide for yourself. Someone locally may be telling you that you need to list with Airbnb because they’re doing really well with it. The principle is that you’ll need to attract guests, but is Airbnb the best source of guests for you and your business? That will depend on what type of guests you want to attract and why, how you’ve set yourself up to take care of those guests, and whether or not you’re already good at attracting guests yourself. Another owner may be saying that Instagram is the place to be right now, because they’re getting lots of enquiries from it. But is that where your ideal guests hang out? Could you do better engaging in some specific Facebook groups where your ideal guests are having conversations? The principle is that you need to know who YOUR guests and why you want to attract them, and then find out where they’re gathering together online. That may or may not be Instagram for you. Can you see how the principles are more important than the opinions or tactics of others? So you might be asking yourself, so what are the principles of running a B&B, guest house or inn? There are just 4. #1 - Know who you want to welcome and why, based on three factors – where you’re geographically located, why people come to your area and your own expertise, knowledge and interests. #2 – Set up your storefront meaning your website and online presence to attract those ideal guests to you, making you the obvious choice for the specific guests you want to welcome. #3 – Consistently deliver the experience they’re expecting, so they write great reviews and some of them become raving fans and refer you to their friends and family. #4 – Build your business on solid foundations with the 3 timeless, universal business systems – a system to attract guests yourself, a system to sell more to them, and a system to have them coming back again, so you’re not at the mercy of online travel agents forever. When you put these 4 principles in place, you’ll know exactly the right thing to do for your business, and not what everyone else is telling you to do.   If you liked this video and you want to know more about how to build a B&B, guest house or inn that works for you, instead of you working for it, then click below to register for my next Masterclass, where I’ll show you how to add at least 25% extra to your income in one season, while working less. And be sure to subscribe to my Youtube Channel so that when I post the next video, you’ll be the first to know.

Hi I’m Yvonne Halling at www.BedandBreakfastCoach.com and in today’s video I’m going to share something which isn’t talked about in this industry, and that’s true burn out. How do you know when you’ve reached the end of your B&B road, and what do you do about it. So if you’re feeling like you really can’t do this anymore, then my 3 top tips today will help you. When you’ve invested heavily in a property and perhaps been running your B&B, guest house or Inn for several years, decades even, and you’re feeling like you really can’t go on, it can be very difficult to stop. You’ve got staff to think of, regular returning guests who expect you to be there year after year, and the fact that maybe this was your dream once upon a time, but it isn’t any longer. As human beings, we’re constantly evolving on this journey called life. But we sometimes get stuck on trying to make life easy and good for others, but forget about ourselves in the process. You might be feeling resentful towards your guests, your staff who depend on you, and you really can’t face “giving up”. I was in this situation myself. I had been running my own B&B for many years and what started out as a match made in heaven between me and our guests, turned into something I was no longer in alignment with, and couldn’t face doing any more. I had moved on, evolved and no longer wanted to talk about the things my guests were coming for. I was no longer that person and my heart wasn’t in it anymore. But in my head, I felt obligated to everyone around me, including my guests, so much so that over time, the feeling of wanting to stop and move on got so strong, I could barely get out of bed in the mornings. And the need to move on and evolve into the next version of myself was eating away at my soul and I couldn’t contain it any longer. So I stopped. I closed the B&B and left. And what a relief that was! Many people thought I was crazy, and couldn’t understand it.  But I knew it was the right thing to do, for me. So if you’re feeling like you can’t go on, Let me reframe it for you, so you can make the right choice for you going forwards. Tip #1 There is no great rule book in the sky that says if you open a B&B, your dream business, you have to do it forever. You can do it for as long as you choose and want to, and you can stop whenever you want to as well. It’s your life, and you get to do what you want. That’s one of the privileges of living in a democratic developed society.   If it was your dream once, but is no longer, find the courage to let go and move on. If you don’t that resentment you’re feeling right now is only going to get stronger and you could self destruct at some point. Best to avoid that if you can. Tip #2 Feeling obligated to others and staying for their benefit, is a form of insult to them. What you’re really saying is that they can’t look after themselves, so you have to it. It’s insulting because they’re adults too and they too can choose what they do with their lives. They don’t need you to make it OK for them, even if they think they do. They don’t. When you take the lead and go your own way, you’ll unconsciously give them permission to do that too, and after they’ve got over it, they’ll thank you for allowing them to do that.   It’s a bit like keeping them in the role of children, who can’t fend for themselves, while maintaining their reliance on you. A kind of co-dependency that is essentially unhealthy for all concerned. Set yourself free, and you’ll set others free too in the process. Tip #3 Use the experience you’ve had with your B&B to your advantage. Nothing is wasted. You have gained many skills that can be put to good use in your future evolution even if you don’t know what that is right now. Take some time to get to know yourself in a new way. Do some personality tests and discover your values, strengths, weaknesses and preferences to guide you forwards. There are dozens of them online – put aside your scepticism and fin...

Hello I’m Yvonne Halling from www.BedandBreakfastCoach.com and today’s video is about burnout, so if you’re nearing the end of your season, and you’re feeling tired and worn out, or you’ve been doing this for many years and aren’t really sure how you can get up and do it all again next season, then my 3 top tips to deal with and avoid burn out in this video will help you. Let’s face it, running a B&B, guest house or inn is hard work. You wear lots of hats and your time is often stretched, but here’s the thing. We all have 24 hours in a day. It’s a question of how you use those precious 24 hours that determines how you’re going to feel at the end of each day, week, month and season. If you’re allowing your guests to dictate how you spend your time, such as not being clear on check in and check out times and sticking to them, then you could start to feel resentful towards your guests. If you spend all evening chatting with them, because you think they want you to, whether that’s true or not, then you’re putting their needs before your own, and that could also cause resentment. Unacknowledged resentment is a big problem in this industry. Most owners think that they shouldn’t be feeling this way, so put on a big smile for their guests, stuff it down and soldier on. If you’re doing that, and you want to find a way to live more peacefully and in alignment with yourself and your guests, then here’s what to do instead. Tip #1 Set your check in window to 2 hours if you can. It will depend largely on where you are, who your guests are and what you offer, but if it’s more than 4 hours right now, then look at how you can narrow it down just a little bit. There will always be exceptions of course, and we need to be flexible, but if you can, fix a 2 hour window to reduce your waiting around time, so you can claim back more time for yourself. Tip #2  Stick to your check in times and don’t allow your guests’ poor planning to violate them. If someone rings the bell or shows up unannounced outside of your check in window, either don’t answer the door or charge them. They made a decision albeit unconsciously that you were going to “pay” for their inability to plan correctly, and you can’t afford to accept that. Figure out a way to train your guests to roll the way you want them to and enjoy the peace of mind that comes with this. Tip #3 Take time off for yourself every day. It’s your life, you get to decide how you will live it. Devise a schedule for yourself that allows you at least 2 hours a day relaxing or doing something away from the business, that re-charges your batteries, so that when you open the door to your guests at check in time, you look and feel amazing being 100% present for them and ready to deliver your unique experience. And if you’re still feeling burned out, then you could be at the end of your B&B life, which we’ll talk about in another video. If you’d like to find out more about how to free up even more of your time by having a systemized business that runs on your terms, and makes you more money, with less stress then register for my next Masterclass by clicking on the link below. And if you liked this video, and you want to be notified when I post the next one, then click the red Subscribe button and I’ll see you again soon.

Hello, I’m Yvonne Halling and in today’s video I’m going to talk about the one thing that will allow you to make more money, attract the guests you love, while doing less work, and it’s available to you right now. So if you’re stuck on the hamster wheel of trying to get more and more guests, or looking for yet another online travel agent to list with, or you’re looking for another quick trick to use on social media, then stay tuned, this video will help you. In my private clients group last week, someone reported her best August since 1997, and while we were all celebrating her enormous achievement, someone else asked “what’s the one thing that you did that made that result happen”. What she said was gold. You might think that it would be keeping rooms clean and refreshed every year, or adding more extras into the deals, or discounting prices to get more bookings, or being extra specially nice to guests. But it was none of that. Here’s what she said: The one thing is "confidence". I have confidence in what I offer here, in my upsells, in the whole system. In myself--seeing myself as the '’expert", a specialist, a professional, not a hobbyist. And in that "professional mode" I take care of my guests, and by extension, take care of the money they bring in and that act alone attracts more guests and more money. And from there, I am not desperate to take anybody at any cost.  If you’d like to find out how to bring in this level of confidence and certainty to your own life, then I invite you now to register for my next Masterclass by clicking on the link below. On this free online training, I will show you the simple 4 part framework that will have you too, making more money, without doing more work, or adding more extras, or discounting your prices. Click below to register now and I’ll see you there! https://bedandbreakfastcoach.com/masterclass/ And if you’ve liked this video then hit the red subscribe button in my Youtube Channel, so when I post the next one, you’ll be the first to know.

Hello, I’m Yvonne Halling and in today’s video I’m going to talk about the psychology that you need to be aware of while running your B&B, guest house or inn, so you can tap into the 6 key areas of life that matter to us all. So whether you’re new or been doing this for a while, this video will help you to identify the key areas you could be putting some simple psychology to work to take your business to new heights, without doing any more work, or trying to get any more guests. As humans, we have 6 basic human needs. Maslov first identified them, and many famous people like Stephen Covey and Tony Robbins have built upon them to give us a framework in which to use them. Today, I’m going to talk about two of them, the need for certainty and the need for contribution as to how they apply to your B&B, guest house or inn, and why it’s important to know this. Let’s start first with our basic human need for certainty. Your guests are looking to you to make them feel safe when they book with you, arrive with you and stay with you. This means re-enforcing their desire to feel certain about their choice, especially in front of a loved one, and to feel that you know what you’re doing. If you show up either online before they book, before they arrive or during their stay with you, as someone who is not in control of their own certainty, you will not meet their needs in this area. This will result in a disappointing experience for them and for you, and quite possibly result in a mediocre or negative review. It’s not enough to be positive on a good day. You must show up positive, optimistic and certain of yourself and what you offer, every single time, online and offline. What goes on behind the scenes is of no importance to your guests, and they should never hear about it. If it’s the end of the season, and you’re tired, then why not take regular naps during the day, or get more sleep at night?   Let’s move on to contribution. This is our basic human need to feel like we’re making a difference, that somehow something was better because of us. One of the ways you can do this, is to make sure your guests know how important them staying with you is to your local community, not just you.   You could let them know how much you love to contribute to your community and how they are part of your ability to do that. When guests stay with you, you buy more breakfast supplies, so the local store does more business. You employ local cleaners so they can feed their families too. Likewise with your laundry service and your other team members. Let them know how much it means to them all, and you’ll tap into their need to contribute, and you’ll have another loyal guest, because you did this. If you enjoyed this video and you’d like to know more about the psychology of running a B&B, guest house or inn and how this alone can make you more without doing more work, then register now for my next Masterclass by clicking on the link below.  https://bedandbreakfastcoach.com/masterclass/ And if you liked this video and would like more tips that I used, and have taught dozens of other owners just like you, that will help you to add at least 25% to your business in one season, then click on the red subscribe button to be the first to know when I post the next one! https://www.youtube.com/user/YvonneHalling

Hello, I’m Yvonne Halling and in today’s video I’m going to talk about the worst way to run your business and how you make 3 simple changes right now, to get you making more money, having more fun and working less. One of the most important things I’ve learned about getting more guests and increasing revenue as a B&B or Innkeeper is that focusing on just getting heads in beds is the worst way to increase your income, especially if you’re paying third parties to bring those guests to you. Let’s face it, this business is hard work. When guests come, there’s work to do in preparing rooms, laundry, cleaning etc. and the more guests that come, the more work there is to do. It’s far easier to focus on increasing revenue by increasing the amount guests spend with you. If you’re in a tourist area, or there is some element of tourism to your business, then you’ll know that when people are on vacation, they have money to spend, so why not have them spend that money with you? They’re going to spend it with someone, so it might as well be you! Knowing the numbers is key to any business, and when you have those key metrics to hand, you can configure your revenue any way you want, and especially in a way that works for you, because you’re the boss and you can decide. So let’s do a little calculation, just for fun (math is not my strong point…..). Say you wanted to make 100,000 (in any currency) in the next 12 months. Let’s say also that your room rate is 100 just to keep the math simple (for me). So if you were just focusing on selling rooms, then you’d need to sell 1000 nights. Now I don’t know how many rooms you have, but if you only have 3 – that means you’d have to be full every night on 333 days of the whole year, leaving you just one month to recuperate. I’m feeling exhausted just thinking about that! Let’s look at this another way. If you could generate 30,000 from other products and services, then you’d only have to sell 700 rooms. Staying with the assumption that you have just 3 rooms, then you would only need to be full on 233 days of the year, meaning you could take 4 months off! Now I know it doesn’t work out as neatly as that, and occupancy rates do vary from week to week and month to month, but you get my point. There’s a limit to how many rooms you can sell, but there’s no limit to what you can create in terms of extra products and services that delight your guests and make your life easier. But if you still want to get more guests, then let’s look at that. What I came to realize in my own B&B, many years ago is that there are guests, and there are guests, and it’s important to choose which guests you want to attract. When you’re taking everyone and anyone, you’re actually not serving anyone very well, and so very few come back and they don’t refer you. If you want to attract more guests, then the place to start is to take an inventory of YOU – your preferences, your interests, your skills, your expertise, your knowledge, your hobbies, your favorite topics, YOU, YOU, and YOU! Guests choose B&Bs, guest houses and small hotels because they want to interact with the owners, so be sure that your guests are aligned with YOU then everyone will have a wonderful time, including you. When you’ve decided on who you want to see more of (and who you want to see less of) then let your website – your storefront reflect that. Set it up so that when guests land on it, they immediately know that you are right for them, and let the others go. Put yourself front and center on your website, don’t hide out – we want to see you. Who do you want to attract?   What could you create that could add another 30% to your revenue, delight your guests and make your life easier? I created a framework that teaches you how to do this, so if you’d like to know more, then register below for my upcoming Masterclass where I’ll show you how to make more, work less, pay less commissions with less str...

Hello, I’m Yvonne Halling of www.BedandBreakfastCoach.com and today’s video is about your website. I’m going to give you 5 tips on how to make it more engaging and relevant for your visitors so that you get more bookings, so if you’ve got a website that looks nice but doesn’t bring you as many bookings as you’d like it to, then stay tuned and I’ll explain why. First, your website is not about you, IT’S ABOUT YOUR GUESTS and their experience. What that means is that if it’s all pretty, with flashy images but does not clearly convey who you are, where you are, who you welcome and what you offer, then you’ve lost them within the first 7 seconds. We have very short attention spans these days, so you’ll only have a few seconds to grab their attention. Tip #1 take a look at your home page from your guests perspective. Studies show that the top right hand corner is where the eye is naturally drawn so have your contact details and your book now button positioned there. Tip #2 Is your geographical location clearly stated? You know there are some towns around the world with the same name, so if you’re in say Manchester in the UK and someone is looking for Manchester in the USA, it could get confusing. So make sure your actual location is clearly marked. Tip #3 and this is the most important one. Take a look at the introductory text on your website. If you’re talking about yourself and not about your guests, then take a step back. Every sentence you’ve written there should be able to stand the “so what” test? What do I mean by that? The “so what” test is when you make a statement about your property, ask yourself, so what does this mean for my guests. Let me give you an example…. We have 5 beautiful rooms all with sea view. How does that statement make you feel? Nothing, right? Now check in with yourself on this statement… We have 5 beautiful rooms all with sea view, which means that when you wake up in the morning, pull back the blinds, you’ll immediately see the sun twinkling on the water, the gulls flying around overhead, while you sip on your freshly made coffee. How does that make you feel? I’m willing to bet that you began to picture yourself in that scene, right? That’s how you make your property irresistible. Tip #4  Make sure you have your reviews sprinkled around your website, especially just before you ask your visitors to take the next step, like book a room. You want to be using your reviews as social proof that your hospitality is good, and that future guests can rely on you to deliver. What other people say about us is way more powerful that what we say about ourselves, so if you’re leaving your reviews on the review sites and not using them on your website, strategically positioned to have the biggest impact, then go change that now. If you’d like to know more about how these strategies and many more have helped my clients to get more direct bookings and attract guests they love, then click on the link below to register below for my upcoming Masterclass where I’ll show you how to make more, work less, pay less commissions with less stress.

Hi I’m Yvonne Halling from www.BedandBreakfastCoach.com and in this video I want to ask you a question: Do you know what your guests really want? Many B&B owners I speak to insist that having “stars” or ratings by organisations who grade them are the most important reason people choose them, and I’m here to tell you today, that it’s not! Not at all! But hey, I thought that too, and I fell into the same trap as everyone else and got a rating from my national organisation, Gites de France. Gites de France came to my B&B, focussed on all the things I didn’t have, like TV in the rooms, private parking, difficult access etc. etc. and gave me a 2 star rating. They then told me how much I could charge which was around €60 euros a night, which is about $50. Well €60 a night wasn’t going to cut it as far as my bills were concerned, so I dumped Gites de France, who didn’t bring me any of the guests I wanted to welcome anyway and put my prices up to €95 a night!   And my business exploded! Guests are not interested in your grading, your stars, or your awards. Look how Airbnb has exploded with pretty much no-one having any ratings at all at the start. You want to know why – no-one cares So before you spend another penny on upgrading your bed linen, installing TVs or splashing out on expensive toiletries, let me share with you the results of a study done recently by Hospitality.net which revealed some very interesting information about what guests really want. #1 they want what’s called “enhanced perspective” which means a sense of expanding their horizons, learning about something new, the feeling that their time has been well spent. A kind of fulfilled experience. #2 They want “liberation” which means getting out of their daily habits and thinking patterns, so they have the feeling that they really did get away from it all, at least for a little while, with you. #3 Relationships, which means they want to interact with owners, find out stuff, learn the insider secrets to the area, interact with like-minded souls. Isn’t that interesting? You’ll notice that smart TVs, beautiful views and expensive toiletries didn’t feature on the list. Now without getting too psycho here, more and more, people are travelling to improve their life experience, and right now in the 21st century, with all our lower human needs already met, such as shelter, warmth, security, we’re looking for more experiences of being alive, learning, understanding the world and these are all internal rather than external elements. What guests really want is an emotional connection with you, and now, if you know what you’re doing, you can easily create this using the power of video, online technology and mankind’s greatest invention so far…. The internet. I’ve created a framework for this that I’d love to share with you, so if you’re interested in paying less commission to the online travel agents, ending the cashflow worries of the low seasons, and giving guests what they truly want, so everyone can have a great experience, then join me on my next Masterclass, where I’ll show you how to make more more money while working less and having a heck of a lot more fun than you may be having right now. Click on the link below to register now and I’ll see you there!

Hi there, I’m Yvonne Halling from www.BedandBreakfast Coach.com and in this video I’m going to address the issue of how much time should you spend attracting direct bookings for your bed and breakfast, guest house or inn, so if like so many owners I talk to, you’re not spending much time at all on this vital element because you don’t know what to do, then my 3 top tips in this video will help you. In a recent poll in my Facebook group, I asked the question – how much time do you spend on a daily basis attracting direct bookings and the answers were very surprising. Almost everyone wants more direct bookings, without paying commissions to online travel agents, but hardly anyone is devoting themselves to the task. Is it any wonder that over 70% of owners surveyed said this was their biggest challenge? I believe the challenge is how do I find the time and what specifically should I be doing, so let me help you with a quick story of how this worked for me in my own B&B. Back in 2010, when my own little B&B in France had suddenly become our only source of income, and in the past had only ever made me less than €10,000, the bailiffs were at the door and I had to come up with some kind of plan to keep my home.  I decided I needed to make €40,000 that year, and I had no clue how to do that. But I invested in a coach and he said something to me that I’ve never forgotten, so let me tell you what that was. He said, the only way you’re going to reach that goal is to get your head out of the toilet and start focussing on your real job of marketing to attract bookings. The time you’re spending cleaning bathrooms, making beds, doing laundry and other low value tasks is valuable time you should be spending learning how to market yourself. That is your real job. So I’m telling you right now, that you simply have to stop doing the daily chores and hire some help, so you too can focus on your real job, which is attracting guests. No-one else can do this but you. I know, I know, you’re probably thinking, well I can’t afford any help right now. I’ll hire some help when I have more bookings but the truth is that it simply doesn’t work like that. You’ll never get any more bookings until you do hire help. Put on your big girl/big boy pants and get some help, so you can free up at least 2 hours every day of your precious time to do the work you need to do, otherwise you’ll be on this treadmill forever.   So now you’ve got some of your time back, what can you do to start attracting those guests you want to welcome? Step #1 Make sure you’re really clear on who your ideal guests are. You know, the ones you love to welcome, because of your own preferences, interests and passions. Step #2 Find groups on social media where they hang out, and make friends with as many of them as you can. Post often on the main platforms so you’re constantly top of mind for them. Step #3 Make sure your website is set up specifically for those people, so that when they visit you online, they’ll know that your property is perfect for them. Join up the dots for them, with what they’re looking for with what you offer and bingo, you’ll have a ball. If you’d like to know more about how these strategies and many more have helped my clients to get off the hamster wheel of cleaning, laundry and maintenance and become great marketers of their businesses, then click on the link below to register below for my upcoming Masterclass where I’ll show you how to make more, work less, pay less commissions with less stress! https://bedandbreakfastcoach.com/masterclass/

Hi, I’m Yvonne Halling from www.BedandBreakfastCoach.com and today I’m going to help you to find the right B&B, guest house or inn for you to buy, so if you’re in the planning stages of opening your dream business, then pay close attention, because I would hate for you to miss this crucial information and fall into the trap that I see too many rookie owners fall into. So how do you find the right B&B to buy? Well it’s all about location, location location isn’t it? Well yes and no. Location is very important, but it’s not the only factor to consider. There are two other crucial elements that you need to think very carefully about before you start. It’s too easy to find what’s sometimes called a “turnkey” business, an existing one running well and busy and to imagine you can just drop into it and it will roll on it’s own. The truth is that the energy of the existing owners is what got the thing rolling in the first place. Their passion, their expertise and their own intrinsic value, and if you want to take over a business like this, you’ll have to find your own intrinsic value too. Here’s what to do: Step #1 Take an inventory of your own passions, skills, expertise knowledge and get really clear on what you love to talk about and learn about. This might take a bit of introspection, but I promise you it will be worth it in the long run. Step #2  Now find busy locations where the people visiting are interested in the same things that you’re interested in. For example, if you like mountaineering and the great outdoors, don’t buy a property near the beach. If you’re a vegetarian or vegan, don’t buy a property where meat is a staple. If you don’t take this into account, you’ll find yourself welcoming guests to whom you can’t really relate and that will make for an empty experience for everyone. Step #3 Be prepared to put your passions, knowledge and expertise to work for you. That means differentiating yourself from everyone else in the area, so you stand out from the crowd, offer a unique experience based on what you love and yes, even charge more. This is the recipe for the right B&B, guest house or inn for you. Can you see now how so many people get this wrong and end up listing with the gazillion online travel agents just to fill their rooms and at any price, slowly becoming disillusioned and very often broke. Don’t let that happen to you. If you’d like to know more about how these strategies and many more have helped my clients to find and develop the right property and business, and make more money while working less, then click on the link below to register below for my upcoming Masterclass where I’ll show you how to make more, work less, pay less commissions with less stress! https://bedandbreakfastcoach.com/masterclass/

Hi I’m Yvonne Halling from www.BedandBreakfastCoach.com and in today’s video, I’m going to talk about a question that comes up frequently in my Facebook group – What’s the best online travel agent to list with? So if you’re someone who’s constantly jumping from one online travel agent to the next, and wondering where the next guest is coming from, then this video will help you. Listing with online travel agents is NOT a long-term strategy. They can be great in the short term or for just one of your rooms for exposure, but if you’re tripping from one to the other, trying to beat the competition, discounting just to get guests, and metaphorically prostituting yourself on those platforms then let’s be clear. You’re missing the whole point of owning and running a small hospitality business. Let me explain what I mean by that. First, guests choose bed and breakfasts, guest houses, inns and small hotels because they want to interact with the owners, have experiences rather than just have somewhere to sleep. Don’t underestimate your ability to provide this for them. Second when you ignore the first point I made, you’re placing yourself in amongst other accommodation providers who have no way to meet the needs of their guests.   And third, when you do overlook this crucial distinction, you’ll be attracting and competing for the guests who don’t want the intimate experience, and therefore everyone will be disappointed. Your job is to decide who you want to welcome and why, based on who you are and the experience you offer, and then find the platform where those guests are hanging out, and it probably won’t be on the big names you and I are both familiar with. If you’d like to know more about how these strategies and many more have helped my clients to find the guests they love to welcome and ADD AT LEAST 25% MORE INCOME to their businesses, while working less, then click on the link below to register below for my upcoming Masterclass where I’ll show you how to make more, work less, pay less commissions with less stress!

Hi, I’m Yvonne Halling from www.BedandBreakfastCoach.com and today’s video is about creating educational content for your ideal guests, so they look to you as the source of the best information. So if you’re not yet in the habit of creating content in the form of blogs, videos and social media posts for the benefit of your guests, then my 3 top tips in this video will help you. Let me ask you a question…. When you read something online or even in good old-fashioned print, and you’re enjoying it, how do you feel about the author? Do you go looking for other publications by the same author? We as a society tend to regard people who write stuff as somehow different, don’t we? We tend to put them on a level above us. We’re even a little bit in awe of them. People like J K Rowling or Stephen King. Well, when you create content about your area, your topic of expertise and about your property, people will start to look at you differently, and even put you on a level slightly above. You don’t have to create great best sellers, you just have to get into the habit of finding your voice and sharing what you know on a regular basis. So here’s 3 top tips for creating and sharing content using that great platform that’s available to us all – the internet. Tip #1  Make a list of topics to write about or shoot video on. You’ll be able to find lots of things to talk about using your local tourist office. If you have flyers or brochures at your property and most of us do, then pick 3 or 4 and investigate yourself, so you can speak confidently about what other attractions are offering. Tip #2 Find YOUR preferred way of sharing what you know. If you like talking, then make some short videos with you in them, talking directly to the camera so we can see you and feel your energy. If you like writing as I do, then write just 300 – 500 words about an aspect of your area and share it on your blog and on social media. If you’re camera shy right now, then let us hear your voice as commentary as you share something interesting about your area.   Tip #3 Do this consistently. Once is never enough, so resolve to invest time in your week to actually implement this strategy, and keep in mind that once you’ve posted something on the internet, it’s there forever, especially on You Tube and your blog. If you’d like to know more about how these strategies and many more have helped my clients to add at least 25% extra income to their businesses, while working less, then click on the link below to register below for my upcoming Masterclass where I’ll show you how to make more, work less, pay less commissions with less stress! Register to my next Masterclass: https://www.bedandbreakfastcoach.com/masterclass/

Hi I’m Yvonne Halling of www.BedandBreakfastCoach.com and today I’m going to talk about the three ways you can make more money and have more fun in your business, so if you’re thinking that you need to work harder, but you’re already working hard, then this video will help you. One of the reasons people seek help is because they’re simply not making enough money for the hard work they do, and often feel defeated, worn out and sometimes even ready to give up. Even when what looks good on paper doesn’t transmute into a good personal income for yourself, it can be demoralising to say the least. There’s basically three ways you can make more money. You can find more guests, which means that you increase your occupancy rate.   You may already feel you can’t cope with any more guests, because you’re already at maximum occupancy and you can’t face the extra work, in which case you need to find some help, so you can take time out for yourself. You can encourage those guests to spend more with you, thereby increasing your revenue but not necessarily your occupancy rate You can entice your past guests to come back and refer you to their friends and family, which means you are not spending any more money on commissions or marketing activities because you already have plenty of guests. All businesses work on this basis, so what could go wrong? Most people focus on getting more guests. And yet this is the hardest thing to do. Getting someone to buy from you for the first time, takes a lot of trust building first, which takes time and money. Increasing your guests spend is far, fear easier, because like Amazon’s “customers who bought this, also bought that” strategy, trust has already been built and guests are far more likely to buy anything else you recommend, once they’ve booked a room. And it’s less work for you. Enticing your past guests to come back is the easiest thing to do, and yet so few people even think of it. So let me outline this really simple process that you can put into practice right now to generate some business without paying any commissions or spending time on social media. You already have a database of past guests, right? (Please say you have!)   A database is a list of the names and email addresses of anyone who has ever stayed with you. It maybe stored in your online booking system software, or it may be just a bunch of emails in your inbox Wherever it is, get it out and dust it off. This is your most precious asset in your business.   Now you need to use your creative imagination to dream up something fun and exciting that your guests would love to know about. Then when you’ve got something to run with, send out 3 emails to those past guests – once is never enough, send 3, with one simple “call to action” that allows them to find out more about your delightful offer. Then see what happens! If you know you need to do this, but feel you need more information, then go ahead and click on the link below to register for my upcoming Masterclass, where I’ll take you step by step through the process of setting up these three essential ways to make more money, while doing less work, paying less commissions and having more fun. Click below to register now and I’ll see you there!

Hello I’m Yvonne Halling of www.BedandBreakfastCoach.com and today I'm going to talk about the merging of some of the online travel agents, and how they’re taking over more and more of the industry, and if this seems like a problem for you and you’re feeling like they’ve got control of you, then this video will help you. The online travel agencies are joining forces and why not? They have the same customers and it makes sense from a business perspective. After all they’re doing a great job for us, and that’s my point….. they’re doing OUR job, and if we’re relying on them to bring us guests, then we’re in a dangerous and disadvantaged place. They hold all the cards. One glitch, or hiccup on their part sends us into a tailspin. Because the truth is, they really don’t care about us. They care about their business and building it, and by allowing them to fill our beds for us, we become one of their “suppliers of beds” rather than a B&B business, and we inadvertently end up building their business instead of our own. The cold hard truth is, when we operate like that, we don’t really have a business at all. No systems, no lead generation, no follow up, no database = no business. How long do you think it will be before they begin buying hotels, guest houses and yes, even our bed and breakfast businesses? Then they’ll own the whole “food chain”. But we do have a choice….. we can take control of our own businesses, learn how to do the essential marketing, build a profitable business and own it. When we do that, we are no longer at the mercy of the giants. We use them for the services they provide, but we don’t dance to their tunes any more. So where do we start? Step 1 - Decide who you want to serve, in other words, which group of people can you add the most value to with your knowledge, skills or expertise. Do some keyword research and find out what those people are searching for online. Step 2– Armed with your keywords, set up your website to attract those people, using images and language that they can relate to. Step 3 – Create products and services that those ideal guests would love to buy, adding value and increasing your profits . Step 4 - Get help with the low value tasks, such as cleaning, laundry, gardening/yard work so that you can concentrate on attracting those guests with your targetted marketing, and start building your own database. Guard that database with your life, it’s your most precious business asset. Step 5 – Encourage guests to refer you to their friends and write raving reviews on Trip Advisor, and then help them to come back by making appropriate and specific offers to them on a regular basis. And rinse and repeat! Keep an eye on the financials as you go along, and you’ll soon have built a real business that works on systems, without the OTAs and that you can sell, even if you never want to.  If you like the sound of this kind of business, then go ahead and register for my next Masterclass where I’ll take you step by step through these simple but powerful and timeless systems that will have your business humming like a well-oiled machine. Click on the link below to register and I’ll see you there! 

Hi I’m Yvonne Halling and in this video today, I’m going to talk about the truth that no-one is coming to save you. Does this sound familiar to you? “I just received my "automatic renewal notice" from TripAdvisor; last year 475€ (for a 3 room B&B), this year 720€! I called today to cancel and was offered a reduction, to 525€ but I am still going to cancel. I used Booking.com for a year & cancelled with them, changing to TripConnect, which actually ended up costing MORE than Booking's iniquitous 20% commission. A week or so ago I got caught in a weak moment on the phone & paid 250€ to a company who promised me my very own marker on a map of B&Bs in my area. Help!” If I had a dollar/euro/pound for every email like this that hits my inbox, I’d be a rich woman indeed! The problem as I see is NOT that this person has paid too much of her hard-won cash on services that haven’t worked. The problem is that she believes that someone or something else is going to “save her”, and they’re not. Companies like Trip Advisor, Booking.com etc. have their own agendas and while it is beneficial to list with them to gain online exposure, we cannot rely on them entirely to keep us booked. The only way out of the stranglehold is to take back your power. Stop paying them unnecessarily and instead, find a way to attract guests yourself, using OTAs/TripAdvisor in the beginning, but then build relationships with guests yourself, invite them to return yourself, provide valuable products and services for them yourself, be their trusted advisor for your area yourself, and then learn how to find more of them yourself. Here’s some pointers to get you started: 1. Decide on who is your ideal guest? What do they come for? What do they ask about? What are their needs? Where can you find them online, and how are you going to connect with them? You may have groups of ideal guests who come for different reasons and this is OK. Keep in mind though, that each group has different needs, so you must be conscious that “we welcome families with dogs” may not appeal to your business travellers who bring you regular business week after week. 2. Tweak your website so that it speaks the language of your ideal guests. Make it about them not you. Try not to appeal to everyone, but appeal deeply to your ideal guest. This doesn’t mean you have to turn people away, but you will be focussed on attracting more of your ideal guests. 3. Once you are clear on who you want to serve, then ask them what else they would love to buy from you, and then develop more products and services based on what they want. You’ll want to have an automated “upselling” system in place so that everybody who books with you is aware of your additional products and services. 4. Ask for reviews and referrals and let your guests know why this is so important to you as a small business. If they’ve had a good time, and they love what you do, they will happily write reviews for you and refer their friends and family, as well as return themselves. 5. Stay in touch with your past guests, and work on attracting more of your ideal guests by using the social media platforms, blogging, videos, groups and forums. Be sure to be offering something valuable in your interactions. Come from a place of “giving” rather than “getting”. 6. Take off your “B&B owner” hat and put on your “marketer” hat for a couple of hours every day, and watch your business grow. It’s not enough to be brilliant at running a B&B, you’ve also got to be brilliant at letting people know about you. It’s not difficult to do, but it does take a decision to do it. Once you’ve made that decision, the way will be shown to you. I’m taking a stand for all B&B owners, guest house owners, innkeepers and small hotel owners everywhere. You’ve got the POWER! If you’d like to know more about how to implement all this in your business, then register now for my next Masterclass, where I’ll show you how easy and fun it is to run your busine...

Hello, I’m Yvonne Halling at BedandBreakfastCoach.com and today I’m going to talk about how to manage your time so you can take time off, avoid burnout and even going completely insane. The burnout is real, so we want to plan ahead so we don’t descend into it. So whether you’re just starting out or you’ve been in this business for many years, here’s 5 helpful tips that both I and my clients have used to stay on top of your business. There’s basically three different areas that will compete for your time. Guest facing, where you’re with your guests and making them feel welcome and cared for. Daily labour tasks which include the cleaning, laundry and general maintenance and running of your property. And marketing your business so you’ve got a constant stream of guests booking with you, and you’re in communication with both prospective and past guests. If you have a family as well, you’ll need to factor that in too. Tip #1 First to stay relaxed and feeling good, I encourage you to think about outsourcing the daily labour tasks. This means getting help with cleaning and laundry specifically, getting deliveries to you for supplies, instead of going out shopping for them and if you can manage it, getting help with general maintenance work to keep your place looking nice. You may think, well I can’t afford help, but if you factor in the costs for this into your pricing, coupled with the extra bookings you’ll create when you take yourself out of the daily stuff, you’ll be able to afford it. Tip #2 Take a look at how much time you really do need to be spending with your guests. Typically, they arrive during the late afternoon or early evening and they leave in the mornings, either to leave you completely or to go out to see the attractions of your area. See if you can narrow down the guest facing window so you’re free to do the real work of making sure you’ve got a constant stream of bookings and you’re in communication with your guests, past, present and future. Tip #3 Have a timetable that you stick to throughout your day. This doesn’t mean you won’t get interrupted or that things won’t go swimmingly every day but a structure for your day gives you a place to come back to when things get off track. Without the structure, you’ll be constantly in a state of chaos, where nothing much gets done and you’ll start to feel anxious. Structure provides clear boundaries for you and your staff and even your family. When you “work from home” it’s too easy for family to just think, well mum’s here so I can get her attention any time I want. You’ll need to set clear boundaries for yourself around your work so you’re not constantly getting interrupted when you’re working. Tip #4 Carve your day up into compartments. I learned this when I was struggling with coping with our first child. Luckily for me, I was given a book that showed me how to plan the day around everything that needed to be taken care of, so that I could have some time for me too. Once I had the courage to implement the plan, everything became so much easier. Find what works for you, and then stick to that. Everyone’s different. Everyone works at different paces and in different ways. Have the courage to say – this doesn’t work for me – and then make the changes needed that do work for you. Tip #5 Put your holidays in the calendar now and if you don’t have cover, be brave and close regularly, if only for a day or two. If the majority of your business is on weekends, take two days off during the week and go away somewhere on a regular basis. When you stay at home, it’s just time away from guests, not time off work. You’ll be drawn into doing little jobs to catch up and that’s definitely not time off work, no matter how much you love it. You need time to refresh and recharge so you can be the best you can be for yourself, and your guests, so you won’t burn out and you won’t go insane. If you’d like to know more about how to streamline your business so you can...

**How to Find and Keep Great Staff for Your Bed and Breakfast, Guest Houses and Inns** Hi I’m Yvonne Halling at BedandBreakfastCoach.com and today I’m going to talk about finding and keeping great staff.  This thorny topic featured highly in our recent survey about the biggest challenges owners face, so if you’re having trouble with your staff, or you just can’t seem to find anyone to help you, then I’m going to give you 3 tips today on keeping good staff and one final tip of finding great staff that you might find surprising. Tip #1 To find great staff, you’ve got to be a great employer.  That means taking responsibility for how you show up.  The culture and atmosphere you create for your guests must extend to every single member of staff and it’s up to you to help them carry that culture for you. If you’re prone to complaining, or you’re a bit pessimistic, or you’re in the habit of micro-managing people, your staff will leave. People like to be respected, so no matter what tasks they’re carrying out for you, they deserve your respect, even when they’ve made a mistake. Tip #2 Set clear expectations, preferably written down, that your staff can understand.    Have all your procedures carefully documented so they know how everything works at your property.  Don’t leave anything to chance.   People like structure and boundaries, and when they’re fuzzy or missing, they tend to feel confused. Confusion leads to dissatisfaction which leads to staff leaving. Tip #3 Show appreciation often.   Involve your staff in everything that goes well at your property, as well as things that don’t go so well.  Every 5 star review needs to be celebrated with every member of the team, so everyone understands that they played their part in the success of the business and that you know they did too. Communicating with staff when things go badly, and forgetting about when things go well will lead to discontent and apathy, and eventually resignations. Create a culture of positivity, inspiration and appreciation and your staff will want to stay with you. Tip #4 Finally, on finding great staff.  Your own energy of optimism, positivity and pride in what you offer will by itself attract good staff, who’ll want to do well for you, and who’ll want to stay. Your only job in this is to take good care of yourself and your energy. When people are taken care of and loved, they won’t bother going anywhere else. I know this sounds a bit “out there” but it really does work.  I won’t go into the scientifics of this stuff, but just know that we attract what we are, and if we complain, blame and make excuses, we’ll attract situations and people that allow us to continue to do that. So make a decision to raise your energy to what you want to experience, and magic will happen, despite all the problems you may have had with staff in the past. If you’d like to know more about how to streamline your business so you can find and keep good staff and free up even more of your time, then register below for my upcoming Masterclass where I’ll show you how to make more, work less, pay less commissions with less stress. https://bedandbreakfastcoach.com/masterclass/

Hello, I’m Yvonne Halling at Bed and Breakfast Coach.com and today I’m going to talk to you about technology and give you my 3 top tips on what I believe are the essential elements to make your business work better, make you more money while you take more time off to do what you want to do. Tip #1 Your online booking system with channel manager, linked to all the major online booking agents, if you’re using them, is your first essential piece. There are over 3 billion people online. Your potential guests are online. They may phone you or email you, but without the opportunity to book directly online on your own website, you could well be missing the people who want an instant response by booking online. Make sure you’ve got all bases covered.  Tip #2 Your website is your primary sales tool, so make sure it’s up to date, that you’re using the blog to keep the content fresh and new for the search engines, and there’s a clear path for your visitors to take to the booking page. Good photos are essential, as are clear calls to action, and using your reviews as social proof. Rather than crowd out your home page talking about all the awards you’ve won, think about how you can use emotional language to tell a story and paint a picture in the minds of your website visitors to draw them in. Add an “about us” page so people can see who you are and who they’ll meet when they arrive. Tip #3 Your customer relationship management system is essential if you want to build a business you can count on for your future. If you don’t control your own database of guests, past, present and future, you’re building your business on shaky ground, and it could all be blown away with a change on the other platforms you’re using. No matter where your bookings are coming from, or how successful you are at attracting bookings on social media, you’re going to need to build your own database that you can use for future marketing. Keep in mind that the large online travel agents have built huge databases at your expense, and they can cut you off in a heartbeat.  Look after yourself and build your own. If you’d like to know more about how to use technology to streamline your business so you can free up even more of your time, then register below for my upcoming Masterclass where I’ll show you how to make more, work less, pay less commissions with less stress https://bedandbreakfastcoach.com/masterclass/

Hi I’m Yvonne Halling at BedandBreakfastCoach.com and today I’m going to talk about how to make sure that you meet your guests’ expectations, plus I’m going to give you 3 things you can do right now to reduce the risk of negative reviews or complaints due to unmet needs. The main reason you may be falling short on meeting your guests’ expectations is because you’re unclear on what it is you offer and you don’t understand what your guests are looking for. If you think you’re offering a bed for the night with a breakfast in the morning then I want you to think more deeply about the experience you offer, rather than the nuts and bolts. The nuts and bolts are the bed and the breakfast. The experience is the kind of atmosphere or ambiance you create that has your guests feeling a certain way, which will probably include the bed and the breakfast, but it’s not the whole thing. If you don’t pay attention to the experiential element, you’re missing the reasons why people choose bed and breakfasts, guest houses, inns or small hotels, over large chains.  Studies have consistently shown that your guests are looking for an emotional connection with you, your property and your area, where they can create memories with their loved ones. They’re looking for a deeper connection to themselves and to life itself, and they can’t get that at an anonymous chain hotel. They very often choose something small and intimate to relax, pamper themselves and just getaway from their everyday routines, and to have someone knowledgeable on the area who can help them is also very important. It doesn’t matter where you’re located, or how you run things, if you focus on creating that more intimate, better-than-home-from-home experience for your guests, coupled with insider knowledge, they won’t be disappointed. So here’s what you can do right now to make sure that your guests’ expectations are being met: Step #1 Get clear on who your guests really are, and why they’re coming to your property. You could even do a survey to find out.    The more we know about our customers the more we understand them, and the more we understand them, the more they will love us. Step #2 Make sure that your website is conveying precisely what you offer. Examine your home page and read the text on it – does it inspire you? Or are you talking mostly about you and your awards? Take an hour to write something more emotional on your home page that reflects the experience you offer. Step #3 Communicate clearly to all booked in guests prior to arrival, exactly how you roll, so that there’s no grey areas. If you don’t take children, but guests keep showing up with unbooked in infants, then make sure they know that they’ve made a mistake before they arrive, so you can put them straight. Don’t be afraid to cancel bookings where a child has been entered into your system and then recommend somewhere else for them. They’ll be happy that you did, because they don’t want to feel out of place any more than you do. Clear communication, emotional connections and clarity on who you welcome and who you don’t will eliminate the stress of not matching your guests’ expectations very quickly. If you’d like to know more about how to not only meet but exceed your guests’ expectations, streamline your business so you can free up even more of your time, then register below for my upcoming Masterclass where I’ll show you how to make more, work less, pay less commissions with less stress. https://bedandbreakfastcoach.com/masterclass/

Hello, I’m Yvonne Halling of Bed and Breakfast Coach.com and today I’m going to talk about how to “beat the increasing competition from Airbnb” so if you’re finding that bookings have dropped off because there’s so many airbnb’s in your neighbourhood, then my 3 top tips I’m sharing in this video will help you First, keep in mind that there are customers for every conceivable product or service, at any and all price points, and we choose what we’ll buy according to certain circumstances at the time, which change on a day by day basis. Your job is to know who you are, so that the people who correspond to you, will book with you.  This doesn’t mean that sometimes they’ll choose an anonymous hotel or an Airbnb, but when they want that special thing you offer, they’ll book with you. So how do you do that Step #1 Get really clear on what you’re about, and position yourself as the specialist or expert in the eyes of your guests, so you stand out like a beacon of hope in stormy seas. When you do this, there is no competition, and you won’t have to discount your prices or prostitute yourself on the online travel agents just to get guests You can be more selective, more exclusive and in many cases, more expensive when you get good at being YOU, and you communicate your value clearly There are generalists everywhere all “competing” for guests. Don’t play that game. Step #2 Use your existing reviews as social proof that what you have is good and others have loved it. Reviews are yours to use wherever you want, as they’re already in the public domain, so copy them and use them in all your communications, on your website and on social media.  When you’ve got a great review, share it with the world, to encourage people to take a look at your property.  And then when they get to your website, they’ll find a clear message on who you are and what you offer Step #3 Don’t engage in negative thought patterns about what’s happening in your area.  Remember what I said at the beginning, there are customers for every price point, and there are customers for you too.  Sometimes we drag ourselves down with our negative feedback loops in our heads that the world is a certain kind of way, and there’s nothing we can do about it.  Well there is, and it starts in our heads and our ability to change the stories we tell ourselves Think of it like this, Airbnb is doing you a favour because now that things have changed for you, you’ll have to make changes yourself, so you can become another version of yourself. It’s pointless to expect the world to stop changing, so that we don’t have to Embrace it instead and you’ll continue to thrive If you’d like to know more about how to streamline your business so you can free up even more of your time, then register below for my upcoming Masterclass where I’ll show you how to make more, work less, pay less commissions with less stress [CLICK HERE to register for the Masterclass](https://bedandbreakfastcoach.com/masterclass/)

Hi I’m Yvonne Halling from Bed and Breakfast Coach.com and today I’m going to address the biggest challenge I hear from bed and breakfasts, guest houses, inns and small hotel owners, which is how do I attract the right guests, and I’m going to give you my 3 step process to attract those guests quickly, and it’s probably not what you think With more people than ever travelling now, why does it seem so hard to attract guests, without resorting to using the online booking sites and paying their commissions? Well, you’re probably looking in the wrong place.  To attract the guests that are the right ones for you, you’ll need to first of all decide on who those guests are, and why.  It’s even more important for you to know why you want those guests, and it’s about who you are, and then matching yourself to those people.  Not all guests are created equal, so be really clear on who you want, and equally who you don’t want.  And when you say NO to who you don’t want, you leave space for those you do want. So how do you do that. Step #1 Take a good look at yourself, your passions, interests, preferences, what you love to talk about, TV programs you like to watch and books you typically buy. Step #2 Take a look at the reasons people come to your area, and see if there’s a match for what you love and why people come and position yourself as the “expert in the eyes of your guests” for the topics about which you love to talk about, matched with those who come to your area for those topics Step #3 Now go and find some groups on social media and join them, so you can interact with the people you want to attract.  Create some content in terms of blog posts and video and share that content consistently and forever, or as long as you want to attract guests Of course, you could just list with the online travel sites and hope for the best, but speaking from my own personal experience, and that of my clients, this is a much better way, because then you get to have more fun, talking about what you love and interacting with like-minded people every day. When you integrate YOU into your business, you’ll stand out from the crowd and take yourself out of the competition game, plus you’ll make more money too, because hardly anyone in hospitality does this. If you’d like to know more about how to attract guests you love and streamline your business so you can have fun every day, then register below for my upcoming Masterclass where I’ll show you how to make more, work less, pay less commissions with less stress, and attract guests you love https://bedandbreakfastcoach.com/masterclass/

Hi, I’m Yvonne Halling at Bed and Breakfast Coach.com and today I’m going to talk about juggling your business with your family, and why compartmentalizing your time is key to doing this well to stay out of unnecessary stress Many of my clients have young families to take care of as well as running a bed and breakfast, guest house or inn, so let me share with you some of the time-saving tricks they’ve learned, and ones I learned too when my children were young. Tip #1 Plan ahead on everything.  This means planning meals, cooking in bulk and using a freezer.  Decide which days of the week you’ll get things done, and which days you’ll take a break.  Plan ahead for school holidays, weekends, family holidays, and other important events in your personal life Be ruthless with your time.  That means having a daily, weekly and monthly schedule that you stick to, which includes everything that needs to get done.  Daily means what time you’ll get up, what time you’ll eat, what time you’ll play with the kids, when you’ll spend time with your spouse, and what time you’ll go to bed. The reason we resist planning is because we become addicted to the stress of living chaotically.  There’s a chemical reaction that goes on in our bodies whenever we feel stress.  It’s called cortisol and we become addicted to the high of it and it’s difficult to get off.  But not impossible.  It’s simply a decision to do things differently, and then follow through Discipline is freedom, although it will feel really restricting at first, as our bodies resist the new behaviour until we settle down to order and peace, and that becomes our new normal. Tip #2 Get help with as much as you possibly can.  If you don’t have cleaning help, get some.  If you’re spending time doing laundry, can you find a way to send it out to a professional laundry, or get someone else to come and do it for you. If you’ve got a cleaner for your guest rooms, could you extend their work to include your private areas?  Don’t get bogged down with your own personal housekeeping tasks when you have able bodied people who can do it for you.  They’d probably be glad of the extra money anyway Could you outsource your own laundry too?  Or at least the ironing if that’s taking up too much of your time. Make a list of things that take up your time and look carefully at how you could get someone else, either or unpaid to take on some of them Sometimes, especially as women, we feel guilty about not doing it all ourselves.  But this is not necessary.  Ask for help and expect to get it.  You simply can’t do it all. Tip #3 Incentivize your children to take responsibility for themselves and their own spaces.  Encourage them to take part in the general running of your family.  This makes children feel grown-up and builds self confidence and self esteem. I learned first hand how disempowering it is to do everything for our children, out of what we think is love, but it’s really about us and the need to feel needed. Your children already need you and love you.  You don’t need to provide them with endless opportunities to prove to yourself that you’re needed.  A parent is always needed. Tip #4 Remember to take care of yourself.  Even though you have a family, a full-time business and perhaps a relationship to take care of, the most important person in this equation is you.  If you’d like to know more about how to streamline your business so you can free up even more of your time, then register below for my upcoming Masterclass where I’ll show you how to make more, work less, pay less commissions with less stress https://bedandbreakfastcoach.com/masterclass/

In This Episode: Bed & Breakfast or Bust Having your own list of clients   “If all else failed I could reopen the B&B” “No one's going to give you permission to do something, you've got to go for it” “Every successful business has a customer list”   More Mark: The Hospitality Community www.boostly.co.uk

The post [Interview] #009 Yvonne Halling appeared first on Annette Ferguson.

Yvonne changed the face of her Bed & Breakfast business, from £10K to £50K profit in 1 year.   How did she do this?    Join me as Yvonne shares how she used techonology, social media, automation, systemisation and good old fashioned customer care to change the face of her business and her life and how you can apply the same principals in your business.   www.holidayletsuccess.com

Yvonne changed the face of her Bed & Breakfast business, from £10K to £50K profit in 1 year. How did she do this? Join me as Yvonne shares how she used techonology, social media, automation, systemisation and good old fashioned customer care to change the face of her business and her life and how you can apply the same principals in your business. www.holidayletsuccess.com

Yvonne changed the face of her Bed & Breakfast business, from £10K to £50K profit in 1 year.   How did she do this?    Join me as Yvonne shares how she used techonology, social media, automation, systemisation and good old fashioned customer care to change the face of her business and her life and how you can apply the same principals in your business.   www.holidayletsuccess.com

On‌ ‌the‌ ‌show‌ ‌with‌ ‌me‌ ‌today‌ is‌ Yvonne Halling owner of the Les Molyneux bed and breakfast in Champagne, France, and recent winner of Infusionsoft’s best in class for customer service award. After seeing that a B&B had been recognized by Infusionsoft for excellence, I just had to find out what Yvonne was doing that was so unique.

Jiles and Yvonne Halling are the owners of a well known B&B in the Champagne region of France, Authors of a book about the region, and now creators of a new soon to be launched app called "Champagne Day". They will join Stu to discuss the app, the region and why if you love champagne, you should not be without this app on your phone. Call in and talk with them LIVE from Champagne, France where it will be 5:00am Wine Talk with Stu The Wine Guru is a certified worldwide radio sensation. This is the best wine radio show on The Planet! Check Stu's webpage for upcoming guests at www.stuthewineguru.com. Follow Stu The Wine Guru on Twitter, just type in: stuthewineguru and tweet Stu. Have a wine question for Stu or his guest? email it to him at info@stuthewineguru.com, or Tweet it to @stuthewineguru and add #stwg at the end of your question, or call into the show at 1-646-381-4860 and join in something big!.