5 Things we couldn’t stop talking about at PAII
Last week, we were in New Orleans to take part in one of the larger innkeeping conferences: the Professional Association of Innkeepers International (PAII) Conference. We had a great time providing education on digital marketing and hearing what other industry professionals are paying attention to this year. We also enjoyed the chance to chat with innkeepers and show a demonstration of our RezStream Cloud.
If you couldn’t take the time away from your property, we’ve recapped our top five takeaways from the PAII conference:
Aspirations are big: We noticed many aspiring innkeepers looking to get into the Bed and Breakfast industry and the opportunity to welcome new attendees to the conference and trade show. The show was also beneficial to seasoned innkeepers and conferences play a vital role in growing the bed and breakfast industry.
Integration is important: The need for reservation software to play nice with online directories and OTAs was voiced several times and continues to play an important role for innkeepers.
The need for yield management: Yield management is a very hot topic among bed and breakfast associations and property managers. The ability to control inventory better and automatically continues to be a topic of discussion at hospitality conferences. Innkeepers were encouraged to offer more than one rate throughout the year and take advantage of weekend vs. week day rates, packages and specials, group reservations, and so on.
Local SEO is critical: 78% of bed and breakfast guests are couples that are often traveling for a special occasion or weekend getaway. This statistic just proves the need for local search optimization.
Invest in your online reputation: Reputation management skills were also a hot issue this year, especially on prominent directories such as TripAdvisor and BedandBreakfast.com. When responding to online reviews there are four major points: 1) respond promptly, 2) prioritize reviews, 3) thank, apologize, and address, 4) be conversational and professional.
If you want to continue your education without leaving your property, be sure to sign up for our next webinar: Understanding the guest experience! Or, if you're heading out to the next innkeeping conference and tradeshow, InnSpire, we'd love to see you there at our speaking engagements on advanced social media best practices and demonstrations of our RezStream Cloud! Get the details here.