Hi Fellow Innkeepers,

Just came in from the garden. It’s hard to believe that “harvest” is in full swing. We’ve been blessed with a bounty of tomatoes. I know what I’ll be doing for the next few weeks. We’ve been tucking a few in a paper sack and gifting them to guests on their departure. Easy way to gain a hug!

It’s the time of year again to be thinking about the Great Service Star. The Office of Tourism must receive the Great Service Star applications by October 3, 2008 in order to be considered for the Mickelson award. A second deadline date of January 31, 2009 is for the applications to be considered for the Great Service Star designation. Applications can be found at www.SDVisit.com under Industry Marketing Programs – Hospitality and Customer Service. The Great Service Star designation benefits allow you the use of the Great Service Star logo in advertising and in your place of business, recognition in a press release issued to all South Dakota media outlets, and the logo added to your listing in the South Dakota Vacation Guide and in a free listing in www.TravelSD.com. Great exposure. We urge everyone to apply. If you’ve questions about the application process or any item on the application, they can be directed to eileen.bertsch@state.sd.us.

During the summer visitor season, we were made aware of two instances that involved member inns. One instance had to do with rates and the other had to do with a cancellation fee. We’re offering a reminder to help avoid confusion with your rates. If you publish your rates, please be sure that the rates on your website and brochures are current. It is also helpful to confirm the price when the reservation is taken, either verbally or with a written confirmation. Members are also urged to have a cancellation policy in place and to inform your guests of that as well. There may be such a thing as too much information, but if you’ve given it to them ahead of time, then there are no surprises should the issue arise. Of course, you always have the option of dropping the cancellation fee if you feel the need, but to have it in place is good insurance.

We’ll be holding a conference call sometime during the first part of October. Items we’ll be discussing are the Governor’s Matching Grant Fund, the Scholarship Criteria Committee, and the appointment of a Nominating Committee. Watch your e-mail for a date and time.

By the way, I was looking for some parts for my Ironrite Ironer a few weeks ago. I put an ad in some of the small town North Dakota newspapers and found four!!! So, if anyone is looking for an ironer in working order, let me know. I’ll make you a heck of a deal.

That’s it for this newsletter article. Please let us know if there is anything you would like to see addressed in this newsletter. We’ll see if we can make it happen.

May all your beds be filled with happy guests!
Carla Ron

Summer has been busy & fun with BB guests - had 5 nites in a row last week end ! About as much as I can handle with all else that goes on here !

Our most unusual was one Sturgis week end ! I had worked so hard on Sat getting things in order, totally wiped out, to bed at 9:15 PM... left the phone on bedroom window sill, didn't even hear Bill come in from baling at 11:30. When the phone rang, fumbled with it to answer in the dark, a gentleman asked if I had a room? I said, "Yes, of course". By then I was in the kitchen, turned on light to discover it is 4:20 AM ! I gave directions & dashed around to check on things, quick fix of hair & face so as not to frighten them ! When they drove in, I met them on the walk. The lady got off the Harley & asked if I had wheel chair access ? Thinking I have not heard right, asked to repeat ( how does someone riding a Harley need wheel chair access ?) & then told her I would turn on the deck light for wheel chair ramp. Dashed in to turn on the light & to the Master bedroom to tell Bill, he must go upstairs, "I need this room !"

Very quickly change the bedding & she is wheeling him in thru the living room ! They slept till near 10 & I had breakfast ready....... he was diagnosed within the past year with Lou Gherigs ! They are going to CA & WA, she is expecting a child in Jan & HE drives the cycle, pulling a small trailer with the wheel chair strapped on top! Do we all need a lesson in being THANKFUL ? What an experience ?

Love, Ila

Please welcome Jenny and Andy Todd to BBISD. The Todd's have recently taken over Prairie House Manor in DeSmet from Larry and Connie Cheney. We are glad to have them as part of our organization and we look forward to meeting them at our upcoming annual meeting.

We have been having a very busy summer and today was a "down day" for us...an enjoyable relaxing day with no customers, just the cleanup! Ha!!

Some customers that stayed with us wrote an article for a magazine and included our BnB in it. He is a retired engineer and now an author of 8 books who happened to capture the tail end of the rally. He has done an excellent review of South Dakota called "The best kept Secret in the America." That got my attention!

Here is where you can view the story: http://motofoto.cc/sturgis_motorcycle_rally.htm

O course we really, really appreciate the free advertisement but I felt he captured a well rounded view of the whole Black Hills area and the photography is excellent. I thought it might give Sara and our web designing committee some more ideas. It was so easy to read on the black background. They were very interesting and happy people to be around. Thanks.
Vixie and Dennis

Hi Innkeepers,

Here is recap of some advertising we tried out during the month of August. We ran Google search ads in South Dakota and parts of Iowa, Nebraska, and Wyoming (see the blue area of the map). Here are the search terms we bid on:

b & b
b and b
b&b
bandb
bed and breakfast
bed and breakfast review
inspected bed and breakfast
quality bed and breakfast
romantic bed and breakfast

The terms that did the best were (in order of performance):

bed and breakfast
b & b
b and b
b&b
bed and breakfast review

Our ads showed up on google.com 45,259 times, and were clicked on 292 times. Our click-through-rate was 0.69%. That might not sound like much, but that is three times the industry standard of 0.20%.

We spent $317.00 during the entire campaign, so each click (or visit to our site) cost us an average of $1.09. Looking at our site's traffic, our biggest traffic spike between Dec 07 and Sept 80 was in August when we had 51 visitors in a single day.

The BBISD Board will review and determine if this is money well spent for our members. If you have any questions about what exactly this is, please feel free to call me. 605-647-5055.

Thank you,
Sara
Steever House B&B