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  1. scottcrumpton

    New Member

    There are two types of inn owners in my experience: 1. The hands-off business owner who has a manager and never deals with the day-to-day operations of the business. This is more common with larger properties and rare in smaller ones. 2. The lifestyle innkeeper(s). They work the business every...
  2. scottcrumpton

    Selling due to Health Issues - Question?

    Disclaimer: I've owned White Stone Marketing for thirty years and White Stone Brokers for two years. As such, anything I say is biased but also based on a lot of industry experience. If you look over anything I've written in these forums I think you'll find I do my very best to be honest and to...
  3. scottcrumpton

    Porsche

    It's customary in the Tesla world to gift the person providing you with the charge a nice bottle of wine. I would think you could put a nice sign out that says, "please donate $20 to help cover the cost of..." I would imagine you could put a QR code on the sign for Venmo and they could scan it...
  4. scottcrumpton

    Think Reservations or Little Hotelier?

    My two cents on the subject of reservation software can be found in this post. Your mileage will vary ;-) Scott
  5. scottcrumpton

    New guy - hoping to open this fall

    Welcome to the industry. You should take a moment and go meet Doug and Jim at The Devonfield Inn down in Lenox. Here's your unsolicited marketing tip to get you started. If you think of marketing as an expense you'll always seek to reduce it. If you realize marketing is an investment that not...
  6. scottcrumpton

    Reservation Software

    I've worked behind the scenes with all the major players over the last 20+ years finding bugs, testing (and hacking) their systems, and communicating and advocating on behalf of clients. Most of them have frustrated the heck out of me at one time or another as they argue about bugs rather than...
  7. scottcrumpton

    Dumb Question: Broker Commissions

    All compensation for brokering is negotiated. Compensation may be a Commission computed as a percentage of the amount of consideration in a transaction (such as a percentage of the sale price), a Flat Fee, a Fee for Service, or an Hourly Rate. The compensation is negotiated and specified in...
  8. scottcrumpton

    Announcing White Stone Brokers

    Just a quick announcement for those of you who weren't at the ALP and/or SR conferences. The team at White Stone Marketing has joined forces with Eliot Dalton to create White Stone Brokers. So if you're searching for Eliot, he's on our team now ;)
  9. scottcrumpton

    Selling part B.

    Such a great question, such a complex discussion... Industry Shrinkage During our 27-year tenure as marketers for the small lodging industry, we've now been through three black swan events (9/11, 2008/9, & Covid). In each event, the number of B&B's in the US has declined somewhat dramatically...
  10. scottcrumpton

    Hello! Who wants to open up a Bed & Breakfast with me?

    Hey Tink, Check with The Association of Lodging Professionals and see if they can hook you up with like-minded people. Here's their site: Association of Lodging Professionals
  11. scottcrumpton

    Best of times/worst of times?

    Reprinted from some news source. I tried to find the original and found it on several websites so you pick ;-) ---------------------------------------------- AirBnB News... In its letter to shareholders, the company warned that it is bracing for volatility as a result of the Covid-19 delta...
  12. scottcrumpton

    Going in alone

    Fear exists for a reason -- it keeps you from making mistakes. As you've pointed out, fear can sometimes be unreasonable but going into business in an industry you have no experience in IS something you should be very cautious about. Having been in the industry for 27 years, it's rare when I...
  13. scottcrumpton

    Marketing, names, how much does it make a difference?

    LMAO -- well played, well played indeed!!!
  14. scottcrumpton

    Marketing, names, how much does it make a difference?

    Excellent question. The industry has wrestled with this for the last 40+ years and while Pat Hardy and JoAnn Bell (founders of PAII) provided a guideline decades ago, it was simply that -- their opinion. Here's essentially what they said: A “home stay” is an owned-occupied private home where...
  15. scottcrumpton

    Wifi Password

    Unfortunately, this can be really easy or terribly complex depending on your provider, setup, etc. Find your router and if it's provided by your provider (e.g. Cable company, AT&T, etc.), there will be a sticker on the back with the password on it. Passwords are generally case-sensitive and...
  16. scottcrumpton

    New TripAdvisor policies?

    Sorry for the length, lots to cover... This is all very new (of course) and I'm still reviewing it on behalf of our clients. My guess is that TripAdvisor is trying to become more like Google, Expedia, and Booking.com whereby they have all your information on their site so that people don't have...
  17. scottcrumpton

    Google Analytics - yea or nay?

    Momma Smurf, those are all decent quality metrics but they become largely useless (or at least, secondary) once you have e-commerce tracking hooked up. What booking engine are you using as not all have upgraded their systems to work properly with Google Analytics E-Commerce Tracking? I've spent...
  18. scottcrumpton

    Google Analytics - yea or nay?

    Hey all, I'll try to answer some of the questions here. If I miss something please fire away with further questions as GA (Google Analytics) is my bailiwick and we rely on the data from it daily to help our clients make smarter marketing decisions. Google would love everyone to use GA as they...
  19. scottcrumpton

    Where do I start?

    OMG, sorry everyone -- I'm answering questions from years ago, ugh!
  20. scottcrumpton

    May have to change my handle

    My sister had a saying: "Never write anything down you don't want printed on the front page of the New York Times." So while hiding behind a unique name and avatar helps protect your identity, never assume it protects you from libel and a defamation lawsuit. Furthermore, I figured out who many...
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