Innkeeper Magazine

[EmptyNest]

Hello Everyone,
I hope this clears the air and puts some of the paranoia and suspicion to rest. I'm a little surprised by the negativity our complimentary subscription offer and announcement has generated on here, I guess I expected a warmer reception from hospitality professionals.
This is Kathy Harris with Affinity Communications. We have invested to date $25,861 into R&D and framework for an industry publication for innkeepers and boutique hoteliers because it was presented to us that there was a need. I suspect this presentation was indeed correct as we have 876 subscribers in just short of a week since we made the announcement. 89% of which are innkeepers. Our R&D campaign went as far back as an industry publication called Arrington's Bed & Breakfast Magazine which appeared to have been very popular during it's time.
We are currently jurying a number of industry professionals, editors, veteran innkeepers, vendors, suppliers and contributors to put together the first publication. Our goal is to unveil an electronic edition, followed by a printed magazine publication. To answer the question surrounding print: yes we're still getting many (hundreds of) requests from people who want to get the publication by U.S. Mail and we want to try to honor those requests, despite the cost concerns.
We saw a need and we have the capabilities to put the project together. Is that a bad thing? Our goal is for the publication to merely pay for itself and if it ends up making a profit while bringing it to you (the innkeeper) for free I would celebrate that. Our goal is to keep it a free source of information and content for you while subsidizing the project with vendor and industry advertising.
Someone here has brought to light some discrepancies surrounding our domain information and I will be addressing those today with our IT manager. Last year we developed ExquisiteInns.com (also free for innkeepers) and we have own a number of directories and printed publication across several industries. Our firm serves as branding, graphic design, marketing and public relations consultants to about 16 boutique properties in the U.S., 3 hotel franchises and an international hotel group.
Perhaps we should have unveiled the finished product prior to making the announcement, but our PR team thought building some hype would be encouraging. I never imagined I'd read responses like this. You're free to sign up on the website if you wish to subscribe, or you can disregard. It's entirely your choice.
If you have any questions, comments or a desperate concerns, you can email me directly at [email protected], call me at 617-870-3323 ext. 503 or you can contact our editor (tbd) at [email protected].
Thank you and I wish you a day of bliss, happiness and success!
Kathy Harris.

If you would have just explained all of this right up front, you would not have gotten such suspicious replies. We have been burned too many times to just jump on something that did not look right to us.
Thank you for clarifying.
I personally don't think a print magazine is needed and I wouldn't subscribe to it.
.

I appreciate your response. I'm not sure how anyone would be burned by something that is a free publication. If you were being asked for a subscription fee, I could understand the concern. I do know there are a lot of gimmicks out there though in every industry.
As far as the print magazine is concerned *sigh* I totally to agree with you, especially weighing the cost differential of digital vs. print, however it seems there are still a large number of innkeepers in the industry that want something in their snail mailbox. We're hoping that we can eventually convert as many subscribers to electronic distribution as possible.
Thank you again. K
.

When someone posts 3 different links and they all basically say the same thing and no credible company information listed...wouldn't you be leary too?

 

[Generic]

Hey I was nice and no negatory. See how it is, people only see the neg and not the pos.

Anyway, thanks for the explanation, we have a ton of people who only want to sell, and without a proper intro you were thrown into the same bucket. Many here are active in many associations across the USA and World..

Joey,
Thanks for your reply. I wasn't referring to your post, simply the wave of negativity that seemed to build after the announcement. I'm hoping everyone is pleased with what we publish and find it as a useful tool for the industry putting all fears to rest.
K
.

Do you know how much telephone and internet solicitation innkeepers get all the time? We are weary of everyone all the time. Everyone wants to save me money (but somehow it will cost me money). Everyone wants to make a commission on my back. Everyone wants to do my SEO. Everyone promises me the world. Of course I'm weary of anyone and everyone.
Doesn't help that you have icons from sites like the PAII and yet you aren't listed as a member.

 

[Arks]

Hey I was nice and no negatory. See how it is, people only see the neg and not the pos.

Anyway, thanks for the explanation, we have a ton of people who only want to sell, and without a proper intro you were thrown into the same bucket. Many here are active in many associations across the USA and World..

Joey,
Thanks for your reply. I wasn't referring to your post, simply the wave of negativity that seemed to build after the announcement. I'm hoping everyone is pleased with what we publish and find it as a useful tool for the industry putting all fears to rest.
K
.

Do you know how much telephone and internet solicitation innkeepers get all the time? We are weary of everyone all the time. Everyone wants to save me money (but somehow it will cost me money). Everyone wants to make a commission on my back. Everyone wants to do my SEO. Everyone promises me the world. Of course I'm weary of anyone and everyone.
Doesn't help that you have icons from sites like the PAII and yet you aren't listed as a member.
.

Everyone wants to do my SEO.

Ain't it the truth! Every day I get one that says: Your site SEO earns an F grade. That gets my attention every time. Can't help it. Nobody wants to be a failure!

 

[gillumhouse]

Hello Everyone,
I hope this clears the air and puts some of the paranoia and suspicion to rest. I'm a little surprised by the negativity our complimentary subscription offer and announcement has generated on here, I guess I expected a warmer reception from hospitality professionals.
This is Kathy Harris with Affinity Communications. We have invested to date $25,861 into R&D and framework for an industry publication for innkeepers and boutique hoteliers because it was presented to us that there was a need. I suspect this presentation was indeed correct as we have 876 subscribers in just short of a week since we made the announcement. 89% of which are innkeepers. Our R&D campaign went as far back as an industry publication called Arrington's Bed & Breakfast Magazine which appeared to have been very popular during it's time.
We are currently jurying a number of industry professionals, editors, veteran innkeepers, vendors, suppliers and contributors to put together the first publication. Our goal is to unveil an electronic edition, followed by a printed magazine publication. To answer the question surrounding print: yes we're still getting many (hundreds of) requests from people who want to get the publication by U.S. Mail and we want to try to honor those requests, despite the cost concerns.
We saw a need and we have the capabilities to put the project together. Is that a bad thing? Our goal is for the publication to merely pay for itself and if it ends up making a profit while bringing it to you (the innkeeper) for free I would celebrate that. Our goal is to keep it a free source of information and content for you while subsidizing the project with vendor and industry advertising.
Someone here has brought to light some discrepancies surrounding our domain information and I will be addressing those today with our IT manager. Last year we developed ExquisiteInns.com (also free for innkeepers) and we have own a number of directories and printed publication across several industries. Our firm serves as branding, graphic design, marketing and public relations consultants to about 16 boutique properties in the U.S., 3 hotel franchises and an international hotel group.
Perhaps we should have unveiled the finished product prior to making the announcement, but our PR team thought building some hype would be encouraging. I never imagined I'd read responses like this. You're free to sign up on the website if you wish to subscribe, or you can disregard. It's entirely your choice.
If you have any questions, comments or a desperate concerns, you can email me directly at [email protected], call me at 617-870-3323 ext. 503 or you can contact our editor (tbd) at [email protected].
Thank you and I wish you a day of bliss, happiness and success!
Kathy Harris.

If you would have just explained all of this right up front, you would not have gotten such suspicious replies. We have been burned too many times to just jump on something that did not look right to us.
Thank you for clarifying.
I personally don't think a print magazine is needed and I wouldn't subscribe to it.
.

I appreciate your response. I'm not sure how anyone would be burned by something that is a free publication. If you were being asked for a subscription fee, I could understand the concern. I do know there are a lot of gimmicks out there though in every industry.
As far as the print magazine is concerned *sigh* I totally to agree with you, especially weighing the cost differential of digital vs. print, however it seems there are still a large number of innkeepers in the industry that want something in their snail mailbox. We're hoping that we can eventually convert as many subscribers to electronic distribution as possible.
Thank you again. K
.

The burned comes from the innumerable e-mails and phone calls when they find a "live one". It seems I spend half my day deleting Free Offers and answering the phone to "dead air" or recordings and if it is a live person, it i someone in India or some such country telling me my web sited is in desperate need of help - or some such thing. That is the burned. As for the publication, I am sitting on the fence trying to decide it I have time for something else to read.....

 

[ALB22]

Give these guys a break!

 

[EmptyNest]

Give these guys a break!.

Give these guys a break!

What's the big deal? They provided no information, looked just like every other one coming here to promote something, we are allowed to be skeptical given all the crap out there.
Why didn't they just put out some details so we would know they were a credible source?

 

[gillumhouse]

Give these guys a break!.

In today's world, "The Beatles are coming" is not good enough. That was before spammers and scammers.Today we need info before we jump on board.

 

[Breakfast Diva]

Give these guys a break!.

Give these guys a break!

Alb, no disrespect intended, but you are an aspiring innkeeper. You haven't yet experienced the deluge of spam (even with a good filter), solicitation e-mails, and the majority of the phone calls from people who pretend who they are and how nice they are and then tell you they are offering something which you don't want, don't need and many of them are scams. The majority of the phone calls I get every day are spam/scam.
Oh, and everything we're offered free (new online directories, etc.) are either useless or not free at all. We innkeepers are hit from all directions! We would like to consider this forum as a refuge from all that. The way the product was introduced to us just screamed of spam/scam. I believe that their PR department might have learned a little by our response.

 

[ALB22]

Give these guys a break!.

Give these guys a break!

Alb, no disrespect intended, but you are an aspiring innkeeper. You haven't yet experienced the deluge of spam (even with a good filter), solicitation e-mails, and the majority of the phone calls from people who pretend who they are and how nice they are and then tell you they are offering something which you don't want, don't need and many of them are scams. The majority of the phone calls I get every day are spam/scam.
Oh, and everything we're offered free (new online directories, etc.) are either useless or not free at all. We innkeepers are hit from all directions! We would like to consider this forum as a refuge from all that. The way the product was introduced to us just screamed of spam/scam. I believe that their PR department might have learned a little by our response.
.

None taken.............Aspiring yes.........but hospitality related business owner for over 10 years and over 15 years in the hotel/resort biz--- I still get solicitation calls for a business I sold in 2005.

 

[JBloggs]

They launched the first one here.
Difficult to read with colorscheme and kind of clunky design (template with odd photos).
Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, have a look and see if there is anything you can use. If not, then not.

 

[EmptyNest]

They launched the first one here.
Difficult to read with colorscheme and kind of clunky design (template with odd photos).
Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, have a look and see if there is anything you can use. If not, then not..

Agree. Turned me off when I opened it up. Will look around to see what they offer. Don't like the RED font color on black background. very hard to read titles.

 

[happykeeper]

They launched the first one here.
Difficult to read with colorscheme and kind of clunky design (template with odd photos).
Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, have a look and see if there is anything you can use. If not, then not..

Agree. Turned me off when I opened it up. Will look around to see what they offer. Don't like the RED font color on black background. very hard to read titles.
.

I have been testing the waters on learning how to produce a responsive website and I just read, and then did some follow up on, the use of RED on websites. Like you, I found it very hard to read and the red comes across as harsh somehow.
Regarding content, I will have to take a closer look. It's an interesting idea, but I am not going to be all excited to read a bunch of articles that funnel me into spending money with industry experts.
BUT REALLY- I won't know what they have on there until they put some font on there I can read!

 

[gillumhouse]

They launched the first one here.
Difficult to read with colorscheme and kind of clunky design (template with odd photos).
Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, have a look and see if there is anything you can use. If not, then not..

Agree. Turned me off when I opened it up. Will look around to see what they offer. Don't like the RED font color on black background. very hard to read titles.
.

I have been testing the waters on learning how to produce a responsive website and I just read, and then did some follow up on, the use of RED on websites. Like you, I found it very hard to read and the red comes across as harsh somehow.
Regarding content, I will have to take a closer look. It's an interesting idea, but I am not going to be all excited to read a bunch of articles that funnel me into spending money with industry experts.
BUT REALLY- I won't know what they have on there until they put some font on there I can read!
.

Ditto. Cannot read what the article is. White on black is much better than red. Photos do not tell me what an article is about and the last one I am going to click on is a mouthful of teeth. Sorry. I may delve into it later. Magazines are something DH has time for. I am busy.

 

[EmptyNest]

They launched the first one here.
Difficult to read with colorscheme and kind of clunky design (template with odd photos).
Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, have a look and see if there is anything you can use. If not, then not..

Agree. Turned me off when I opened it up. Will look around to see what they offer. Don't like the RED font color on black background. very hard to read titles.
.

I have been testing the waters on learning how to produce a responsive website and I just read, and then did some follow up on, the use of RED on websites. Like you, I found it very hard to read and the red comes across as harsh somehow.
Regarding content, I will have to take a closer look. It's an interesting idea, but I am not going to be all excited to read a bunch of articles that funnel me into spending money with industry experts.
BUT REALLY- I won't know what they have on there until they put some font on there I can read!
.

You definitively want to go responsive for your website. No need for a separate mobile site. For the life of me I don't know why anyone pays anyone for a mobile site these days when a responsive WP theme will do it all for you. I will highly recommend this one because it will do so much and the support is beyond TERRIFIC!!!

 

[happykeeper]

They launched the first one here.
Difficult to read with colorscheme and kind of clunky design (template with odd photos).
Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, have a look and see if there is anything you can use. If not, then not..

Agree. Turned me off when I opened it up. Will look around to see what they offer. Don't like the RED font color on black background. very hard to read titles.
.

I have been testing the waters on learning how to produce a responsive website and I just read, and then did some follow up on, the use of RED on websites. Like you, I found it very hard to read and the red comes across as harsh somehow.
Regarding content, I will have to take a closer look. It's an interesting idea, but I am not going to be all excited to read a bunch of articles that funnel me into spending money with industry experts.
BUT REALLY- I won't know what they have on there until they put some font on there I can read!
.

You definitively want to go responsive for your website. No need for a separate mobile site. For the life of me I don't know why anyone pays anyone for a mobile site these days when a responsive WP theme will do it all for you. I will highly recommend this one because it will do so much and the support is beyond TERRIFIC!!!
.

Oh boy- have I made a mess of things when comes to getting our new website, but I am wanting to stick to my guns and get what we need, which is what I want, at a price that we can afford. That has been just a little painful, I admit.
That has meant doing it myself in the past and turning away the WP concept recently- to develop a singular web site that is fully customizable that I can work on myself.
So, I already know you are recommending WP, and there seems to be a push from other forces that I am finding harder to resist to just do that, but I have found some very interesting stuff out there that tells me that WP may not be what I want. This is partly because I want to learn more coding (yikes) and because I want full flexibility.
Have you heard of http://www.webflow.com ? It appears it may be possible to hire a designer/developer who can also tutor me. I did the trial and have a free site still, but I haven't had a chance to make a decision about it.
I am going to take a closer look at your recommendation.
I have thought about a temporary solution but I think just sticking with what we have, which has worked but is so old I can hear it creaking, is best for now.

 

[Madeleine]

They launched the first one here.
Difficult to read with colorscheme and kind of clunky design (template with odd photos).
Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, have a look and see if there is anything you can use. If not, then not..

Agree. Turned me off when I opened it up. Will look around to see what they offer. Don't like the RED font color on black background. very hard to read titles.
.

I have been testing the waters on learning how to produce a responsive website and I just read, and then did some follow up on, the use of RED on websites. Like you, I found it very hard to read and the red comes across as harsh somehow.
Regarding content, I will have to take a closer look. It's an interesting idea, but I am not going to be all excited to read a bunch of articles that funnel me into spending money with industry experts.
BUT REALLY- I won't know what they have on there until they put some font on there I can read!
.

You definitively want to go responsive for your website. No need for a separate mobile site. For the life of me I don't know why anyone pays anyone for a mobile site these days when a responsive WP theme will do it all for you. I will highly recommend this one because it will do so much and the support is beyond TERRIFIC!!!
.

Oh boy- have I made a mess of things when comes to getting our new website, but I am wanting to stick to my guns and get what we need, which is what I want, at a price that we can afford. That has been just a little painful, I admit.
That has meant doing it myself in the past and turning away the WP concept recently- to develop a singular web site that is fully customizable that I can work on myself.
So, I already know you are recommending WP, and there seems to be a push from other forces that I am finding harder to resist to just do that, but I have found some very interesting stuff out there that tells me that WP may not be what I want. This is partly because I want to learn more coding (yikes) and because I want full flexibility.
Have you heard of http://www.webflow.com ? It appears it may be possible to hire a designer/developer who can also tutor me. I did the trial and have a free site still, but I haven't had a chance to make a decision about it.
I am going to take a closer look at your recommendation.
I have thought about a temporary solution but I think just sticking with what we have, which has worked but is so old I can hear it creaking, is best for now.
.

That has meant doing it myself in the past and turning away the WP concept recently- to develop a singular web site that is fully customizable that I can work on myself.

I drank the Kool Aid last year. Yes, it's hard to make WP do exactly what you want. The best bet is to write down what you want your site to do and then find one of the templates that closely approximates it. Then adapt away. There are tons of plug ins you can add that may be what you want.
But, yes, unless you're a marvel, they all look the same in the grand scheme of things. I'd rather have a site that was completely fresh but I don't have the time or the energy to learn coding. And really? It just doesn't appeal to me anymore to learn it like it did 10 years ago. Plus, it's someone else's headache to keep up with coding changes in re search engines.

 

[MtnKeeper]

They launched the first one here.
Difficult to read with colorscheme and kind of clunky design (template with odd photos).
Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, have a look and see if there is anything you can use. If not, then not..

My first thought when the page opened was - wow, that's so busy and hard to read! Haven't looked at it yet because it turned me off and I'm busy, but I'll look at it later hopefully.

 

[egoodell]

I took a quick look and the magazine reminds me of PAII conferences. Great for the aspiring, but nothing new to me. Especially with articles promoting printed advertising, and direct mail.
It would be good for aspiring innkeepers collecting information though.

 

[egoodell]

I took a quick look and the magazine reminds me of PAII conferences. Great for the aspiring, but nothing new to me. Especially with articles promoting printed advertising, and direct mail.
It would be good for aspiring innkeepers collecting information though.

 

[EmptyNest]

They launched the first one here.
Difficult to read with colorscheme and kind of clunky design (template with odd photos).
Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, have a look and see if there is anything you can use. If not, then not..

Agree. Turned me off when I opened it up. Will look around to see what they offer. Don't like the RED font color on black background. very hard to read titles.
.

I have been testing the waters on learning how to produce a responsive website and I just read, and then did some follow up on, the use of RED on websites. Like you, I found it very hard to read and the red comes across as harsh somehow.
Regarding content, I will have to take a closer look. It's an interesting idea, but I am not going to be all excited to read a bunch of articles that funnel me into spending money with industry experts.
BUT REALLY- I won't know what they have on there until they put some font on there I can read!
.

You definitively want to go responsive for your website. No need for a separate mobile site. For the life of me I don't know why anyone pays anyone for a mobile site these days when a responsive WP theme will do it all for you. I will highly recommend this one because it will do so much and the support is beyond TERRIFIC!!!
.

Oh boy- have I made a mess of things when comes to getting our new website, but I am wanting to stick to my guns and get what we need, which is what I want, at a price that we can afford. That has been just a little painful, I admit.
That has meant doing it myself in the past and turning away the WP concept recently- to develop a singular web site that is fully customizable that I can work on myself.
So, I already know you are recommending WP, and there seems to be a push from other forces that I am finding harder to resist to just do that, but I have found some very interesting stuff out there that tells me that WP may not be what I want. This is partly because I want to learn more coding (yikes) and because I want full flexibility.
Have you heard of http://www.webflow.com ? It appears it may be possible to hire a designer/developer who can also tutor me. I did the trial and have a free site still, but I haven't had a chance to make a decision about it.
I am going to take a closer look at your recommendation.
I have thought about a temporary solution but I think just sticking with what we have, which has worked but is so old I can hear it creaking, is best for now.
.

You can do whatever you want with WP and the right theme. And if you want customization..you can learn all the custom style codes you want with the help of firebug. WP IS THE ONLY WAY to go in my opinion. I have done 25 different sites with it this year using the Striking theme and everyone of them looks different. If you want to see some of them, email me and I will send you some links.
Sorry never heard of the site. But looking at it looks like alot of those drag and drop kind of sites. Not what you want. I have used a theme called D I V I just to change things up. They try and tell you it is soooo easy...YEAH RIGHT...It needs tons and tons of custom code to get it half way close to what I want. I use it on some small sites that don't need much because I have alot of the coding down now. But support is foreign and hard to deal with.
I tutor all my clients and most...I say most of them...take over the website themselves with no problemo I assisted Maddie with hers and she did most of it by herself and she did a good job