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                                                                                                                    October 2008

In This Issue
Inspections
Green'Inn Tip of the Month
Congratulations
Recipe of the Month
CONGRATULATIONS
Jack & Mia Martin Voted #1 B&B Best of St. Augustine 2008 Voted #1 Best Summer Getaway Sarasota Magazine 2007  
 
The Cedar House Inn Victorian Bed & Breakfast
 
 
Phone: 904-829-079    
  
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HUMOR
 
  YOU MIGHT BE AN INNKEEPER.....  
 
If you're regularly asked to predict the weather three months in advance!!!
 
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THINGS YOU DON'T
WANT TO HEAR:
 
Is that the price for a week?
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New Brochures
are now available for our member inns!
 To request new brochures to be delivered to your door,
 
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Advertising Opportunities are NOW AVAILABLE on our Website and our Monthly Newsletter
Click here for more information! ____________________  
 
Gift Certificates are Now Redeemable at:
 FBBI
106 S. 4th Avenue
Wauchula, FL  33873
  
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Commercial Capital Network,  LLC   
 
Richard K. Newman
 
E-Mail: 
[email protected]
 
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"Get a Virtual Tour Of Your Inn"
Starting from only
$499

Increased Reservations
From Day1!
 
888.598.6562 toll free
email:
[email protected]
website:
www.360InnTours.com

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Quick Links
 
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New Recipes Section
  
 
As part of our new website bonus, member inns can upload recipes onto our Florida Bed & Breakfast Inns Association official website.  If you have a recipe, it is a great opportunity to share with others, while being recognized for your originality and ingenuity.  Remember, when you update your individual listing, add a few recipes! 
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Welcome New Member Inns
 
At Journey's End Bed & Breakfast
 
The Mermaid & the Alligator
 
The Captain's Inn 
 
 
 
Dear FBBI Members,
 
It is a very exciting time for FBBI! We just had a very successful conference at the Chalet Suzanne in Lake Wales, where attendees were absorbed in two action-packed days of learning and camaraderie.
 
 The board has received a lot of positive feedback and I believe all of the Innkeepers who attended really brought back valuable information to their property that will help them be more successful as we face the difficult economic realities of today's world.
 
Many thanks goes out to our speakers, our vendor members who participated, our Board of Directors, our host Inn the Chalet Suzanne, and most importantly, our attendees! We are delighted to be of service to you and look forward to an even more successful event in September 2010. 
 
As you know all FBBI Inns are required to participate in a bi-annual inspection from an outside inspector. This is a costly effort that directly impacts each Inn owner. With today's changing travel dynamics and the availability of on-line third party review sites such as www.tripadvisor.com and the review section of www.bedandbreakfast.com, we feel that it might be time to modify the inspection process and move towards implementing "FBBI hospitality guidelines and/or accreditation" for our bed and breakfast inns to follow in lieu of performing inspections.  Consumers seem to be trusting their own reviews over that of inspected inns.
 
Here are a few thoughts to consider:
 
  • Many of today's consumers look to other consumers to get a realistic view of potential properties they are considering for their travel. They don't always trust what we say about ourselves.  Due to increased fuel prices, inspection costs will have to increase in order to compensate.        

 

  • If FBBI moves away from inspections, each Member inn will realize cost savings by not having to pay the bi-annual inspection fee.

 

  • We can replace the inspection process with a "Quality Pledge or set of hospitality guidelines" that we establish and ask all member Inns to adhere to, without an inspection process. Upon receiving a negative inquiry from a customer who found an Inn through FBBI, that inquiry can then be elevated to have a "Peer Review visit" conducted by a selected FBBI Board member. If the reviewer finds problems, FBBI can then ask the member inn to forfeit their membership because they are not operating within the guidelines set forth by the association or we can operate like bedandbreakfast.com and have the consumers weedout  the Inns.

 

We would like to do some more research about this prior to making a final decision, but we welcome and look forward to ALL member input. We are an organization here for you, so please, speak up and tell us your opinion about the inspection process. We hope to make a final decision about the future of inspections at the next Board meeting scheduled in January, 2009, at the Amelia Island Williams House.

Best Regards,
 

Pattie Detwiler
President, Florida Bed & Breakfast Inns

 
Click here to send feedback on this matter.
 
 Green'Inn Tip of the Month
 
Educational seminars and learning are all the rage with baby boomers, so create a package featuring a seminar or a weekend of seminars that appeal to guests and local residents alike.  To come up with pertinent topics scan your newspaper's Calendar of Events...you can invite your local Cooperative Extension to lead a seminar on backyard organic vegetable gardens or an etiquette expert to speak about how to host a proper "green" tea party (using orgainc teas, linens, made from bamboo and foods grown locally).  Use your imagination to tie in the "eco-friendly" message and give yourself adequate time to promote the event.  If you have a beautiful lawn perhaps it's an outside function!  The sky is the limit.  These events will demonstrate your bed & breakast's commitment to the environment and allow you to promote yourself.  Write a news release, send it to the media (radio, tv, newspaper, magazine and electronic media) with a lot of advance warning, create a postcard or e-mail blast to past customers and see how it goes!


 
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 Conference 2008
 
Berkley's Class
 
Berkley Young teaching a class on "Changing Trends that affect today's Innkeeper".
 
 

Christina & Alisa

 Christina Detwiler, Executive Assistant for Florida Bed & Breakfast Inns (left) and Alisa Bennett, Publicist for Florida Bed & Breakfast Inns (right) behind the scenes working the Registration booth!

Town Hall Meeting 

Town Hall meeting lead by David Caples- Lodging Resources. Speakers Incuded Jay Karen- President and CEO of PAII,  Jeff Brice- Resnexus, Jeff Logan- InsideOut Solutions, Berkley Young- Young Strategies, Inc, Pamela Lanier- Travelguides.com, Pattie Detwiler- President of FBBI.
 

Recipe of the Month

Peach & Blueberry Parfait
 
1 20 ounce bag of frozen sliced Peaches            
2 tablespoons of butter                                   
� cup of fresh blueberries
� cup of brown sugar
1 tsp of cinnamon
2 tablespoons of Cointreau or any type of orange liqueur
Vanilla yogurt
Granola (without raisins)
Strawberry for garnish (optioinal)
 
In a deep frying pan melt the butter over med heat. Add your peaches and saut� until heated through (keep you're stirring to a minimum).
Once most of the water has evaporated add your sugar, cinnamon and liqueur.  Cook until a light syrup forms, add blueberries until toughly heated.  Remove from heat and let cool.
 
In small bowls or glasses coat the bottom with granola. Add 3 hefty spoons of vanilla yogurt and top with the peach & berry sauce.
Sprinkle more granola on top and serve.
 
Note: You can substitute orange juice for liqueur.
Serves 12

 

Breast Cancer Alert  

 Mammogram with Ultrasound Improved Detection of Cancers  



Contact Info
 
Pattie Detwiler 
President FBBI
 
Alisa Bennett
Publicist FBBI
 
Christina Detwiler
Website, Updating, Newsletter
 
For all other contact Information CLICK HERE