Florida Bed and Breakfast Inns Association
Annual Meeting & Quarterly Board Meeting
 
The FBBI Annual Meeting was held at Club Continental and River Suites in Jacksonville, Florida on October 5th, 2009.   The previous night, October 4th, the Board hosted many neighboring Bed and Breakfast Inns for a free Dinner and special guest speaker, Wayne Howell, of Herbie Wiles Insurance, spoke about the current Insurance situation in the State of Florida, as well as informing us about the current Insurance Underwriters who are writing policies for the Bed and Breakfast Industry.  Don't forget that when you purchase Insurance from Herbie Wiles Insurance, they offer a 5% discount to FBBI member Inns. 904-209-3805
 
The Board of Directors of FBBI meet quarterly at different locations around the State.  As the meeting place and time are determined we post them on the Member Information portion of our website, www.florida-inns.com.  All Member Inns are always welcome to come to any of our meetings.   At future quarterly meetings this coming year we plan to encourage neighboring Inns to attend for a meet and greet, as well as invite special speakers to help keep us current on what's happening in our industry. 
 
At the Board Meeting we set forth specific goals we want to accomplish this year which will benefit the entire organization.  One of the ways to keep our organization strong is updating participating Member Inns and reaching out to non-member Inns to increase our membership.  All of you can help bring in new member Inns by simply encouraging Inns you know to join along with us.  There is strength in numbers.   John Johnson of Carriage Way in St. Augustine is our point person on the Board for new membership,  If you have any questions or would like to have him contact a potential new member on your behalf, you can reach him at 904-829-2467.
 
Vendor Members are also an important part of our association and our goal this years is to increase Vendor Members, especially those who will offer a discount for their services to our Member Inns.  Kathleen Hurley of Casa de Suenos in St. Augustine is in charge of contacting new vendor members. 904-824-0887.  If you have a favorite vendor who is not currently one of our Vendor Members, please let Kathleen know and she will contact them on your behalf.  In these times of economic struggles we feel it is important for our membership to have Vendors who are willing to offer a discount on their products to our member Inns.
 
The FBBI Conference is scheduled for September 19 & 20, 2010 and our Annual Meeting will be September 21, 2010 at Club Continental and River Suites in Orange Park, FL.  The theme will be "The Great Recovery" Getting Results in Turbulent Times.  We are excited about the Conference and know that you will garner much useful information and have fun at the same time.  If you have ideas you would like to include in our upcoming Conference, please feel free to contact Byron McCutchen at Amelia Island Williams house. 904-277-2328
 
Coming soon to our FBBI website will be opportunities to link your website to our FBBI site via our logo, as well as new web pages for Target Marketing traveling.    Both of these tools will improve website visits for potential guests to your website.  Keep looking for more opportunities to increase web travel to your site.
 
We appreciate your participation in the Florida Bed and Breakfast Inns Association.  Our door is always open to you for ideas, comments, information you may like to share in our newsletter about your Inn or Community and steps you are taking to thrive in this economy.
 
Pattie Detwiler, President - FBBI