Calling all OHIO B&Bs and Inns!

We've begun to get requests for B&Bs and Inns in OHIO and could have many more properties that represent Ohio's diverse Bed & Breakfast community! In the next few weeks, I'm visiting with Bed & Breakfasts and Inns in Ohio. If you're interested in more information about American Bed & Breakfast Inns, our video production services, our video marketing services, and hosting your video, I can put you on my itinerary!

After listening to the needs of our many clients across the country, we've instituted a tiered pricing structure for our video production services. Some Innkeepers are interested in very simple videos, while others want videos that are a bit more sophisticated. Our six different levels of video are meant to meet those differing interests. Take a look! www.abbinns.com, video production page.

I hope everyone is having a great summer!
Mike

We recently tried something different with one our client’s videos. The property is in a California gold rush town and one of the staff here suggested we try a theme to match the location. So we gave it a try and passed the finished product on to the Innkeepers to get their reaction. Here’s the completed video and the Innkeepers response. What do you think?

The Weaverville Hotel - Weaverville, California from American Bed and Breakfast Inns on Vimeo.

"OH! WOW! This is fabulous! I am just amazed! You guys are astonoshing! My husband and I could not be happier...the results are a spectacular selling tool for our inn. This is a product well worth the investment of money and effort. I cannot say enough!"
-Jeanne Muir, Weaverville Hotel & Emporium

Pie Success or Failure?

Its been a week since the Lemon Meringue Pies were delivered. The pie plates have been returned. I love those glass pie plates so am always grateful when they find their way back to my house. I've been told they were a great success. Family members seemed to enjoy and my good friend Lou tells me a member of his family ate half of their pie. If a man eats half a pie he clearly enjoyed it right?! Why then, if that's the case, have they suggested I need more practice?! That maybe I should practice trying Banana Cream, or Chocolate Cream, or both?! Yesterday afternoon Mom asked if I needed to practice making pies anytime soon, and wondered if I should try Coconut Cream. It seems she's entertaining her card club in a few weeks and thought maybe I could "practice"?!!! What do you think.....were the pies a success or are they trying to tell me someting? Maybe I'll bake again this weekend.

Spring trip in the south east coming to a close!

My trip to Florida has been a great time, but sadly is coming to a close. In just a few days I’m starting back to Ohio. I have to say, it’s getting too hot for me! I know, I know, they say just as we northerners stay inside more in the winter, southerners stay inside more during the height of the summer heat. But for me, I can add layers when I’m cold, but once I’m hot, there are only so many layers I’m willing to loose! Besides Mother’s Day is next Sunday and I promised to be home by then and to make my Mom’s favorite Lemon Meringue Pie!

For you foodies out there I’m including the recipe I’ve come to rely on. A few words of caution for the recipe: I prefer the texture and the bright flavor from loads of fresh lemon peel zest. I also think it’s a clear indication that I made the pie myself! I know some people find that texture objectionable and prefer the smooth texture as a result of using lemon extract. Meringue pies can “weep”. I’ve found that if I add the warm lemon filling to the pre-baked pie shell, top the warm filling with the meringue, make sure it is perfectly sealed all around the edge of the crust and put it directly into the oven to bake the meringue, there is no weeping, except those tears of joy from everyone enjoying the pie!! It seems the warmth of the filling helps cook the meringue from the underside while the heat of the oven cooks the top.

For you mothers: HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY! For those of you who have mothers: Remember them next Sunday and every day of the year!

Here’s the recipe: Mike’s Favorite Lemon Meringue Pie
Ingredients
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 2 lemons, juiced and zested
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 4 egg yolks, beaten
• 1 (9 inch) pie crust, baked
• 4 egg whites
• ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
• 6 tablespoons white sugar
Process
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
• To Make Lemon Filling: In a medium saucepan, whisk together 1 cup sugar, flour, cornstarch, and salt. Stir in water, lemon juice and lemon zest. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until mixture comes to a boil. Stir in butter. Place egg yolks in a small bowl and gradually whisk in 1/2 cup of hot sugar mixture. Whisk egg yolk mixture back into remaining sugar mixture. Bring to a boil and continue to cook while stirring constantly until thick. Remove from heat. Pour filling into baked pastry shell.
• To Make Meringue: In a large glass or metal bowl, whip egg whites until foamy. Add sugar gradually, and continue to whip until stiff peaks form. Spread meringue over pie, sealing the edges at the crust.
• Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes, or until meringue is golden brown.
• Chill

Week Two of the great south east tour of 2010!

I could say its been grueling work, looking at Bed and Breakfast Inns and visiting their communities. I could! But who would I be fooling? This has been as much fun as I should have. I took a video from my cellphone none the less, of last Saturday’s night out. I will post it in a few days. It’s the Cherry Pocket Fish Camp, just outside Winterhave, FL. What a place….lots and lots of local flavor, terrific food, a great outdoor bar and deck as you can see by the video, and a great team that provides terrific service!

We’re introducing two new Bed and Breakfast Inn video’s this week!

Andon Reid Inn Bed and Breakfast - Waynesville, North Carolina



The Captain Lord Mansion - Kennebunkport Maine



We’ve added a new step to the final distribution of our client’s video’s. We take care….AT NO ADDITIONAL COST mind you….of uploading your video to at least 8 video-sharing social networking for even more exposure than just being hosted on our site and our client’s site. More exposure for our clients should turn into reservations too. One of our client’s videos got more than 100 views in the first few minutes of distribution!

On the road visiting Inns in the South East.

Each week gets more interesting here at American Bed & Breakfast Inns. While Jason is holding down the office at home, I’m out and about exploring Inns across the south east. Yes, we met some great folks at the PAII convention earlier this year. Yes, we met some great folks at the New England Innkeepers show last November. But there’s nothing like going to Bed & Breakfast Inns to see these Innkeepers in their own environment. While there are certainly some common elements, each Bed & Breakfast Inn is as unique and interesting as the people who run them.

We’ve added several Inns to our video library. I think its time I start introducing at least some of them, although you can always go to our site, www.abbinns.com to see all of our innkeeping members and their videos. This week it’s the Mermaid & Alligator Bed & Breakfast in Key West, FL.


And The Lafayette Inn in Eaton, PA.


I’ll be back in the office in a couple of weeks! Jason is in the office with the rest of the gang ready to answer any of your questions, or to help you get your Inn’s video project started.

VALUE ADDED Negotiations underway with State Associations for bundled services

Since meeting a number of representatives of state bed and breakfast association at the annual Professional Association of Innkeepers (PAII) conference, we have begun to work with them to develop value added pricing for their memberships.

State association leaders were working hard for their members at the PAII convention and they were tough negotiators! VALUE ADDED! In this economy value added is more important to association services than ever before. Every innkeeper is trying to pinch the most “bang for their buck” out of every purchase, and understandable so.

Association leaders have been delighted to know we would gladly discount prices to their membership based on the number of their members who take advantage of our video production/membership listing opportunity. Bed and breakfast innkeepers get both a video slide show from their already existing high quality photographers AND an annual listing on our website directory. That allows the innkeepers to get a second use for their investment in high quality photography. It further gives the innkeepers two of our products for the already very attractive pricing of one!

We invite association leaders to contact us now for the specific pricing available to them, again based on their membership numbers and interest in our video slide show product.

Website goes Live!

The website for American Bed & Breakfast Inns, www.abbinns.com went live March 5, 2010. This site is designed using VIDEO as the marketing centerpiece, and entirely different look, feel, and function. Just two days later my business partner and I went off to the Professional Association of Innskeepers www.innkeeping..org annual convention and trade show in Austin TX to show off our project. As a new business we're to do everything with an eye on economy so we drove! Yes from Ohio to Texas, a twenty hour drive, to demonstrate a new website we barely understood. Now we'd viewed test pages, tested functions, made changes and did it all over again and again, but the site was live and we had to demonstrate to our potential customers at the largest event of its kind! We were feeling the pressure!

In the three days of the event, we met with dozens of potential clients, registered many, compared notes with fellow vendors, attended workshops and got a couple of great recommendations for our VIDEOs during presentations! It turned out to be a great experience. Of course, then there was the drive back to Ohio!

Since that time we've been busy! One of us is busy with our staff producing the promised VIDEOs and working to optimize the site. The other is following up with both current clients and those Innkeepers interested in our VIDEO product and directory listings. We're in the midst of negotiating with Innkeeping associations, state and national alike, for bundled listings. We've been asked to present our VIDEO production services and directory at a number of meetings around the country. Seems travel is in our future!

We are already working on some additions and enhancements to the site and our services. I'll explain more about those in the weeks to come.

All of us are thrilled with the reaction to our VIDEO service and directory and look forward to a long relationship with our clients.