In light of the ongoing Oxygen contest to name Tori Spelling & Dean McDermott’s B&B, the staff at iLoveInns.com/American Historic Inns is offering its 25 years of experience with Bed & Breakfast Inn Names to provide a list of the Do’s and Don’ts of Bed and Breakfast Inn Naming.
“We consider Oxygen’s Name the Inn Sweepstakes which begins February 9, 2007 and ends February 21, 2007 at 3:00AM EST, a very smart move on the part of the new upcoming Inn Love reality show featuring Tori Spelling & Dean McDermott. A name can make or break a bed and breakfast business, and a poorly thought out name can cause the loss of hundreds of reservations,” stated Deborah Sakach, iLoveInns.com CEO.
“We look forward to the show’s bringing more awareness to the 19,000 bed and breakfast inns listed in the iLoveInns.com web site and to the entire experience-laden Country Inns and Bed & Breakfast industry. No form of lodging offers more authentic hospitality and access to a sense of place and history than do Bed and Breakfasts. This lodging option opens travelers to some of the richest and most historic, privately owned treasures in America. With settings on water ways, lakes, oceans, in forests and pristine country roads with hosts who serve as guides to the area, it offers the best value to national travelers,” Sakach proclaimed.
The iLoveInns.com staff offers the following guidelines to those who wish to enter the name the inn contest for the B&B series "Tori & Dean: Inn Love” scheduled to premiere on Tuesday, March 20th at 10:30pm.
Do’s and Don’ts of Naming a Bed and Breakfast Don’ts Don’t name it after an obscure historic figure: (What started out as good names prior to the web, lose effectiveness on search engines.) Don’t name it after a little known geographic area. Example: Inn at Mt. Ada is in Avalon on Catalina Island and we’ve fielded hundreds of calls from travelers who can’t remember the name. It would have been better to name it Catalina Island Bed Breakfast in Avalon. Don’t name the inn something negative: The Dusty Mansion and Cobweb Palace have closed. Don’t use a name that can be easily misspelled; Example Crab Apple Inn sometimes showed up as Crap Apple Inn.
Do’s Remember to start at the beginning of the alphabet if you are in an area with many inns. Consider these Search Engine Tips: Use the most searched location in the name (In Tori’s inn it would be Temecula or San Diego county, not Fallbrook) Use the word Bed & Breakfast in the name for search engines Use your imagination. Example: Prior to the popular use of the internet, when visiting Brewery Gulch Inn in Mendocino, California, an iloveinns.com staff member took a poll of guests. It revealed that every visitor had chosen the inn because of the name. Using Tori Spelling’s name could be a plus because of the actress’s fame; however, it could be a liability if the couple decides not to be hands-on in the future because guests will be disappointed when they don’t meet the owners.
According to Oxygen, participants can log onto (http://www.oxygen.com/nametheinn) for a chance to name the B&B in the upcoming reality series “…that will feature the McDermott’s leaving their Hollywood lifestyle behind and heading for the picturesque wine vineyards of southern California to invest Spelling's $800,000 inheritance into opening an inn. Partners in marriage and now in business, the couple will give viewers an intimate look at their new life as they try to balance the challenges and obstacles they face as first-time innkeepers along with the joys and stresses of preparing for their first baby.”
One lucky winner will be flown to the grand opening gala and awarded a $2000 shopping spree. The winning name will be unveiled at the gala and will be featured in the show.
Media: For free review copies, interview appointments, photo requests or general information, call Barbara Naylon at (949) 497-2232, ext. 305. E-mail: barbara@iloveinns.com
