Tripadvisor Award - Are B&Bs optimising the power of the accolade

Winning an award or being listed as a top-ranking B&B, is worthy of a big 'shout out' and yet analysis of the websites of the top 25 UK B&Bs voted by Tripadvisor travellers, shows that many haven't made the most of the accolade. 

Ok, so Tripadvisor's publicity machine ensured the list received a great slug of coverage in the nationals and online travel websites but the B&Bs' own communication since then has been distinctly sketchy. 

While 68% are displaying the 2014 Travellers' Choice logo on their home page, some are less prominent and are mixed up with older accolades. 

Similarly, while there are B&Bs who are very active on social media - primarily Twitter and Facebook, many let themselves down by not having strong links between their website and communications channel.

In many instances, social media isn't even on the B&Bs radar and worryingly, some with a twitter feed missed the opportunity to tweet the accolade with a link back to their website.

Just three B&B websites out of the 25 ran a news or blog section. 

There a few things here: 

• a blog enables you to build the personality behind the B&B
• sharing local information and news is a fantastic way of giving potential customers snippets as to why they should book with you. 
• a blog is also a key way of improving your ranking in search engines by including keyword phrases that you want to be found for.
• it's worth thinking strategically as to how you can use the various communication channels (social media, your own website and media relations) to shout more.