National (USA), plus 9 Canadian provinces, and some Mexico/Caribbean/International.
Listing Type/Number:
5200+ detailed listings, many with multiple pictures, inn and room descriptions, rates & payment options, even local area data; a few are hotlinks with 1 picture & limited text. State Association lists provide over 1800 additional inns, mostly with brief description, room & rate info. Higher-level listings have pop-up locator map.
Description:
From Home Page, select 'Locate a B&B,' or directly select a country/region.
From country page, select a state from map or list. In state, select city or scroll through regions in the state (states with more listings); small maps help in pinning down the region. Selecting region gives a more detailed map of the region and table of cities in the region; table also describes approximate geographical location of each city. Selecting city gives inns in city plus nearby inns (distance criteria not mentioned). Selecting "locate a B&B" gives page with similar options.
Also has multiple special lists for amenities such as mountains, cycling, National Register, shores, horses, 'snowbird' interstate routes or markets such as kid friendly, pets welcome & handicap accessible, host weddings, etc.
Locator Map option (link is near top right of state page) allows you to enter a city and/or zip code and a mileage radius from that city to get a map showing all the listed inns within that radius - also provides link, distance for each identified inn.
Quality Assurance:
Identifies inns that belong to state associations, but inn page doesn't always indicate if association has inspection program (check association page for that info).
Other:
Some Inns have on-line reservation forms or on-line availability through Webervations.com or other systems. Has State Association sites for 30 U.S. states. Has inns for sale. Has extensive recipe lists, newsletter with 20,000 subscribers, RSO listings, section of links to non-US inns. Also has extensive special package offers from inns. Guide cooperated in facilitating review and verifying data.
Innkeeper Info:
Promotion: Promotes every individual page using appropriate keywords on each. Also publicizes in print and uses pay-per-click on major search engines. Has counters on Inn pages. Has extremely active promotion system that includes banners, pay-per-click to city level and targeted affiliations.
Initial rates range from 1 graphic/300 word at $120 to 16 graphic/1500 word at $495 [note: this feature also makes the inn eligible for rotation as a 'feature Inn of the week' which puts them at the top of the page with a banner or picture]. Substantial discount 2nd year and 10% first year discount to members of certain associations. Partially self-updatable; sign-up and pay on-line.
Contact: (615)868-1946; email info@bbonline.com.
Comments: Site has been sold to a larger corporation. It will be watched to see if changes occur to the better or worse.
