MINUTES

Members Present: (not listed)

Meeting at the Let's Go Country Bed and Breakfast where our hosts Marcia and John Boggs served a delicious light supper.

Meeting was called to order at 6:50 pm by President Joanne Heitmiller.

The minutes from the previous business meeting were discussed.  Bruce Dyer made the motion to approve the minutes and Marcia seconded the motion. Motion was voted on and approved.

The Treasurer's Report was $1703.85. No vote or motion was made. Marcia did report that Sandra was doing well.

Old Business

Golinda B&B -- no information

Liz Taylor was thrilled with the card sent from the Association. Said it meant a lot.

Website -- Quotes from Ryan Johnston and Ron Heuther. Carla Pendergast couldn't give a bid due to a conflict of interest but volunteered to review bids and give her opinion.

Ryan Johnston not using blog for main website but have the individual B&B's do their own and he'll be glad to teach us how. Carla Pendergast really liked Ryan's proposal. He would be glad to tweak the individual B&B's for minimal cost of about $60.00 per hour.

Carla Pendergast felt that Huey Production's proposal had redundancy and overuse of key words which is a spam alert.

We really need someone who knows how to get it to come up on the first page of the search engines.

Joanne suggested that David Stoopes talk to Ryan about website design and how we can update and make our own changes without incurring additional cost.

Linda Williams expressed concern about the cost for administration and hosting fee of $120.00 per year. John Boggs pointed out that the Association website has existed for 10 years. Our website is where the focus should be. The one-time charge of $1800.00 with administration fee of $120 - $300 per year is doable. This would be a good expense.

Warren Johnson stated that the first website page is the most important for search engines; then we can have it link to our sites. Bruce also expressed concern aver the Association's page placement.

Next there was a discussion about marketing--these days "social marketing" such as Facebook, Twitter, etc. are replacing old standard marketing. How many check these and use them?

Bruce and Linda use the availability calendar to view when they are full. We need a calendar with the new website.

Warren made a motion to have David contact Ryan Johnston to begin negotiations for a simplified website for the Association. Bruce Dyer seconded the motion. Vote. Motion carried.

The brochure was discussed. Pam will work on getting brochure reprinted.

New Business

1. Need to invite new bed and breakfasts to come to the meetings.

2. Texas Hotel and Lodging Association -- state agency travel rate is a flat $85.00 for all Texas cities to whatever the Federal per diem rate is for a particular Texas city or county. Waco's Federal rate was $85.00, so there will be no change for this area. Joanne has a list of cities if a B&B is not in the Waco rate.

3. Rates from BedandBreakfast.com have moved from a yearly billing to monthly billing and new rates. Last year was $349; for this year is $419 and $210 for the second city listing. BBOnline is $189 per year for comparison.

4. American Bed and Breakfast Inns is a new website for innkeepers.

5. 4th Showcase Waco -- October 18 at the Palladium. Booth is free -- $100 to $4000 for sponsorships.

6. Waco CVB Connections magazine spotlighted The Cotton Palace and Judge Baylor House. Waco Trib article about new hotel projects was read by Joanne.

Marcia brought up subject of white towels and bleach from facial cleansers, etc. and what to do. She said she had gone to white to get away from the bleach issue but even the white have bleach spots. Wondered if anyone had a solution.

The next meeting will be September 8 at Lakehaven.

Bruce made the motion to adjourn and Marcia seconded the motion. Meeting was adjourned at 8:30 pm.