How To Join MBBA
Why do so many outstanding B&Bs choose to belong?
Watch this short video for all the reasons why you belong with the Michigan Bed and Breakfast Association. We are here to support our Aspiring Members, and our member inns and to orchestrate a strong Preferred Vendor Program with valuable discounts for our members.
All of this and more to give you the tools to be the very Best Place to Stay in Michigan!
All the Reasons to Sign-Up Today
1. Web marketing initiatives
What you pay buys more exposure and promotion of your inn than you get from anywhere else — at no additional cost.
2. Quality certification
MBBA’s high standards for safety, quality, and comfort give guests assurance that sets you apart.
3. Advocacy
MBBA represents your business interests when lawmakers or regulators start making changes.
4. Business development strategies
Attract more guests.
Make more money. Manage the business. Stay on trend.
MBBA helps.
Does your B&B qualify for membership?
Answer “yes” to these eight questions, and you can put MBBA to work for you.
- Are you a Michigan bed and breakfast?
- Do you offer at least two guest rooms?
- Do you provide a full or continental breakfast and include it in the room rate?
- Does the owner or innkeeper live on the premises? **
- Are guest rooms individually decorated? (Example below.)
- Are bathrooms either private or, if shared, limited to two guest rooms or five guests sharing a bath?
- Does your B&B meet the Quality Assurance Review standards? (Click here.)
- Will you accept MBBA gift cards as payment by guests? (They’re just like cash; you get full value.)
** Certain exceptions may be possible. Inquire.
Marketing benefits at a glance
Website features
- Free online availability and booking from the MBBA website to yours.
- Listing in up to three cities besides your own, up to 30 miles away.
- One-button click to your website
- One-button click to your online booking
- Google map
- At-a-glance info about rooms, innkeeper
- Up to 10 photos in the top-of-page slider
- Add additional photos and video
- Option to add headlines, subheads, and links in the copy
- Unlimited Offers, with exposure on multiple pages, including the Home page
- Unlimited amount of photos and copy about your inn
- Additional copy about experiences you offer
- Inn can appear on ten or more Experience pages with links to your listing
Social media and email marketing
- Are posting to Facebook and Instagram too time-consuming? MBBA posts daily and shares your new photos and content.
- Members are urged to use our #MichBnB hashtag to improve their inns’ visibility in search.
- The monthly email marketing newsletter reaches subscribers who have opted in. Each new member inn is featured in an issue.
Commission-free gift certificates
MBBA sells more than $25,000 each year in gift certificates. Guests spend them like cash at member inns, and they’re like cash to you, the innkeeper. You pay no commission.
How much does membership cost?
Beyond a one-time $150 initial start-up fee, members’ support of MBBA has two parts: basic dues + room-night assessment.
How are funds used?
Membership dues pay for the basic operation of MBBA, one of America’s few staffed state B&B associations. Room assessments cover the innovative marketing initiatives that showcase member inns and make our website one of the few commission-free sources of bookings available today.
Part 1: $35 monthly
All members pay the same annual dues regardless of the size of their B&B. This funds the nuts and bolts and staffing for everything necessary to generate the benefits designed to clinch your business success. After an initial commitment to 12 months of membership, members may resign anytime with 30 days’ notice. (Bylaws address reinstatement options within 90 days and after.)
Part 2: Add $2 per guest room night*
The room-assessment program is simple: Collect $2 per room night sold and remit the total each month, up to a cap of $1,800 per calendar year.
The room-assessment approach means that what an inn pays scales up or down according to the size of the operation, the number of days per year the B&B is open, and the success of the business in good years and in lean ones. Payments are on the honor system. Only the MBBA administrator knows how many guest room nights members are selling.
How do most innkeepers pay for the assessment?
They add a $2 per night association assessment fee to each guest’s invoice, pre-tax, and do not regard the dollars collected as their money.
This $2 per guest room night covers the bells and whistles that keep our marketing tools competitive with the commercial directories.
Why quality certification matters to you…and to guests
It’s always a plus when a trusted third party reassures guests your B&B is on the up and up. That’s the point of the MBBA Quality Assurance Review program.
When your inn is quality-assured by our independent reviewers, you prove beyond question that your property stands apart.
Posting the MBBA logo prominently on your website tells those seeking quality that you have been inspected for meeting safety requirements and for adhering to best practices associated with cleanliness, food service and hospitality.
Because you’ve proven your high standards, the association guarantees your guests will “rest assured.”
Check the Quality Assurance Review Checklist to see if your inn will meet the standards.
How MBBA advocates for members
Think you can’t fight city hall? Sometimes you’re right. But when all our respected B&B innkeepers join forces across Michigan, we can work together and have an impact. That’s the beauty of an association and a primary function of MBBA.
We go to Lansing because you don’t have time. We’ve worked collaboratively with organizations such as:
- Pure Michigan
- Tourism Industry Coalition of Michigan
- Michigan Restaurant and Lodging Association…
… To form a lobbying force that has accomplished and fought for:
- Post-Labor Day school starts as state law
- Funding of the Pure Michigan campaign that brings so many visitors to Michigan
- Revised gift certificate laws that let you reap your rightful return
- Alerts to legal issues and how these will affect you
- Local and statewide strategies for addressing unregulated homestays.
We also work closely with national lodging organizations to:
- Understand the impact of new federal regulations affecting our business
- Develop and publicize initiatives to level the playing field across the country wherever unregulated home-sharing puts B&Bs at a disadvantage
Business Discounts from our Preferred Vendors
Many of our Preferred Vendors offer discounts to our members. The largest is a 15% discount from Fremont Insurance for your Business and Home Insurance Policies. Many of our members tell us that this discount more than pays for their membership fees.
Business development strategies and opportunities
MBBA works with innkeepers to drive profits and return on investment by putting a wealth of business development strategies and opportunities at your fingertips, including:
- Annual educational conference in late October or early November
- Informative email newsletter in frequent, quick bytes
- A private Facebook forum where innkeepers share experiences and tips
- Webinar series on topics ranging from hiring and training staff to email marketing to optimizing every page of your website for search engines
- Innsider Trading Over Coffee, a series of Zoom get-togethers for innkeepers January through May
- Participate in free inn-to-inn lodging exchange for last-minute getaways
- Free listing on our high-traffic Inns for Sale page when it comes time to sell
Know our standards before you apply: Quality Review checklist.
At a glance: 10+ reasons to join MBBA.
Is B&B innkeeping in your future? Join MBBA as an aspiring member.
Have some questions before you apply for membership?