Question & Answer Session about Destination Nexus

The following is a question and answer session with James Mayfield, President of Convoyant, makers of Destination Nexus and Reservation Nexus.

What is Destination Nexus?

"Destination Nexus is a destination encyclopedia of inns and leisure activities. It will be the most comprehensive source for finding where to stay and what activities are available within the privately owned lodging industry.

Our purpose wasn't to create yet another directory. An encyclopedia is more encompassing and lists every business that applies, not just those who pay.

Think of an encyclopedia versus a yellow pages directory. An encyclopedia covers everything from A to Z. Encyclopedias are well written and educational. There are no ads or clutter. A yellow pages directory lists only those who pay and ads compete for attention.

By introducing an encyclopedia approach to the bed and breakfast industry, Destination Nexus should attract more visitors that stay longer. How many people sit down and read a yellow pages directory? It's more likely that people would sit down and thumb through an encyclopedia, right?

With Destination Nexus we have created an attractive and clutter-free destination encyclopedia and merged it with a Google-like ranking system to place the best content on the first page.

It's going to take time and teamwork but together we can do something amazing. We need for innkeepers to become involved. They have the insight and experience to recommend unique and specific activities in their areas which will draw more visitors to their inns."

What is different about Destination Nexus?

"As with everything we do, we wanted Destination Nexus to be a fresh approach to the needs of the bed and breakfast lodging community as well as for it to be the first of its kind. Part of what makes business fun for us is when we group together, analyze a situation and come up with a better solution. We love taking things to a whole new level.

Most directories start with nothing and try to grow from that point. That's very challenging. Think of Waffl and how they come and gone. We have done the exact opposite and spent years internally gathering the subject matter (over 13,000 U.S. inns alone) along with more content to come.

Instead of doing a directory, we created the first encyclopedia within this market. Every inn is listed, not just those that pay. Membership is optional not mandatory however membership allows inns to add unlimited personalized content. Inns can customize their listings in unique and creative ways. This industry is about creating an experience and we wanted Destination Nexus to reflect that.

We also wanted Destination Nexus to be attractive and impressive. Destination Nexus is first and foremost about the businesses it represents. There are no banner ads, clutter or information overload.

Destination Nexus uses large pictures, not the quarter-sized pictures we came across even on major websites like Expedia. Pictures are the number one reason people buy so that's been a major focus within Destination Nexus.

While many directories come and go, it's been a very long time since something of this caliber has come from a legitimate source and with a fresh approach.”

Tell us about this ranking system. You call it the Red Carpet Index or RCI.

"Our mission from the start with all of our products has been to help elevate the industries we are a part of via education and new technologies. Eight out of ten inns right now need better websites and better pictures. Innkeepers agree that's truly the case and at conferences we often hear, 'Our website and pictures are from the previous owner and they are twelve years old!'

I was recently watching the 'Marriage Ref' with my wife and the host made a negative joke about bed and breakfasts. It made me flinch. I love this industry and we too are a part of it. At times there is definitely a negative stigma within the bed and breakfast industry and we feel that Destination Nexus can help improve this industry's image. However, while a joke or two is made at times the bed and breakfast industry as a whole is amazing. When you ask people if they have ever stayed at a bed and breakfast they either want to or rave about an experience they've had. But there are enough bad experiences that there is room for improvement, right?

Destination Nexus was not only designed from the ground up to be attractive and impressive, it was designed to shine a better light on the bed and breakfast industry. A key part of that was to develop a ranking system that moves the best inns to the top to better represent this industry.

While the exact formula is confidential and will change from time to time the core principal to our Red Carpet Index is that the best inns should move to the top of their cities, regions and states. Inns with amazing looking photos, intuitive and impressive websites, solid ratings on various travel rating websites, etc. are ranked highest.

To us the best thing about our Red Carpet Index is that innkeepers through their own efforts are in control of their rankings. Destination Nexus will even make recommendations on where inns can make improvements.

Our Travel Editors are automatically notified as inns update their pictures and content within Destination Nexus. Unlike Google a non-computer (aka a real human being) evaluates and determines an inn's ranking. Our system is fair and unbiased. It took us a long time and a lot of effort and expense to individually review the 13,000 inns within Destination Nexus.

We do expect a lot of movement in the rankings the first few years as innkeepers claim their inns, update their listings and improve their business and marketing practices. Over time Destination Nexus will help elevate the overall quality and image of the bed and breakfast industry.

We will also be the first to agree that presently some inns may be ranked too low or too high just due to the nature of the project. Some inns have updated their website and pictures in the time it took to review all 13,000 inns. That will naturally correct itself over time. Simply claim your inn and let us know it's time for us to re-review your inn."

What makes your company an expert?

"Great question. First of all we work with over 1,000 inns on the Reservation Nexus side and we are the most widely used all-in-one seamless solution within the bed and breakfast market for online bookings, guest management and integrated automated marketing.

Second, we have a wonderful working relationship with our innkeepers and they share their successes and failures with us. In addition, we are in a position to be able to observe the bigger picture as far as what works best regardless of location or type of inn.

Third, recently InsideOut Solutions communicated to us that Reservation Nexus has the highest conversion rate of any bed and breakfast online booking system on the market. From what we understand it's even higher than the next two combined. We've incorporated those same principles and technologies into Destination Nexus. We know what we are doing. We are an established leader within this industry.

Fourth, our Travel Writers are highly trained and experienced. They have reviewed thousands of inns during the creation of Destination Nexus.

Fifth, we truly do care about an inn's business and all our efforts have been toward helping inns capture more business. With the introduction of Destination Nexus, all innkeepers, even those not belonging to national or state associations, have an experienced and legitimate source they can turn to for sound, honest and experienced advice. For example, recently we worked with an innkeeper who was researching Destination Nexus and wondering why their RCI was so low. For years she had been telling her web host she felt that she needed a large beautiful picture of her inn on her homepage. The host kept telling her that wasn't necessary. After spending time with one of our Travel Writers, who told her she was spot on and that one of the major ways she could improve her Red Carpet Index was to have better pictures on her website, especially on her homepage. She finally had the fuel, confidence and support to go back to her web host and have things done right. Almost overnight she saw more business and called us back to thank us."

Tell us about search engine placement.

"It's going to take time and teamwork to get Google and Bing to fall in love with Destination Nexus. We are committed to making that happen but without the help of innkeepers this project will not be as successful as want it to be. It really is in the hands of innkeepers and associations within this industry. We promise that if they do get involved, amazing things will happen for them."

What is the cost to becoming a member?

"As more of an encyclopedia than a directory, membership is optional, not mandatory. Every inn can claim and manage their inn for free. However, we hope innkeepers do become more involved as members. The more members we have the more advertising dollars we can put to work as far as pay-per-clicks, billboards and national campaigns.

We wanted to make membership very affordable and presently it is $97 a year. They key benefit at this time is that inns can add unlimited content in the form of custom tabs and widgets. More member benefits will come at no additional cost as new stages are rolled out.

We did look at all the alternatives. Wikipedia asks for donations and that will never cover the advertising and promotional costs we want to put into this project. Banner ads aren't the way to go either because they detract from the presentation of the core content: the businesses we promote and represent. It was determined that a reasonable, non-commission membership fee was the best solution."

How can innkeepers get involved?

"First of all, claim your inn. It's free and extremely easy to do. Ten minutes of your time gets you involved.

Second, link back to Destination Nexus on your homepage. When you claim your inn there is a tool for helping you do this.

Third, become more involved. Become a member. It's only $97 a year which allows you to add unlimited content. That helps both parties with regards to search engine placement.

Fourth, tell us about missing inns or inns that are out of business in your area. There are "Submit a Business" buttons on all city pages and "Remove this Inn" links on all inn pages that have not been claimed.

Lastly, tell us about unique activities in your area and schedule a time for one of our Travel Editors to interview you for details about those activities. At a recent conference one innkeeper teased me about a special hot spring where only your birthday suit is required. We had a good laugh but we obviously want to keep things rated PG or at least warn visitors of possible awkward moments."

You've mentioned this is just stage one of Destination Nexus. What's down the road?

"We have a lot of ambitions with Destination Nexus. Right now the focus is to get the word out to innkeepers and have them claim and manage their listing. We also need for innkeepers to become members which is only $97 a year. The revenue presently is going to pay-per-clicks and other advertising efforts. While we want to be like Wikipedia, we don't want to have to beg for donations so we've developed an affordable method for Destination Nexus to join forces with innkeepers to promote the bed and breakfast industry as a whole and in the best light possible.

The next stage for Destination Nexus is we want visitors to be able to view and research amazing activities near the inns where they are looking to stay at. We don't want to do the standard boring and generic 'hiking, biking, etc.' approach. We want activities that are specific and informative like 'The Grotto in Payson Canyon' where visitors learn that it's a very short hike even kids and the elderly can make that ends at a 30 foot waterfall after ten minutes of walking. Much like an inn's listing these activities will have great pictures and be clutter-free.

An association tools stage will follow which will allow associations to do some amazing things from managing memberships (even collecting dues and activity fees online), hosting conferences, publishing newsletters and articles and even advertising to Destination Nexus inns in their area and vendors that are not members. Associations are a big key to this industry and an amazing source of knowledge and resources. We want to help reduce the tedious tasks via automation so they have more time for other important responsibilities.

There are also many more stages, but at this time they are confidential.

Destination Nexus is a huge project. We've been working on gathering the information for almost six years. We are very committed to Destination Nexus. It opens so many avenues for us and for the industries involved with Destination Nexus.

As you can tell from the name, Destination Nexus is not going to be limited to just the lodging industry, even though the lodging industry will be the anchor for Destination Nexus. While innkeepers often struggle with this concept there is a huge benefit from working with other profitable and cross promotional industries like golf, restaurants, rafting, limousines, four wheeling, etc. The key though is to make sure the different industries are separated within Destination Nexus. Only the top businesses will occasionally cross over to another industry. For example, you may see the top inn show up with golf courses and vice versa.

We want Destination Nexus to become a community, an amazing resource and a powerful tool, using never seen before technologies. With time and teamwork, we are very excited for what is to come."

Do you give any special treatment to Reservation Nexus inns?

"Not at all. However, most Reservation Nexus inns do rank pretty high because one of the criteria for our Red Carpet Index deals with allowing guests the option of making real-time reservations from an inn's website.

The highest score within that category involves not only providing real-time confirmed reservations but having room pictures visible within the booking engine. With our Red Carpet Service, where our Red Carpet Professionals do all the setup, including uploading great looking room pictures for our inns, it's a rare day Reservation Nexus inns don't receive the highest possible score in this area.

Request based booking systems score lower because guests don't want to wait for your reply, no matter how much you may think it's a good thing for your inn. Real-time reservations are the future and are here to stay.

If an inn uses another service that is real-time with adequate room pictures that inn will score the same as any Reservation Nexus inn."