B&Bs Merge

Michele Erdvig · Host

B&Bs Merge

yesiree · Guru

We did an interview with them just as they were going through the merger. It's at http://irishfireside.com/2008/01/01/31-winter-memories-irish-farmstays-and-bbs/.

I'm not sure why they've been so low key about the merger... it would have been easy to spin it as a very positive thing.

To me, it's a good idea for them to be merged... visitors may then choose to split their time between a B&B and farmhouse B&B without having to look to different sources for info (and the hosts don't have to get listed in both).

Michele Erdvig · Host

Corey,

I think it is a good merger too. But T&C adamantly denied it to me. They said there was no "merger" and that the two were entirely separate. They told me I was wrong!

Maybe they wanted to have their own time frame for letting people know. But the cat was already out of the bag for people in the know. Instead of deny it, they should have run with the story.

Michele

yesiree · Guru

They might have also been managing longtime members who didn't like the thought of "their" book being replaced with a new, merged listing. Sometimes that old-fashioned charm we love so much from B&B owners also equals a resistance to change on certain details.

Michele Erdvig · Host

Corey,

I hear you. But the T&C of two years ago is vastly different than today. It is changing from a loose-knit group of B&Bs into a political organization. The managers used to be volunteers from among the membership - today they are well paid management positions. So the old-fashioned charm is in the past.

I'm sure Town and Country and Farmhouse Holidays had their own agenda. The members voted on the change so knew that the Farmhouse book would not be printed again and that they - as paying members - would go into the T&C book instead. Previously they could be in either one or both.

What I didn't care for was T&C misinforming me. I mean, everyone knew about it anyway so I don't understand the reasoning behind it. evileye

Evidently their members had some issues too. Quite a few members defected to Family Homes and elsewhere.

After that T&C came out with the proposal that all B&Bs in Ireland should be forced to register and be graded by Failte Ireland (like hotels are). Since their own members were already "inspected" and approved by Failte Ireland, it was a push by T&C to gain more members - but not on a voluntary basis.

T&C currently represents about half of the B&Bs in Ireland.

Times are changing.

Michele