We recently connected with Billy Bergeron and have shared our conversation below.

Billy, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How has Covid changed your business model?

COVID-19 was a nightmare, as much as we try to make every situation a learning opportunity, we just had to switch to survival mode. Cutting costs was difficult, but the first step. Then cut them again, and maybe even again. Once the dust settled, we had to start over in many ways. As an upscale Bed & Breakfast, we had to maintain a level of quality and reach out to a new group of travelers. Many people were stuck at home for months and needing a getaway to celebrate an anniversary, birthday or just take a break. Finding those people was a chore. Also, many B&B guests are older, retired individuals. That demographic as hit hard by the pandemic. Fear was the greatest hurdle, we had to reassure them that they were safe here. We are now using google analytics to see who is searching our website, what they click on, what they ignore. We are learning our guests all over again, just as we did in the beginning. Knowing your target market and where to find the is business 101. Our business model changed as needed, more attention to small details that instilled confidence in our business. Plus, we had to find all available revenue streams to stay afloat.

Billy, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Folks that have not read about us before, who could that be? I thought everyone was headed to Castle La Crosse! Ha, just kidding. We are the type of guys that let life lead us and do not fear the sudden left hand turn it sometimes takes. In 2016, Brandon had just finished culinary school, he is a French pastry chef. I know, my life is hard! I was working at the University of Texas in Houston. We needed a change and began looking at different cities. We are rather methodical guys, first we find the city, then we find jobs, then we find a house. Left turn…we found the Castle! We came to look at Castle La Crosse in June, 2106. It had been on the market for over a year. IT told us what it wanted to do, not really, but in a way, it needed something to do just at the time when we needed something to do. Our home is very large, grand, elegant. It’s the perfect Bed & Breakfast, plus the kitchen was set up for a chef like Brandon. We bought it! As we brought something new to La Crosse, Wisconsin, we had to learn on the fly. We had never had a B&B, never owned a grand Victorian home. But sometimes you just have to trust your gut. It’s a huge success, there are no other Bed & Breakfast like it in the region. La Crosse is right on the Mississippi River, it is an amazing place!
We opened with three guest rooms and now have five. As you can imagine, it’s a huge amount of work. We don’t have any staff. That would be the next step

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

For us, social media has worked well. We have tried print advertising, some direct mail, email remainders to plan a return trip, etc. Running a compelling ad on Facebook has generated the most business. We enjoy posting on Instagram, so we plan to keep doing that. We have a lot of followers and try to figure out how to leverage that into new business and guests from other places. We are active in the community, I sit on Boards and volunteer my time. As a speaker, I talk to a lot of new business owners and people thinking of starting a business. If I can help, I try to. Getting involved in the community, joining your local library, chamber of commerce, convention & visitors bureau or Rotary is a great place to meet people and get ideas. We have formed some great partnerships here. In our case, we can donate a room night at the Bed & Breakfast to a charity and get a lot of publicity. Sometimes that works for artists and others as well. It is a chore, and we often don’t have time for one more task, but dropping an email to a magazine editor, sending photos to ladies group, historical organization or art gallery takes minutes. Sometimes the smallest door leads to a lot of people you would not have reached otherwise. We have book club that asked to have their meeting here, that introduced us to so many artists, we were able to open our gift shop at the Castle without buying a lot of inventory.

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

That is one of my favorite things to do! We thank them, invite them back, remind them that we book up quickly, remind them to buy a gift certificate for a friend or relative. It is the connection, I’m always trying to find ways for our guests to feel more connected to Castle La Crosse. Today I read about the importance of scent, amazing how many people commented that they remember how well a place smells. Anything to keep us in their thoughts. “Top of Mind” is the business term, you have to stay on their minds or be the first to come to mind when they think of your industry. Humor is another way to stay on their mind, remind the husband not to forget her birthday. Remind the wife that we decorate to the hilt for the Holidays. As I dive deeper into becoming a lifestyle brand, I see that we must take it back to the beginning and reinvent what the public sees online. Establishing that foundation is vital, become an authority in what you do or sell. Offer advice freely and frequently, imagine the strength in asking “when will we see you again?”
I must do all those things. Show the a little bit more than the life they currently have, then make a piece of that life easily accessible. People get connected to my home, it’s a grand 19th century Castle, but that does not bring them back to stay again. It is that I expected them to come, invited them to come, reminded them.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://castlelacrossebnb.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/castlelacrossebnb/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/castlelacrossebnb
• Other: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g60015-d12540780-Reviews-Castle_La_Crosse-La_Crosse_Wisconsin.html