Michigan Lake to Lake
Bed and Breakfast Association

How to Join
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Inn-Member Benefits and Requirements
Being an ML2L B&B member helps your business succeed!
Call 888-575-1610 or email innfo@laketolake.com for information on rates and how to join! All membership levels are priced below $400.

Membership Requirements

• B&B must be located in Michigan
• Breakfast must be provided on site and included in the room rate
• Owner or innkeeper must live on the premises
• B&B must successfully complete the Quality Assurance Review Program requirements
• No more than two guest rooms or five people may share one full bath. If more than five guests share a bath, it must be a dormitory-type facility.

Membership Benefits

• Quality Assurance Review Program
• ML2L is the only B&B organization in Michigan to inspect member inns to quality standards and guarantee them to the traveling public
• The Quality Assurance Review Team is staffed with trained, professional reviewers
• Reviewer Evaluations give members the opportunity for input and feedback
• As a Quality-Assured member of ML2L, you are eligible for a 10-15% savings on your B&B insurance through Fremont Mutual Insurance Company, an ML2L

Business Partner
Board of Directors, Office and Ancillary Support

• We are committed to respond to your questions and concerns within 48 hours
• You enjoy monthly eNewsletters filled with industry news
• You receive timely legislative, scam and other important alerts
• As an active member of the Tourism Industry Coalition of Michigan, ML2L represents your interests where it counts
• In addition, we participate closely with Travel Michigan and its promotional programs; and offer free participation for Platinum Ambassador members in the state’s eSpecials electronic mailings to 65,000 subscribers, six times a year.
• We make available a one-time $25 discount coupon for members joining the Professional Association of Innkeepers International (PAII) for the first time
• Through our Business Partner member, Lady Americana, innkeeper members enjoy special low pricing on a line of Homeplace Collection mattresses designed exclusively for ML2L. Lady Americana pays a significant commission to member innkeepers who refer a sale to the company and a small commission to the association for each mattress sold by a member.

Marketing Via ML2L Bed & Breakfast Association Website
(www.laketolake.com) And Affiliates

• Be featured on our professionally-designed SEO website, which enjoys top search rankings on engines like Google and Yahoo
• Your inn is searchable by name, city, region, amenities and events
• Innkeepers can update their own profiles and online information 24/7
• Innkeepers can check statistics showing frequency of visits to their web pages, 24/7
• Members enjoy added exposure with complimentary listings under the association’s web pages on www.bbonline.com/mi and www.theinnkeeper.com. On theinnkeeper.com, ML2L members who pay to advertise on the site have their association page listings enhanced with photographs and links to their web pages.

• Added exposure is also available through an association link on www.iloveinns.com, provided the member advertises on that site. Members who advertise on the site also enjoy a 10% discount on Gold listings and a 15% discount on Platinum listings.
• New ML2L members enjoy a one-time, one-year 50% discount on listings with www.BBDestinations.com
• All members enjoy a free or significantly-discounted advertising relationship with www.michiganbackroads.com, hosted by Business Partner www.MichiganWebs.net.
• Basic members pay only $50 for an exclusive advertising page – a $100 savings off the $150 price. Platinum Ambassador members enjoy an exclusive advertising page free, with the cost underwritten by ML2L with marketing funds generated by Platinum Ambassador room-night assessments.

Marketing via Print Material Media

• You benefit from association advertising in popular tourism magazines like Midwest Living and Ohio Magazine
• 30,000 of ML2L’s printed guide to member B&Bs are distributed through:
  •  AAA
  •  Travel Michigan Welcome Centers
  •  Other tourism agencies, CVBs and Chambers of Commerce
  •  Public libraries
  •  Member B&Bs
  •  Online orders

Celebrate Breakfast Cookbooks’ Promotion

• Three association cookbooks have been compiled by ML2L, and two are still actively distributed by the publisher and sold at member inns, Greenfield Village, Barnes & Noble and other book store locations. Cookbooks may also be ordered online from www.laketolake.com
• Great Lakes – Great Breakfasts and our newest cookbook, Celebrate Breakfast, are available to members at wholesale prices for resale in their gift shops. Celebrate Breakfast is augmented by a CD featuring soothing piano music, also titled Celebrate Breakfast. Produced exclusively for ML2L, it is also available at wholesale prices for resale. Call the office for ordering information

Gift Certificate Program

• Since the program began in the late 1990s, ML2L Gift Certificates have generated more than $275,000 in room night revenue for inns at which they are redeemed.
• Gift Certificates are sold online at www.laketolake.com or by phone and are redeemable for full face value exclusively at members’ properties.

Innkeeper Education and Networking

• The Annual Education Conference brings nationally-acclaimed presenters to members at very reasonable registration rates. Click on Conference under the Membership menu on www.laketolake.com for details of this year’s conference.
• Three Innkeeper Receptions are held at no-cost-to-members in varying regions of the state three times each year. They are purely for fun, and give innkeepers the opportunity to network with each other and with the entire Board of Directors.
• Members enjoy informative and educational eNewsletter articles every month.

Legislative Impact

• ML2L promotes activities that support growing Michigan travel and tourism
• We inform members of legal and legislative issues affecting their businesses
• We work with lobbyists and legislators to favorably influence legislation that would impact Michigan B&Bs
• ML2L actively participates with the state’s three major tourism industry players:
  • Travel Michigan, Tourism Industry Coalition of Michigan and Michigan Lodging and Tourism Association

Helpful Programs

• ML2L provides other membership programs that nurture and assist the industry:
• Aspiring Innkeepers – a resource for those hoping to purchase inns or convert their homes to B&Bs

Inn Sitters – Visit the Associate Members webpage, found under Membership on www.laketolake.com to locate trusted inn sitters that can free you up for needed relaxation.

Business Partners – provide valuable B&B-related services and products to ML2L members and, often, have an associated discount program just for members. Visit the Associate Members webpage, found under Membership
on www.laketolake.com to locate a helpful Business Partner.

Inns for Sale, also located under the Membership menu, provides free listings to ML2L members or realty-related Business Partners.

Your Opportunities to Make a Difference

• Make the association more responsive to your needs by serving on a committee:
  • Membership & Communications
  • Marketing
  • Website Development
  • Quality Assurance
• Vote annually for board members
• Become a board member! ML2L is YOUR association.