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About AABBI
Arizona Association of Bed and Breakfast Inns
Mission and History
The mission of the Arizona Association of Bed and Breakfast Inns is to develop and encourage high standards of hospitality, provide opportunities for professional growth and a forum for communication on all aspects of the industry, promote members, broaden public understanding and appreciation of Bed and Breakfast and Country Inns, and act as an advocate with state and local regulatory agencies by speaking with one voice.
AABBI Celebrates its 20th Anniversary in 2008 and is proud of the people and events of those past twenty years that have brought us to the influential and visible organization we are today.
1988
- In January, the first meeting of the Arizona Association of Bed & Breakfast Inns was held with just twelve inns. Four months later Joanne Bell came to Phoenix to give organizational direction to the fledgling group.
1989
- AABBI was incorporated for the first time with the Statutory agent being Steven P. Johnson of Tucson.
- The Arizona Trade Name of “Arizona Association of Bed & Breakfast Inns” was established and filed with the State of Arizona.
- The first official By-laws and Standards were written by which the organization would be guided.
- The first AABBI brochure was published to promote its member inns.
1993
- AABBI's incorporation status was lost because required papers had inadvertently not been filed with the Arizona Corporation Commission since 1991. No application for reinstatement was made to the Commission.
1994
- AABBI embarked on its first lobbying effort, appealing for the following items of state legislation:
- Require B & Bs, Country Inns, and Homestays to collect applicable taxes from guests for lodging;
- Property taxes and personal property taxes be determined only for the items purchased for use of guest and/or the percentage of uses of those items for guests
- AABBI's membership grows to 30 inns across Arizona.
- Membership standards were revised and adopted by the members at that year's annual meeting.
1995
- AABBI applied for a grant from the Arizona Office of Tourism for $7,107.50. $5,400 was ultimately received. The grant funds were used to create display ads in Country Inns Magazine and Sunset Magazine to promote member B & Bs in the state of Arizona. Additional grant funding was used to design and produce a Rack Member Directory and to hire a freelance travel writer to write a travel feature on five-to-six selected B & B inns along with two press releases. These press releases went to 120 newspapers and each were addressed to the Travel Editor by name. Gary Vallen Hospitality Consultants of Flagstaff was hired to conduct a baseline study of the B & B industry in Arizona. Results from the study were to be used to tie to suggestions of itinerary based promotional linkages for national publicity as outlined in the Strategy-Based Research Plan for the Arizona Tourism Industry in cooperation with AOT.
- Two membership meetings a year were established for the first time.
1996
- Vendors were first invited to join member innkeepers at AABBI's Annual Meeting.
- A cookbook representing 21 AABBI member inns was published-the first of its kind in Arizona.
1997
- A Guest Survey was designed and implemented by Gary Vallen Hospitality Consultants of Flagstaff.
- AABBI membership standards were again revised and adopted by the membership at that year's Annual Meeting.
- By-laws were revised and adopted by the members, also at the Annual Meeting.
- AABBI membership continues to grow-now up to 50 inns.
1999
- AABBI's first first color Membership Directory was published.
- The first AABBI Newsletter was published by Twila Coffey and was distributed by mail.
2000
- Karl Sampson, a well-known travel writer, was hired to write 20 travel itineraries for the AABBI website. AABBI was given permission to use this narrative in written form for other purposes as it saw fit.
- AABBI was reincorporated as a non-profit organization using the law firm of Jeffrey W. Sparks of Prescott. The Statutory Agent was Mike Coffey of Prescott.
- The first AABBI website was developed by Blizzard Internet Marketing.
- The first electronic AABBI Newsletter was sent with Jean Pace as Editor.
2001
- A committee was formed to revise membership standards which were adopted by the membership at the Annual Meeting.
- Meetings were reduced from two per year to one per year.
2003
- AABBI membership continued to increase-now up to 57 inns.
- The AABBI Educational Scholarship Fund was established at the Northern Arizona University Hotel Restaurant Management School in Flagstaff to honor AABBI innkeepers who had died.
2004
- AABBI membership reaches the 60 inn mark for the first time.
- AABBI's website was rebuilt and re-designed and hosting changed to InsideOut Marketing. An e-mail broadcast tool was included in this update, making for an instant and easy way for the organization to communicate with its members.
- A revision of Standards & Bylaws was approved and implemented.
2006
- The AABBI Board of Directors votes to enlarge its board capacity to up to nine seats, including two at-large seats.
2007
- At the Annual Meeting, the AABBI Board and Members vote to change from a two-year to a three-year cycle for the inspection of member inns.
- Following a national trend of sales and closures of bed and breakfast properties, AABBI membership dips to 47 inns
2008
- In an unprecedented decision in AABBI's history, the Board of Directors elects in early January to contract with the organization's first paid Association Coordinator. Karen McClurg of Phoenix had previously worked for the Arizona Office of Tourism's Tourism Education and Development Division.
- Under Karen McClurg's expertise and direction, AABBI applies in the spring for it's second AOT grant-intended for the purpose of a significant expansion and re-design of its website and database capabilities.
Note: This information was compiled by AABBI member Rosemary Brown using the minutes of past meetings, archived documents of AABBI, and several members who helped with setting up the initial organization. If there are potential errors that can be corroborated with documentation, please notify Rosemary. If you think some essential information has been left out, also let her know. We want for the long and colorful history of AABBI to be as accurate and complete as possible. (Rosemary Brown-Hacienda del Desierto, Tucson)
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