1. Ensure that as part of the purchase you will own the accommodation’s existing domain name, email accounts and telephone number.
This may seem a bit obvious but I would strongly advise that you make sure these are part of the contract of your bed and breakfast, guest house or hotel purchase. I am aware of one incident where a retiring couple decided to take the established telephone number with them – as this was also been their own private telephone number. Ensure you have these itemised within your contract so a solicitor can follow these up if there are any issues following the sale.

Another critical check is the domain – never assume the current business owner actually owns the domain of your new hotel, guest house or bed and breakfast. I have come across a number of domains that were set up and paid for by a web designer or friend, who is now not contactable. Make sure you check this and put the onus on the current owner.

To check all domains (website names) ending in co.UK (for example torbaylodge.co.uk) then go to www.nominet.org for all other domains go to www.whois.net.

If the information shown is not the current owner of your new B&B, guest house or hotel then contact the owner by email and express your concern. The current owner is the only one who can initiate a domain transfer.

Also check when the current domain is due for renewal.

If you are in the process of buying or thinking of buying a bed and breakfast, guest house or hotel then save yourself a lot of possible future heartache by ensuring you work your way through the following IT checklist.

The outgoing owner may forget to leave you with all the essential IT information and you may find it near impossible to retrieve it once they have left.  Make sure you are IT ready and double check the following.

2. Ask for the full contact details of the existing web hosting company.
You or your web designer will need full access to the existing website and you must ensure you have full login details to the web space that your hotel’s domain is pointing to.

Ideally you should ask for the following:-

Hosting Companies Name, Address and Telephone Number.
The level of service(s) and the expiry date of any service(s).

3. Ensure that you have full access to the email(s) accounts the moment you collect the keys.
Above all make sure you have full control of all your new hotel, guest house or B&B email accounts as nearly alladministrative accounts for hosting, domain names and on line booking engines will only send any requested information requests to the registered email address on their accounts.

4. Get the contact details of the existing web designer – is he/ she still available to support the website?
In the event where you have been given incorrect login information then you need to have a direct contact of the existing website who can guide you. I have seen new accommodation owners on day one stuck with the wrong, and therefore useless, login details. Often outgoing hotel owners had little to do with the website and submit details which they believe correct.

5. Ensure you have a back up system for all important documents, files and emails.
Most people have inadequate back up of their critical information.

Prior to you taking over your new bed and breakfast, guest house or hotel you should download and become familiar with some of the free remote back up solutions. These allow you to back up key areas such as email or any important word processor or spreadsheet documents. Once you are settles you must buy a physical back up for all your data.

Two great free remote back solutions are

• idrive
  Get 2 GB of online backup space absolutely free. Store your photos, documents and other important data.
  mozy
• mozy
  Get 2 GB absolutely free!
  No setup fee, no monthly payments, no credit cards, no hassle

6. Ensure you have a good anti-virus and anti spyware protection in place on your PC or laptop,
Computers are hard enough to control when they are working fine never mind when you have a virus running amok. For minimal expense you can ensure your PC or laptop can run trouble free and have regular automated maintenance.

There are dozens of anti-virus and anti spyware products on the market and a good local IT specialist should advise you on the most appropriate software for you.

I use the following on my PC and laptop – (the following are the free editions )

• Advanced SystemCare™ Free v3
  Advanced SystemCare Free (formerly Advanced WindowsCare Personal) has a one-click approach to help protect, repair, clean, and optimize your PC. With over 35 MILLION downloads since 2006, this fantastic, award-winning free registry cleaner and system optimizer is a “must-have” tool to speed up your slow computer. 100% safe with no adware, spyware, or viruses; a PC maintenance program that’s incredibly easy to use.
• avast!
  avast! Home Edition – Free Antivirus represents the best FREE antivirus protection currently available on the market.

7. If the existing owner has wireless and is leaving the router then make sure you have the full access details.
Hopefully the password for the wireless access point and router login details is on the underneath of the router. Again ask for all user name and passwords relating to a broadband router (if left by outgoing owner)

8. Ensure you have full login access to any third party on line booking system.
If the accommodation benefits from on line booking then make sure you have full access to the booking system and are familiar with its administration.

9. Ensure you have all login details for any agency websites such as laterooms.com.
Often accommodation owners administer agencies such as laterooms separately of your on line booking system and again you will need full access and understanding of how these systems work.

10. Are there any other IT related services or marketing fees that the existing owner subscribes to?
You may getting up to 25% of all bookings from one accommodation directory so make sure there are no outstanding fees or on going disputes with them.Alternatively you may receive a bill a few months in asking for IT support services that you were unaware of so it best to ask for information on all subscribed or contracted IT services. This is true of all aspects of the accommodation.

The phenomenal growth of social networking sites, travel review sites and blogs has enabled anyone anywhere to have an opinion – good or bad – about your accommodation.  It would be practically impossible to keep tabs on the majority of these opinions, reviews and tweets but thankfully there are three essential and free services to ensure that you know whenever and wherever your accommodation or indeed your area is mentioned.

1. Trip Advisor – get notified of guest reviews

This really is critical as the majority of people looking for bed and breakfasts, guest houses and hotels are influenced by reviews.

Reviews can also let you know what is important to your guests so you need to respond as soon as possible.

Trip Advisor – get notified of guest reviews – What to do

• Go to tripadvisor.co.uk and search for your property using the search box at the top of the page.
• Select your property from the Location Results by clicking on the name.
• Scroll to the bottom of the page and look for the “Do you own [Your Property Name] section.
• Then follow the owner’s page link.

2. Google Alerts
Google alerts is a great free service that once set up will send you an email everytime your accommodation or area is spotted by Google’s search engine.

Since setting Google Alerts up myself I have found out about local events that I had no idea of and even discovered pictures of my guest house on a personal blog of a guest cycling from John O’Groats to Land’s End.

Google Alerts – What to do

• Go to Google Alerts and sign up for a google account.
• follow the simple set up .  A google alert then takes about 30 seconds.

3. RSS feed for twitter search
It may only allow 140 characters per tweet but the number of tweets and retweets spinning around the planet is mind blowing and the best way to keep tabe on these is by using a RSS reader. I personally use Omea Reader which is free.

Twitter search unlike Google or Facebook allows real time searches.

RSS feed for twitter search – What to do

• Go to http://www.jetbrains.com/omea/reader/ and download Omea reader.
• Go to http://search.twitter.com/ type in [your accommodation's name and area]
• Click the feed tab in Omea Reader (1)  then click the subscribe (2)
• Each time you check Omea click update all – which can be found to the right pf the subscribe button(2)

and the feed should be there ready to set up.

There you go three simple and quick ways to make sure you know when and where someone is talking about your accommodation.

I just cannot recommend these guides enough.

• easy to read
• easy to digest
• full of valuable market research results
• ways to improve your occupancy rate
• no marketing spiel – just solid free useful and practical advice.

Toursim Intelligence Scotland Website

Tarras Guest House, Lockerbie

Owner John Yarker contacted me shortly after I completed the Riverside Mill bed and breakfast near Lockerbie and I set about creating a new design that showcased this lovely Dumfries and Galloway Guest House.

The new site has been developed from scratch using Joomla! and is now on the front page of all the major search engines. I am planning to get Tarras and Riverside near to the top of Google for all the most popular searches during Autum 2009.

iPerceptions recently published Hospitality Index report shows that over 40% of customers failed to complete a booking on a hotel website because of booking or navigation problems.

Last week I had an opportunity to talk to Claude Guay, formerly an analyst with PhoCusWright but now the CEO of iPerceptions, an analytics company based out of New York.

iPerceptions recently published their Hospitality Index report around the same time that Forrester research came out with their report indicating the customer satisfaction in the Travel Industry has continued to decline.

From a technologists point of view, the thing I found most interesting about the report was the fact that over 40% of customers failed to complete a booking on a hotel website because of booking or navigation problems.

Price on the other hand only accounted for 13% of customers failing to complete a booking.  That seems to me to be a huge wake up call for on-line travel companies.

What is the cause of these problems?  Well, without analyzing the sites directly, it is hard to say, but I can make some general observations based on hotel sites I have reviewed (both large and small).

1. Many reservation systems focus on the process rather than the customer need.

Claude and I seemed to agree on the idea that because hotel reservation and property management systems have been around for a long time and, to some degree, the technology is strongly ingrained in some organizations, that the front-end booking interfaces are much more in line with traditional agent style booking experiences rather than a customer centric booking style.

This is reinforced by the results of the study which shows that the majority (over 45%) of the users who failed to complete the booking were first time visitors.

2. The booking process, on average, takes ten to twelve clicks.

It is proven that the more steps a customer must go through to complete the booking, the greater the likelihood that they will abandon the transaction.  Does the customer really know the difference between your standard room and your deluxe room? Do they really want to see all that unformated text that gets spit out by the GDS? (You know the one, it’s all in upper case letters and reads like a brochure).

Focus on simplification, reducing choices for the customer rather than increasing them, and shorten the track from choice to purchase.

3. Assume the customer has never booked a hotel in their life and build the experience for them.

The iPerceptions report clearly showed that the more experienced a customer was, the less likely they were to abandon their transaction.  Simply put, once a customer has learned your booking process they will probably book again.  But can a hotel really afford to have over 40% of their potential customers NOT book just because they couldn’t figure out how to book a room from you.  Think about it, they just want to do business with you, make it easy for them to do so.

There are a lot of hotel booking engine technology providers and, for the most part, they all seem to have the same basic booking interface.  If the iPerceptions report is correct, what it should be telling these developers is that they need to re-think what they are doing and focus on conversion and experience.

The benefit of working in an emerging space like tours and activities, is that we don’t have the same technological baggage to deal with.  In part, that’s why we we have been able to be more innovative in designing the booking process for Rezgo.

One very valuable lesson I have learned is that you have to think outside your comfort zone if you ever expect to be truly creative.

Stephen A. Joyce has been working as a travel & tourism technology consultant since 1995. In 2005 Stephen and his company, Sentias Software Corp., began development on Rezgo.com, a next generation Web 2.0 tour and activity booking engine for SME travel suppliers and tour operators. In June of 2007, Rezgo.com was officially released and now boasts a user base of 650+ companies. www.tourismtechnology.rezgo.com

Claim your hotel (or business) -

Start off by claiming or listing your hotel in Google Maps, this step is crucial for optimizing your local search visibility.

In my experience, even 15 minutes making sure all the details & keywords are correct pays dividends for months after.

Use the map on your website
Many hotels are using Google Maps on their directions or ‘find us’ page. It provides an extra layer of functionality to a traditional map image: allowing your visitors to see satellite and street view, as well as custom directions from anywhere they are.

Google provides a little widget that makes this process super-simple.

First, you just search for your location – and click the Link link. (See image one at the end of the article)

Following the customize embedded map link will lead to a page where you can edit the view, and obtain the website code. (See image two at the end of the article)

Make a custom map
A logical step in concierge marketing, a custom map can show guests the special attractions in your area. Here’s a good example that Xotels created for the Puerto Antilla Grand Hotel in Spain – it shows golf courses in the region.

You may want to take this a step further and add rich media to the map.

A 3rd-party tool such as Trippermap allows you to add your own photos to a custom map – which could work well for custom city tours. (See image three at the end of the article)

Advertise on Google Maps
If you’re advertising in Google AdWords, your text ads will have the opportunity to display to people searching the maps.(See image four at the end of the article)

For additional coverage, some businesses are painting logos on their roofs – like this Target store in Chicago:

Chris has a (spoof) tutorial on how to optimize your roof ads for Google Maps.

www.naturalsearchblog.com/archives/2006/04/13/optimize-your-roof-ads-for-google-maps

Original article: www.hotelmarketingstrategies.com/putting-google-maps-to-work-for-your-hotel

About the author
This blog is written by Josiah Mackenzie, who enjoys exploring the relationship between emerging technology and the hospitality industry.

www.hotelmarketingstrategies.com

Dumfries Villa Bed and Breakfast, Dumfries

The original website was under performing and didn’t have too many pictures
for potential guests to get a feel of this lovely Victorian Villa.

Set in the centre of Dumfries town centre in South West Scotland this bed
and breakfast in Dumfries certainly ticked all the boxes that guests required  and
the accommodation deserved to be found easier by potential guests.

The website now can be found on the front page of Google for all the main
search terms and is climbing up the rankings nicely.

Riverside Mill Bed and Breakfast near Lockerbie, Dumfries and Galloway.

What makes this bed and breakfast really special is the abundance of local wildlife including Red Squirrels, Otters, Swans and Kingfishers that can often be enjoyed from within the grounds. (4.5 acres).

Simple promotional website for Riverside Mill Bed and Breakfast.

Simple promotional video for Riverside Mill Bed and Breakfast.

also available on youtube

I was really pleased to be asked to develop and market their bed and breakfast new website and the work has paid off. Riverside Mill is now receiving regular bookings and really positive comments for their website.

The design introduced our wildlife watch that allows all guests to register any wildlife they spot during their stay. Owners Heather and Martin will be adding to it too.

Contact me if you would like to discuss how I can help you beat the competition.

• Contact other bed & breakfast owners in your area to ask how long it took them to open their business from the time they first started planning. Ask some of the basics: When do they take vacations? What are the most active tourist seasons for your area? Do they run all the operations or do they hire help to clean and cook? What do they do if they have guests and have an emergency?

•  Take a class. At business schools and community colleges there are often community education classes offered. Check your local school listing for business classes being offered to the community. You could also ask your local Chamber of Commerce or other business affiliations to see if they are offering workshops in your area

• Find out if the B&B owners in your area have any kind of cooperative agreement between then. Many do. If so, meet with them to ask about their successes and things they’d do differently to help you decide what to include in your business plan

• Do it yourself. Business plans are a difficult and cumbersome task, but necessary for business loans and successful first years. The key to doing it yourself is to understand the intricacies of your business which also allows you to give a better presentation increasing your chances for a loan.

• Consider a business plan writer or specialist. These are people and companies that are skilled in writing business plans and often have many years of experience and success. You can check their references before purchasing to make sure. One such company is the Plan Magic Corporation where you purchase an easy-to-use template for only less than $150.

• Invest in a business plan software program. They are readily available at office supply stores and other business resource places. Palo Alto Software company makes Business Plan Pro, a great business plan software with templates for every kind of business and they also have marketing plan software for taking that next step in your bed and breakfast development.

• Take a class. At business schools and community colleges there are often community education classes offered. Check your local school listing for business classes being offered to the community. You could also ask your local Chamber of Commerce or other business affiliations to see if they are offering workshops in your area.

eHow