An advertisement is always something more than just a collection of information. Its effect on customers is partly based on the professionalism of presentation. A guesthouse homepage with the right amount of information, appealing and informative illustration and a smooth operation wins customers. In order to create something like this, a common person needs expert help. This may cost a little but the investment should come back with interest as soon as the worldwide marketing begins to take effect.

Today, there are plenty of young computer experts who have the knowledge and willingness to try their skills on a project such as this. If there is no family member or relative who can do the job, the closest Internet service provider can usually point out a person who can create the homepage. The safest bet is to let the professionals to do the work. This kind of service may be included in a package deal for homepage and e-mail service for the guesthouse owner. The entrepreneur himself provides the information, and maybe some photographs and maps for scanning. Quality illustrations for the homepage can also be created by renting a digital camera.

A prospective Internet customer wants to see all necessary information on the accommodation. Simply a picture of the guesthouse, its address and a few advertising phrases are not enough. The customer has to know exactly what he is buying and how much it costs. Leaving out, for example, the current room rate only irritates people and makes them look for other options. False promises have an even more destructive effect and may easily counter-balance the desired effect of Internet marketing. The information should, therefore, always be accurate. Consequently, the Internet homepage has to be promptly updated as soon as any significant change occurs. The service provider can do the job if the entrepreneur delivers the information.

Many small guesthouses suffer because of their obscure location. With a map on the site, more tourists will find their way to these places. In case there is something interesting nearby (and there always is), a good idea is to provide as much information on these attractions as possible. At least a map of the region with the location of the accommodation and the attractions should be provided. A sure way to get a positive response from prospective customers is to include guidelines for reaching these destinations, such as information on useful bus or train routes or on taxi services and car rental. Transportation entrepreneurs may be willing to pay their share of the cost in the hope of new customers. The idea is to create a mutually beneficial local network of services between the independent entrepreneurs.

You need to be able to receive e-mail from your prospective clients. Any Internet service provider can establish an e-mail service. This is often done for a nominal fee. Try to get an agreement where the billing is based on the number of e-mail contacts rather than a monthly rate. You also have free options from Web mail providers. The e-mail service does not have to be located close to the guesthouse. If there is a phone connection, the following arrangement can be made — as soon as a new message comes on your e-mail address, the clerk in charge phones you and reads the message. The answer can be given at once and e-mailed back to the prospective customer by the clerk. Alternatively, if the Internet shop is located close to the guesthouse, e-mail messages can be checked and replied to by the entrepreneur himself on shopping trips to the town centre, for example. Find out which arrangement is most convenient for you.

Whenever the Internet users go through different homepages selling accommodation in a particular region, they tend to skip the pages that do not open fast enough or open slower than others. The same applies to pages with pop-ups or other features that make the function slow and unreliable. It is, therefore, important to make sure that the Internet service provider is uses a server that is fast and reliable even if it may cost a little more than the cheapest and slowest option. The difference will be soon balanced by a large number of contacts and customer satisfaction. The service provider usually has the best knowledge of the current situation in the server market. Find a provider who can be trusted. You should also periodically check the working of the homepage. Server crashes are rare but they do occur. Ask your customers if the functions on the site have been satisfactory.

An isolated homepage by itself is not necessarily an effective enough way to spread the word about your services. Many potential customers look first at the information on their special interests, such a hobbies and places of special interest. Therefore, one should always have links to one’s own site from other popular homepages of various special-interest organisations. First, one has to establish contact with them and prove to those in charge that the service marketed is beneficial for people who contact their homepage. For example, various bird-watching clubs do recommend well-located and good quality travel services and often have a list of direct links to these services on their homepages. In the case of small guesthouses, this is normally done without charge.

Another good option is to exchange links with fellow entrepreneurs in other cities or towns. This is one way to create an accommodation network where each member recommends the other on his or her own homepage. Another way to increase traffic on your page is to include a comprehensive list of search keywords on your page: words such as the name of the location, the names of nearby tourist attractions, accommodation, guesthouse, budget, etc.

Forget pre-paid reservations

Many tourism operators in Asia or Africa may be surprised to find out the banking costs of overseas transactions in the European Union. Overseas transaction is not a good business for European banks and they have, therefore, inflated their charges to a level which forces people to use credit cards or send cash by mail. A single transaction routinely costs more than a night in a guesthouse would cost. This is not make economic sense for a tourist. Credit card services, on the other hand, are usually too expensive and complicated for small-scale entrepreneurs. At the end of the day, it is easy to see that there is not a viable way to pay for the reservation beforehand. We have to trust that the customer brings cash with her when she arrives in our guesthouse.

What if the customer never arrives? In one private guesthouse where I recently stayed, the proprietor exclaimed that since the establishment of e-mail reservation service two months ago, there had been several confirmed reservations but I was the first customer who actually had arrived on time. Meanwhile, the guesthouse had suffered financial loss because the reserved rooms could not be rented to passing tourists in the fear that the original customers would arrive later.

There is a need for a clear policy for e-mail bookings in the guesthouse sector. First of all, we need a time limit statement on the Internet homepage. If the customer does not arrive before 2 pm or fails to e-mail or phone and inform that he would arrive later, the reservation is cancelled and the room can be given to another customer. It is important to give the tourists a chance to arrive later. As anybody who has travelled knows there frequently are surprising circumstances that change the plans. If there is a delay in transportation, for example, it is not too much to ask the customer to inform about her late arrival. Today, phones are available practically everywhere. In case of flight delays, airlines will readily provide e-mail service for the customer stuck at an airport.

Internet booking is a rapidly growing trend in the tourism services sector. The full effect of Internet marketing does, however, not develop at once. It takes time to spread the word and establish a good reputation among Internet customers. What’s more, the new medium for marketing has not changed the bottom line of the tourism industry—customer satisfaction. The homepage and e-mail service themselves do not guarantee instant success. The information has to be on a par with the actual services. The customer has to get what he has paid for. There is a constant need of maintaining the standards. Unfulfilled expectations and complaints travel fast on the Internet and put unreliable services out of business. Reliable guesthouses do, however, survive and prosper—more than ever with the help of the Internet.