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INNstuff Hospitality Newsletters

Today's Topics
Do You Have A Real Web Site?
Market Corporate Anniversaries
I'm New, Please Be Nice To Me
Phone Manners and Customer Service

Do you have a real web site?
In 2007, every hotelier needs to have a competitive web site that includes accommodations, services, amenities, meeting plans, menus and packages. There should also be pictures. Lots and lots of pictures. We are a visual society and how your hotel is visually presented to the public is directly related to the number of reservations you will receive.

The Internet is, first and foremost, an information gathering place. Think about how you use the Internet. Like most of us, you are looking for information that will help prepare you to make a decision. In the case of a hotel, potential guests want to look at pictures of the hotel. If they like what they see, they'll read about the amenities. If they don't, they're gone. Meeting planners want more details. They want to see the conference rooms, but also check out the room specifications, meeting packages and menus. Brides searching for a place for the reception are interested in the wedding packages and, of course, the menus. The information they see at your site will help them narrow down their choices. When they come to the hotel, they are solid prospects, not tire kickers.

A hotel's web site should be interactive. Can you make reservations at the local web site or link to your brand reservation web site? Is there a place to offer special packages that may not be part of your normal reservation package. Do you have the flexibility to make changes quickly to reflect a fluctuating market?

Finally, can anybody find you on-line? Today a successful web site needs to have more than just great content. Robust key words, good page titles, reciprocal linking and good content that includes your key words are all part of a successful optimization strategy. Read more about this important subject in our INNstuff Information Center.

Brief Blurbs
Market Corporate Anniversaries
Here's an idea. Identify your corporate clients and then keep track of their company anniversaries. A month or so before the event, suggest an anniversary celebration to your corporate contact. You will expose more people to your hotel and maybe even other decision makers who are not familiar with your property. You could also give out certificates for a discounted or value added weekend away package to every attendee.

I'm New, Please Be Nice To Me
My friend Max Hitchens, the Hotel Doctor, tells the story about a new employee working in a hotel restaurant. Her name tag said trainee. Max's companion called her over and suggested she change her name tag. He even wrote the new tag for her in magic marker. It said "I'm new, please be nice to me." Within minutes the restaurant was filled with friendly laughter with everyone was calling her over to read her "new" badge and tell her what a great job she was doing. What an enjoyable experience for both the customers and new person.
To learn more about The Hospitality Doctor, visit his web site at www.hospitalitydoctor.com

Phone Manners and Customer Service
Has this ever happened to you? You are at the reception desk of a hotel, or any sales counter for that matter. You are checking in, checking out or buying something.
After waiting (and waiting) it is finally your turn to be served. Just as you begin to speak the telephone rings. The receptionist or sales person immediately answers the telephone and proceeds to take an interminable amount of time looking after the needs of the caller who, you feel, has just jumped ahead of you! Turn the tables and watch your customers smile. When you're with a guest and the telephone rings, tell the caller a guest just walked in and you get to them as soon as possible. Tell the in person guest that you are just wrapping up the call. It's all the little thing that make great guest service.

If you enjoyed this newsletter, please recommend it to your friends. Also if you have any tips of your own, questions or comments, please let me know by going to our Comments page.

Any tips or questions & answers I print in this newsletter will also be put up on the web version of the newsletter with a link to your site if you want it. That's extra free traffic for your site as well as an incoming link to your site.