Whilst the Bed and Breakfast establishment still holds an almost mystical hold on people's imagination of what a comfy, personal stay should be like - complete with old world charm and measured, friendly hospitality - your customers still expect their reservations to be handled professionally and quickly, with no room for error allowed. So how do you make sure your system is up to scratch?
Bed and Breakfast Inns fill a unique market niche and fulfil a role of supply that is unique in the industry. They often have superb service,
great facilities, but a low volume of customers due to their size. They may be sold out each and every weekend due to word of mouth marketing, but still only have twenty guests in house in total.
The economic climate for a bed and breakfast remains solid for many reasons: people still need to travel for business or pleasure and are willing to pay more for quality service, food and amenities than they'd get in a cheap motel or hotel room yet want to avoid the overpriced boutique and chain based hotels. The valuable, peaceful time they receive in exchange for their money also plays a large role in choosing the bed and breakfast.
But arguably, those same customers expect a large scale operation on a small scale budget. They want the proverbial mint on the pillow and curiously expect it even more from the smaller, more personable establishments.
Bed and Breakfast owners love the attraction of their own establishment and do everything they can to make that experience better. They take a great deal of pride in supplying a top class service with a friendly, family atmosphere. It's almost as though you are inviting your guests into your own home for a relaxing stay with old friends. But your guests certainly won't want just a friends level of service when they arrive, they want and expect to receive a totally professional level of care and service which is why even small B&B establishments should invest in a solid B&B Reservation Software solution.
Now let's be honest, there’s always a quaintness in a B&B using an old style ledger book to mark the arrivals and departures. It’s a time wrought experience that many establishments have used for decades and is something that guests sub-consciously expect to see. Don't worry, reservation software does not intrude on this tradition, it merely makes the behind the scenes activities much more streamlined and efficient.
Let's take a hypothetical scenario that's all to familiar to many! Consider the guests who arrive after driving seven hours to reach their destination. It’s possible they are a middle age couple who have decided to retrace their honeymoon jaunt of twenty-five years ago. They’re in the middle of a state they do not know and would simply love to go to their room.
But the B&B receptionist cannot find their reservation.
After much searching and confusion (and a little too much unprofessional service in front of the customer) they find it a page over, written in a week later, a Saturday in May, whilst we are still in April. The couple begs for a room, but they've all been filled due to a reunion in the nearby park. It’s a disaster both for the couple and the B&B that prides itself on quality service.
While the story of the couple is fictional, this type of mishap does still occur all too often in smaller establishments. I'm sure you may be saying that it wouldn’t happen in yours, but with every procedural check and double check human error can and does occur. If the B&B had reservation software in place, the software would have emailed the couple well before their departure to tell them of their scheduled date, they would have seen the error, and then called to make other arrangements.
The disaster would have been averted.
All would walk away happy.
B&B reservation software comes in many flavors and being a smaller market in a large industry, there are hundreds of solutions available as you'd expect.
But be careful, not all of them are geared to the finances of a B&B, ranging from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand. Add to this the yearly maintenance fees they all seem to want to charge you added to the cost of adapting their package to suit your specific needs and you are looking at a huge bill that simply doesn't need or warrant being so large!
In order to get the most out of reservation software, a B&B needs to make sure they buy something that does not cost the earth, is simple to install and use (saving on set up and customization fees) and is easy to use yet offers them all the features of a package costing a few thousand dollars!
By all means, keep the ledger on the front counter for that time honored traditional look, there's nothing wrong with that at all - just please make sure you enter the information into the booking software after the guests have skipped up to their rooms.
