There's Business Out There

It seems there’s something interesting happening in the small inn and B&B world thanks to the economy. As money becomes tight, people start to reconsider how it gets spent. It seems many families still want to take vacations, but instead of the annual trips to Hawaii, Mexico, the Caribbean and other points exotic, they are staying more local. Some have dubbed this the “staycation” for lack of a better term. In fact, their vacations may not be all that local to their home, but they are certainly within driving distances.

The caveat to these staycations is, families are still looking for a high quality place to stay and a memorable experience to replace the exotic vacation. What does that mean for innkeepers?

It means you need to attract visitors to your inn by convincing them their stay will be memorable, special, hassle free, etc. Their impression of your inn is going to be based on what you present to them on your website. People read reviews of inns on sites like TripAdvisor, but a well designed website can be a much more powerful tool for converting site visitors into overnight guests.

These days, innkeepers need to get beyond the idea that having a website is good enough. Instead, consider a “total internet presence”. It begins with a high quality, modern website with professionally made photographs of your property. The next step is getting the site found. That means listing on potential directories, but it also means a good Search Engine Optimization campaign. Getting the website ranked well in organic search results helps solidify the legitimacy of the business. These two main tasks are not mutually exclusive. For example, you may have the most beautiful website of any inn in your area, but if no one sees it, it will not bring in guests. On the other hand, if you have an outdated site with poor photography and user experience, but ranks well in search engines, many of your site visitors may be tempted to hit the Back button and look at the next one in the list.

A well executed internet presence includes at the minimum, a really great website and a well executed SEO campaign to get the site seen. Many innkeepers who take the plunge to redesign their sites are reporting a significant increase in occupancy rates almost immediately. Food for thought.

Sacramento Photographer, William Foster