The Best Ways to Enhance Guest Service With Technology

Travelers who choose to book with your bed and breakfast do so because they want that perfect blend of a local, authentic experience without compromising professionalism.

Here’s how you can enhance guest service at your bed and breakfast by blending the personal touch with today’s modern technology:

Implement an online booking engine

Today’s travelers want to connect with their accommodation providers in a way that is convenient for them.

Travelers – and especially the millennial ones – hate playing phone and email tag.

Expedia’s report on the Future of Travel advises that millennials want to “cut through the clutter, preffering brands and services which save them time, and ones that make life and ‘life on the road’ easier and more enjoyable”.

Expedia also anticipates that tomorrow’s traveler will not only want but expect to move seamlessly from one device to another.

Enhance it with technology

An online booking engine allows your guest to book the rooms that they want directly on your website – without any intervention from you.

So in choosing a booking system for your B&B, make sure it’s “in the cloud” and has mobile booking capabilities, as more travelers are booking on smart phone and tablet devices.

Get more positive online reviews

Travelers want to feel like they’re in good hands, and that they’re staying somewhere many others have enjoying staying before.

Without any online reviews, travelers will be suspicious of your small accommodation business.

Developing a listing on popular review sites and earning positive reviews allows your past, present and future guests to trust in the service that you provide. Often, it’s the only thing separating you from your competition.

Not only do millennials use these review sites to compare your bed and breakfast against others, but they actively generate reviews to help other travelers do the same.

Enhance it with technology

Use automated emails to ask each guest about their experience after their stay. If it’s positive, encourage them to leave a review.

If it’s negative, giving them that opportunity to vent privately will spare you a public negative review. Your booking engine should support this functionality.

Establish a presence on social media

Guests want to be able to ask quick questions and find out more information through your social media pages.

When you don’t have a social media presence, it sends the message that as a business, you aren’t getting with the times.

Be available on social media, and regularly update it with useful information about your location.

Photographs, videos and reviews are all components that should be included on your social networking sites. (Click here for examples of B&Bs who are doing it right.)

Enhance it with technology

You should allow guests to book in their stay with you directly from your Facebook page. Make it convenient for potential guests who are browsing your Facebook page to book directly with you.

Your online reservation system should already have this capability built into it.

With Little Hotelier’s booking engine, you can allow them to book without ever leaving the Facebook site.