If you build it, they will come...but only if you make it easy to book your rooms.
How people make their reservations has changed drastically over the past years. Prior to the internet, people would reference Bed & Breakfast guide books that described the B&B and gave them a phone number to call for additional information and to (hopefully) make their reservation. Potential guests would speak directly with the B&B Owner/Manager who would open up their desk top calendar and literally pencil in the reservation information. It was a personal experience that allowed people to get to know each other and let them decide if your B&B was a good fit or not. Thanks to the internet, reserving a B&B stay is a totally different experience today. Many people search on their phones, iPads or laptops for places by location, ratings, pricing, offerings, whatever. When they spot something of interest, they click on the website and, according to Contentsquare's 2020 Digital Experience Benchmark report, spend an average of 62 seconds on a website page before deciding to look further or move on to the next site of interest.
In our personal experience, 50% of our reservations are made with a phone call and 50% are made on-line. We need to be available to answer the phone 24/7 and we need to have a reservation system that allows people to book easily then and there. We cannot afford to lose half of our business because we are not able to answer the phone or because our reservation system is not intuitive or user friendly.
As a B&B Owner, you have several options regarding Reservation Systems. Some B&B Owners have reservation software linked to their website, others allow guests to reserve only through booking companies such as booking.com and airbnb.com and others still take reservations with a phone call, pencil and paper.
When we were setting up our website, I went with the reservation software provider that our website developer suggested. I will admit I was feeling a bit overwhelmed during start-up so I took the path of least resistance. When deciding about your reservation software you can do internet searches, reach out to other B&B owners to see what system they are using or trust your website developer. Searching for alternatives on the internet, I am seeing that there are no less than 80 reservation software providers! That's a lot of choices requiring a great deal of research. When looking at my current software provider, I see that they are categorized as mid-priced with a customer rating of 4.76 out of 5 stars. I have no complaints with them, they are very responsive when I need help and I am now past the learning curve. Sometimes I think "If it aint broke, don't fix it" and other times I think "Change can do me good" especially if it saves me money and/or time.
We need to ask ourselves, what do we really need in a reservation system? Reservation software providers can offer website development, marketing emails, promotional sidebars and room pictures on your calendar, travel agency integration, user friendly calendars, credit card processing, reports that include occupancy summaries, guest information and more. The sky is the limit! But remember, you get what you pay for and you pay for what you get. When considering the cost, ask yourself how many room nights will it take to pay for this service, what do I absolutely need and what can I do without.
This is something that should probably be re-evaluated annually. It never hurts to shop around. If you are looking, I have found a very helpful website for myself: https://www.softwareadvice.com. This site allows you to compare different reservation software suppliers and can help you identify the right software for your business. If requested, one of their adviser's will work with you to compile a short list of systems that meet your needs and budget -- all in about five minutes. (Please note that I am sure there are other software advisors that will help you and I am not recommending this company only, it just happens to be one I connected with).
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