GUEST HOUSE INVESTMENTS
Providing the Perfect
Guest House Experience
BY JONATHAN S SMITH
Establishing and maintaining a truly appealing guest house requires offering your guests a combination of large and small benefits which work together to create an experience which visitors will want to repeat as often as possible and tell their friends and associates about.
The following ideas may be helpful in positioning your guest house amongst the most desirable venues:
• In profiling your guest as staying on business, ensure that your Wi-Fi is of an exceptional standard, that he or she is offered breakfast in his or her room and offered a wake-up call. Point out the news- and business- channels upon arrival but never show a corporate traveller how the honesty bar works or where the bathroom is
• In profiling your guest as a holiday-maker, provide a holiday hamper of sunscreen, a cap with your venue’ s logo thereon and an exemplary set of tourist information and guidelines. Remember that the best marketing which you can obtain is via word-of-mouth
• Telephone( but do not disturb them at their door) your guests fifteen minutes after their arrival to ask if there is any improvement that you can make to their room
• If some guests create a noise after, say, 10 pm, respond immediately by asking them to be as quiet as possible in consideration of your other guests: do this before your other guests complain as this show professional concern
• Never place carpet-mats in your bathroom as guests may suspect that you seldom change these mats and that they could transmit germs and disease: always provide clean floor towels every day
• Attempt, where possible, to provide a strong water-supply in your showers and install shower-heads which pulsate water to provide an in-shower massage
• Provide at least one free bottled-water each day so that your guests do not feel exploited: once housed in your bedroom, they might find it inconvenient to leave your hotel to source bottled-water and a small item such as one
bottled-water per day will make guests feel spoilt
• Never use extension leads to connect lamps and other electrical equipment: besides being against our law( in South Africa), this creates the opportunity for accidents and casualties
• Train your staff to respond to emergencies: these may include a fire or electrical fault as well as a guest suffering a medical condition such as an heart attack or stroke
ADMINISTRATION TIPS
• Draft a three-year budget for your venue and ensure that you monitor seasonal booking trends, income from extras( such as your honesty fridge and meals) and expenses accurately. This will help you to value your business
• Ensure that your venue is well-marketed locally and overseas through the use of electronic media, frequent write-ups in the press and word-ofmouth referrals. Develop a marketing-strategy that embraces the entire promotional mix spectrum in order to secure as much business as possible
• Always take a deposit or place a hold on your guest’ s credit card to the total value of his or her stay together with a budget for extras
• Monitor your guests’ return frequency and( with their permission) send them an occasional reminder of your services and special returnguest rates
• Invite your guests to use your venue for their special occasions at a reduced party-rate
RESOURCES
Courtwell Consulting
32 MAY 2016 SA Real Estate Investor www. reimag. co. za