What 21st Century features do you offer?

So you have a good website and booking system but how do you distinguish yourself from the competition.

You can always try price but ultimately that won't work as everyone can meet your price.

You have your rack of information brochures, great breakfast service, warm and comfortable beds but is that enough to get someone to book you place and also as importantly recommend your place.

So what you 21st century features do you have - some things you might want to consider are:

• Free wireless internet and/or a free computer so visitors can access there email accounts. If you are on ADSL a wireless network can be established very easily at little cost but your guests will love you for it. Having been charged $25 a night at some Australian hotels means you never ever use their service and also know next time not to book there as effectively you are paying another $25 a night.
  
• Provide a VOIP phone. Whether it be Skype, your local ISP or some other provider. This means you can charge a minimal amount for phone calls - and most systems allow you to track this in real time so you know what to charge guests.
• After hours phone answering service. At a minimal cost why not have your phone calls when your are not able to answer go to an answering service. Better still use a call centre service like Global Help linked in with Seekom and you can have all booking inquiries managed centrally saving you time and money. Simple requests of do you availability, I am lost how do I get to your place can be answered quickly and promptly allowing you to attend to guests. Any calls that need to can be transferred directly to you. In some cases the service may even be able to handle foreign languages.
  

These are just a few things that a good operator should consider. They are not expensive but make your business more professional.

Yes there is a cost to all these services but if you look at it from the number of extra bed nights booked you will see it won't take much to payback. Remember a guest who also gets a bit extra will recommend your place.