Most owners of small venues know that they pay for some kind of visibility: a listing on a platform, advertising on Facebook, a website, sometimes leaflets. They rarely know which of these brings them guests. You do not need software to change that. You need a notebook and a habit.
Example scenario
Imagine a guest house with eight rooms. The hostess, whom we will simply call the owner, receives enquiries by phone, through the website form, by e-mail and through Facebook messages. She answers all of them, but at the end of the season she cannot say which is the most useful. She decides to keep one page in a notebook next to the phone.
The three columns
The notebook has only three columns:
- When: the date on which the enquiry came.
- How the guest got in touch: phone, website form, e-mail, message, in person.
- How they found us: what the guest says themselves.
You can add a fourth, if you wish: what happened in the end. For example “booked”, “did not reply”, “chose something else”. Do not complicate it further. A notebook that is hard to keep is abandoned within a week.
One question that changes everything
The first and second columns fill themselves in. The third requires you to ask. The most natural way is at the end of the conversation: “By the way, how did you find us?” By message or e-mail the question sounds just as normal. Most guests answer gladly, because it is not personal and it is not a sale.
If the guest does not remember or says “on the internet”, ask one step further: “On a website, on a platform or on Facebook?” If that does not work either, write “does not know”. An honest “does not know” is more useful than a guessed source.
If you have an enquiry form on the website, you can ask the guest to mention in the message how they heard about you, and when you reply, ask them if they have not written it. That way the third column does not stay empty.
Also record enquiries that do not become reservations
It is easy to count only the reservations. But an enquiry that has not become a reservation carries information. If many people ask from a particular source and nobody books, the reason may be the price, the photos, the deadlines or the fact that you reply late. So record every enquiry, and in the fourth column note how it ended.
The monthly review
At the end of the month, set aside about fifteen minutes. You do the following:
- Count the enquiries by source.
- Separate how many of them became reservations.
- Look at which days and hours bring more enquiries.
- Write down one conclusion and one action for the next month.
An example review entry: “Most enquiries through the website form, few by phone. Facebook messages are a few, but almost without reservations. Action: reply to messages faster and check whether the price is clear.”
What you cannot read from this note
The notebook shows what guests say, not the whole truth. A guest may have seen a listing, then the website, and finally called. They will say only the last one. So do not make decisions on one month, and do not cut a cost because of a few enquiries. Look at two or three months at least and compare with the previous year, if you have records.
Where the website fits
The website is one of the sources you can track. If it has an enquiry form, it gives a clear and recorded source: you know exactly how many enquiries came from there. ISKA Website has an enquiry form. An enquiry is not a reservation and does not hold a room, so your team still confirms everything. If you want to see what a website for your venue would look like, you can request a quote.
Assumptions of the scenario
This scenario is an illustration, not a forecast: there are no numbers that promise a result. The only assumptions are eight rooms, four ways of getting in touch and a manually kept notebook.