Word of mouth

All the money in the world will not help you if you turn unhappy customers who will than tell others about you. So, in other words your best advertisement is your gusts. What it means is that when you invest in your guests you are investing in this kind of advertisement - word to mouth.

It is hard to measure how much business this gets your way but here are some examples. Return customers speak volumes of how well you did. They are the backbone of a small motel especially when times are bad. Your return customers and other content guests send other guests your way. The best story that I can recall are two people who stopped by one afternoon to book a room. They told us that they spoke with some people that they never met before in a rest stop, on the side of the road and when they told them where they are heading these people recommended us.

Guests who come for one night and stay for two or three are our favorites. They step out of the road just because and the next morning they will come and express how satisfied they are and ask to extend their stay. Next year some of them will call ahead and book...you got yourself another returning customer.

With the Internet evaluating and reviewing hospitality facilities by their customers became more and more prevalent. The biggest and most trusted is Trip advisor. Very few people now days will pick a place to sleep, or dine, without looking at the reviews. Make sure that your customers write about their stay. I can't even count the people who booked a room after telling us that they read about us in Trip advisor and liking what they read.