Years ago, when I worked for a large advertising agency in London as an Account Manager, I was told that my enthusiasm for what I was presenting to clients was so infectious, it was difficult to disagree with anything I said. I have never forgotten this…it’s as important now as it’s ever been, perhaps more so.

Enthusiasm is another advantage that the small independent luxury hotel can have over much larger, more corporate-minded, competitors. Enthusiasm should be evident when answering the telephone, when welcoming guests to your hotel, when serving guests in the bar or in the restaurant, and so on.

How often do hotel owners call their hotels to monitor the way receptionists answer the phone and respond to enquiries. I always cringe when I call an hotel to hear a voice that goes through a prescribed patter, “Good morning, XYZ hotel, Amy speaking. How may I help you?” delivered in a monotone of boredom and disinterest. Such a response is an indication that the receptionist answering the call is not capable of being natural and effervescent. How much more refreshing and positive is, “Hello, Good morning, XYZ hotel” delivered in a bubbly, enthusiastic tone. The caller is immediately in a positive frame of mind.

The hotel where the staff are always positive and eager to help leaves a lasting impression. Enthusiasm sells and should should be used to good effect by independent hotels.

Similarly, those looking for jobs as receptionists should recognise the infectious power of enthusiasm to improve their chances of success. Here’s a tip. At your interview, give an example, unprompted, of how you would answer the phone to a room enquiry with enthusiasm. I’ll give a couple of examples in another blog.

The heading of this item was a search phrase used to find the Alberghi Marketing website yesterday and I thought it worthy of comment. This is how you, as an independent hotel owner, can manage your own website to good effect, assuming, of course, that the website is fully content manageable.

In my opinion, there are two primary objectives when writing copy for your hotel website:
1. To persuade visitors to respond in some way before looking elsewhere
2. To help the website achieve a high ranking in Google
You could argue these two objectives should be the other way round, in that in order to get people to your website, they have to find it.

Firstly, it’s vitally important that you identify a key search phrase, and variations thereof, for every page. For instance, the ‘Rooms’ page might be ‘Hotel accommodation in Devon’ or ‘Luxury hotel accommodation in Devon’. You then need to ensure that the page search phrase is featured two or three times in the copy, especially the page headline, if possible. Of course, in order to optimise each page properly, the primary words that comprise the search phrase, i.e. ‘hotel’, ‘accommodation’ and ‘Devon’ should feature in the page URL and the phrase should feature in the page meta tags.

Once you have optimised each page, you need to monitor the performance of the page in Google by typing in the search phrase and if it’s not on page 1 after a few months, try redrafting the page and adjusting the tags.

Remember that the search engines love links, especially links from the Home page. So when drafting the copy for the Home page, try to insert links to as many of the most important pages as possible, using the search phrases you have identified for each of the site’s pages. Don’t worry if you think the Home page, in your opinion, looks a bit messy with all those links. It won’t bother visitors who will actually appreciate you making it easier for them to find what they’re looking for.

Secondly, you should know which are the most popular pages on your website. After the Home page, it’s more than likely to be, not necessarily in this order, the Accommodation page, the Dining page, the Breaks page and, if you have one (you should), the Late Availability page. These are therefore the pages you need to focus on in order to tempt visitors to respond before moving on. Bear in mind, people looking for an hotel will check out perhaps five hotel websites, so why should they stick with you?

Finally, before writing the copy, try to identify the reasons why your hotel is better than the others in your area; what makes it uniquely preferable. Also remember that you’re writing the copy for visitors to read and not for you to read. Most importantly, don’t leave the copy to stew for years; you should change it regularly. Search engines don’t like ‘dead’ websites.

Back in Venice when the itinerant population is at its most agreeable minimum. Although cold, overcast and misty with occasional showers, it’s no less magical and, as ever, an inordinate pleasure to be here. We unpacked as soon as we arrived, eager to see whether or not the large plastic chandelier bought for the pantomime (January) had survived in one piece. Thankfully, all was well as the huge suitcase was packed with rolls of bubble-wrap and newspaper, as well as all the other items needed for the performances.

Having unpacked and made some tea, it was onto the computer for a few hours work. A new hotels website is being launched this weekend and I need to ensure that we are all agreed as to the meta content. I have always been concerned about Google’s algorithms changing and being wrong-footed, like so many others. Thankfully, this hasn’t happened yet but we still need to be vigilant whilst ensuring client hotel websites outperform those of their competitors.

A leisurely start to the following day, Saturday, and later across to Peggy Guggenheim, where we are members, for lunch. Our only English treat when in Venice is to buy Saturday’s FT from the kiosk at Zattere and there was one left when I arrived. Peggy’s is always a pleasure and today is no exception. An hour with a glass of wine and the FT…bliss. I was later joined by my wife and lunch was simple but delicious, for me a penne with tomato sauce and parmesan.

What better way to start a brief sojourn in La Serenissima.

Having stayed at the Hilton Watford a few times, when I was very impressed by the reception team, we recently stayed at the Hilton Maidenhead and were rewarded by a very enthusuastic girl on reception (it makes such a difference and I’ve now come to expect it), a quiet room and an enjoyable time, especially appreciated as we were attending a funeral nearby. Now we have just stayed at the Hilton Gatwick where we were given a room in the new block on a deal that included airport parking for nine days. I have to stay, I thought it excellent value and the room was most agreeable. The quietest hotel room possible, even though it overlooked a main road. This has to be the best way of flying from Gatwick if you have to drive.

The staff were all extremely helpful but my chicken caesar salad at the bar in the evening was a disaster! Thankfully, I was not charged.

Hilton have developed a very good formula and their staff training pays dividends. The only poor experience we’ve experienced was on one of the occasions we needed to stay at the Hilton Watford. They had a room-only wedding celebration (a first for me) which went on for most of the night. Guests were cooking food outside beneath the room windows. Bizarre. Then they all went to bed at about 4am with a great deal of uproarious corridor noise. However, they didn’t charge us when we complained.

I’m also impressed by their points system. I’m heading for a free stay!

Hotel owners can always respond to damaging reviews whether false or not. However, the seed of doubt has been planted and the owner would say that, wouldn’t he? I’m writing this note because the latest newsletter from The Good Hotel Guide addresses this issue head-on. “(TripAdvisor) is wide open to abuse because of its failure to screen out collusive and malicious reviews.” You can read the full item here: Too many fakes.