What Is The REAL Purpose Of The Bed and Breakfast Guestbook
In Affiliate Marketing | 8 comments | permalink
Welcome to another addition of ‘Seeing The World Through a Marketer’s Eyes’.
Today I am going to be talking about the guestbook that is found in bed and breakfast and some smaller hotels.
I am currently staying in a b&b, and each morning I see guests being asked to sign the guestbook. It was only this morning that I started to wonder…
What is the point of the guestbook?
Don’t get me wrong, I know what it does, I have been brought up seeing them, but what are the tangible benefits for the owner?
Useful Feedback?
I could understand it if was designed to improve weak areas… but I looked through the book this morning, and couldn’t find even a vaguely negative comment. So clearly, people are either lying, or those who had a negative experience don’t bother signing the book.
As a marketer, I would split it into two sections, and ask for the positives and areas that could be improved for their next stay.
This would encourage honesty, it would provide valuable feedback, and it would subconsciously imply they they are staying again.
Data Capture?
It occured to me that data capture could be a good use… but whilst you are asked to leave your address, I didn’t see any phone or email section… and let’s be honest, they are not going to send each previous guest a letter, it would seem too spammy by the general public.
If you are clever, there are ways of getting the data and making use of it… but frankly, it would be a lot of work for a low reward, so my guess is that it is not used for this purpose.
Social Proofing?
Social proofing is a hugely powerful marketing technique, and it works almost every time.
In a nutshell, it is the art of making people more comfortable, due to the fact that other people are doing the same thing.
For example, have you ever been to a market and found yourself drawn to the stall with the big crowd around it? That is social proofing.
When I went to restaurants with Elena, she always got uncomfortable if the restaurant was empty. To which I sarcastically replied “Why, which strangers were you planning on talking to?”.
This was social proofing.
So perhaps, by seeing all those positive comments in the guestbook, people will be more likely to stay at the b&b?
Wrong!
You see, they only see the guestbook on the day they are leaving, so the buying decision will have been made days earlier. Thus rendering it pointless during the sales process.
My Theory
My guess is that it serves no other purpose than a spirit lifting, nostalgic boost to bed and breakfast owners who work long hours. A positive comment will provide a little pick-me-up and will make the job seem more rewarding.
It is ego stroking for the b&b world.
And this is where marketers come unstuck… we are so focused on profits, sales, and branding, that we often forget that behind every business is a real person with real feelings, and sometimes, just sometimes things are done during work hours that provide nothing more than a simple smile, or a warm glow inside.
The moral of this tale?
Whilst seeing the world as a marketer is great, it can sometimes leave you out of touch with the simpler and more genuine aspects of business.
Business can be a cold, hard world… but the very best businesses are run by people who see more than just stats and numbers, they are run by passionate people who live and breathe that business.
So let’s all remember to take off our marketing-tinted specs from time to time.
Right, back to business. 
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8 COMMENTS
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As always dearest deano, a very well writtne article.
Your absolutely right that as much as people constantly focus on profits, margins, CTR’s and all manor of other acronym’s the people running those business’s sometimes need a little bit more than just the money made from it, to feel good about what they are doing; and I know, because I’m one of them.
My understanding of guestbook is mainly for interaction between the blogger and guests, and eventually make the blog sticky.
I was refferring to an actual, physical guestbook.
Short story to tell here, my parents own a campground, I also homeschooled one of my kids because of a bad 2nd grade teacher, well that is another story. My mother who lived in the back of the campground helped homeschool my son, and to get away from the distractions in the main part of the house/campground, they would go to the campground laundry room to study. This is where the campers can come in and do their laundry, well she put up a small chalk board in laundry to aid in teaching. One day when my Mom went into the laundry room, to her surprise a camper had done a little artwork, and signed the chalk board. It said “You Grace This Place”, and was signed “The Somebodies, from Somewhere”, (I really don’t know the name or where they were from), My Mom took a picture of what was written, and put up on the wall next to the chalk board, since then the wall has become covered, with Graffitti, well wished, compliments, artwork, and even some messages from some young skateboard loving teenagers, that said “We would love to sk8 in your pool”, and they drew a picture of a skate boarding kid skateboarding in the bottom of the round bottom of the pool. My Mom had to have me explain what “SK8″ meant. I guess the point I am getting at is people want to have their fame, put their name in places like bathroom walls, boxcars of trains, and sides of buildings, Even on chalk boards in campgrounds in the middle of nowhere, much like the small bed and breakfast, guestbook. If you put your name in stone, chalk, or ink, you hope someone may read what you have to say, or recognize your name. My Mom call’s her laundry room graffiti her “Wall of Fame”.
The guest book has often been a conversation starter with new guests reading through what past guests have written. It is a wonderful way for new guests to get into the spirit of a past guests stay.
Joe
http://www.queensresidence.com
Dean,
Fantastic post as ever. I stayed in a B&B the other day and suggested something to the owners along the lines of data capture that got them very excited.
My suggestion was that yes they capture their mailing address, email and phone numbers to give them a greeting at special times of the year, like before peak season for that area and Christmas cards. However what about also capturing their birthday?
Just before their birthday (perhaps a month) send them an invite to spend the weekend with you at your guesthouse and say that they can stay for a night totally free!
As ever, they won’t travel alone so that other person will pay and secondly rarely do people stay for just the one night and thus you have stimulated business that otherwise wouldn’t have been there.
Happy days!
Kennedy
…want to get inside the mind of mind reader? Check out my daily blog http://mindofkennedy.blogspot.com
At the B&Bs I’ve stayed at they encouraged me to sign the guestbook first thing and include where I was from and reason for my visit. From a consumer point of view it kinda connected me with all the others who had stayed there before. “Wow, Frank Oz slept here. Cool.”
Data capture? Not likely since they already had my address and phone number from when I registered. And since it was our anniversary, the next year we received a little postcard from them encouraging a return visit. I didn’t take it as ’spam’, rather a nice reminder of fun times and the nice folks we met in the Smoky Mountains.
That’s funny about Elena wanting to leave an empty restaurant. My wife and I have been the first to go into several only to have a rush of people follow shortly afterward. So much so it caught our attention.
Hello! simply super resource