Don't pay for a net that won't catch customers

If we believe what we read, we should all be on the Internet because 50 million people use it and they're all potential clients. What's more, we hear that, if the Internet continues to grow at this rate, almost every adult in the world will have Internet access sometime early in the next millennium.

You'll hear that, for just a few pounds a month, you can tap this market, that your property can be marketed alongside Tesco, M&S, Sony and the thousands of other major companies that are on the Internet, that you can compete equally with the major hotel groups such as Forte, Hilton International, Inter Continental Hotels & Resorts, etc.

Entangle

However, one aspect of the Internet is aptly named - the Web, a structure to entangle or ensnare.

The World Wide Web certainly offers hotels an exciting new marketing opportunity. For those aiming at a wider market, it will soon be a vital marketing tool. But right now, it's easy to be ensnared by the equivalent of the rogue hotel guide publishers.

Every week I come across new companies selling Web page advertising to hotels. Most have no experience or knowledge of marketing hotels, and can be merely a one-man band with a personal computer and the technical knowledge to create and publish Web pages.

But will these pages ever be seen? Realistically, only by chance, and by Web surfers with no wish to buy. So, it's very easy for a hotel to waste hard-earned income.

Of those 50 million current Internet users, only a proportion use their access for anything more than e-mail. Those using the Web have literally thousands of Web sites available to them, with many holding hundreds of Web pages. Looking for a Web page for a hotel in a particular area can be a lot like looking for a needle in a haystack. So, the three most important things about a Web page are location, location and location.

Your potential client can use a search engine to help find his way to the information needed.

Type in a few key words, say "Hotel Bristol", and the search engine will produce a list of sites that match in any way - hotels in Bristol and any hotel around the world called the Hotel Bristol. The search engine will give enough information for the client to see which pages may be of interest. But only when Web page details are held in the search engine.

So, if the publisher offering the opportunity of a lifetime doesn't tell you how he is going to promote the use of the Web site via Internet search engines or the world's press, don't part with your money.

Assurances

Even if he does give credible assurances, there are other things you should check, such as how many users can access their site at any one time (you don't want potential clients getting the equivalent of an "engaged" signal when they try to look at your Web pages). How many "hits" a day does that site get (this is equivalent to circulation figures)? And what does the site offer? There's no benefit in being one of half-a-dozen hotels in a site full of tinkers, tailors and candlestick makers.

Today, the options are simple. For maximum benefit, pay for some pages on TravelWeb or HotelNet. They're among the market leaders when it comes to hotel sites. If your hotel is already on a global distribution system, through TravelWeb it will also be instantly bookable. You can also get free pages in Microsoft's Hotel Directory or in Thomas Cook's/Phillips LeisurePlan Live Web site.

Responses

If you want to get responses from your Web page advertising, you'll need an e-mail address. When users find your pages and want to book, they'll want to send you an e-mail request. All you need is a modem (about £100) attached to a PC and an account with an Internet access provider. With CompuServe, that costs about £6.95 a month.

For about £15 a month, you can choose a company such as UUNet Pipex, which provides friendly e-mail addresses, so you could incorporate your hotel name, rather than hard-to-remember numbers.

Yes, it's an exciting new world and the Internet is destined to be as commonplace as the telephone.

However, you shouldn't expect a flood of business on day one. In comparison with the development of the telephone, the Internet has reached the era of fax - but look what that has done for the way in which we communicate.