At Instant World Booking, our goal is to enhance the business and profitability of our hotel and hostel lodging partners.  There’s no question a hotel’s website is at the core of any marketing strategy in tourism.

As a small hotel or hostel owner, SEO, or search engine optimization, is the most important element in building a successful online presence.  Most people online have heard the term SEO, but it remains a mysterious process to many. One of the reasons SEO is so mysterious is that it can be a complicated process and search engines are constantly changing the way they rank websites.

If you have limited time and resources to devote to marketing your website, you should at minimum concentrate on Google.  Google has set the standard for technology in search engine algorithms that can track the relevancy of a website to its content and SEO efforts.  

For beginners to SEO, many think the only SEO tool they need is keyword density. While keywords are important, they are not the only means to an end. Back linking is another important component.  While back linking remains one of the most successful ways to get your site to rank high on the search engines, it also has evolved.  The type of link is important, so that search engines do not penalize a site for bad incoming links.

The term “back link” refers to an external link on another site that points to yours.  In the past any link from another site would have a positive impact on your site by the search engines.  Because there were so many gimmicks developed in the last few years to aggregate large numbers of back links, such as link farms, and irrelevant reciprocal linking, Google began to develop a way to weed out links that were purchased, or had little meaning or relevancy.

Even though back linking is used to manipulate search engine popularity there are many very legitimate reasons for using the system of back linking.  Finding web sites that have a common interest to your own who are willing to place your link on their site can get you extra exposure. So, look for websites of local tour operators, transportation companies, restaurants, tourist attractions, etc., and see if they will place a link to your website on their own.  When their visitors come to their site they will see your link and likely visit your site as well.  Search engines work in somewhat the same manner.

Google works so hard to be sure that back links are really quality links, and not manufactured links.   Your hotel or hostel website will get higher ranking on a search engine for a number of truly appropriate back linking partnerships.  However, if the sites linking to you do not share any common information services Google will penalize you for the link.  Google may even devalue your website if the site that links to you is considered of bad quality.  Bottom line, it is important who you choose to link to, and also who links to you.

Probably the best way to obtain a back link to your site is through anchor text. That is when you have another website with content that is relevant to your own including your site in the actual content of their site with a hyperlink inside the text.  These back links are valued much higher than a simple banner link as long as they appear in the text in a way that has a meaningful association with the content of the article. There are several ways to get such back links.

Providing articles about your location, city, or area tourist attractions to content sites with your link built into the article is one method.   Also, if you write compelling content on your website, there is a good chance someone else with a similar site may wish to point it out on their own. They may put a link on their site back to yours.  You may not even realize they are doing it unless they tell you about it. This is one of the main reasons it is important to keep an eye on who is back linking to you. While the majority of those types of links are wonderful and you should thank the site owner for their inclusion, if you feel the site that is linking to you does not meet your standards, have similar information, or the content is not relevant to your site you should definitely ask them to remove your link.

Back linking is an extremely important aspect of SEO development, which in turn is very important to marketing your hotel or hostel on the internet.  It is therefore something you need to understand well in order to implement properly. There are many secrets and mysteries in the SEO world that diligent study can clear up. Keeping your hotel website in a good position with the search engines will ensure a vital and profitable future for your hotel’s online business.

Scams abound on the internet, and scammers usually send email to small hotels, bed and breakfasts, and other small businesses

The scammer’s goal is to get the hotel owner to send money to the scammer.  Scammers will make a reservation, and request to overpay it with either a credit card or forged check.   They’ll claim that the check was already made out by a vendor or partner of theirs, and they don’t wish to cancel it.  The scammer will request the balance sent somewhere, usually by Western Union.  Scammers are very creative and there can be many variations to this scam.

How does it work?

The scammer will book a room and claim to have no credit card.  They will ask to send a bank draft, certified check, or money order to pay for the room in advance.   When the check arrives it will be for an amount greater than the value of the stay.  The scammer will then request the balance sent to a third party (i.e. a car rental agency) or returned to the scammer.

Since the funds are drawn on a foreign bank it may take up to three months to learn that it is fraudulent. The B&B or hotel owner is now short the amount of the check or wire they sent to the scammer.  They probably also lost bookings since they held a room for a guest that was never to arrive.  If the scammer paid by a credit card it is surely to be disputed by the actual card owner.

Signs of a Scammer

Overseas/International: Typically the scammer will be overseas or out of country.  They know authorities rarely pursue this kind of international crime.

Urgent: Often the scammer will be acting in an urgent manner and making bookings with short notice.

Long stays or lots of rooms:   They will also want long stays and a lot of rooms, in order to make the booking charge very high.  The scammer will also be very vague about the actual number of guest.

No rate resistance: Scammers will not care about the rate offered.

No interest in location: They don’t care about your location, they will express little or no interest in area attractions, etc.  In fact, it may often be questionable why a traveler from their origin or country will want to travel to a location like yours.

Will not address your property by name in the first e-mail:  The first e-mail you receive will likely not address you specifically.  This is because it will be a general email sent in mass to many properties including yours.

Strange grammar, spelling, and choice of words: The scammer’s grammar, spelling and use of punctuation will be unusual.  Often the scammer will present themselves as a doctor.  Another frequent ploy is that they indicate they are from a religious organization, are holding meetings in your country, and make specific reference to their “delegates” or “delegation” coming to your country. 

Free e-mail account: Often the e-mail will come from a free email service like Yahoo or Hotmail. Legitimate travel agents or businesses rarely use free email accounts.

Send money: They want you to send them cash, usually by wire, and quick.

Advice:
If you get one of these emails or letters, remember that if it is too good to be true, it probably is.  If you feel the booking is legitimate, insist on a deposit by bank transfer or credit card and insist that the balance be paid in person.  Whatever happens, do not send them any funds, regardless of what form.

Everyone knows how online booking works these days.  A small deposit is collected from the guest at the time of confirmation.  If you use one of the services that requires you to manually confirm bookings, contact your guests, and get deposit monies yourself, then your booking method is still in the stone ages.  And believe me, there are still quite a few of this type of reservation service that claims “instant booking”, but cannot deliver.  Furthermore, if your online booking method involves a Paypal interface, know that this method still does not work for guests in many regions around the world.  You might also have heard that a Paypal payment interface instantly signals to many that your website is amateur and unprofessional.  This is not exactly the reputation you want to develop for your website.

First, let me tell you that you absolutely need a professional third party service that is able to collect more than just Visa and Mastercard.  You need a service that is able to collect at least 4 major global card types.  If you feature online booking on your own website, know that almost all booking services are able to collect 5-10% deposit for your bookings.  But is this enough?  No.  You should be collecting from 30% to 75% deposit for every booking taken on your website.  This is for 2 reasons.  One, guests who have found your website, and are interested in booking with you are serious about staying with you.  They know that if they’re paying on your website, they’re going to have some personal interaction with you, and their reputation is on the line.  Fraud transactions on a hotel’s own website is low.  Second, since you know the guest is serious, you want to collect a reasonably high deposit to secure their booking, and eliminate any possibility of problems in the event of a cancellation or no-show.  Instant World Booking recommends collecting either 35% or 50% as the optimal deposit for most hotels, hostels, and bed & breakfasts.

Instant World Booking is one of the only services that enables you to collect more than 10% deposit at time of booking.  In fact, they can enable collection of up to 100% of your bookings at reservation time, effectively enabling you to collect credit cards right online from your own website.  Instant World Booking takes this service one step further, offering full no-show and cancellation protection.  With this service, Instant World Booking guarantees you receive your deposits, even in the event that a guest cancels late or does not show up.

We’ve been giving the latest on some controversial topics about marketing your hotel or hostel online.  We uncover the world of online booking and marketing in a way that hasn’t been done before.  Check out more advice at our blog.  We’ll lead you to the most effective and low-cost solutions for marketing your property.