Have you ever considered creating audio podcasts (voice readings of your blog) for your blog? I have, but the time it would take to record and post them kept me from preparing them myself, and I wasn’t willing to incur the cost of a commercial podcasting service. Then I saw a post by one of my favorite SEO experts, Ann Smarty, on using the free service from Odiogofor podcasting. The voice is quite natural sounding, for the most part.

I have a bit more technology background than many B&B owners. Ruth and I started a small ISP (waaaaay back in 1996, when the internet was almost all dialup), and took it national. I did all the IT, system administration, and all that geeky stuff. Later I worked for a giant software company as a hands-on technical consultant and later taught customers how to customize and use the software. As a result of this background, I’m not overly impressed when I read articles about the important but not-very-interesting computer tasks that most people don’t do, but should, and that I do routinely.

A few years ago computers for innkeeping meant a web site, email, a bit of web browsing, and a Word Processing program. If you were adventurous, perhaps you would add online availability/booking and a rudimentary reservation management system on your desktop. But those were simpler days. Today there are literally dozens of different guest management platforms available, some web-based, some install on your computer. Web sites are no longer optional, but are the primary marketing medium for most inns.

Assuming you have decided to find a new Guest Management System, let’s look at the process of choosing from among the many products available. The first step may not be the expected one, but looking at it first may save headaches later. Determine whether or not you will be using a third-party system for online bookings. That is, (a) will you accept online bookings, and (b) if so, (1) will you require that your Guest Management System provide built-in online booking capability, or do you want a third party online booking system, and then, (2) if appropriate, which third party system will you select.

As innkeepers we receive solicitations from online directories almost daily. In addition, there are many well-known directories that we feel we should (perhaps we must) be on. It seems that everyone wants your money, yet there are no guarantees of any return, just a lot of salesmanship about how important it is that you be on this directory. Which should you be on? Which can you ignore? Is it a question of cost, alone?

About the Inn is a site devoted to helping innkeepers of Bed & Breakfasts, Inns and smaller lodging properties with technology issues they may encounter in the innkeeping industry. Scott Thomas is a former innkeeper (with his wife, Ruth, the owner of Brewster House Bed & Breakfastin Freeport, Maine from 2006 through May, 2013). Prior to purchasing Brewster House he was a consultant and senior manager in the technical and education divisions of Oracle Corporation’s Billing and Revenue Management software (BRM, formerly Portal Software).