Lost a booking

[wallypott]

I have had to install satellite internet for my gites, 400€ initial outlay, plus 49€ a month, and it really doesn't take much for people to use up the 3gb a month. I consider it to be essential.

I recently went on holiday somewhere I have been going for years, which doesn't have internet. In the first 24 hours I had to reply to 6 enquiries using my blackberry, which was OK but not particularly convenient, and the booking management system I use isnt available on mobiles - I can't log in, so I had no access to my booking info either. It wasn't ideal, and required me to take a lot of paper info with me.

I hadn't been for a year, and it is incredible how, in the space of 2 years, the internet has gone from being a luxury to being something necessary for everyday functioning.

[brenda]

Whether we have WiFi access is now one of the first questions potential Guests ask.

IMO it is now considered a ´must have´.

[Windy]

I run my own business (make that 2 business including the lodges). Sad though it may sound to those of you with the luxury of switching off when on holiday, I simply can't afford to be out of touch for 2 weeks (BTW it's not that I'm so amazing, it's just what clients expect these days) and I therefore want that being in touch to be as painless as possible. Driving out to find the nearest MacDo does NOT cut it for me I'm afraid

No WIFI, no booking from me I'm afraid. Modern times....

[Hells Bells]

Wifi is essential. I've taken several bookings (some very last minute), while I've been away from home.

[Riverside]

I'm sorry, but i consider wifi to be an absolute essential. All my research about an area is done online, while i'm on holiday i want to be able to look up things to do, phone numbers of places to eat, the weather etc as people have mentioned. Not only that but it is such an essential way of communicating with family and friends. And of course, running two businesses, you need to be available even when on holiday, i wouldn't stay somewhere without it.

I know my wifi has brought in bookings i wouldn't have gotten otherwise.

I'm even going to put my Villa handbook on-line so that it can be kept up to date, guests can read it before they go, and with lots of hyperlinks its going to be easier to manage than a thick book of paper.

I have done this for a while now, it's much easier to keep up to date and linking to the site of attractions/restaurants etc is great. I do also keep a paper version for the technophobes though.

[stork]

We also provide computers (old Macs), and they are being used too.

During the ash cloud, some guests were even working a bit. In one of the houses we do not actually have WiFi - the computer is hooked up with ethernet.

As we are on site, the only extra cost was the installation - we would want adsl anyway.

[Windy]

e-richard wrote:
I'm even going to put my Villa handbook on-line so that it can be kept up to date, guests can read it before they go, and with lots of hyperlinks its going to be easier to manage than a thick book of paper.

I have done this for a while now, it's much easier to keep up to date and linking to the site of attractions/restaurants etc is great. I do also keep a paper version for the technophobes though.

I wish you people would stop coming up with good ideas that take up so much of my time !!

[Margaret]

(A large part of our website is an abbreviated version of our local attractions file.)

We also run small businesses: an international publishing business (every day of the week, somebody, somewhere in the world has a working day) plus lettings in Bavaria and the UK and we have no office staff to leave in charge. We simply cannot afford to ignore enquiries, orders and bookings for a day let alone one or two weeks. Last year we reluctantly booked a place without WiFi. Never, ever again. Copying with all that off a Blackberry was a nightmare and impossible when it came to booking an overnight stop on the journey home. We rarely get asked if we have WiFi any more - people assume we do or read it on the website. I wouldn't like to face a guest to tell them 'sorry, no WiFi'.

[DebDes]

I think its not a really big deciding factor when people book holidays. The look of your place, destination, dates people want are more important than wi fi! There are dongles people can use.
Maybe you can do your own market research on whether this will pay? Ask customers when they book or on the guest book when they leave if they are prepared to pay a bit more for wi fi? My hunch is that if its going to cost you more each month, then its probably not worth it.

What a shame. It seems I've lost a booking due to not having WiFi.
I've no plans to provide this facility; I wonder how much it would be worth providing it, in terms of how many people would actually really desperately want/need internet access, as opposed to those who would just use it because it was there.
From knowledge of my two daughters, who are on it every waking moment, I would prefer to be away from it for a change whilst on holiday so we could do other things/have a conversation.
But I realise some people may want to keep in touch online/ keep up with emails-even work while away.. and teens, like mine , may be grumpy/get withdrawal symptoms away from their laptops!
Still on balance I'm not inclined to provide internet access.

[Hells Bells]

Dongles may be affordable for a UK resident who is holidaying in Wales, but it is much more expensive to buy and use a dongle in France for example. You need a good mobile phone signal for them to operate, which is often impossible near my apartment. I've racked up huge bills in the past using data to rebook travel arrangements, find insurers telephone numbers etc with my UK phone when my hubby was in hospital in France. Wifi was not an option as I spent most of that week in Grenoble and not in Monetier.

[lorca]

My hunch is that if its going to cost you more each month, then its probably not worth it.

Reading through this thread again, I think we ought to be careful about giving this sort of definitive advice, as people´s situations vary. As mentioned in my previous comment, we know that wifi has made a big difference to bookings in our big house. Unlimited broadband costs us about 480 euros a year, the extra income we´ve got from the increase in bookings far exceeds this. We were cautious about taking the step at first (our margins are quite tight). We started a similar thread here at the time and the majority opinion was to go for it - needless to say were were very glad we did.

However if your property is pretty much fully booked then maybe it´s not worth it at the moment - but (and this is a "hunch" on my part) I agree with others that it´s likely to become increasingly important.

[Rogthedodge]

""I wish you people would stop coming up with good ideas that take up so much of my time !!""

LOL and I agree totally. Bloody smartarse!!

I will be instagating at the soonest...

[revdev]

I think its not a really big deciding factor when people book holidays.

Everybodys experience is different, but for WiFi I disagree completely.

Easily half of my guests make specific reference to it when booking and as the Villa has an average booking price of £1,810 it has paid for itself no question.

Evolve or dissolve! (well not really, but it sounded good in my head )

[Londoner]

My place is in London and I get asked about wi-fi all the time. The guests are only in the door when they want the code and check their emails.
A friend of mine rents a villa in Tuscany and she does not offer it, she has lost bookings as a result.
When we go away we always book a self-catering house/villa/apartment and it must have internet access.

[Hells Bells]

And no-one has to use the wifi if they don't want to.