Frequently Asked Questions

This is a reasonable question to ask, given that you can list your business on a host of free accommodation and tourism directories, some of which may even provide you with a steady trickle of visitors. However, the important point is this:- the first impression many people gain of your business is the website, or lack of one. Increasingly, visitors expect Guest Houses and B&B's to have their own website describing their rooms and facilities, their location, and even room availability with the option to book there and then. The lack of a website may give them the impression that you are cutting corners, and put them off booking with you in case you cut corners in your service, too.

The answer to this will depend very much on your competition, and the local competition in particular. If you allow your website to fall too far behind that of competing Guest Houses and B&B's, either in appearance or in the features it offers, you may find that the bookings you receive from the internet begin to drop as well. Again, this is all to do with first impression - the idea that owners who invest time and money in a good website will provide great service as well. If you are still in doubt, you might ponder the following question. Why, having invested thousands in purchasing and decorating my property to a high standard, am I seriously questioning spending a few hundred pounds on a website, the best and most flexible advertising tool my business can possibly have?

If you are confident in your design and web development skills, yes. If not, it may cost you less money initially to build your site (do-it-yourself web development kits are available from as little as £50.00), but it will take you longer and the end product may be nowhere near as attractive or functional as a professionally-built website. When you factor in all the time you would need to spend learning how to use your web development package, plus learning all you need to know about the latest web design trends, search engine optimisation and how to write an online availability and booking system from scratch, you may consider the cost of an Angelfish Website money well spent, and you will almost certainly get a better return on your investment in the long term, in terms of actual bookings and the impression visitors have of your business.

Most of us know someone who works in IT who is probably capable of building a website. But there are other questions you should be asking. Do they understand the B&B/Guest House industry? Are they up to date with current web design trends and search engine strategies? Could they, within 2-3 weeks, deliver a professional looking website which I can administer myself? Will they continue to support me once the website is completed? Do they have in-depth knowledge of online availability and booking systems? If the answer to one or more of these questions is "No", or even "I don't know", you should consider having your website developed professionally, and understand that what you are paying for is the experience and expertise of a company whose answer to all these questions is an emphatic "Yes".

Basically, to attract more bookings. With most tourists and business people now booking accommodation online, your website needs to have an edge both visually and functionally to stand out from the crowd. Many hotels now offer an availability service, and people are increasingly looking for this facility on other types of accommodation websites. If people have a shortlist of B&B's or Guest Houses from which to choose, they are more likely to call those whose websites that indicate availability of rooms. You will also waste less time dealing with telephone enquiries when you are already full.

Yes, we will. Our package includes a free .co.uk or .com domain name, one years' free web hosting (renewable at a very competitive £50.00 per year thereafter) and setting up of your e-mail accounts so that you receive enquiries and guest comments. We will continue to support your website once it is developed and, where necessary, make additions and enhancements to the website on a fixed-price basis. All we expect you to do is provide us with any promotional material that may be relevant to the site, and in particular to send us photos of your property, rooms and surroundings. You are welcome to write the text for your site, but we will always advise on how to achieve the optimum blend of readability and relevance to search engines. You are also entitled to a free version of our Angelfish B&B Manager package, including one year free support and upgrades, and we will advise you on how to set this up so that you can update the availability calendar on your website daily with a single button click.

Within 2 weeks, if we can reach agreement on the basic design within a few days and you can provide any photos and words you want to be shown in a timely manner. However, we will not compromise quality by rushing the development, so if your requirements are slightly more complicated than usual (for example, you may want us to integrate your existing merchant payment system) the development time may be longer. Whatever your requirements are, our development process is aimed at delivering the website that you want in a timely and cost-effective manner.