Renters will always try to make adjustments in order to please their guests. They will do this so that guests enjoy their stay and come back next year.

The same applies to web pages where all information is (or should be) adjusted to guests in order to provide them with quick and effective insight into what is being offered thus allowing them to accept offers or not.

Among all various information displayed on a web page, the Contact page is very important.

Contact page in the past

I remember the days when there were more than 10 items on a contact page. There were fixed and mobile phone numbers, even fax numbers, MSN, ICQ, Skype and other names and contacts. Back then we believed that this will make us available to as many guests as possible.

We quickly realized that we were wrong and this is why excess contact information was removed. Only the phone numbers and e-mail addresses were kept.

The problem with too many contact channels was that it was almost impossible to keep track of all of them. And once guests are not able to establish contact through one of them, they probably won’t try to use the second or even the third contact channel that is provided.

The problem with fixed phone lines

To prove this, I will point out our “bad for business” practice of not answering the fixed phone during this summer season. Since we spend plenty of time with our guests away from the reception and at various other locations the phone was left unattended and it was hardly being used.

And on those few weekly occasions when we use it to send faxes we would notice that there were several messages on the answering machine. Since the fixed line is the first one listed on our web-page (which is also a habit from the past) and the mobile phones are listed after it, it was to be expected that guests would first try to reach us on our fixed phone.

This would not be a problem had our guests tried dialing the next (mobile) number listed on the contact page once they couldn’t reach us on the first number. But they didn’t. I will not elaborate on missed opportunities and earnings caused by this because even if just one out of those ten guests would have booked an apartment that would be a significant financial opportunity.

Removing the fixed phone number

We believe that that the solution to this is not being available on the fixed phone more often in order to adjust ourselves to our guests. Instead, we will remove one excess piece of contact information from the web-site which we cannot monitor on a regular basis and list only those contacts at which we are always available. In our case this implies removing the fixed phone number and leaving only the mobile numbers and email.

Of course, renters must see for themselves should they remove or add certain contact information. If they regularly receive inquiries via channels to which they cannot promptly react, they should consider removing that channel and redirecting inquiries to a different one that is being actively monitored.

We will see as soon as the next summer holiday season whether this was a positive and justified move or whether it was detrimental and not useful at all :).

How many contacts do you have listed on your web-pages and brochures? What are your experiences?