This months “Inn the Know” from Pamalea Lanier has an interesting article from Marcus Berg about photography for your inns website.  Even though the tools to produce good photos have come into reach of the amateur photographer, there is still a good amount of practice that goes into being able to take a truly good photo.   Not that it cannot be done, especially if you pay attention to some of the tips here and in other articles on the topic.  I believe that PAII has a session on this topic at their upcoming conference.  In the interim, here is the article in its entirety.

Digital cameras are abundant these days and have given the average person the ability to photograph more than they could have ever imagined possible. What was once so complicated has been made simple with the click of a button. Digital technology has tempted many Innkeepers to dive into photography head first, and forego the benefits that can be derived from professional photography.

Time and again Innkeepers hear comments from guests about their photos not adequately representing the beauty of their Inn. It is hard to know exactly how many potential guests have been lead to other Inns because they were not enticed by what your photos displayed. Your website and photos are the first impression of your Inn and can be a deal maker or breaker for potential guests.

Professional photography can be beneficial in a variety of ways. Do your photos tell a story that entices the viewer to want more, or are they dark, dingy and uninviting? A professional photographer can create an atmosphere and mood through the use of special lighting and prop placement. Lighting is critical to a good photo, and your photographer will have the equipment necessary to utilize lighting to its fullest potential. Simple prop placement by the photographer can also give your photos the added flair and detail that you may miss. A roaring fire, warm robe, book, and pair of reading glasses can bring a photo to life when appropriately staged and photographed. In addition, your photographer can ensure that photos are taken in the correct scale and proportion to prevent misleading your guests as to the size and amenities of a room. There is nothing worse than a disappointed guest that was misled by the photos on your website.

In considering a professional photographer, there are a number of guidelines to keep in mind. It is always helpful to ask other Innkeepers for references and for a description of their personal experience with the photographer. Arrange a time to consult with a photographer either by phone or in person and have a list of questions/topics to discuss. Do not shy away from discussing budget issues as many photographers are able to customize a package to fit your specific needs. Unfortunately, too many Innkeepers make the assumption that they are unable to afford professional photos and they dismiss the possibilities that are available. Be sure to inquire about their policy on photo ownership and usage. Do they own the rights or do you? Find out how the final product will be delivered and what you can expect to receive. Many photographers will provide you with a written quote that details the plan that has been agreed upon – if not, be sure to ask for one to prevent any confusion later. In addition, you will want to decide prior to the photo shoot how you will handle guests at that time. Access to all areas of the Inn will be necessary which may be disruptive to your guests. Lastly, be open to any suggestions the photographer might have as they may have a fresh perspective that you’ve never considered before.

Once you have located your photographer of choice, you will need to think about what is necessary to prepare your Inn for the photo session. Your session will move in a smooth and timely fashion if you consider the following top 10 things to do to prepare your Inn:

•Have all rooms clean & clear of clutter
•Windows are often overlooked. Have all windows clean & presentable.
•Ask the photographer for a list of props needed for staging and have them available at the time of the shoot.
•Compose a list of the unique features of your Inn that you would like specific focus on
•Prepare a list of what you would like photographed, arranged in priority fashion
•Make sure light bulbs in all rooms & exterior are in working condition
•A well-groomed exterior is essential
•Know in advance what dishes you plan to prepare if food is to be photographed
•Be prepared with supplies for utilizing your fireplace(s) and bathtub(s) as these are inviting focus points for guests
•Be available during the session for any assistance the photographer might need

Giving time and thought to the visual aspects of your Inn will reap long lasting rewards. Professional photography can help capture what is most sought out by potential guests…a warm, inviting atmosphere where attention to every little detail is evident. Through photography a potential guest can be transported to your Inn where they will be drawn to the warmth and comfort that they desire when retreating from the outside world. A professional photographer can provide you with the fresh perspective that you may be missing because you are immersed in your Inn on a daily basis.

Marcus Berg
Professional Photographer
To be featured in the Spring and Summer issue of the 2009 “Travel Oregon Magazine.”
Website: www.uniqueanglesphoto.com
Email: uniqueangles@gmail.com
Phone: 503-576-9427
Address: P.O. Box 20793,Keizer,OR 97307

New reports on Wired are saying that this is incorrect and that only 10 customers data was comprimised and that these customers were notified and the situation is being addressed.

Of course, this raises some good points for our industry.  What do you do with your customers credit card and personal data?  Are you using a central or web based service to collect that data?  Do you know how they are handling the information?  Are you storing it on your own computer at the inn?  Do you purge credit card data after the stay?

A search around didn’t turn up any best practices for the industry - but I would say that at a minimum inns should be taking the following precautions:

• Store credit card information only as long as necessary to secure the stay.  Destroy or purge this information when the stay is complete.
• If you use online reservation systems, be sure that the data is handled the same way, stored only as long as necessary and purged at checkout.
• If you use a local computer program (something installed on your computer at the inn) be sure that some simple “firewall” at the minimum is installed so that other computers cannot access your files.  This becomes even more important as inns add wireless networks and public access computers.
• Never transmit your guest credit card information over email.

Are there any other tips you would suggest to be sure that our industry keeps on top of securing our customers data?

Thanks for your patience and we welcome your feedback on the new look.

PAII

When I became an innkeeper I quickly realized that finding good information about Inn specific products and services was really hard. In particular deciding where to spend ad dollars was challenging and I was overwhelmed with the number of directory solicitations I was receiving every week. I started making a spreadsheet of them to keep track for myself.

I still do some consulting and development work on the side with a group of fellow geeks. We had been working on customizing a star rating plug-in for wordpress for a client. I was tinkering with site names on a spinner site for a domain name to use for the demo and came across innkeeping.org. I was as surprised as anyone that it was available and snatched it right up. With input of the whole crew, we put together some blog posts containing reviews with star ratings, based primarily on the spreadsheet I had been keeping. It was a great way to demo our rating script work.

One day we saw a crazy spike in traffic to the domain. It turns out that the robots.txt file we had set up to block indexing of the site got incorrectly edited and to top it off, some of the posts were then published in an rss feed. Within days the site was getting traffic and comments from innkeepers all over the blogosphere.

Unfortunately with the interest also came some rather evil emails from some of the directory site owners. My first instinct was to pull the site, after all it was never intended for public use anyhow. However, after weighing the positive emails with the negative, there was far more support to keep the information available.

We decided to leave the content live and use the site to develop a 2 way rating system that would allow users to submit their own ratings to wordpress. That got to be far more complex than we had anticipated. Ultimately what I have decided to do is create a separate ratings and review site “behind” the blog here.

In the coming weeks I will be sending anyone who has commented on any of the posts on innkeeping.org a link to register (for free) as a beta tester of the new site. Think of the new site as a “trip advisor” for innkeepers. You will be able to rate any and everything and share your thoughts and experiences in an organized and searchable fashion. Find some great towels, the perfect glasses for juice, an amazing graphic designer - you’ll be able to share those stories with others and help us all out. Only innkeepers will be able to join and see the content (you will have to use a published innkeeper email address to register) so that it can be truly an open discussion amongst fellow innkeepers. I hope that it will become a great resource for innkeepers and aspiring innkeepers.

In the immediate future, I look forward to putting together some posts that are no longer directory centric. I have plans to share a lot of good information here, especially technical information and how-to’s. I have had a lot of fun “tweaking” our inn and am looking forward to sharing some of my tricks with you. I hope that you will do the same here!

That said, if you would like to contribute some content, please email me (innkeeper at innkeeping dot org). Contributors will be listed with a link to their inn on the main page of this site. If you have an innkeeper related product that you would like us to look at and review, please contact us as well. We do not “sell” reviews or participate in pay per post programs however.

Thanks for the many great emails supporting the concept of this site and I look forward to your continued participation.

The no longer mysterious - Innkeeper…

The reason that we have decided that we should remain anonymous is that we do not want our opinions, expressed here, to impact our primary business, our Inn. Our Inn is our livelyhood and based upon some of the heated emails that we have received regarding our reviews, it is clear that we made the right choice in remaining anonymous.

If you feel that the ratings are biased, or that they do not reflect your opinions, don’t read them.

To the directory site owners, this site was started as a resource for innkeepers - it is clear that many of these directory sites are not pleased with what we have had to say about them. I would hope that you would use these reviews as a tool to improve your sites and better serve the needs of the Innkeeping community. I am certain that your time would be better spent doing that than emailing us.

We are working right now on implementing a user review / rating system, which will allow our visitors to rate each directory on their own. These user ratings will be displayed along side of our own ratings.

Until this user rating system is complete, we have decided to pause posting new reviews.