Why do so many Innkeepers Fear and
Loathe Computers?
C-O-M-P-U-T-E-R spells fear and even betrayal to many innkeepers, primarily because
innkeepers are offering an old fashion service that is almost extinct in today’s
modern age. Inns are a place to relax and get away from the city. Homemade food,
arts and crafts, nature, peace and quite, are no place for computers, right?
Yet a computer dominated economy is in the Innkeeper cards and there must be ways
to overcome these fears; most of which are more imaginary than real. A great deal
of this fear stems from the wide variety of choices that face any potential new
computer user. And let’s face it there are many fifty something innkeepers that
did not grow up with computer technology.
To this older generation, computers are an overwhelming device and probably would
need to hire a geek just to turn on. Buzz words like “giga byte”, USB, LAN, “antivirus”,
etc., intimidate and raise real questions as to how one can make any intelligent
or informed decisions about something as important as running your business.
The truth is, no one wants to risk the business that is paying the bills and putting
food on the table, unless they are sure that it will not harm the bottom line. So
let’s examine these fears one at a time and see if there is any way to overcome
them.
1. Loss of Control
Pencils do not need electricity, nor do they require upgrades, or get viruses. You
currently have a good filing system, and thanks to the US mail, pens and paper can
communicate all your needs, right? If you are over 40 then you know about the little
phone books with blank pages, that you can buy at any office supply store. In these
phone books you can keep all of your important phone numbers and even addresses.
They have several pages for each letter of the alphabet and if you were really smart
you always made all your entries in pencil. You also know that these books become
so full after a few years that you can no longer find room to add more numbers and
eventually have to start another book. Since you can never be sure which numbers
to keep and often have several entries for the same friend, this task can be daunting.
What a mess, a computer would have kept all of your contacts in order of first name,
or last name, or any other way you wanted it to. You can add notes to yourself about
the contact and keep other information like your friends email address and your
book will never get full. It even has a neat little search feature, that lets you
find stuff like best pizza. If you put best pizza as a description by one of your
entries on the computer, then it will find it for you. Which system do you believe
has more control of your data?
Here is another example: Say you had a couple that got married at your Inn and loved
every moment of their stay. You may want to invite them back on their 10th or 20th
anniversary, but wait a minute, although you have files going back 20 years they
are all in boxes stored in the attic. What good is that information to you if the
access to it is very difficult? With a computer you could have an alarm system that
emails you all such important events or even automatically have it send an invitation
to your customers based on past their past visits. And think of the room you could
free up in your attic.
I could give you many examples but the lesson here is that even if you have a way
to keep all your data, you cannot actually utilize much of it at all with just a
conventional filing systems. A computer gives you vastly more control over your
data and can make
keeping it profitable.
2. Fear of Exposure
There have been a lot of movies and stories written about computer piracy. The word
they usually evoke is ‘hacking’. Presumable a hacker can gain access to all your
records and steal them or destroy them or do some such mischief. While this may
have been partially true 10 or 20 years ago, the truth is that information is far
safer on your computer than in your file cabinets.
These days, your computer has a firewall, anti-spy, anti-virus, malicious software
removal tools, and a host of other standard features, which prevent hackers from
gaining any access to your computer. You also have 128 bit encryption, previously
only available to top secret government computers, that makes any private communications
over your wireless internet or Ethernet connections, virtually unbreakable and certainly
unintelligible.
All your data can be automatically backed up at an off site location; again using
a secure line, so that any data lost by theft or fire can be completely recovered.
In the case of a burglary the computer should have a password that prevents the
thief from access to any of your private data.
3. Confusion over what the buy.
With so many different brand names available, how can an innkeeper decide which
one is the best? The fear of making a wrong choice or not getting some key feature
that you will need later but were not aware up at purchase time, can prevent many
shoppers from buying a computer.
Just remember that buying a computer is first, not that expensive, and second, just
like buying any other appliance. Be sure to keep your expectations realistic, after
all, advertising claims and computer salesmen are trying to sale a product. Do not
believe anyone that tells you that you can solve all of your problems by just pressing
a button. Some training is always required as with any product, and any reputable
computer store will help you buy a computer to suit your needs.
A good rule of thumb would be not to buy the cheapest computer in the store. The
features of the more expensive computers are generally desirable for business purposes.
These computers are still relatively inexpensive when compared to most of your other
business expenses and you will not have take them back to the store for upgrades
when you discover your computer is missing some important memory or other feature
necessary to running your business. Also, computers are tax deductible and can be
even be used to do your taxes electronically.
4. Fear of Use
Ok, so you bought a nice computer, now it is sitting in boxes in a corner of your
office and you are afraid to do something wrong, or just do not know if you are
going to be able to use the thing. Keep in mind, that any fifth grader could easily
set it up and be playing games on it within minutes, and this fact leads me to the
following suggestions.
Do not set it up in your office but rather on your dining room table or living room
coffee table. Even a garage work bench, just so long as it is easy to see and gain
access to the back of the thing and there is room to for the keyboard and mouse
so you can actually use it once you get it. Once you have it set up and running
it will be a simple matter to take it apart and put it where you really want it.
Since we are talking about fears, complexity, and a powerful money making device
all in the same sentence, let me make some more practical suggestions. Everyone
hates wires and computers have a lot of them everywhere. Do yourself a favor and
be sure and buy a wireless keyboard and wireless optical mouse. Also, get a computer
with built in wireless internet access. You will always thank me for this idea and
will hate yourself if you ignore me, so if you are still reading this far down on
the page, do not start questioning me now.
Most internet providers offer a modem with wireless access so you can be connected
onto the internet with no wires in your garage, living room, bedroom, office or
anywhere else you might want access. Just be sure to have the guys, who deliver
the modem to your house, help you configure your computer for secure access. Most
of them will offer this service, but be sure they test it before you let them out
of the house.
If you already have a modem and it does not have wireless access you can buy a wireless
router for about $50 and it should come with a user manual explaining how to set
it up. The worst case scenario would involve calling a computer geek out to your
home or business to set this up for you. It is a very simple process for them and
should not cost much or they are ripping you off. And do not forget that your nephew,
niece, son, daughter, or neighbor can probably do this in their sleep. You could
too once you see how easy it really is.
What to expect – well all computers, come with the operating system already installed
and include enough basic software tools to begin using right away. Most of them,
and be sure the one you buy does, have a word processor and other office software
installed as free trials. If you need these features you can simply pay for them
over the internet when asked and they will become your property. There will also
be free trials of virus software and you will need to purchase virus software from
someone or just activate your free trial.
Any software you purchase in the store will be installed by placing a CD, in your
CD player on the computer and following the on screen instructions. Just be sure
to read each page of instructions carefully because they try to sneak free stuff
on you as trials, and often like to clutter up your desktop with unwanted icons.
If you are not sure if you want them to do it then just say no or leave the box
unchecked. Hint, the stuff you really need to install does not require you to make
any decisions that you cannot understand easily, so if you are not sure, then just
say no or leave the box unchecked and your program will continue to install correctly.
5. What will you need?
This will depend on many factors, some of which can be found in my article explaining
the different types of business software available to you. As I explain in that
article, you can purchase standalone software that you only run locally on your
new computer, you can buy a mix of internet and local programs, or you can use programs
that are 100% internet based and require you to install nothing. If you choose to
buy software to install on your computer you will need to get advice somewhere else
as that is beyond the scope of this article.
You will need a good printer and it should be Ethernet compatible so that you can
use it from various other computers that you are sure to own in the future. Your
computers will find it automatically and there is no software to install to begin
using it. For a small business I would suggest that this printer be a scanner, fax
machine, copy machine, and printer all in one. You can buy many of these for less
than $200.
I hope that this article has in some way helped you overcome your fear of computers
and given you a basic understanding of them and how they can help you in the
hospitality
management business.
We also have a lot of other information on this site including a
comparison chart of 18 software companies for taking reservations, and a
number of critical reviews that we keep adding to each
month. If you have any questions or comments then by all means visit our
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