Why do many Innkeepers Fear and
Loathe Computers?
C-O-M-P-U-T-E-R spells fear and even betrayal to many innkeepers. Innkeepers proudly
offer an old fashion service that is almost extinct in today’s
modern age. They
run Inns where folks can relax and get away from the busy high-tech city. A place
to enjoy homemade food, shop for
arts and crafts, enjoy peace and quite, and escape
the daily grind. For these reasons a computer seems to be an intrusion.
Yet a computer dominated economy exists and many of your customers are demanding
in room internet access. Most of your fears stems from the wide variety of choices, setup problems, and security issues. And let’s face it there are many older
innkeepers that
did not grow up with computer technology and fear unknown problems
that they are not sure that they will be able to solve without costly consulting
fees.
To this older generation, computers are very complex and they will probably have
to hire a computer geek just to turn keep it running. 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. Decisions that may impact how
you run your business and if made incorrectly could potentially have a negative
impact on your business.
The truth is that no one is willing to risk the business that is paying the bills and putting
food on the table, unless they are certain that it will not harm their
bottom line. So
let’s examine these fears one at a time and see if there are 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. If you are over 40 then you know about small paper
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
eventually become
so full that you can no longer find room to add more numbers. Eventually you will have to start
another book and transfer relative numbers into this book by hand. 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
each contact and keep other information like your friends email address. It even has a neat little search feature, that lets you
find stuff like 'best wine'. If
you put 'best wine' as a description in several of your entries on the computer,
then it list all of find them for you.
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 your computer send an invitation
to your customers based on their past visits. Just 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 efficiently utilize much of it. A computer gives you vastly more control over your
data and can make storing it profitable.
2. Fear of Exposure
There have been a lot of movies and stories written about computer piracy. The word
usually evoked is ‘hacking’. Presumable a hacker can gain access to all your
records and steal or destroy them.
While this may
have been partially true 10 or 20 years ago, the truth is that your
stored information is far
safer on your computer than it is in locked file cabinets.
These days, your computer has a built in 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. Your computer uses 128 bit encryption, previously
only available to top secret government computers, that makes any private communications
over your wireless internet or Ethernet connections, unbreakable.
All your data can be automatically backed up at an off site location; again using
a secure line, so that any data lost can be completely recovered.
In the case of a burglary of your computer, there is a password feature that prevents
thief of your private data.
3. Confusion over hardware and software
to 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. This fear 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 stores will help you buy the right computer to suit your needs.
A good rule of thumb; do 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 to take them back to the store for upgrades
when you discover you are missing some important memory or other feature necessary.
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. Anywhere so long as it is easy to see and gain
access to the back of the thing, and that there is room to for the keyboard and mouse
so you can actually turn it on and use it. Then once you have it set up and running
it will be a simple matter to take it apart and put it where you want to use 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. 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 these ideas and
will hate yourself if you ignore them.
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 and be sure that they test it before they leave.
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. You can always call a computer geek service which will come out to your home
or business to set this up. 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 have a word processor and other office software
installed as free trials. If you need these features you simply pay for them
over the internet when asked. There will also
be free trials of virus software that you should activate or replace before the trial
expires.
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 the instructions carefully because they try to sneak free stuff
on you as trials, and often like to clutter up your desktop with unwanted icons. Hint,
the stuff you really need installed does not require you to make any decisions which
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 home network compatible so that you can
use it from various other computers that you are sure to own in the future. Your computer will find this printer automatically and there is no normally no software
to install. 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
feed back page.
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where it talks about using computers to organize your B&B or small Inn. |