Starting a New Hotel or Homestay? Here Are a Few Things to Avoid When Taking Your Business Online

Competition is high, and I know how much it takes to launch your first hotel or homestay business, especially in North-East India, where people have only recently started to seriously invest in and build businesses in the tourism and hospitality space.

As the popularity of the North-East is growing, so is the number of tourists visiting the region. But I’m here to actually talk about how you can break through the competition and stand out as one of the top-ranked hotels or homestays in your area.

And more importantly, what you actually need to avoid to make sure you rank well online instead of getting your business into trouble with Google.

Believe it or not, Google is getting smarter every day. If you think you can fool Google by getting fake ratings and reviews from your friends, family, or people around you, it is simply not worth it.

Google has systems in place to detect suspicious or manipulated review activity. While you may not know exactly how Google determines whether a review is genuine, it can identify patterns and signals that indicate unusual or potentially fake activity.

Think about it: Google already knows how to remind you to rate a hotel or restaurant you have actually visited. So assuming that you can simply create a bunch of reviews from people who have never actually experienced your service is not a good strategy.

Instead, focus on getting genuine reviews from your actual customers.

Stay legally and morally sound at the same time. If you are thinking about asking friends and family to create fake reviews just to improve your search ranking, please don’t.

Be true to your business, and do not blindly follow someone’s suggestion just because they claim it will help you rank higher on Google.

This is a solid red flag.

Not only can misleading images hurt your online presence, but using stock photos or photos that do not represent your actual property can also lead to negative ratings and reviews from your customers.

Think about it from a customer’s perspective.

When we are looking for a hotel or homestay online, one of the first things we check is the photos. We want to see the actual rooms, the exterior, the surroundings, the bathroom, the dining area, and basically what we can expect when we arrive.

Now imagine booking a place because the photos look amazing, only to arrive and discover that the reality is completely different.

That customer is obviously going to feel disappointed, and that disappointment can quickly turn into a negative review.

So, even if you are unknowingly doing this, remove those misleading images immediately and replace them with actual photos of your property.

You do not need a professional photoshoot with a huge budget either. Clean, well-lit, honest photos of your actual hotel or homestay are far more valuable than a beautiful stock image that has nothing to do with your property.

And morally, it is simply the right thing to do.

If you are looking for a website for your hotel or homestay business, be careful about who you hire.

Especially in India, there are plenty of agencies and individuals who aggressively reach out to business owners over phone calls, promising to build them a website at an unbelievably low price.

Not all of them are scams, of course. But you need to be careful.

There are two common situations you should watch out for.

2.Take the Money and Never Come Back

This is one of the most straightforward types of scams.

Someone may call you repeatedly, sometimes every morning, trying to convince you to get your website built through their agency. Because they keep calling and sound convincing, you may eventually decide to give them the project.

They will ask for an advance payment.

And the moment you pay them...

They're gone.

Calls stop getting answered. Messages are ignored. Suddenly, the person who was calling you every morning has disappeared.

And now you are left with neither a website nor your money.

2. The Template Delivery Scam

This one is slightly different.

In this case, the agency actually gives you a website.

At first glance, everything may look fine. You have a homepage, some images, a contact page, maybe even a booking button.

But once you start looking deeper, you realise that there is very little behind it.

They may have simply installed a basic WordPress template, changed your logo and a few colours, added some of your photos, and called it a complete website.

If you do not have a technical background, it can take some time to understand what you have actually received.

The problem is not that a WordPress website is bad. WordPress can be a perfectly good choice for many businesses.

The problem is paying for a custom, professional website and receiving nothing more than a barely modified template without the features, functionality, support, or optimisation you were promised.

So before hiring an agency, check their previous work, verify their business, ask exactly what is included, and make sure you understand what you are paying for.

If you are getting online reviews where a customer is not satisfied with your service and has left a negative review about something you do not like, do not try to teach the customer a lesson in your reply.

And definitely do not lash out.

Instead, try to communicate properly.

Ask what exactly made them feel that way. Understand what happened from their perspective. If you genuinely made a mistake, accept it.

Being honest does not make your business look weak.

In fact, sometimes the way you respond to a negative review can say more about your business than the negative review itself.

Remember, negative reviews are a part of doing business. You will have to learn to live with them, whether you like it or not.

You cannot make every single customer happy.

What you can do is make sure that when something goes wrong, you handle it professionally.

Now this is very important.

The second thing a customer often looks for online, after checking the property itself, is the kind of food your hotel or homestay provides.

So why not make that information easily available?

Upload your food menu online.

Whether it is on your website, your Google Business Profile, or another relevant platform, having your menu available gives potential customers an idea of what they can actually eat before they arrive.

It helps them make a decision beforehand.

Maybe someone is specifically looking for local Assamese food. Maybe someone is travelling with children and wants to know what options are available. Maybe someone simply wants to know the price before booking.

A proper online menu answers those questions before the customer even has to call you.

And that is a 100% plus for your online presence.

Most hotel and homestay businesses are still not doing this, and they might never realise that they are losing a portion of potential online customers simply because people cannot find basic information about their food.

Your online presence matters for your hotel or homestay business.

But doing it the right way is even more important.

Many hotel and homestay owners are still not familiar with internet culture, online customer expectations, search engine policies, and the basic norms of running a business online.

And keeping up with all of that is just as important as keeping your food tasty and your hotel clean.

Do not think that simply putting your business details online is enough.

Your customers are already online. Your competitors are online. And the people planning their next trip to the North-East are searching online before they decide where to stay.

So, keep in mind all the points I have discussed above and make sure your online presence aligns with the current internet culture.

Be honest with your customers, use real photos, collect genuine reviews, respond professionally, provide useful information, and most importantly, build your online presence for the long term.

Because ranking at the top is great.

But building a business that actually deserves to be there is even better.