Idea

[garlic]

Hello all!

You all know me I think, anyway my 'proper' job is in publishing. I have worked as a design and layout 'specialist' for several magazine and book publishing companies and have been working freelance for the last 7ish yrs. During my freelance time I've been able to continue to work for some of the larger publishing companies that I used to contract out to and also take on smaller clients and have done such things as artists catalogues and various business promotional literature, to say nothing of calenders, postcards and invites.

I'd like to offer my services to produce such things as guest information packs/booking forms etc. I came by this idea because I've recently been in contact with a company in the rentals business who have a fab website but when they sent me some of their written material it really let them down (I've offered to create something nice for them and they have accepted). It got me thinking and really my print matter is of a far better standard than my property really warrants. So many of you have fantastic properties and amazing websites but what are you doing in terms of your guest information and booking forms? Because I work in the publishing industry I have all the software I need to create really stunning work for you. What I think is that if people were to provide me with text, photos etc I could then create a really stylish PDF of the documentation that could be both emailed out to guests and also home printed for inclusion in your welcome folders. I can create one or more documents using your own theme and giving you a 'branding' that is normally very costly to achieve at a really reasonable rate. I can also if you choose supply you with print ready files that you could have professionally printed if you wished.

So this is a two pronged post: a)what do you think of the idea?
b)anybody want to give it a go?

[Hells Bells]

What a brilliant idea. I'm currently rewriting all my guest information, and would like a more professional look to it.

[la vache!]

I'm sure there is a market for it, but for me, it is something I am happy to do myself and although the info packs and booking forms are a little 'homemade' they are easy to change/update when required, which is the important thing. Of course a lot would depend on the cost, but I try to spend any profit on things that will add value to the business and I'm not sure how much value printed documents have now. An excellent website - that is different and very important as it is the thing that can make a booking happen. I don't think I've ever not had a booking on the basis of my forms not being professional enough and as for the guidance notes, it is really the content that is important.
Like I said, everyone will be different and those with more up market properties and less time to do the admin work may go for the idea. For me, it is my business and main source of income, so I try to do as much of the things I can do - admin, website, painting, gardening, cleaning, ironing, pool maintenance (albeit non professionally!) myself to keep costs down.

[garlic]

That's interesting feedback already so thanks.

HelenB, Thank you for being so positive and if you'd like to discuss further feel free to send me a pm.

Susan, I do agree with what you're saying, originally (years ago) I had thought about producing leaflets/brochures for property owners but it became very obvious very quickly that this was a none starter these days. A good website is the way to go. The idea with providing PDF files is that the property owner is the owner of the file and can make small changes themselves and I suppose I factor in an element of making changes as part of my 'job' I do it for 'big' clients why wouldn't I do it for individuals. Once I had created a template for your information updating it is a minor issue for me and could be turned around very quickly. There is nothing wrong with homemade but I do wonder how long people are spending creating their documents, that time spent is time that could be spent doing something more important. I also try to keep costs down myself doing most things that I can. I suppose the issue is, if it takes you say a days work to create your blurb but it still looks 'homemade' what else could you do with that time, whilst I could create something lovely in the same timescale. I'm not looking to charge astronomical amounts for this service. I accept this might not be for everyone but people do spend quite a lot of money on their website and on their cleaning, duvet covers etc. Whilst of course a guest won't not book based on the quality of your printed material, I do think that professionally produced print matter adds to the sense of 'exclusivity' and that combined with a quality product will produce repeat bookings. Also when properly produced, print material is much easier to read and much more likely to be inwardly digested and therefore much more likely to have the desired affect. Is it possible that when guests read your information they read 'homemade' and think optional (with regard to will you/can you do XYZ, check out time, fosse septique etc)?

Waiting for more feedback

[Rocket Rab]

Garlic,

What a great idea. I would definitely be interested - I was just thinking this morning it would be nice to have some proper headed paper with a stylish logo.... will re-read your post tomorrow morning (when I feel fresher!).

[Eileen2]

A great idea I'd be interested too.

[Fraise]

Garlic,

What a great idea. I would definitely be interested - I was just thinking this morning it would be nice to have some proper headed paper with a stylish logo.... will re-read your post tomorrow morning (when I feel fresher!).

Jenny- I agree with this but built it into my "image" therefore I just designed it myself! It is REALLY easy to do _ I just designed my own logo and use it on everything I send out to guests. I bought some lovely thick paper from Staples, print out my headed paper then write whatever it is,pop it into equally expensive envelopes and it looks very professional. I use the headed paper in my guest info, and I leave headed notepaper in the house for guests to use. A touch of class Easy peasy

[Big Sis..]

Hi Garlic,

Interesting idea, Maybe you could give us an example????

[la vache!]

Everything I do is in word and has little photos and the address at the top - but as I do ALL my correspondence by e-mail and with attachments, the quality seen by the guests depends on the quality of their printers. My info pack is homemade, but it contains many photos of things that I've taken the trouble to go an photograph myself, plus heaps of useful info, so I don't think that it necessarily looks too sloppy, plus it needs updating regularly, sometimes more than once a year, so it is useful to be able to do it myself. Because I live on site, guests also prefer to speak to me and ask me questions direct, rather than read everything I leave. If I was an absent owner, it may be different.

[paolo]

garlic,

Sounds like a good idea. I would suggest you rename the topic something describing the service you are offering, to get interested parties reading your post.

[Ciapolin]

As with everything, some people will like the idea and some people won't. For those who don't have the time or skills, I think it would be a great idea.

Give it a go - I'm sure you will get customers.

[Rocket Rab]

I just designed my own logo...

Everything I do is in word and has little photos and the address at the top....

....I'm impressed, I really wish I knew how to do all this, but I can feel myself coming unstuck already.... thanks for sharing your ideas: anyone willing to PM me an example of your stuff?

For those who don't have the time or skills, I think it would be a great idea.

...time is definitely an issue - in my defence (lack of creativity!) I work full-time as a freelancer in addition to looking after our two properties (sigh, still haven't found a good cleaner..)...oh yeah, then there are the kids as well!

[garlic]

Good morning all

I really wasn't saying that homemade=sloppy although I do see a lot of printed matter that is. I think with the attention to detail people are putting into their properties they are probably doing a fantastic job with their info packs. Content is the most important bit of course although I stand by what I said about properly laid out documents being easier to read. I hate Word with a vengance I think it's a horrible clunky very limited piece of software, I don't even use it to write letters. I may be wrong but isn't how ones documents appear affected by the flavour of Word that the recipient has installed on their computer?

Designing a logo and making your own headed paper is a great idea and as Fraise says really easy to do...no work for me there then!

Ros, Would you like me to email you my guest information?

I think the point about updating is very interesting and a possible issue. You can make changes to a PDF file and for small amount of text it is very quick and easy. Big changes would have to go through my software and then be rePDFed (if that is a word) I think I'd have to include a certain amount of updating in the price to be fair and once I'd created your document (which is where the work is) changing odd chunks of text or photos isn't time consuming.Or for example someone like HelenB might like to have two versions of her info as she offers two types of holiday depending on season, so the bulk of the information may be the same with certain sections being different to account for the different seasonal activities, and maybe different sets of photos for both versions it's simple for me to do that.

Paolo (phew spelt that right), eek I don't know how to change the name of the topic, I called it 'Idea' because that's what it was, I really appreciate everyones comments.

What Jenny says about time is so valid, I've taken the time over the years to learn to do what I do, there are lots of things I don't know how to do and don't have the time to spend learning and (hopefully for me) not everyone wants to spend the time learning how to create stuff like this.

[e-richard]

Garlic,

I think its a great idea. I, for one, appreciate good layout as much as I appreciate good content. I wish I had your skills, I know I don't, and may well come back to you in due course.

In the meantime, to change the name of the topic, simply go to your first post in this topic, click on the Edit button at the top right hand corner of your pasting, then you can change the "Subject" line and that should change it.

[Big Sis..]

Ros, Would you like me to email you my guest information?

Yes please Garlic...
But I was just thinkng if you could post an example of something here so we all could see it ...Letterheads..etc.[might give some of us a better idea..
Regards Ros