Question: What is the difference between the business traveller and the leisure traveller? Answer: The business traveller would probably like to be at home rather than with you. Sounds harsh, but the person is there to do a job. They often don’t get a chance to play tourist and sometimes, maybe, would like to spend some time in their room. There are a number of jobs you cannot do away from home and there are some you can. Make life easy for those away from home and let them know about it before hand. Some business travellers spend weeks in one place and just as long finding the ideal place to stay.

See yourself arriving at your place, through checking in, getting into the room and …. finally leaving. So that is where these tips come from:

1 Booking. Offer options of how this is done. Sometimes a phone call on Friday afternoon, for next weeks stay, is one directory enquiry and phone call too many. Think about making this easy by say; fax, email or ebooking. One free, quick tip, spend some time investing in ensuite rooms. When you ask me if I want non-ensuite, I know someone will have peed in the sink sometime rather than patrol the corridor at night.

2 Make arrival as easy as possible. Directions, booking, what you offer etc. Have most of that out of the way first. The last thing you want is to stand in a queue after a full day, a long journey and plenty of luggage. If you have lost the booking, Hell may be coming to a reception near you.

3 The Room. There will be bags, so do you have somewhere to unload them and somewhere to store the empties? Is there a hook in the bathroom to store a wash bag and one on the main door room to hang a coat? Is there a surface, of appropriate size, to spread laptops and papers over? Is there a spare power source above the work surface rather than on the skirting board below?

4 What’s around? Does your staff know the area, places to eat, place to drink, where to buy the deodorant that was never packed or the number for a reliable taxi. A rack of leaflets in reception, a local map and some business cards will do the majority of this.

5 Leaving town. How quickly can you get me out of here? Is the bill available online or in-room? Can the key be dropped into a lot and off you go to the car? By the end of the week, there is almost a morning routine and anything to minimise exit time would be appreciated.

This is not a definitive list, you know your own property and what you can offer.