How not to reply to potential guests and lose customers

As administrators of self catering accommodation portals, potential guests contact us or complain to us when things go wrong between them and a cottage owner.

This is a copy of one genuine email that resulted in a potential guest abandoning the idea of booking this particular cottage, or to put it another way; how to get rid of potential guests.

The potential guest wrote to the cottage owner

hello, do you have any weekends available in june or july? If so, which dates and what rates? Also do you know of a good spa nearby or any  companies which would come to the cottage and do some treatments?

The cottage owner responded

Hello, What dates do you require? other question dont know.

Potential guest forwarded the email to us and complained

Sorry but with that level of customer service, I won't pursue my enquiry.

Maybe the cottage owner was either very busy or sick or dealing with an emergency and didn't have time to respond as they should in this email. This situation can be avoided if you have some text or draft email prepared beforehand that phrase things nicely.  A lot of the time it comes down to character and that's why telephone conversations are generally better than email. The cottage owner should ideally have telephoned if possible or requested the telephone number and had a conversation.

It is important to remember that the first contact you have with a potential guest creates an impression. People expect to be treated courteously, and if you don't, someone else will and will also get the business.

This just serves to remind us that there is so much more  to running a successful self catering country cottage business than simply letting a cottage.