Notes for owners · Industry playbooks
What buyers check before they book a stay or a caterer
Guests, tenants and event families judge hotels, homestays, PGs, serviced apartments and caterers on the same four checks. Here is what each check looks like and how to pass it.
The GullySales team · Updated 6 Oct 2026 · 5 min read
Rules for this trade differ by state and professional body, and they change. Check the current position with your own council or adviser before you act on anything here.
On this page
Before they book a room, a PG bed or a caterer, buyers make four checks in roughly the same order. Do the photographs look current? Do the latest reviews agree with the photographs? Did anyone reply with the date, the rate and the thing I asked? Was my one worry answered? A place that fails any of these is dropped without a call, so you never learn why. Advertising only gets you onto the shortlist. These four checks decide whether you stay on it.
The same four checks across six trades
The product differs, but the buyer's questions line up closely. The table shows what each check looks like for the six trades the hospitality and accommodation category covers.
| Trade | The photograph they want | The review they read | The question they ask |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hotels | The room they will get, not the lobby | Last month's cleanliness and noise remarks | Is breakfast included, and can we check in early? |
| Resorts and homestays | The road to the gate and the view from the room | Anything about access, network and the host | Can a sedan reach, and is the dog welcome? |
| Serviced apartments | The kitchen and the work desk | Whether the stay matched the listing | What does the monthly total include? |
| PGs | The room, the bathroom and the food counter | What current tenants say about safety and food | Is the rent with food, and what are the gate timings? |
| Caterers | A real plate at a real function | Whether the food arrived on time and hot | Per-plate price for how many guests, and can we taste first? |
| Corporate caterers | The kitchen and the serving line | Hygiene and consistency from other offices | Can we run a trial week before signing? |
Read your own row and ask whether your listing answers it before the buyer has to.
Are the photographs from this year?
A guest compares what they see against what they will meet at the door. A room photographed before the renovation, a PG with the old cots, a caterer showing a stage-decorated buffet from a function that cost four times their usual job: each one costs you a booking and, worse, a review that says "not as shown".
Photograph the working parts. For a PG, that is the bathroom and the dining table at mealtime. For a caterer, a plain steel counter with the food on it, because the family will see that and not the ribbon. Replace the pictures when the property changes, not when someone remembers.
What do the last few reviews say?
Buyers read the newest reviews first and rarely scroll to the old ones. A listing with a good average and nothing from the last two months looks abandoned. One with a dozen recent reviews and a reply under each looks alive.
Ask for a review at the moment of goodwill: checkout, the last meal of the contract, the first month of a tenancy. Ask in person or on WhatsApp, with the link, and never offer a reward for it. Platforms have their own rules on this, so check the platform's current ones.
Who replied, and what did they say?
Buyers write to several places at once, usually in the evening or in a gap at work. For example, a family in Jayanagar fixing an engagement lunch messages four caterers on a Sunday. One sends a per-plate menu, a tasting slot and the three dates still free. One writes "call us" and one replies on Tuesday. The first has the booking before the other two have started.
A good first reply has four parts: the date answered, the rate stated with what it includes, one sentence on the thing they asked, and a next step with a day and a time. Keep this as a saved reply on the business WhatsApp, not in somebody's head.
Did you answer the one question they asked?
Every trade has a worry the listing cannot settle. A homestay guest worries about the road. A PG tenant's father worries about safety after dark. A housing desk worries about what happens if a corporate tenant leaves early. Read your last twenty enquiries and write down the question in each. Four or five questions will repeat. Put those answers on the listing and in the first reply, in plain words.
Say only what you can show. Food, lodging and housing paying tenants all come under licences and local rules that differ by state and body and change, so check with your own authority or adviser before printing a hygiene badge, a star rating or a safety claim.
Who else is in the decision?
The person writing to you is often not the person paying. Check who else sits behind each kind of booking you take.
- A wedding or engagement: the host family, an elder who pays, a planner or banquet hall that recommends you.
- A PG: the new joiner, and a parent asking about safety and food.
- A corporate stay or canteen: an HR, admin or facilities person, with someone in finance who signs.
- A resort weekend: one friend plans. Eight others must agree on the dates.
Ask in the first call, "who else will be deciding?", and offer them what they need: a quote with GST for the finance person, a visit slot for the parent, a one-page pack for the housing desk.
Where to start
Pick the check you suspect you fail. Open your own listing on a phone as a stranger would and read the latest five reviews. Then send yourself an enquiry from a second number and see what comes back. Be honest about it. If you want the whole path from first message to booking read with you, tell us what you need and we will read it before we call. The OTA topic page for hotels and the one on reputation management for caterers cover two of the checks in more detail.
