Over half the places to stay on the Yorkshire Coast can't be reached by email. Here's what that costs.
There's a potential guest somewhere right now who wants to book - but has a question first. Can they bring the dog? Is there parking? Is the accessible room still available?
They go to your website, or your Facebook page, and they look for a way to get in touch. No email address. No contact form. A phone number they're reluctant to call out of office hours.
So they close the tab and book somewhere else. You'll never know they were there.
What the research shows
of Yorkshire Coast accommodation businesses
Have an easily found email address online
of businesses with an email address use a free email service provider
Such as google or yahoo - it reduces trust and gives an unprofessional image
We've looked at over 500 accommodation businesses on the Yorkshire Coast - B&Bs, guest houses, hotels, self-catering and holiday parks from Bridlington up to Whitby.
More than half have no publicly findable email address at all. Not hidden behind a contact form, not buried on a hard-to-find page - simply not there.
Of the 47% who do have one listed, over ¼ are using a free email address such as Gmail or Yahoo as their main contact point.
These aren't small niggles. For a guest trying to decide where to stay, both create friction at exactly the moment you need to remove it.
Why guests email before they book
People who email before booking aren't tyre-kickers. They've already decided they want to come to the coast. They've found you specifically. They just need one quick answer before they commit.
When there's no email to find, one of three things happens. They phone - which many people, especially younger guests and those with specific accessibility needs, actively avoid. They try a contact form if there is one, though forms carry a trust deficit. Or they give up and book somewhere else.
That third option is the most common. And the most invisible. No missed call. No bounced message. No way of knowing you lost a booking.
The 73% of people who start their search on a phone are particularly affected by this. Tapping out a quick email is frictionless. Finding and calling an unfamiliar number on a small screen - while commuting or cooking tea - isn't. If there's no email address to tap, the moment passes.
(Search behaviour figures: BrightLocal Local Consumer Survey 2026, 1,002 US adults.)
The Gmail point
If you do have an email on your website, it's worth checking what it is.
An address like yourguesthouse@gmail.com is significantly better than nothing. But it sends a quiet signal - one a guest may not consciously register but that sits alongside every other impression they're forming. A professional address (@yourguesthouse.co.uk) removes that signal entirely. It's simple to set up through most hosting providers and costs very little.
Not a dealbreaker for most guests. But for someone comparing two similar places to stay, small things tip the balance.
What the fix actually involves
Adding a professional email address to your website is step one. Making sure enquiries get a response within a few hours is step two. A slow reply to an enquiry is almost as damaging as no reply at all.
But there's a bigger opportunity sitting behind the email address question, and it's the one most accommodation businesses miss.
A guest who emailed you a question before booking has already done something interesting. They chose to contact you directly rather than going straight through a platform. If they had a great stay - which guests who take the trouble to ask questions usually do - they are exactly the kind of person you want back next year.
The question is whether you'll have any way to reach them.
September is the time to sort this out
Peak season is winding down. October is when forward bookings for winter and early spring start being made - people planning a winter walking weekend, a Christmas break, something to look forward to.
Getting a professional email address in place and a simple process for capturing guest contact details now means you go into that booking window ready.
We help independent accommodation businesses on the Yorkshire Coast set up the practical side of direct bookings - contact setup, email capture and the campaigns to use it. The autumn bundle special offer runs until October.
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