Booking process

[sammyboy]

Well, it seems that I have my first booking, so I replied asking them for confirmation they want to proceed and there address to send booking form,, I was wondering if this was the right way to approach it? any advice would be appreciated!!

[Margaret]

We work the other way around: the booking form is on our website. They have to submit it and pay either deposit or full amount, according to what we require. Once those 2 things have been done, we issue a detailed booking confirmation to the guest. Works for us. We don't bother with getting signatures on bookings but I think most people do.

[Hells Bells]

Booking is also done via my website, and booking form and payment done online.

[Mountain Goat]

If you're in email contact, how about putting together a booking form, with rental agreement, and sending it as an attachment? You can then extract as much info as you need - phone contacts, address, names of guests, ages of kids etc.

In 5 years we've had one booking via the postal service, taking 10 days - had to buy kit like stamps and envelopes.

Do you need a sample booking form? Our is way over the top at 6 pages.

MG

[christinedavid]

so I replied asking them for confirmation they want to proceed

If they had already said they wanted to book, why did they need to confirm it?
As MG suggested, it would be better to use email.You could have put the booking form in your reply email. Now they will have to reply to you and then wait for the post. They might have changed their minds by then and booked somewhere else where it was easier eg they could book online.
I have an online booking system, through Rentalsystems, where their holiday is immediately confirmed and they can pay by debit/credit card. It also provides excellent, legally valid, T's & C's.

[sammyboy]

thanks for replies, of course online is much quicker,I will get on that ASAP, can I also ask at what stage do you change your calender to booked or do you wait until the deposit is in your bank!!

[Margaret]

Only when they have paid! (I do have the facility to mark dates reserved but I don't actually use it).

[christinedavid]

My Rentalsystems calendar is updated as booked straight away, but they only have 24 hours in which to pay their deposit, or the booking is automatically cancelled and the calendar freed up. Quite why they can't pay it at the time of booking I don't know!
I don't update my calendars on rental sites eg Holidaylettings until the deposit is paid. Some owners wait days or even weeks(!) for deposits to arrive. As far as I'm concerned, if someone wants to book then they have to pay the deposit now. If someone else comes along in the meantime and wants to book AND pay the deposit, then the booking is theirs.

[alifrank1]

I do the same as MG. I attach my Booking Form and Terms & Conditions to the email. The guests have to sign the Booking Form at the bottom to say they have read the Terms & Conditions. I then have all their details of names, flights etc and they have to return it to me by post within a few days. They either send a cheque with it or do a bank transfer but I do let them know that I will only hold the booking for a few days. I normally get the deposit back straight away.

[Breton Girl]

If it's not a definite 'we would like to book' I answer the questions and say if they would like to book let me know. I then email a booking form for them to let me have back with the deposit. We don't have any way to receive cc payments but we give the option to tfr into our UK bank account. I usually give a week for this.

I don't show the weeks as booked until deposit is received.

[santamaria]

We have an online booking form, (on our website) and once the form has been submitted, we hold the dates for seven days, allowing time for funds to be cleared, (there are a number of possible payment methods, including cheque). Part of the booking form, contains a part where the person booking needs to confirm terms and conditions have been agreed to.

The seven days, for the holiday maker allows them to ensure flights, time off work all come together. I’m sure there must always be that dilemma of what to firm up first, time off work or booking of accommodation or flights etc

During the seven days, those dates continue to be advertised. Once monies have cleared the availability calendar is then updated. So far this seems to work for us.

[Musetta]

I always make sure to tell them that their reservation is not considered confirmed until I receive both the deposit and the signed booking terms. I always send those by email...guests usually scan or post them back to me singed...and a couple have faxed them.

[Normandy Cow]

guests usually scan or post them back to me singed...

What do they do to your documents to get them in that state????

Sorry Musetta, but I've just been catching up on LMH while eating my muesli - much of which nearly got splattered over my keyboard...