Do I need PIMS?

How to communicate with your potential renters - how to turn site visitors into enquiries, and enquiries into bookings.
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Normandy Cow
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Do I need PIMS?

Post by Normandy Cow »

Up until now I have managed to handle the rentals using a simple spreadsheet system which I designed myself and know inside out.

But I keep seeing people singing the praises of PIMS, and I am also toying with the idea of allowing people to book and pay online.

So... Should I dip my toes in the water? The "lite" version is (sort of) within my budget, but I guess that if I want to take online bookings I'll have to go for a higher price band and I don't know whether I can really justify the extra cost as after 9 years of rentals, I don't really feel I HAVE to change my systems, apart from the online booking aspect (and that is not really essential, just a whim).

Please - Advice needed! I'm revamping my website, should I go the whole hog and spend money and time customising PIMS too? :?
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kendalcottages
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Post by kendalcottages »

Yes, you should dip your toe in the water!

You don't have to have it of course... but it would make your life a lot easier, I'm sure.
Kendal Holiday Cottages Ltd., Kendal, Cumbria - between the Lake District & the Yorkshire Dales.
Annew
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Post by Annew »

Yes! :D
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la vache!
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Post by la vache! »

If you really want to go for it you need the whole version. I chose it initially because I wanted an independent availability calendar for my new website as WP had nothing suitable and I don't want to use one from a listing site. You can customize the colour of your availability calendar and rate table to match your website (important for us girls!) and it saves a lot of time because it is automatically updated when you take a booking as is the rates table when you change your prices on PIMS.
I think I will also benefit from the reports because at the moment I have no exact stats on where my bookings come from. I already have a payment system so I don't need the online booking, but I'd imagine it would be invaluable if you choose to go the PIMS route.
e-richard
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Re: Do I need PIMS?

Post by e-richard »

Normandy Cow wrote:Up until now I have managed to handle the rentals using a simple spreadsheet system which I designed myself and know inside out.
Normally, my answer to this is: "if it aint broke, why fix it". If your system is working and things are not going wrong, then why change ?

Mind you, I just looked at your website which is displaying a rate card for 2010 :shock:

Its actually quite surprising how much time one spends on manual Excel solutions, and how vulnerable one is to missing out little details. For example, the PIMS rate card inside your website can be set up to just automatically show the current 12 months (or 15 months or whatever), and then you can forget about that niggly detail.

In my own case, if I were not using PIMS for my own (two) rentals, I just don't know how I would have had the time to develop, maintain and support PIMS :wink:
** Richard
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pambon
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Post by pambon »

I shall follow this thread with interest as I am also seriously considering investing in PIMS this winter when I have to get a new laptop. It has been suggested to me that the 'lite' version is sufficient for my needs.

I am not so concerned with the calendar as I am with all the other 'extras' that I need to make a note of for each arrival and which I am now finding it uncreasingly difficult to remember without checking and re-checking the correspondence :oops: (arrival time, taxi required, airport bus times with offer to pick-up at bus terminal, food to get in, double bed or two singles etc etc). On the payment side a reminder for when the balance is due with the amount would also be helpful:)

Like NC I have 'developed' my own 'system' on a Publisher Calendar on which I now have to note down all these extras for each arrival. I just click on the month to see the needs of guests for each arrival; this only works if I remember to keep it up to date - which I don't:( In fact just last week I had to spend about an hour updating it from all the correspondence because my gut feeling told me something was missing.........it was!

(Does it also dish out new young brains :wink:) My GP says there is nothing wrong with my memory, but I defy him.
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Normandy Cow
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Re: Do I need PIMS?

Post by Normandy Cow »

e-richard wrote: Normally, my answer to this is: "if it aint broke, why fix it". If your system is working and things are not going wrong, then why change ?

Mind you, I just looked at your website which is displaying a rate card for 2010 :shock:
I know! :oops: :oops: :oops:
I used to use wordpress for my website, but I forgotten how to access it and lost the password etc so can't update it. It got to the point where I could either try to fathom out what went wrong and re-learn how to maintain it, or start afresh - which is what I have done using weebly: http://legaillon.weebly.com/ (this site is not yet live).

I am really happy with weebly, initially because it is so simple to use, but the real dealbreaker for me was that it automatically creates a smartphone version without me having to do any extra work - I have tested it on my iPhone and it seems to work like a dream (but I am going to start a new LMH thread to ask people with Android smartphones to test it for me too).

I quite like the simple way I now display my rates and availability - BUT (and it's a big but!), i've found that weebly cant display any of it on my iphone version.

So Richard, the main question for me is - will I be able to embed the rates and availability within a weebly website, and if so, will it display on the iphone version? (I see that LV's calendar is available on her iPhone version, but I don't think she used weebly to create it).
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French Cricket
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Post by French Cricket »

NC, you took the question right out of my mouth :lol: And I'll also add: is it possible to embed the forms within Weebly too?
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Normandy Cow
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Post by Normandy Cow »

French Cricket wrote: And I'll also add: is it possible to embed the forms within Weebly too?
I think, probably - YES, YES, YES!!! :D :D :D

Richard has just sent me the code to embed the calendar into weebly, and it works, not just on my main website, but also on the iPhone!!!!!! 8) 8) 8) (See http://legaillon.weebly.com/new-page.html ).

Thanks Richard - it looks like I'm one step closer to being a PIMS convert!

So, next question, if I use it to take credit card bookings, does it do this via Paypal and how much does it cost to accept CCs?
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French Cricket
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Post by French Cricket »

That's neat, NC. Looks much nicer than the previous one you'd embedded. If you don't mind me saying so. :lol: Presume you just added that as an html element?

I'm okay in principal with the weebly forms, which have done me fine this year, but they're a bit clunky to look at and not exactly elegant.
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Post by la vache! »

The PIMS availablility calendar and rate table were the only ones I could find that could be made to fit a mobile device.
I'm glad it works on Weebly too NC!
I agree with FC that the calendar looks far nicer than the PG one you are currently using. Although I'd change the colour to something like Kendal Khaki to match your colour scheme :wink:
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Post by cambalala »

Normandy Cow wrote: So, next question, if I use it to take credit card bookings, does it do this via Paypal and how much does it cost to accept CCs?
Yes, It does do this via paypal. Although I've embedded my own payment link to monsterpay but PIMS is definitely more suited to taking paypal payments. So your fees will be whatever paypal charges you.

I left a very good piece of booking software to use pims and I'm not sorry that I did so. PIMS is evolving with every release. Richard is always ready to listen to feature requests that would enhance his system.

I've mentioned this before, but I'll mention it again.... the most powerful aspect of pims for me are the tasks and email templates.

*snip from my review on the PIMS site*
Task management. (Especially with the new booking level tasks as per v6.0)
With pims tasks you will never forget to do anything regarding bookings again. You'll always be on top of what stage of a booking you are at. (Whats been done and what still has to be done.)

3) Email templates. (Never copy/past incorrect information again.)
I save an estimated 30 minutes per booking thanks to this feature alone. Sending a prepopulated email is done in seconds. I've set up template emails for every stage of my booking process. The booking details are automatically populated on the email templates so I can't put incorrect dates etc as I've done so many times in the past.

;-)

good luck with your decision.
www.cambalala.com - 3D Virtual Tour
Website On: Wordpress.
Booking Software: PIMS) - Yay!
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Normandy Cow
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Post by Normandy Cow »

cambalala wrote:good luck with your decision.
Oh cambalala, I made the decision, and dipped my toes in with the Lite version through the autumn. Loved it, and so I took the plunge and paid for the Gold membership about 6 weeks ago.

My only regret is that I didn't go for gold from the start. :lol:
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cambalala
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Post by cambalala »

LOL. Sorry, didn't notice how old this post was :-)
www.cambalala.com - 3D Virtual Tour
Website On: Wordpress.
Booking Software: PIMS) - Yay!
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