Template for keeping track of bookings!

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ElleDee
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Joined: Tue Feb 21, 2017 6:34 pm
Location: Seton Sands

Template for keeping track of bookings!

Post by ElleDee »

I am a newbie starting to rent out our static caravan and trying to create a spreadsheet, basically to track names, dates, deposit received etc, contacting cleaner, paying cleaner and so on. Does anyone have a template they could let me have, or advise what sort of fields I should put in to a spreadsheet to make sure I capture all stages of a rental?

Thanks in advance!
ElleDee
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NeatandPicky
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Location: Pissouri Bay, Cyprus
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Post by NeatandPicky »

Hi ElleDee

Rather than use a spreadsheet, can I recommend e-Richard's PIMS? http://holidayrentalmanagement.com/

Only £29 a year for the Lite version. You can set up template emails, record contact details, keep track of your calendar (and crucially avoid double-booking), generate 'to do' lists, reminders, income tracking, etc etc. In terms of organisation, and time-saving it's brilliant.

If you're interested, let me know and I'll PM my referral code to give you an extra 3 months on your first year's subs.

Nikki
Joanna
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Post by Joanna »

+1 for PIMS - it helps you avoid double booking and the calendar can be used in your own web site and most listing sites so they all automatically show your current availability.

You set up your list of tasks in PIMS (the key ones are already in there) Specify the number of days before/after arrival/departure and then it creates a to do list for you and reminds you which tasks are due when. It sends daily emails listing today's tasks.

There are other booking management tools out there too so I suggest a bit of research. I do recommend starting off with something like PIMS. Otherwise you'll spend loads of time trying to get it to work in Excel and then have to do it all again in PIMS (or something similar).
Jo

Joint owner of Baker's Cottage in Chester & Chandler's Cottage in Sidmouth
Jenster
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Post by Jenster »

I only have one small property and find that a spreadsheet is perfectly adequate for my needs. I like having it all set out in front of me in one place.

I am always sure to enter every booking as soon as it arrives and always refer back to the spreadsheet before I accept any booking to be sure I don't double book. I back it up on dropbox so have access anywhere and in case my computer goes down.

The fields I use are:

Lead guest name
Lead guest email
Lead guest phone
Lead guest address
booking start date
booking end date
number of nights
number of adults
number of children
names of everyone staying
total rental fee
deposit amount
deposit paid (tickbox)
balance amount
balance due date
balance reminder date
balance reminder sent (tickbox)
balance paid (tickbox)
directions and guest info sent (tickbox)

I do my own changeovers but you could add columns for book cleaner, pay cleaner etc as you need. you can set it up so that any overdue dates are highlighted in red, so you can easily see where you are.

I have a central calendar and automatically update all others from there - and am always sure to update the central calendar as soon as a booking comes in, again to guard against double bookings. You need to check back to the central calendar when a booking request comes in, just in case the other calendars have not updated yet.

As I have only one property I am quite good at keeping it all straight in my head and have a good 'visual' memory of my calendar, so I usually have a pretty good idea of which weeks are already booked when another booking comes in. This acts as another check to avoid double bookings.

Hope this helps
Jenny
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