Online Reservation system - do we need one??

How to communicate with your potential renters - how to turn site visitors into enquiries, and enquiries into bookings.
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greenbarn
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Online Reservation system - do we need one??

Post by greenbarn »

I'm currently taking a long hard look at the booking management system I use, which is a bit of a curate's egg.

I've had a good look at e-richard's system, and it has a lot to offer. I've also looked at the demo system from holiday-bookings-online, which I think HelenB has mentioned, and I like a lot of the features on there as well.

H-B online offers what it says - an online booking, or reservation only, system. The question is, do I need one??

We don't want to lose personal contact and control of our bookings, so we would intend only to use the system to enable prospective guests to place a reservation, with or without a deposit (to be decided) which we could then confirm or decline. The H-B online system seems flexible enough to offer all of that, and with what seems a nice feature of displaying prices by mousing over the dates, so good for " a week is £X, midweek is £Y, weekend is £Z".

Have those who have implemented online reservation/booking systems found a significant difference to their bookings? I can see the argument that if you make it easy for someone looking for accommodation to book, they're more likely to choose to do so, but has anyone found this to be the case in practice? I'm less concerned with reducing the hassle of booking ping-pong than with clinching bookings that we might otherwise lose.

This would be quite a step in how we run our three cottages, so I'd like to get it right, and any experiences, advice and suggestions would be very welcome.

Many thanks!
Hells Bells
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Post by Hells Bells »

Greenbarn, I take very few bookings from my system without any contact from them first. Most check dates prices or want to ask questions, just like any other. Most of the time I answer their questions, send them the link to the calendar and they book from there. I can't day whether it has made a difference, because I have used it from day 1,,although I think it concentrates them into booking promptly, as I naturally warn them that ther availability is live, and can be booked by anyone viewing the website at any time. On only one occasion has someone been disappointed like this though, and I was able to find them an alternative apartment
The ones that book without contact tend to be repeat guests.
You still have the opportunity to refuse the booking and return the deposit, as Paypal will then refund the fees too. I have done so twice.
You don't have to use PP, I believe you can link it to other systems too.
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greenbarn
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Post by greenbarn »

Thanks HelenB - that's useful. It sounds like you're doing what we would want to and maintaining the personal contact.
HelenB wrote:
I think it concentrates them into booking promptly, as I naturally warn them that ther availability is live, and can be booked by anyone viewing the website at any time.
Now that is an interesting benefit that hadn't occurred to me - although it's blindingly obvious! :roll: I suppose going to a ditherer's dates and marking them as provisionally booked to induce a bit of panic might be a bit sneaky...... :twisted:

From what I've seen of the demo system, it allows you to specify just about any payment method you want, with cheque being the default but Paypal and BACS as easy alternatives/additions.

Have you found anything that the system doesn't do for you that you'd really like as an extra feature on either the reservation or management aspects?
Hells Bells
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Post by Hells Bells »

When I first used the system, I cam across a couple of things, but usually when I enquired about it, someone was in the process of designing it for the system. Discount system can be a pain occasionally but it is usually my fault for not setting the conditions properly. Only thing I have asked for is for the system to inform me when I have emailed an invoice to a guest, you can now opt to receive a copy of the invoice.
Hells Bells
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Post by Hells Bells »

A further benefit is that you can now automatically update your Holiday Lettings calendar too.
bentisdall
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Is there a booking system that's multi-lingual?

Post by bentisdall »

My problem with all the bookings systems is they seem to be just in English when the majority of my clients are French. Has anyone found a multi-lingual one or even a French system?
In the meant time I'm just using Google Docs with a spreadsheet that I can access from anywhere and Cecile and Francine who do the turn-around, cleaning etc can also access from France.
Marie-Ann & Paul
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Post by Marie-Ann & Paul »

Helen....others,

I am in the process of buiding my website and will include an online booking calendar with paypal etc and I would be interested to know roughly how much people charge for such websites. I assume is more based on an annual fee?

I will be transparent, when I have finished my site I would like to be able to recoup some of my development costs by selling the basic site implementation to other like minded users and have no idea how much this may reasonably be and would welcome any guidance as to typical costs.

BTW I am not developing such a capability from scratch but am integrating a well established 3rd-party calendar/booking component into my site. It gives option for paypal but also manual booking (cheque or online banking - better for repeat business as no paypay % to be paid).

PS. for those who may have followed our plan to startup a holiday let business in other posts. Current status is we have secured funding from bank, found property and made offer, this has dragged on and we are this week trying to force closure/acceptance. Working on assumption it will go ahead (forever optimistic or misguided!) I am working to finish website with lots of late nights.

Thanks
Paul.
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Mountain Goat
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Post by Mountain Goat »

I will be transparent, when I have finished my site I would like to be able to recoup some of my development costs by selling the basic site implementation......any guidance as to typical costs.

Perhaps £15k-£20k basic costs, a hard slog over 2 years, at least 30 others to test and offer constructive feedback and then have a look at the existing systems which have done the same thing and can be purchased for around £100/year having ironed out most of the bugs?

MG
ruemeyerbeer
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Post by ruemeyerbeer »

I personally was quite new to it all, so used a management system from rentalsystems , it's a UK company- they charge me 2% of all bookings (10 if they generate it themselves), and no yearly "management fee". you can build your website with them for free and they will advertise your property on their own (not so fantastic) rental websites. clients seem to like it because they can select most credit cards as a method of payment (instead of transferring cash to someone they dont know on the other side of the world) and it makes my life alot easier with collecting depostits, notifying the property manager, exchanging arrival details, contacting the client, rgiving discounts...everything really can be done using one portal linked to my homepage, instead of running around from booking site to booking site.
i dont know if anyone else if familiar with it, because it seems quite unknown when i look at this forum. but so far, i've seen nothing better, and i always get my money when I want it (most impoortant :wink: ).
It is linked to my french property website (www.rentalsystems.com/book/nicerental) you can see it in action on the booking page and see if it works for you. anyone's feedback would be appreciated, if you think i could be using something better (no sales pitches please, owners only)
if you want to try it, us this link: rentalsystems.com/default.asp?rag=52199H&rcam=textlink

[edited to remove active link]
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