General Help and Questions

Sort by

• Newest Reply
• Newest Topic

Sam, I will try to find out a little more information. He did say maybe it was something on his side. Since I don't understand some of these things, I figured I would just copy and paste his statement. I know one little word that is misplaced could make a difference, when it comes to these things.

Claudia

Claudia, as it happens, we have an Apple machine in the office w/ Chrome already loaded. I tested a public quote form from start to finish. Zero problems. It looks perfect and went all the way through smoothly. Please let me know if your guest forwards any screenshots or mentions anything specifically. It might be a problem on their end with an extension or plugin they have installed. ~Sam

On Windows, we test for Chrome, Firefox, IE8+ and Safari. On Apple, we test Safari and Firefox. Chrome on Apple should be (theoretically) identical in rendering behavior as Chrome on Windows. Did your guest provide any more information? I'd love to know what they meant by "doesn't see to work". Rendering issues? Buttons didn't work? ~Sam

Here is a email I received from a guests trying to book online...

You might want to tell your booking agency that it doesnt seem to work on Apple computers using the Chrome browser.

Thanks,
Claudia

Hi Claudia,

It CAN be done, certainly, but there are no plans for that kind of thing right now. Auto-complete is what it's called, and it's a great suggestion.

-Michelle

Is it possible to have it auto fill a previous email address or name? I am not sure if Auto Fill is the correct term. You know when you start to enter something and the computer searches for what it might be and starts to fill it in?

That would then let us know that the email address or name is familiar with the system, thus letting the owner know that we had a previous dealing with them. Whether it was just an inquiry or an actual booking.

Can this be done?

Claudia

Not that specifically, but we'll be adding CRM features in the future that merge all the bookings, quotes and inquiries for a guest into a single contact history so you can see things like this.

-Michelle

Thanks for the ideas. Please do send me a copy of your spreadsheet. I can't guarantee that we would produce the exact same report for you, but it may expand our idea-base.

-Michelle

I was looking over your report section, for what will be coming up. I wanted to see if you had the usual, standard information. For examaple:

Will you generate a report which basically provides...

Date of Contract
Name / Total People
Dates of Rental
Actual Price
Taxes Paid
Total w/o Sec. Dep.
CC/CK
Website
Paid
PAYPAL
Balance Owed
Cleaning Fee
Credit Card Fee
Damage Insurance
Real Total - After Cleaning Fee
Email Address
Nts Rented
Website
Comments
Total for Listing Bookings

All of the above, going across, in a row?

This what I currently have that I call my BIBLE. It is not in a report form, but in an EXCEL spreadsheet. When it comes time to pay for the taxes, it is all there, calculated already.

This spreadsheet is a VERY QUICK and easy glance at EVERYTHING that is happening with my bookings. All the information is basically on this one speadsheet.

If you are interested in seeing it, please let me know and I will send it to you, so you have a better idea what I am looking at.

Thanks,
Claudia

I don't know if you have this in the works already, but do you have where the system alerts the owner that the email address or Full Name inquiried previously?

This always helps to go back in "history" and see what happened with that previous request. Did they book? Did we have a conversation and it didn't work out?

Thoughts?

Claudia

Great!

You guys are all doing such a great job! You are very fast, too. Well, from what I see since I began here.

Claudia

Small stuff, and it's going to be fast. Mostly small tweaks, grammar fixes, enhancements. Your request to have a fixed amount for the first payment was included.

-Michelle

Can I ask what is currently in the works for the next sprint?

Thanks,
Claudia

I will forward this to Tim in merchant services.

-Michelle

PS. If you have any questions or comments about your merchant account, please email merchant-services@ownerreservations.com. Or you can keep posting in the forum!

Hi Claudia,

You're right. We'll have that updated to be clearer.

-Michelle

Wording on this page needs to be modified. If they paid by check, it still states "Booking charges will be listed on your credit card statement as Claudia Vacation Home." Maybe it could say... "Booking charges will be listed on your credit card statement as Claudia Vacation Home, if paid via credit card.", instead.

Billing Details

The total charge for this booking is $1,362.50 of which $1,362.50 has been paid. A separate email is sent for each payment that is made, listing the details. Booking charges will be listed on your credit card statement as Claudia Vacation Home.

Thanks,
Claudia

Thank you, Sam.

Claudia

Claudia, open the booking -> Security Deposit tab -> Change Scheduled One -> Delete. If you know that they want to buy your insurance before booking, you can also turn off the security deposit on that specific quote. That will ensure that no security deposit is ever scheduled in the first place. Look at Quote -> Billing Details.

Thx,

~Sam

Hi Michelle,

Can you shut off my AMEX. I don't want the extra fees.

Thanks,
Claudia

How do you shut off the Security Deposit for a booking, if I wanted to collect for the Damage Insurance instead of a HOLD on their card?

Exactly. You can have as many open quotes as you want for the same dates. When the guest clicks through the acceptance/payment form and finalizes it, THEN it becomes a booking.

Remember, quotes and bookings are not the same thing. Quotes LEAD to bookings.

-Michelle

Since I created the booking, then it caused it to do that. If I created a QUOTE and then he said he wanted to book, then really, it is not booked until they click on book and move through the process, at that time. Thus, it would not show as booked until THEY book it and move through the process.

The only time it would be an issue is if they indicate that they will pay via check.

Claudia

If a booking is canceled, for lack of payment or any other reason, any quote for the same dates automatically re-opens and becomes available.

So if someone books, causing other quotes for the same date range to go into "preempted" status, and the first person cancels, those other quotes will return to "open" status.

-Michelle

This could be a problem....

The system cannot allow quotes to be open for dates that are already booked because you would risk getting double booked.

Consider the following scenario...

Person A accepts the quote and wants to pay by check. Their booking is pending while you're waiting on their payment to arrive.

Person B asks about the same dates so you create a quote and send it to them. They accept the quote. Now you have two bookings for the same dates.

You would either have to cancel one of their bookings and send their check back, or try to place them in a different property. Either way, it would be annoying to the guest and create confusion in your records.

The vast majority (over 95%) of the bookings that come through our system are paid for by credit cards up front. So there are very few times when someone has booked but hasn't paid yet. Most of the time, their booking is entered simultaneously when they submit their credit card payment.

-Michelle

Can you hold off on stating PREEMPTED, until the payment and rental agreement is signed? Sometimes, people change their minds and they don't tell you, until you don't receive something and then they eventually tell you.

Can you have it go into a PENDING state? I still send out quotes, even after booked, until I receive payment and the rental agreement.

Claudia

Yes, the system makes sure that bookings cannot be double-entered. This is a core tenet of the system. No two bookings can cover the same dates.

If you have open quotes for a set of dates and a booking is created for the same dates (either the exact same date range or several of the same days), the other quotes instantly change status to "Preempted". If the guest opens the payment form for a "Preempted" quote, they see this message:

https://app.ownerrez.com/forms/quotes/67fe14fc904a4086bd435c68e8e89915

When inquiries come in for dates that are already taken, the overview screen of the inquiry will show that it's not available. You'll see - right in the middle of the page - a calendar strip showing what they dates they requested and that it's partially taken. The text right above that says "Not Available". And if you click over to the Answer page, you'll notice that it pre-fills a message to the guest saying that.

-Michelle

Is there a way that system tells you that the dates are not available due to XXX booking it? Or awaiting payment?

I just Created a booking for Memorial Day. A few minutes later, an inquiry came in for the same time frame. I don't see where it says that it is not available.

Claudia

Ok, I see what you're referring to. The General Info tab is showing you the original expired date and mentioning that that date has passed. But that's not the status. Look at the Overview tab for that quote and you'll see it says "Booked". Or look at the quotes grid (click on the Quotes menu) and you'll see the status shows "Booked" there as well. I'll file a request with the dev team to change the wording slightly in the General Info.

-Michelle

It was as I suspected (what I mentioned above). You're having the listing site (HomeAway) send your inquiries to your account-level @inquiryspot email address but not the property-level one.

I'll email you offline more specific information so you can see what I mean.

-Michelle