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
Hi Claudia,
You're right. We'll have that updated to be clearer.
-Michelle
One thing I don't understand is why guests received different emails than we do. Can we receive the same format as they do? For example, when a guests books a reservation, we receive an email that states we have to go into the link to look at the details. Everything seems to be the owner clicking on a link to go to the website. Why? If we wanted to go to the website, we would do that. I am personally, always on the website, so I don't need this link to have me go there to look at the website.
What I need is an email that TELLS me the details on the website, so I can file it, with the details in there. The customer has that email. If I go to the BOOKED and then look at email sent, and then I click on EMAIL Preview for the customer, I have EVERYTHING I need there. Can we have that SAME email that is sent to the customer, sent to us...instead of clicking to see the details?
This happens a lot. Owners clicking to get into website to see details on what transpired. Extra steps to do this.
Thanks,
Claudia
Claudia, can you be more specific about the fields you which the email showed? The payment and booking emails you get (as the owner) should have most of the information on it that the system has.
I know the email is worded "here are some of the details..." at the top, but in truth, most of those emails contain ALL the available fields for the item in question. There aren't any other details to show.
Or do you just not like that it's a different format?
-Michelle
No, I don't like the format for the owners. It doesn't seem to help me in anything that I am doing. I have to always go back and click to see things that I actually need. Plus, filing the emails doesn't do anything - not worth it.
Here is the email we get....
A booking just came in for Claudia's Vacation Home - PA
Here are some of the details...
Guest Name:
Janet Pak
Arrival Date:
Fri Jul 20, 2012
Departure Date:
Sun Jul 22, 2012
Persons:
6 adults and 4 children
Total Amount:
$1,066.57
Reserved By:
Guest
Reserved Where:
Web Form
Get all of the details >>
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Here is the email the customer gets...
You have successfully reserved Claudia's Vacation Home - PA!
Booking Details
Booking #: 252208
Guest Name: Janet Pak
Arriving: 7/20/2012
Adults: 6
Departing: 7/22/2012
Children: 4
Property: Claudia's Vacation Home - PA
Pets: 0
Billing Details
The total charge for this booking is $1,066.57 of which $1,066.57 has been paid. A separate email is sent for each payment that is made, listing the details. Any payments made by credit card will appear on your bank statement as Claudia Vacation Home.
A security deposit of $400.00 is scheduled to be reserved on 7/16/2012.
A digitally-signed copy of the renter agreement will be emailed to you.
Property Location
Address:
448 Maple Court
Tannersville, PA 18372
Open this address in Google Maps | Yahoo Maps | Bing Maps | MapQuest
Congratulations, your dates are confirmed
A few weeks prior to arrival, a Welcome Packet with details on how to enter the townhouse and directions to the townhouse, along with other things you need to know, will be sent out via email.
An Arrival Letter will be sent, a week before your arrival, after the Guest Registration Form is received.
*** RENTERS MUST BE 25 OR ABOVE, unless accompanied by a parent. ***
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask.
Thank you,
Claudia
201 750-1215
Pet Policy
Only dogs allowed.
Pets must have all their shots, tick and flea treatments up to date. Pets must be one year or above in age. Three days before arrival, pets must be treatment for flea/tick control. Barking dogs may have fine imposed.
Pets have extra fee. Pet Addendum is required for rentals to any dogs.
***** PET ADDENDUM (if dog is coming), on last page of Terms and Agreement, must be scanned or Faxed to (201) 215-0742, to complete the reservation. *****
Guest Registration
A Guest Registration Form will be sent out asking for every person ENTERING the townhouse, age (if under 25 yr old) and the license plate numbers of the cars coming. The security dept of the development is now requesting this for every rental. ALL GUESTS AND CARS MUST BE REGISTERED. Parking passes may be issued. Please have this information available. If this will be a problem, please let me know now.
House Parties and Age Restriction
* NO HOUSE PARTIES ALLOWED! ONLY TOTAL NUMBER OF PEOPLE SPECIFIED ON ORIGINAL INQUIRY SENT ALLOWED, unless approved beforehand. ** THIS INCLUDES VISITING GUESTS AND CHILDREN!
Any renter not abiding by above will be evicted, along with everyone in their group, as stated in rental agreement, along a $500 charge. A Guest Registration Form will need to be filled out with any guest entering the townhouse, age and license plate numbers, two week prior to arrival.
****** RENTERS MUST BE 25 OR ABOVE, unless accompanied by a parent. ******
PRINT RENTAL AGREEMENT
Please make sure to PRINT THE RENTAL AGREEMENT that was emailed to you, after you completed your booking. There is a lot of information that you will need for your arrival. Plus, things that you may end up being charged for if not completed during your stay.
If you have not received the email, please let me know and I will send it again.
Check-In & Check-Out
Check-In: 3:00 PM Check-Out: 11:00 AM
If you are interested in earlier checkin or later checkout, there will be an added charge of $25/hour, plus taxes. This is providing there is not a renter arriving or departing that same day. Arrangements must be made, at least, one day prior to arrival date or prior to departure time, so that payment can be made and the cleaning staff can be notified.
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In my opinion, day and night. I also would have some of the details on my email, to know I let them know these details, when I might end up changing them later.
Since you already have this format for them, why couldn't we get the same email? CC our email.
Most of the starter emails I receive, at this time, I delete them. I have to copy and paste the other format so that I could file those emails. Very frustrating for me, right now. Seems like a lot of extra time is being put in. This is not even my busy season yet. It is going to begin in a few weeks. I am concerned about how I am going to do your software and mine old way.
You have a great product, but some things... there is too much going around the software that I am ending up doing two jobs for an inquiry/booking. It gets confusing.
The response letters is frustrating. I am constantly "clicking for details" to even be able to send it manually.
The reason I am frustrated, at this time, is that yesterday I have been away from my computer for a few hours. When I got back I had two bookings and an inquiry. It took me forever to sort through everything and clicking for details to see what happened. I got me thinking that soon I will have one big problem on my hand! When it get busy again, I will not be able to handle all the different clickings for details. I was a little overwhelmed.
Claudia
I see. It's the difference between the booking emails primarily. And you're right - some MAJOR differences there. I thought you were referring to the payment emails that come in later - the scheduled ones.
I get your frustration. Believe me. Email is the big elephant in the room right now. It's all over our radar.
We're working on the 1.0 release right now. ie. 'Beta' is coming off and pricing is going live.
After that, THE VERY NEXT sprint is all email related. Major major email changes coming.
-Michelle
It is the booking emails, it is the response letters (not having the charges broken up on the email) for the owner, it is the not having our own email format for responses (including fonts/color/bold and pictures). It is a few things.
I am going back and forth, back and forth, at this time.
When are you going on pricing?
Claudia
Pricing is going live at the end of this sprint which I don't have a firm ETA on. There is quite a bit we need to do.
It shouldn't affect you much because you created a merchant account with our banking partner. So most of your booking transactions will be free.
-Michelle
Yes, but for my hilton head island villa, most pay by check.
Claudia
What is the pricing for checks? You were mentioning that it is a certain amount, within different ranges of bookings.
Claudia
All bookings, no matter the size or payment type (check or credit card), will have the same pricing tier.
This is the pricing tier: http://i.imgur.com/mshKk.png
So if you have 5 bookings in the month, your bill will be $17.50. If you have 10 bookings, your bill will be ~$25. And so on, depending on the tier you fall into.
But that's assuming every booking is either check or via a credit card account not created by us. Any bookings with credit card payments via a merchant account created by us are always free.
-Michelle
Also, all beta users (ie. anyone with an active account right now) will receive a 25% discount for life on their OwnerRez fees.
When you say per booking... do you mean the month it was booked? Or the month the rental date is on, that month?
In other words, I book 4 bookings in the month of May (2 for July, 2 for September). Does the per month apply for the month of May? Also, does the per month mean all properties? So, for my pocono mountain house I booked 2 - july and 2 - Sept. For my Hilton Head Island villa I booked 1 in August and 2 in October. Does this mean the tally is 6 bookings for one owner for the month of May?
Claudia
The total is figured per account per month. If you have 5 properties and do 5 bookings at each property during the month of May, your May invoice will reflect 25 bookings @ $2.00/per.
-Michelle
OK, thanks.
Claudia
"After that, THE VERY NEXT sprint is all email related. Major major email changes coming.
- Michelle"
Hi Michelle,
Can you give me some examples of the changes in email you are working on? I am really struggling here with the way it is now.
Also, I know you can't give me a date, but can you give me a ballpark as to the date you would LIKE to implement the above sprint?
Thanks,
Claudia
Hi Claudia,
As with all updates, we are tackling small items first and then expanding. This approach allows us to evaluate what we're doing right or wrong quickly without spending 6 months to a year working on a massive feature that may not be needed.
First, we'll be working on small email changes under the covers. We're going to be storing email so that you can see what's been sent. We'll also be adding a simple set of mail merge fields, or "tags" as you call them, so the standard message bodies that are there now can be saved with something different. After that, we'll be setting up a template structure so that you can craft multiple bodies for each type of email form. After that, we'll be expanding to HTML messages (or "rich text") so that you can have your own font and colors and such.
Of course, this could change as we move through the process based on the success or failure of the updates.
You may want to use OwnerRez in parallel with your own email program. In other words, respond to inquiries as you normally would, inside your own Gmail or Hotmail email program, and then use OwnerRez to generate quotes and accept payments. So you talk to the guest and get them to the point where they want to book. At that point, create a manual quote in OwnerRez and send them the link (either copy/paste the payment link into your email or use the quote email form at that point). We have a number of users that do this because they want to maintain their own email style.
-Michelle
Hi Michelle,
Thank you for the update. Can I ask you to include downloads of any pictures we want to include in the body of our email?
I do try to do what you suggested. It is very hard, in some case. For example, when an email comes from HomeAway, since HA only allows you one email address, it doesn't come to my normal email, so that I could answer it from there. I have to go into OwnerRez and try to get the email, then I have to work around trying to send them the quote or not available email. I could take the email out of the HA but then if they do book, then they can't send the payment via OwnerRez. And the scheduled payments won't take place because I entered it manually. Or, am I missing something? I am trying to have it go through the OwnerRez and keep the automatic payment system do it's job. As far as I understand, that can't happen if I create the quote/inquiry myself. Thus, it has to come in through OwnerRez. At least, for now. If I was able to do that, then I can manage it the way you suggest and just have it go through my main email address and then create it myself...for now.
Claudia
A number of things are incorrect about what you just said...
First, you CAN tell HomeAway to send inquiries to more than one email address. Go into your listing on HomeAway, click the Contacts tab and use the dropdown to select "Add New Contact". Then put in your email address. They'll send the inquiries to you and OwnerRez both.
Second, you don't have to have inquiries come into the system in order to create quotes. You can create quotes manually at any time. Hover over the Quotes menu in OwnerRez and click Create New Quote. Then, you can send that quote to the guest, either by sending them the payment form link in your own email or using the quote email form, so they can accept/finalize their booking.
Does that make sense?
-Michelle
Hi Michelle,
When I go in there and go to "Add Contact", I already have another contact with my personal email address. I just hit SAVE and we will see if both OwnerRez gets it and my personal email. However, it was there already and I was not getting the inquiry in my personal email.
I will let you know if it makes a difference that I hit SAVE under the old contact with my personal email.
As for the quote, I quess I was thinking about the previously booked one, before I came on to OwnerRez. Those are entered manually, but they would have to give me their credit card info for me to enter it into the OwnerRez system. They are not done automatically. Correct?
Claudia
