The May 1st system update has been released. This update includes a new control panel homepage, introduction to our new data quality scoring tools, and an improved tape chart feature.
For more details, please review the 5/1/11 Platform Update release notes.
Please contact support@bookt.com if you have any questions.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
Guest Blog - Collecting Online Payments
Payment processing is an area where vacation rentals are struggling to catch up with the rest of the travel industry. Last summer my family rented a vacation house for 2 weeks in Massachusetts, and I was shocked at how long it took to finalize the payment.
Not only did we need to mail the rental company a physical check and signed contract, it took about 6 months to get the security deposit back. They'd made out the refund check to the wrong name, the bank wouldn't accept it, so we had to mail it back, and so on. You can imagine.
Travelers are still surprisingly patient with vacation rentals, but I don't believe this patience will last much longer. When I launched my own vacation rental site, I knew it was crucial to offer modern (i.e., electronic) payment options.
One reason I decided to work with Bookt was because of their well-integrated payment processing. When I first set up my portal solution, I signed up for an Authorize.NET account with Merchant Warehouse (one of about a million merchant resellers). During my first and only call with their representatives, I electronically filled out the application, e-signed it, and within 24 hours my account was approved.
My Bookt Success Manager explained how to find my special merchant account code, which I then pasted directly into the control panel. Bam! Credit card processing available.
The next step was to figure out when and how I wanted to charge my customers' cards. I've explored two ways of doing this:
I was able to test out the two options by setting up different booking rules in the control panel, and apply them to different properties. I found the first option far easier for both my company and for guests, so that has become our standard.
Because my company offers vacation rental marketing on a non-exclusive basis, I have to be careful about double-booking. I'd hate for a guest to book one of our properties and have their card charged if the property wasn't available. Luckily, it's easy to set some booking rules in the control panel:
I like having the flexibility of being able to double-check availability before anyone's card gets charged, so I go with the first option. Using the Document Templates, you can customize the notifications that get sent to guests, so they're always in the loop about what's going on.
Another reason I don't automatically process cards is because we are adopting a new way of handling security deposits. Rather than collecting the deposit by check or credit card charge up front, we authorize the amount on the guest's card a day before they check in, then release it within a week of their departure (less any damages). It requires a call to the credit card company, but no fees are charged and there is no actual exchange of money.
This authorize-only method is becoming increasingly popular in the industry, and I think it will become the standard soon. As with all security deposit handling, there is a manual element to it, but it's relatively clean and painless.
When you're used to dealing with checks, PayPal, and cash, it can feel like a big a leap to embrace electronic transactions. But with a little faith, plus the tools Bookt offers, we've been able to customize the transaction processes to help our business run more efficiently without stepping too far outside our comfort zone.
Rebecca operates Inhabit Vacations has been a Bookt Platform customer since June 2010
Not only did we need to mail the rental company a physical check and signed contract, it took about 6 months to get the security deposit back. They'd made out the refund check to the wrong name, the bank wouldn't accept it, so we had to mail it back, and so on. You can imagine.
Travelers are still surprisingly patient with vacation rentals, but I don't believe this patience will last much longer. When I launched my own vacation rental site, I knew it was crucial to offer modern (i.e., electronic) payment options.
One reason I decided to work with Bookt was because of their well-integrated payment processing. When I first set up my portal solution, I signed up for an Authorize.NET account with Merchant Warehouse (one of about a million merchant resellers). During my first and only call with their representatives, I electronically filled out the application, e-signed it, and within 24 hours my account was approved.
My Bookt Success Manager explained how to find my special merchant account code, which I then pasted directly into the control panel. Bam! Credit card processing available.
The next step was to figure out when and how I wanted to charge my customers' cards. I've explored two ways of doing this:
- Collect the full payment up front
- Collect only a portion (10%) up front, then the remainder is at a later date
I was able to test out the two options by setting up different booking rules in the control panel, and apply them to different properties. I found the first option far easier for both my company and for guests, so that has become our standard.
Because my company offers vacation rental marketing on a non-exclusive basis, I have to be careful about double-booking. I'd hate for a guest to book one of our properties and have their card charged if the property wasn't available. Luckily, it's easy to set some booking rules in the control panel:
- You can set your booking rules to "Do Not Use a Processor". This means nothing gets charged until you manually push a button.
- You can also have the card get processed immediately when the guest enters their details, if you're confident that you'll never double-book.
I like having the flexibility of being able to double-check availability before anyone's card gets charged, so I go with the first option. Using the Document Templates, you can customize the notifications that get sent to guests, so they're always in the loop about what's going on.
Another reason I don't automatically process cards is because we are adopting a new way of handling security deposits. Rather than collecting the deposit by check or credit card charge up front, we authorize the amount on the guest's card a day before they check in, then release it within a week of their departure (less any damages). It requires a call to the credit card company, but no fees are charged and there is no actual exchange of money.
This authorize-only method is becoming increasingly popular in the industry, and I think it will become the standard soon. As with all security deposit handling, there is a manual element to it, but it's relatively clean and painless.
When you're used to dealing with checks, PayPal, and cash, it can feel like a big a leap to embrace electronic transactions. But with a little faith, plus the tools Bookt offers, we've been able to customize the transaction processes to help our business run more efficiently without stepping too far outside our comfort zone.
Rebecca operates Inhabit Vacations has been a Bookt Platform customer since June 2010
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Scheduled Server Maintenance
Dear Bookt Customers,
The service provider for the Bookt Data Center has notified us that there will be scheduled network maintenance early in the morning on February 14th.
Start time: 4:00am eastern 02/14/11
End time: 7:00am eastern 02/14/11
The total expected downtime is 30 minutes.
During this maintenance window, we will experience one or more brief interruptions in service while they complete the maintenance activities; the interruptions are expected to last less than 30 minutes total. However, due to the complexity of the work, the downtime may be longer.
If you have any questions, please contact support@bookt.com.
The service provider for the Bookt Data Center has notified us that there will be scheduled network maintenance early in the morning on February 14th.
Start time: 4:00am eastern 02/14/11
End time: 7:00am eastern 02/14/11
The total expected downtime is 30 minutes.
During this maintenance window, we will experience one or more brief interruptions in service while they complete the maintenance activities; the interruptions are expected to last less than 30 minutes total. However, due to the complexity of the work, the downtime may be longer.
If you have any questions, please contact support@bookt.com.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Guest Blog - Google Conversion Tracking
Most vacation rental and hotel owners know the power of Google AdWords--those persistent little ads that border Google search pages. Getting in front of someone who is actively searching for accommodation in your area is a great way to capture bookings.
(If you haven't tried out AdWords yet and are curious, spend a little time with the AdWords Online Classroom to get up to speed: http://www.google.com/adwords/onlineclassroom/.)
So let's say you've started running AdWords. What's next? How do you know how much to spend? How do you know if your ads are working? Are people simply clicking on your ad and bowsing, or are your ads generating actual revenue?
The Bookt platform is a powerful tool here, and not just for documenting who comes to your site from where. You probably already know that Bookt captures all lead sources and displays them in your control panel:
What you may not know is that by adding a simple snippet of code, you can see exactly how much money you're earning from your Google AdWords campaign. How, you ask?
It's easy.
First, go into your Google Adwords account and click the tab that says "Reporting & Tools." From there, select "Conversions."
You'll be taken to a page where you can select "+ New Conversion." I named my conversion "Booking," and I set the value of the conversion to 1 (though you could put your average revenue per booking here, if you wanted).
Once this is set up, you'll be able to edit the settings and obtain the unique code Google automatically generates.
Copy this code.
Now, navigate to your Bookt control panel. You'll go to Customize > Website Setup.
From there, you'll see a field halfway down the page that says "Goolge Adwords Conversion Key." Paste your Google code there, click Save, and you're set!
Google will now be able to track every time someone not only clicks on your ad, but also goes through the booking process on your site.
You can see the number of conversions you're getting right on the Campaigns page in your Adwords account. The report above is a sample - it shows that in the last 2 weeks of December, these ads received 133 clicks and 1 conversion (booking). Hey, it's a start!
With better data we can all perform better as businesses. Fine-tuning ads based on what works and doesn't work helps a business appeal to its best customers. And ultimately, connecting with people seeking our hospitality is what online success is all about.
Rebecca R. operates Inhabit Vacations has been a Bookt Platform customer since June 2010
(If you haven't tried out AdWords yet and are curious, spend a little time with the AdWords Online Classroom to get up to speed: http://www.google.com/adwords/onlineclassroom/.)
So let's say you've started running AdWords. What's next? How do you know how much to spend? How do you know if your ads are working? Are people simply clicking on your ad and bowsing, or are your ads generating actual revenue?
The Bookt platform is a powerful tool here, and not just for documenting who comes to your site from where. You probably already know that Bookt captures all lead sources and displays them in your control panel:
What you may not know is that by adding a simple snippet of code, you can see exactly how much money you're earning from your Google AdWords campaign. How, you ask?
It's easy.
First, go into your Google Adwords account and click the tab that says "Reporting & Tools." From there, select "Conversions."
You'll be taken to a page where you can select "+ New Conversion." I named my conversion "Booking," and I set the value of the conversion to 1 (though you could put your average revenue per booking here, if you wanted).
Once this is set up, you'll be able to edit the settings and obtain the unique code Google automatically generates.
Copy this code.
Now, navigate to your Bookt control panel. You'll go to Customize > Website Setup.
From there, you'll see a field halfway down the page that says "Goolge Adwords Conversion Key." Paste your Google code there, click Save, and you're set!
Google will now be able to track every time someone not only clicks on your ad, but also goes through the booking process on your site.
You can see the number of conversions you're getting right on the Campaigns page in your Adwords account. The report above is a sample - it shows that in the last 2 weeks of December, these ads received 133 clicks and 1 conversion (booking). Hey, it's a start!
With better data we can all perform better as businesses. Fine-tuning ads based on what works and doesn't work helps a business appeal to its best customers. And ultimately, connecting with people seeking our hospitality is what online success is all about.
Rebecca R. operates Inhabit Vacations has been a Bookt Platform customer since June 2010
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
New Email Campaign Tools
Bookt is proud to introduce our new Email Campaign tool. This tool is located in the control panel under Market >> Email Campaigns (Beta). This new tool includes several great features such as:
If you have any questions, please contact support@bookt.com
- Open tracking / Click tracking
- Save changes to existing email templates
- Improved mailing list control
- CAN-SPAM compliance
- Campaign scheduling
If you have any questions, please contact support@bookt.com
Friday, September 3, 2010
Server Upgrade Follow-up
Dear Bookt Platform User,
Here at Bookt we’re constantly challenged to continue to adapt to our rapidly expanding user base. In technology speak, we call this “to scale”. A hallmark of a good technology architecture is it is ability to scale. A few weeks we identified that our database servers had become a bottle neck in our data center. A combination of software and hardware changes were planned and implemented. These upgrades were then performed during two pre-announced nightly maintenance windows. If you look at your Control Panel Dash board you will see that our uptime for the last 30 days is 99.97%. Unlike other hosting companies, our uptime metrics does not exclude maintenance window (if your site is down, it is down regardless of the cause). In this case the 0.03% downtime corresponds to the combined 13 minutes we had to bring the systems down to make the necessary upgrades.
So what were the results? Beyond our expectations. The tracking we do in our system isolates several key metrics, and the database avg. response time this week is down to 15ms compared to 150ms prior to the upgrade. That’s a 90% improvement! The end result for you is faster searches on your website and smoother operation in the Control Panel.
As always we value your feedback and try very hard to be open and transparent about how we manage the growing Bookt platform.
Best,
Rob
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Scheduled Maintenance
The number of transactions Bookt processes continues to grow. To support this growth, we will be upgrading our database servers during a scheduled maintenance window.
Start time: 12 midnight eastern on 8/23/10
End time: 2 AM eastern 8/23/10
Expected Outage/Downtime: 15 minutes.
*Due to the nature of upgrading databases, we are asking our customers to refrain from making changes in the control panel during the maintenance window.*
Start time: 3:00am eastern 08/25/10
End time: 7:00am eastern 08/25/10
Expected Outage/Downtime: 30 minutes
During this maintenance window, we will experience one or more brief interruptions in service while the maintenance activities are completed; the interruptions are expected to last less than 30 minutes total. However, due to the complexity of the work, actual downtime may be longer.
Our network operations engineers closely monitor the work and will do everything possible to minimize any inconvenience to you. If you have any problems with your connection after this time, or if you have any questions regarding the maintenance at any point, please contact support at Support@bookt.com
We appreciate your patience during this work and welcome any feedback.
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