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:

• 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

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.

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