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
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