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Home > Vacation Rental FAQ
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Is online booking a legal contract?
YES. This is called e-commerce. When selling something online, the buyer or guest has to agree with your terms and conditions, or online contract. This is used everyday, millions of times by every web site selling online. Please contact your attorney if you have more legal questions about online contracts.
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I want to talk to the guest before they book with me. Is this still possible?
YES. This is just a tool. You have to still advertise, talk to your prospects and direct them to book online with you on your site. If someone does book online and you have not spoken to them you can call them BEFORE you Confirm the booking to ask any questions you want. You are in total control of who stays in your property.
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Do I need to have a merchant service (take credit cards) to make this work?
It is highly recommended to use a merchant service. Our service is integrated with eCom Merchant Solutions. They have very competitive rates and the merchant service allows you to operate like all the other places online, by taking credit cards online. Our stats show us the owners/managers that are taking online bookings with credit card processing have much higher booking ratios and higher gross rents.
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Why are credit cards better than taking checks?
It is faster and the prospects want to use them. If it was a better solution to take checks, don't you think the major sites would accept them. With the speed and ease of use, not to mention the guest prefer this type of transaction, it will help your booking ratios when you take credit cards online.
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Do I have to download software on my computer?
NO. This program is web based. It is available to anyone with an Internet connection. So any owner or guest can book online or check there bookings from any Internet connection.
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Do I still need to advertise after I join www.ivacationonline.com?
YES! The key to success is proper marketing and an online reservation system. The marketing makes your phone ring or emails come in, the online reservation system allows fast bookings and to run your business. This will help automate your entire process.
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Can I offer discounts or make changes to my prices?
YES. The system has online COUPON CODES to allow you to change your pricing or offer discounts as you see fit. You can have this promoted on your site or only give them to prospects you want to have them.
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How do I enter a booking?
That is the good news! You don't! The prospect comes to your site, you have set up your online reservation site with your terms, rates, photos etc. The prospects picks the dates, enters all the data, name address, number of guest and then puts in the credit card information. They do all the data entry. Once completed the system notifies you by text and email that you have a booking. You CONFIRM or DECLINE the reservation with the touch of a button. NO MORE DATA ENTRY!
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Can I use this if I only have one property?
YES. This system is built for owners of one or more properties. It should be the first place you list. Then you have a system to accept reservations and now you can start advertising. It is very gratifying to have a reservation come in with thousands of dollars in your checking account after setting up your first unit. An owner with one property can now compete against the large hotels and online booking sites.
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Why do I need online booking for my vacation rental?
To survive! Everyone wants things faster. If you are still emailing documents back and forth and waiting on checks to arrive in the mail, other owners are taking online bookings and out performing you. Ask someone who has booked online who they would rather book with. They will tell you the owner with online booking. If you wanted to fly and booked a ticket with an airline, would you want them to tell you to wait until they email you a document and then you have to write a check and mail it back to them? Think about it. Where is this business going to be in 5 years. Online reservations will be the industry standard.
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