Online Booking Software & Reservation Calendar - Best Practices

Sept. 7, 2009 - PRLog -- Now that your have your own online booking software including the Reservation System and Availability Calendar, you should improve your information and business processes.

This document is both a Checklist for what you should do when you have started with WebReserv. It also includes a second section, which has to do with what we consider Best-Practices when you are moving into the world of receiving online bookings.

The goals of the Checklist and Best-Practices are to help you increase your income and rentals, and secondly to help you make the process of booking on your website as simple as possible.




Checklist
You should complete the tasks on this checklist to ensure you get the most out of your new WebReserv online booking system.
We recommend you print this checklist and perform every task on it to promote your online bookings as much as possible.  


Checklist Item  Completed  
Register your business on at least 10 internet free business listing websites
Why:
Your website is your best & cheapest way of receiving bookings – no advertising costs, no work answering calls or emails – you get the bookings direct into your system. So you want as many people to be able to find your business on the internet as possible.
Examples:
- To find places you can register free – search on Google for “free business listings”
- Google have their own free business listing system – Click Here
- Yahoo has the same – Click Here    
Release some news regarding your new booking system on at least 5 free news websites
Why:
News is a great way of getting other websites to refer to your website.
They require relevant news – but your new online booking system is real news.
Example:
Header for news :
Your_business_name now has online bookings.
Body for news:
Your_business_name is proud to announce that we can provide online bookings 24/7……
NOTE:To find websites where you can register free news – try searching on Google for “free news websites”    
Add information regarding your new online booking system to any printed advertising you have.
Why:
You want to promote your online booking system as much as possible, also, you want to minimize your work handling bookings – an online booking should cost you nearly no processing time, while calls and emails do.
Also, if you advertise on some business listing websites, make sure you link from those to your online booking pages on your website.
Example:
Similar to your email footer (see further down)
– it’s actually a good idea to make your footer and the online info on your printed material have the same look and feel.
   
Email all your previous customers that they can now book online
Why:
You possibly have 1000’s of previous customers.
Any reason to contact them and remind them you exist is a worthwhile campaign.
Make sure you keep informational emails to previous customers short and informative.
Note: If you have any promotional deals, offers, discounts, include them in the email as a link.
Example:
Hi,
We just wanted to inform you we have now created an online booking system on our website to help both you and us.
You can book through our online booking system here.
We also have some great offer for this year – click here to read them.

Regards
Your_company_name
Your_web_address
   
Create a new standard footer for ALL the email accounts you send out from.
Why:
This is to ensure that all your emails “promote” your new online booking system, so everyone you email will have a direct link to your booking page.
Example:
You can now book with us online.
To make is easier for both you and us, we have created an online booking system on our website.
Simply click this link to book online.
(NOTE: The last underlined statement should be a link to your website, or your websites booking page directly)    
Change you telephone answering machine and mobile message
Why:
To ensure people are informed they can book online when you can’t answer the phone(s).
Example:
“Thank you for calling us, we are unable to answer your call at the moment.
If you are looking to make a reservation, please go to our website where you can book directly online.
Our website address is your_website_name.”    


Best-Practices

There are some Best-Practices that we have become aware of, as we have helped hundreds of businesses implement the online booking system and seen what works and what does not work.


Try to stop your customers having to jump around your website for the information they need before making a booking.
You can achieve this by having ALL the following information ON ONE PAGE for each product/service:

Describe the product – choose your words with care – your words are what describes what is great about your offerings

Pictures – show some GOOD pictures of what they are renting on the page - don’t force them to some other page to see the pictures

Prices – Tell them the prices on the same page – again, don’t force them to some other page

WebReserv Reservations Calendar – paste it directly into this page – again, don’t force them to some other page


Keep updating information regarding your products on your webpage(s)
Every time you receive a call or an email for more information, ask yourself “How can I add this information on the web page for this product so I don’t have to keep answering it?”
This is an ongoing task – but doing it should get reduce the number of questions you receive.

Remember - If all a customers questions are answered on your website, then they will most likely book with you

Use Discount codes
Use the discount codes in the WebReserv Booking System (back-office) in conjuncture with email campaigns to previous customers.
You like being booked far in advance, and discount codes are a great way to achieve this.

Offer a discount for online-bookings
If you are not getting enough online bookings, even after doing all we have said in the checklist, then you may want to offer, for example, a 5 euro discount for online bookings.
Just ask us at WebReserv how you can set the system up for this.

Create Facebook, twitter or any other net-work account(s)
It’s a great way of staying in contact with your previous customers, they can link to you, even add pictures etc.
It’s a great free advertising opportunity for you.
You can even have a link to your website from face book, and your booking system webpages.

Turn down your advertising as you receive more bookings through your own website
You probably advertise with several websites where it costs either cash up-front or a high commission.
If you are using booking portals such as bookings.com, etc, then remember you are paying a high advertising cost (8%->20%) while at the same time promoting their business more than your own.
If you create yourself a good Internet presence by doing all the items on the checklist, you should be able to slowly stop using these expensive advertising channels.
On top of that, these channels often are a pain to keep updated on availability.

Partner with local businesses that are not competitive.
The WebReserv Reservation Calendar can be placed on any website, not just your own.
So, for example, if your business is providing horse riding sessions, why not speak to some local accommodation places, hotels, hostels, etc and ask them if they want to add a “horse Riding” page to their website for a small commission you give them.
You can then provide them with some descriptive text, some pictures and the Availability Calendar that can be placed directly on their website.
You can even track where your bookings come from by adding a parameter to the booking widget on their website!
Ask us at WebReserv how you can do this – it is a lot easier than you think!


At WebReserv, we are geared at trying to help you receive more bookings, reduce costs, and making your business run smoothly and hassle free.

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WebReserv was founded in 2004 to innovate a better and more flexible online booking system. In 2007, we opened WebReserv.eu to handle the European community.
Our vision is simple: There is no need to install or manage complex software.