Online Booking Systems - Your Answer to Saving Precious Time


The growth of rental vacation properties has been huge over the last ten years. Many owners have realised there is revenue to be made from their vacation asset. What many do not appreciate however, is the volume of work that goes with renting a property that is frequently miles from home.
There are many ways to manage a rental. From handing over the complete management to an Agency to a total 'hands on' approach. Of course, the more you pass to an Agency the higher they eat into your revenue. Many owners take the easy route and leave everything to the rental agencies that exist in most vacation resorts. From key holding to customer management through actual advertising and sourcing customers.
Those that want to hold on to their revenue like to manage the advertising and bookings themselves leaving only key handling and property maintenance to the Agency. This causes many hours sat in front of a computer managing adverts, enquiries, customers and problems. There is however a middle way. You can save time, effort and money by utilising an online booking system. Of course, there is a cost to such systems but it saves you hours in chasing payments, communicating with customers and dealing with reservations. There are many systems available with varying degrees of integration and flexibility. The key is choosing one that matches your expectations.
Most systems will enable you to take online payments via card direct on your own website through simple uploads. You are then informed when a booking has been processed but the system handles the customer emails automatically saving you precious time, effort and money.
The better systems allow you to use template emails so that you can insert your own text to emails. Search for those that do not charge an upfront fee because your use of the system will then only cost when you actually get something out of it.
Another benefit to look for is the ability to 'insert' your own sourced enquiries. These are the best systems because they are 'open' and don't force you to use their payment gateway each time you process a payment. In effect you get to save time effort and money by using the system without being tied to using it for every booking. Flexibility to fit your way of working is everything.
To summarise, to save time, effort and money look for an online booking system. Use one that manages customers, reservations, advertising and payment processing. Only sign up if it comes with a free trial or has no initial outlay to join. Enjoy the time you gain from using booking software by spending it with family!
Andy Parr is a respected travel professional who specialises in internet marketing. 
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