How to setup your property and extras if you are an agency
How to setup a property if you are an agency
To add a new property go to your initials > Configuration > Units and select 'new unit'.
NAME
Online: available to book for guests
Admin Area: available to book over the phone
Notify Owners/Housekeepers Automatically: this will allow your owners/housekeeper to receive an email notification of a new booking
Ref/code (optional): this can be used for reporting purposes
Name: enter the name of your property
Unit Type: select what type of unit the property is
On completing click 'OK'.
Double click back into the property and you'll find additional tabs.
DETAILS
Min occupancy (optional): the minimum number of people in the property. If this is left blank this will default to 1.
Occupancy (online): max number of guests for online bookings.
Occupancy (admin area): max number of guests for telephone bookings.
Party Members Inclusive of Price (optional): how many guests are included in the base price, if you are charging for additional people.
Bedrooms and Bathrooms (optional): this information will be pulled through to the search availability function. If this is not active on your account please contact us to find out more!
Further Details Web Address: this can appear as a 'Read more' button on the search results, should you choose this widget type.
After this section you have an area to add in the property key code, parking instructions, directions, arrival times and more. Any information in this section can be pulled into the automated emails.
DESCRIPTION
Any description here will be pulled through to the search results.
IMAGES
You can upload up to 4 images which will be pulled through to the search results.
OPTIONS
Take enquiries only: please contact us if you wish to take enquiries instead of direct online bookings.
Hide category and unit, visual calendar and length of stay: this will remove these sections from the booking process once a guest has selected which accommodation and dates they would like to book.
Pet Friendly: tick here if the property is pet friendly. This will allow guests to filter by pet friendly properties on the search results, and display pet charges for only those that say 'yes' to bringing a dog.
Automatically cancel provisional bookings: this can be enabled after the emails have been configured.
Define Cut Off Period: set how many days notice you require before arrival for online bookings.
Auto Confirm: this will confirm the booking away from the dashboard automatically.
Max Length of Stay: set the max length of stay for online bookings (this can be anything from 1 to 28 nights).
BALANCES
Tick to 'enable balance reminder'
Balance Payable (Days Before Arrival): enter when the balance is payable (for example day 56).
Balance Reminder Email (Days Before Arrival): set when you would like the reminder email to go out (for example at day 63).
NOTES (Optional)
It's optional to store any notes against the property.
COMMISSION
For every property set a default commission rate.
You can set multiple commission rates per property, which you can then amend on a booking after it's been created.
USERS
Once you add in your owners/housekeepers they will be logged here.
LOCATION
Enter the property address (combined) which you can pull through into the emails.
You can also set What3Words. To find out more about how this works please click here.
DOCUMENTS
You can upload documents for internal purposes (such as contracts with owners) or owner accessible documents such as owner statements (which they can view when they log-in).
How to setup an extra if you are an agency
Head over to your initials > Configuration > Extras (under Structure)
Select your category and unit, then select 'new extra'.
DETAILS
Visibility
There are four types of visibility for each extra. By default, online and admin area will be ticked.
Online: shows to guests when booking online
Telephone: shows for you making a telephone booking
Owners: If left unticked this will not appear for owners when they make their own booking in the owner portal, ie. on the extras tab on any bookings they view, along with the extra pricing.
Housekeepers: If left unticked this will not appear on the bookings in the housekeeper log-in area.
Note: the 'Owner' and 'Housekeeper' tick boxes will only be applicable if you are giving your owners/housekeepers access to the software.
Type
There are different types of extras you can create. For example, a tick box extra may be for a cot, highchair or a booking fee. A max number extra could be for dogs, and a dropdown extra could be for different types of hampers you offer.
Name
Give your extra a name. This could simply be 'cot' or it could be a question such as 'how many dogs are you bringing?'
Description
This is optional, if you would like to give the guest more information. If you tick 'Show as pop-up' a question mark will appear next to the extra on the guest facing booking journey, which the guest can click on to view more information.
Email address (supplier)
You can complete this if you need to notify an external company. For example, for a breakfast hamper.
Once the above steps have been completed click 'Add' on the bottom right hand side and the extra will reopen with more tabs.
Show Advanced Options
The advanced options that may be specifically used by an agency are listed below:
Mandatory: The guest cannot complete the booking without selecting something.
Pre-ticked: This will ensure the extra is already ticked when the guest proceeds to the extras section of the booking journey.
An example of where both above options would be used is for a Booking Fee.
Pet Friendly: If you tick this all pet-relevant Extras will appear if a guest clicks ‘yes’ to the question ‘are you bringing a dog?’ in the booking process.
Exclude from Deposit (Percentage Calculation): Such as a security deposit, that you may only want to ask for with the balance.
Owner Statement Calculation Rule (dropdown option):
1. Owner income and Commission (You as the agency take your % of the extra, similar to the booking total cost)
2. No Owner Income and No Commission (income does not display on the owner reports e.g. for a booking fee that comes directly to you as the agency)
3. Owner income and No Commission (income goes directly to the owner, with no commission taken)
Here is a guide with more information about the additional advanced options.
RATES
You can either add in a daily or fixed rate for each extra.
When adding in a fixed rate you can do this as one price for any length of stay, or fixed rates depending on the length of stay. Below is an example:
Tip: is your extra not displaying? Ensure even if your extra is free you add in a date band (as £0.00). The extras only display when there is a rate band in place.
UNITS
Here you can assign the extra to more than one of your properties. There is also an option to 'Tick all parent units' so you don't have to do this multiple times.
THUMBNAILS
For every extra there is the option to add an image.
On completing the above steps ensure you click update on the extra.