What would you suggest?

Morticia said:

Don't believe their 'opportunities'. Follow your own reasoned plan - get the card! What you get without the card are a lot of people who don't show up because they have no skin in the game.
Also, if you think you're going to run someone's card for damages after they've checked out, think again. You need their signature. Credit card companies are notorious for taking that money back from you if the guest complains to them.
OTOH, if it would make you sleep better, you may be able to access the credit card number thru your online merchant account.
Or, get one of those old timey sliders and make an imprint of the card.
Don't miss out on your beauty sleep worrying about things you can't control..

Click to expand...

Jcam said:

Not being funny but you don't make walk in's pay on arrival? they are the least reliable! also we only take cards for walk in's and I want the name on the card to match the name given - my tv is worth a lot more than your 1 night..

Click to expand...

nataliebee said:

Jcam said:

Not being funny but you don't make walk in's pay on arrival? they are the least reliable! also we only take cards for walk in's and I want the name on the card to match the name given - my tv is worth a lot more than your 1 night..

Click to expand...

We take the payment with any guest; walk ins included. BUT, we rarely take down the credit card number; we have a ledger book and don't feel comfortable hauling it out and writing it down in front of them.
The naive "us" from a year ago who let a guest pay at the end of the stay really paid the price, because the guest ended up leaving without paying, and no credit card was taken.
I always train our staff to take credit card numbers at the office no matter what, but I'm guilty of sometimes skipping that step.
.

Click to expand...

nataliebee said:

We take the payment with any guest; walk ins included. BUT, we rarely take down the credit card number; we have a ledger book and don't feel comfortable hauling it out and writing it down in front of them.
The naive "us" from a year ago who let a guest pay at the end of the stay really paid the price, because the guest ended up leaving without paying, and no credit card was taken.
I always train our staff to take credit card numbers at the office no matter what, but I'm guilty of sometimes skipping that step.

Click to expand...

Morticia said:

nataliebee said:

Jcam said:

Not being funny but you don't make walk in's pay on arrival? they are the least reliable! also we only take cards for walk in's and I want the name on the card to match the name given - my tv is worth a lot more than your 1 night..

Click to expand...

We take the payment with any guest; walk ins included. BUT, we rarely take down the credit card number; we have a ledger book and don't feel comfortable hauling it out and writing it down in front of them.
The naive "us" from a year ago who let a guest pay at the end of the stay really paid the price, because the guest ended up leaving without paying, and no credit card was taken.
I always train our staff to take credit card numbers at the office no matter what, but I'm guilty of sometimes skipping that step.
.

Click to expand...

nataliebee said:

We take the payment with any guest; walk ins included. BUT, we rarely take down the credit card number; we have a ledger book and don't feel comfortable hauling it out and writing it down in front of them.
The naive "us" from a year ago who let a guest pay at the end of the stay really paid the price, because the guest ended up leaving without paying, and no credit card was taken.
I always train our staff to take credit card numbers at the office no matter what, but I'm guilty of sometimes skipping that step.

Click to expand...

I would be a very unhappy guest to find out you had my credit card info written down in a book. That book must then be locked up at all times it is not in use. (Like the online rez system is secured with a password.)
We erase all cc info at checkout. You call next week for another rez and you have to give the info again. We don't store it.
If I write a cc# down because the online system is down, that info gets run thru the shredder after it is input.
.

Click to expand...

Morticia said:

nataliebee said:

Jcam said:

Not being funny but you don't make walk in's pay on arrival? they are the least reliable! also we only take cards for walk in's and I want the name on the card to match the name given - my tv is worth a lot more than your 1 night..

Click to expand...

We take the payment with any guest; walk ins included. BUT, we rarely take down the credit card number; we have a ledger book and don't feel comfortable hauling it out and writing it down in front of them.
The naive "us" from a year ago who let a guest pay at the end of the stay really paid the price, because the guest ended up leaving without paying, and no credit card was taken.
I always train our staff to take credit card numbers at the office no matter what, but I'm guilty of sometimes skipping that step.
.

Click to expand...

nataliebee said:

We take the payment with any guest; walk ins included. BUT, we rarely take down the credit card number; we have a ledger book and don't feel comfortable hauling it out and writing it down in front of them.
The naive "us" from a year ago who let a guest pay at the end of the stay really paid the price, because the guest ended up leaving without paying, and no credit card was taken.
I always train our staff to take credit card numbers at the office no matter what, but I'm guilty of sometimes skipping that step.

Click to expand...

I would be a very unhappy guest to find out you had my credit card info written down in a book. That book must then be locked up at all times it is not in use. (Like the online rez system is secured with a password.)
We erase all cc info at checkout. You call next week for another rez and you have to give the info again. We don't store it.
If I write a cc# down because the online system is down, that info gets run thru the shredder after it is input.
.

Click to expand...

nataliebee said:

Morticia said:

nataliebee said:

Jcam said:

Not being funny but you don't make walk in's pay on arrival? they are the least reliable! also we only take cards for walk in's and I want the name on the card to match the name given - my tv is worth a lot more than your 1 night..

Click to expand...

We take the payment with any guest; walk ins included. BUT, we rarely take down the credit card number; we have a ledger book and don't feel comfortable hauling it out and writing it down in front of them.
The naive "us" from a year ago who let a guest pay at the end of the stay really paid the price, because the guest ended up leaving without paying, and no credit card was taken.
I always train our staff to take credit card numbers at the office no matter what, but I'm guilty of sometimes skipping that step.
.

Click to expand...

nataliebee said:

We take the payment with any guest; walk ins included. BUT, we rarely take down the credit card number; we have a ledger book and don't feel comfortable hauling it out and writing it down in front of them.
The naive "us" from a year ago who let a guest pay at the end of the stay really paid the price, because the guest ended up leaving without paying, and no credit card was taken.
I always train our staff to take credit card numbers at the office no matter what, but I'm guilty of sometimes skipping that step.

Click to expand...

I would be a very unhappy guest to find out you had my credit card info written down in a book. That book must then be locked up at all times it is not in use. (Like the online rez system is secured with a password.)
We erase all cc info at checkout. You call next week for another rez and you have to give the info again. We don't store it.
If I write a cc# down because the online system is down, that info gets run thru the shredder after it is input.
.

Click to expand...

Also, and I'm asking purely out of curiosity, how were reservations taken and credit cards kept (at least until the end of the stay?) before online rez systems?
Asking because the Owner isn't sold on the computerized management system yet; we have a few staff trained to do phones but a lot of hands in a computer system is a recipe for disaster. I'm all for streamlining but haven't found one that matches our needs with our budget.
.

Click to expand...

nataliebee said:

Jcam said:

Not being funny but you don't make walk in's pay on arrival? they are the least reliable! also we only take cards for walk in's and I want the name on the card to match the name given - my tv is worth a lot more than your 1 night..

Click to expand...

We take the payment with any guest; walk ins included. BUT, we rarely take down the credit card number; we have a ledger book and don't feel comfortable hauling it out and writing it down in front of them.
The naive "us" from a year ago who let a guest pay at the end of the stay really paid the price, because the guest ended up leaving without paying, and no credit card was taken.
I always train our staff to take credit card numbers at the office no matter what, but I'm guilty of sometimes skipping that step.
.

Click to expand...

nataliebee said:

We take the payment with any guest; walk ins included. BUT, we rarely take down the credit card number; we have a ledger book and don't feel comfortable hauling it out and writing it down in front of them.
The naive "us" from a year ago who let a guest pay at the end of the stay really paid the price, because the guest ended up leaving without paying, and no credit card was taken.
I always train our staff to take credit card numbers at the office no matter what, but I'm guilty of sometimes skipping that step.

Click to expand...

nataliebee said:

Morticia said:

nataliebee said:

Jcam said:

Not being funny but you don't make walk in's pay on arrival? they are the least reliable! also we only take cards for walk in's and I want the name on the card to match the name given - my tv is worth a lot more than your 1 night..

Click to expand...

We take the payment with any guest; walk ins included. BUT, we rarely take down the credit card number; we have a ledger book and don't feel comfortable hauling it out and writing it down in front of them.
The naive "us" from a year ago who let a guest pay at the end of the stay really paid the price, because the guest ended up leaving without paying, and no credit card was taken.
I always train our staff to take credit card numbers at the office no matter what, but I'm guilty of sometimes skipping that step.
.

Click to expand...

nataliebee said:

We take the payment with any guest; walk ins included. BUT, we rarely take down the credit card number; we have a ledger book and don't feel comfortable hauling it out and writing it down in front of them.
The naive "us" from a year ago who let a guest pay at the end of the stay really paid the price, because the guest ended up leaving without paying, and no credit card was taken.
I always train our staff to take credit card numbers at the office no matter what, but I'm guilty of sometimes skipping that step.

Click to expand...

I would be a very unhappy guest to find out you had my credit card info written down in a book. That book must then be locked up at all times it is not in use. (Like the online rez system is secured with a password.)
We erase all cc info at checkout. You call next week for another rez and you have to give the info again. We don't store it.
If I write a cc# down because the online system is down, that info gets run thru the shredder after it is input.
.

Click to expand...

Also, and I'm asking purely out of curiosity, how were reservations taken and credit cards kept (at least until the end of the stay?) before online rez systems?
Asking because the Owner isn't sold on the computerized management system yet; we have a few staff trained to do phones but a lot of hands in a computer system is a recipe for disaster. I'm all for streamlining but haven't found one that matches our needs with our budget.
.

Click to expand...

JBloggs said:

nataliebee said:

Jcam said:

Not being funny but you don't make walk in's pay on arrival? they are the least reliable! also we only take cards for walk in's and I want the name on the card to match the name given - my tv is worth a lot more than your 1 night..

Click to expand...

We take the payment with any guest; walk ins included. BUT, we rarely take down the credit card number; we have a ledger book and don't feel comfortable hauling it out and writing it down in front of them.
The naive "us" from a year ago who let a guest pay at the end of the stay really paid the price, because the guest ended up leaving without paying, and no credit card was taken.
I always train our staff to take credit card numbers at the office no matter what, but I'm guilty of sometimes skipping that step.
.

Click to expand...

nataliebee said:

We take the payment with any guest; walk ins included. BUT, we rarely take down the credit card number; we have a ledger book and don't feel comfortable hauling it out and writing it down in front of them.
The naive "us" from a year ago who let a guest pay at the end of the stay really paid the price, because the guest ended up leaving without paying, and no credit card was taken.
I always train our staff to take credit card numbers at the office no matter what, but I'm guilty of sometimes skipping that step.

Click to expand...

Hard cold truth about to be spoken:
Listen if you are not going to be up to date like just about every other lodging choice, mom and pop's included, then guests will leave thinking they have paid, they are not trying to walk out on their bill.
There is nothing naive about paying at the end of your stay, we have been doing that for over 12 years, and it has worked absolutely fine. Every hotel/motel takes an imprint of the card, ie enters the cc number in their system for incidentals. Without having a cc on file you are asking for problems. Many take that and put a hold on the card for that amount, ensuring payment when they check out.
If you are not taking online reservations, which is an amenity for guests to book any time any where then you may be missing the boat. It is hard to believe we have this conversation here in the year 2016 (nearly 2017). You have NO IDEA how many guests and how much revenue you are LOSING by not offering this, yes, offering it. Don't make things difficult, no one wants to plan a trip on a "sorta" reservation. Everyone is used to giving their credit cards to reserve hotels and flights, it is what we do now. And it is peace of mind for you.
Not trying to be harsh, not sure where you are, how many rooms, how many staff etc. But someone needs to step up and get this sorted out - you can have better guests and more of them.
Here is a word for the boss (owner) or whoever calls the shots there "You can't afford to NOT have online reservations"
.

Click to expand...

JBloggs said:

Hard cold truth about to be spoken:
Listen if you are not going to be up to date like just about every other lodging choice, mom and pop's included, then guests will leave thinking they have paid, they are not trying to walk out on their bill.
There is nothing naive about paying at the end of your stay, we have been doing that for over 12 years, and it has worked absolutely fine. Every hotel/motel takes an imprint of the card, ie enters the cc number in their system for incidentals. Without having a cc on file you are asking for problems. Many take that and put a hold on the card for that amount, ensuring payment when they check out.
If you are not taking online reservations, which is an amenity for guests to book any time any where then you may be missing the boat. It is hard to believe we have this conversation here in the year 2016 (nearly 2017). You have NO IDEA how many guests and how much revenue you are LOSING by not offering this, yes, offering it. Don't make things difficult, no one wants to plan a trip on a "sorta" reservation. Everyone is used to giving their credit cards to reserve hotels and flights, it is what we do now. And it is peace of mind for you.
Not trying to be harsh, not sure where you are, how many rooms, how many staff etc. But someone needs to step up and get this sorted out - you can have better guests and more of them.
Here is a word for the boss (owner) or whoever calls the shots there "You can't afford to NOT have online reservations"

Click to expand...

JBloggs said:

nataliebee said:

Jcam said:

Not being funny but you don't make walk in's pay on arrival? they are the least reliable! also we only take cards for walk in's and I want the name on the card to match the name given - my tv is worth a lot more than your 1 night..

Click to expand...

We take the payment with any guest; walk ins included. BUT, we rarely take down the credit card number; we have a ledger book and don't feel comfortable hauling it out and writing it down in front of them.
The naive "us" from a year ago who let a guest pay at the end of the stay really paid the price, because the guest ended up leaving without paying, and no credit card was taken.
I always train our staff to take credit card numbers at the office no matter what, but I'm guilty of sometimes skipping that step.
.

Click to expand...

nataliebee said:

We take the payment with any guest; walk ins included. BUT, we rarely take down the credit card number; we have a ledger book and don't feel comfortable hauling it out and writing it down in front of them.
The naive "us" from a year ago who let a guest pay at the end of the stay really paid the price, because the guest ended up leaving without paying, and no credit card was taken.
I always train our staff to take credit card numbers at the office no matter what, but I'm guilty of sometimes skipping that step.

Click to expand...

Hard cold truth about to be spoken:
Listen if you are not going to be up to date like just about every other lodging choice, mom and pop's included, then guests will leave thinking they have paid, they are not trying to walk out on their bill.
There is nothing naive about paying at the end of your stay, we have been doing that for over 12 years, and it has worked absolutely fine. Every hotel/motel takes an imprint of the card, ie enters the cc number in their system for incidentals. Without having a cc on file you are asking for problems. Many take that and put a hold on the card for that amount, ensuring payment when they check out.
If you are not taking online reservations, which is an amenity for guests to book any time any where then you may be missing the boat. It is hard to believe we have this conversation here in the year 2016 (nearly 2017). You have NO IDEA how many guests and how much revenue you are LOSING by not offering this, yes, offering it. Don't make things difficult, no one wants to plan a trip on a "sorta" reservation. Everyone is used to giving their credit cards to reserve hotels and flights, it is what we do now. And it is peace of mind for you.
Not trying to be harsh, not sure where you are, how many rooms, how many staff etc. But someone needs to step up and get this sorted out - you can have better guests and more of them.
Here is a word for the boss (owner) or whoever calls the shots there "You can't afford to NOT have online reservations"
.

Click to expand...

JBloggs said:

Here is a word for the boss (owner) or whoever calls the shots there "You can't afford to NOT have online reservations"

Click to expand...

JBloggs said:

nataliebee said:

Jcam said:

Not being funny but you don't make walk in's pay on arrival? they are the least reliable! also we only take cards for walk in's and I want the name on the card to match the name given - my tv is worth a lot more than your 1 night..

Click to expand...

We take the payment with any guest; walk ins included. BUT, we rarely take down the credit card number; we have a ledger book and don't feel comfortable hauling it out and writing it down in front of them.
The naive "us" from a year ago who let a guest pay at the end of the stay really paid the price, because the guest ended up leaving without paying, and no credit card was taken.
I always train our staff to take credit card numbers at the office no matter what, but I'm guilty of sometimes skipping that step.
.

Click to expand...

nataliebee said:

We take the payment with any guest; walk ins included. BUT, we rarely take down the credit card number; we have a ledger book and don't feel comfortable hauling it out and writing it down in front of them.
The naive "us" from a year ago who let a guest pay at the end of the stay really paid the price, because the guest ended up leaving without paying, and no credit card was taken.
I always train our staff to take credit card numbers at the office no matter what, but I'm guilty of sometimes skipping that step.

Click to expand...

Hard cold truth about to be spoken:
Listen if you are not going to be up to date like just about every other lodging choice, mom and pop's included, then guests will leave thinking they have paid, they are not trying to walk out on their bill.
There is nothing naive about paying at the end of your stay, we have been doing that for over 12 years, and it has worked absolutely fine. Every hotel/motel takes an imprint of the card, ie enters the cc number in their system for incidentals. Without having a cc on file you are asking for problems. Many take that and put a hold on the card for that amount, ensuring payment when they check out.
If you are not taking online reservations, which is an amenity for guests to book any time any where then you may be missing the boat. It is hard to believe we have this conversation here in the year 2016 (nearly 2017). You have NO IDEA how many guests and how much revenue you are LOSING by not offering this, yes, offering it. Don't make things difficult, no one wants to plan a trip on a "sorta" reservation. Everyone is used to giving their credit cards to reserve hotels and flights, it is what we do now. And it is peace of mind for you.
Not trying to be harsh, not sure where you are, how many rooms, how many staff etc. But someone needs to step up and get this sorted out - you can have better guests and more of them.
Here is a word for the boss (owner) or whoever calls the shots there "You can't afford to NOT have online reservations"
.

Click to expand...

gillumhouse said:

nataliebee said:

Morticia said:

nataliebee said:

Jcam said:

Not being funny but you don't make walk in's pay on arrival? they are the least reliable! also we only take cards for walk in's and I want the name on the card to match the name given - my tv is worth a lot more than your 1 night..

Click to expand...

We take the payment with any guest; walk ins included. BUT, we rarely take down the credit card number; we have a ledger book and don't feel comfortable hauling it out and writing it down in front of them.
The naive "us" from a year ago who let a guest pay at the end of the stay really paid the price, because the guest ended up leaving without paying, and no credit card was taken.
I always train our staff to take credit card numbers at the office no matter what, but I'm guilty of sometimes skipping that step.
.

Click to expand...

nataliebee said:

We take the payment with any guest; walk ins included. BUT, we rarely take down the credit card number; we have a ledger book and don't feel comfortable hauling it out and writing it down in front of them.
The naive "us" from a year ago who let a guest pay at the end of the stay really paid the price, because the guest ended up leaving without paying, and no credit card was taken.
I always train our staff to take credit card numbers at the office no matter what, but I'm guilty of sometimes skipping that step.

Click to expand...

I would be a very unhappy guest to find out you had my credit card info written down in a book. That book must then be locked up at all times it is not in use. (Like the online rez system is secured with a password.)
We erase all cc info at checkout. You call next week for another rez and you have to give the info again. We don't store it.
If I write a cc# down because the online system is down, that info gets run thru the shredder after it is input.
.

Click to expand...

Also, and I'm asking purely out of curiosity, how were reservations taken and credit cards kept (at least until the end of the stay?) before online rez systems?
Asking because the Owner isn't sold on the computerized management system yet; we have a few staff trained to do phones but a lot of hands in a computer system is a recipe for disaster. I'm all for streamlining but haven't found one that matches our needs with our budget.
.

Click to expand...

Phone or online I copy the info to a 3x5 index card. Credit card number on the bottom so it can be cut off. This goes into a card box and put away securely. If I have a crash or a power failure, I have the info.
If the credit card number is written down, it MUST be secured so no one can access it.
.

Click to expand...

gillumhouse said:

If I have a crash or a power failure, I have the info.

Click to expand...

2cat_lady said:

Listen to the voices of experience.
I am busier than I ever expected I would be after only three seasons under my belt. I don't know where we'd be if I didn't listen to all these wonderful, experienced people here. Yes, I still take phone calls, but it's fantastic to wake up in the morning and see 10 reservations from people that you didn't even have to explain anything to! With their CC info (encoded) and your confirmation emails all sent out automatically. Just even think of it as a time saver. Think of how much time it would take to talk to each and everyone of those guests when they could do it all themselves!!.

Click to expand...

JBloggs said:

nataliebee said:

Jcam said:

Not being funny but you don't make walk in's pay on arrival? they are the least reliable! also we only take cards for walk in's and I want the name on the card to match the name given - my tv is worth a lot more than your 1 night..

Click to expand...

We take the payment with any guest; walk ins included. BUT, we rarely take down the credit card number; we have a ledger book and don't feel comfortable hauling it out and writing it down in front of them.
The naive "us" from a year ago who let a guest pay at the end of the stay really paid the price, because the guest ended up leaving without paying, and no credit card was taken.
I always train our staff to take credit card numbers at the office no matter what, but I'm guilty of sometimes skipping that step.
.

Click to expand...

nataliebee said:

We take the payment with any guest; walk ins included. BUT, we rarely take down the credit card number; we have a ledger book and don't feel comfortable hauling it out and writing it down in front of them.
The naive "us" from a year ago who let a guest pay at the end of the stay really paid the price, because the guest ended up leaving without paying, and no credit card was taken.
I always train our staff to take credit card numbers at the office no matter what, but I'm guilty of sometimes skipping that step.

Click to expand...

Hard cold truth about to be spoken:
Listen if you are not going to be up to date like just about every other lodging choice, mom and pop's included, then guests will leave thinking they have paid, they are not trying to walk out on their bill.
There is nothing naive about paying at the end of your stay, we have been doing that for over 12 years, and it has worked absolutely fine. Every hotel/motel takes an imprint of the card, ie enters the cc number in their system for incidentals. Without having a cc on file you are asking for problems. Many take that and put a hold on the card for that amount, ensuring payment when they check out.
If you are not taking online reservations, which is an amenity for guests to book any time any where then you may be missing the boat. It is hard to believe we have this conversation here in the year 2016 (nearly 2017). You have NO IDEA how many guests and how much revenue you are LOSING by not offering this, yes, offering it. Don't make things difficult, no one wants to plan a trip on a "sorta" reservation. Everyone is used to giving their credit cards to reserve hotels and flights, it is what we do now. And it is peace of mind for you.
Not trying to be harsh, not sure where you are, how many rooms, how many staff etc. But someone needs to step up and get this sorted out - you can have better guests and more of them.
Here is a word for the boss (owner) or whoever calls the shots there "You can't afford to NOT have online reservations"
.

Click to expand...