How Easy is it to Book your Hotel? Or do you give consumers a price jigsaw puzzle nightmare…

[IronGate]

I love bocce!
If you can imagine I had an inquiry just last night from o/s asking about availability and what the rates are for July 5 and 6. They emailed the inquiry FROM my website, each and every room has a rate (on the rooms page AND each and every room page) and on the reservation page.
I am not sure where ELSE you could put them but right there. But again, people are used to the jigsaw rates things so prob don't trust the rate they see..

Hijacked thread: We now have 2 state-of-the-art bocce courts at our park and leafues have just been formed. It was decided women play Monday and Friday. We lost 3 games tonight. I had never played in my life before last Friday! But it IS fun!
Monday = bocce weekly/City Council meeting (twice a month)/first Monday Development Authority meeting
Tuesday = band rehearsal
Wednesday = open (so far)
Thursday = Kiwanis
Friday (weekly) = bocce/guest arrivals (I hope)
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Hijacked thread: We now have 2 state-of-the-art bocce courts at our park and leafues have just been formed. It was decided women play Monday and Friday. We lost 3 games tonight. I had never played in my life before last Friday! But it IS fun!
Monday = bocce weekly/City Council meeting (twice a month)/first Monday Development Authority meeting
Tuesday = band rehearsal
Wednesday = open (so far)
Thursday = Kiwanis
Friday (weekly) = bocce/guest arrivals (I hope)

Now that you know how to play, you can add bocce lessons as an added service and revenue stream.
You know, when you're not busy.

 

[vbwebsites]

The Most important factor in the web world is whats referred to as "Call to Action". Which from a B&B standpoint would be Check Availbility / Make Reservations prominantly accessible. We just worked with webervations and i am not thrilled about there platform but it does seem to do the job. I am not a big fan of linking away from a website with especially the most important aspect for B&B's being Check Availbility / Make Reservations. But, you have to do what you have to do, hopefully do it as seemless as possible.

 

[vbwebsites]

I get this whole thing, you put in a date and up pops twenty diff rates...I think aloud when I am looking at booking a hotel room:

1. Am I Military?
2. Am I AARP?
3. Am I government rate?
4. Am I AAA?
5. Am I Corporate?
6. Am I a king or two full sized beds?
7. Am I handicap first floor?
8. Am I smoking?
9. Am I prepaid with no cancellation?
10. Am I internet discount?
11. Am I bed and breakfast package?
12. Am I partial view balcony or view?
13. Am I pool or patio view?
14. ...

It IS frustrating. I posted this article to ask: Are your rates easy to find? Can a guest see what the rate is and book the dang room?
There is a new inn 25 minutes from us, I went to their website...Okay there are the room pix where are the rates? So there are room pix, how do I book a room? Ahh I see "Our B&B s all about service and personal attention, so you can call us for the rates and speak to us!"
..and we will answer if we are home and not serving breakfast or cleaning rooms or on the line with other callers...otherwise you can get the personal attention from our answering machine and play phone tag for three days solid, oh you mean you actually wanted to PLAN and BOOK your vacation? d'oh
PLEASE PUT THE ROOMS AND RATES WHERE ANYONE CAN FIND THEM. Don't hide them, don't play games with them, post the rates!!!

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Maybe the reason they didnt have the room rates is bcause they change frequently and dont have the ability to edit their website. Instead maybe they have to rely on the third party like webervations to manage the rooms and rates as thats their only way of doing it.

 

[JBloggs]

The reason innkeepers use third party websites that are specifically designed for taking online reservations is credit card security, PCI. There is no reason for an innkeeper to reinvent the wheel when there are specific booking programs out there.

 

[wendydk]

The Most important factor in the web world is whats referred to as "Call to Action". Which from a B&B standpoint would be Check Availbility / Make Reservations prominantly accessible. We just worked with webervations and i am not thrilled about there platform but it does seem to do the job. I am not a big fan of linking away from a website with especially the most important aspect for B&B's being Check Availbility / Make Reservations. But, you have to do what you have to do, hopefully do it as seemless as possible..

I am not a big fan of linking away from a website with especially the most important aspect for B&B's being Check Availbility / Make Reservations. But, you have to do what you have to do, hopefully do it as seemless as possible.

I use webervations, and my availability search opens in a new window, leaving my site still up and visible. I notice that an availability search for the B&B website you mention does not open in a new window, and takes you completely away from the site.

 

[vbwebsites]

PCI is always a fun conversation . We decided on the 'same page element' for this one and provided easy links back that hopefully will work. I just didnt want the user to have to go from window to window. I will analyze to see what converts. We just launched this site a week and a half ago and will have to see the reports of what conversions are there.

 

[EmptyNest]

PCI is always a fun conversation . We decided on the 'same page element' for this one and provided easy links back that hopefully will work. I just didnt want the user to have to go from window to window. I will analyze to see what converts. We just launched this site a week and a half ago and will have to see the reports of what conversions are there..

Reservation Nexus prefers their reservation links NOT open in a new window. So that is what I have done for some of my clients. They do however provide a quick link back to the site so I was hopeful it would work for them.

 

[vbwebsites]

Initially we were setting up a seemless transition window, for example like here: https://www.propaneontheway.com , In the middle / right Click on "User Registration" just to see the window that opens. After talking with webervations it was understood that it wouldnt work correctly with their system . This way it truly could have been seemless.

 

[Morticia]

The Most important factor in the web world is whats referred to as "Call to Action". Which from a B&B standpoint would be Check Availbility / Make Reservations prominantly accessible. We just worked with webervations and i am not thrilled about there platform but it does seem to do the job. I am not a big fan of linking away from a website with especially the most important aspect for B&B's being Check Availbility / Make Reservations. But, you have to do what you have to do, hopefully do it as seemless as possible..

In the 'you can lead a horse to water' category is a call I received stating the guest was looking at the calendar, wanted to book this room, was it still avail? We chatted for a bit, guest made a comment about not being 'tech-savvy' and I asked if that was why she called instead of booking online? Response back was, 'I can do that? Where?'
She is looking at the calendar, the text states clearly to click on 'an available date' but it's still not clear enough to some viewers. I'm going to look at that again to see if I can make it clearer.

 

[vbwebsites]

The Most important factor in the web world is whats referred to as "Call to Action". Which from a B&B standpoint would be Check Availbility / Make Reservations prominantly accessible. We just worked with webervations and i am not thrilled about there platform but it does seem to do the job. I am not a big fan of linking away from a website with especially the most important aspect for B&B's being Check Availbility / Make Reservations. But, you have to do what you have to do, hopefully do it as seemless as possible..

In the 'you can lead a horse to water' category is a call I received stating the guest was looking at the calendar, wanted to book this room, was it still avail? We chatted for a bit, guest made a comment about not being 'tech-savvy' and I asked if that was why she called instead of booking online? Response back was, 'I can do that? Where?'
She is looking at the calendar, the text states clearly to click on 'an available date' but it's still not clear enough to some viewers. I'm going to look at that again to see if I can make it clearer.
.

People dont read websites Sometimes a form or an image that resembles "booking / calendar" could help?

 

[Morticia]

The Most important factor in the web world is whats referred to as "Call to Action". Which from a B&B standpoint would be Check Availbility / Make Reservations prominantly accessible. We just worked with webervations and i am not thrilled about there platform but it does seem to do the job. I am not a big fan of linking away from a website with especially the most important aspect for B&B's being Check Availbility / Make Reservations. But, you have to do what you have to do, hopefully do it as seemless as possible..

In the 'you can lead a horse to water' category is a call I received stating the guest was looking at the calendar, wanted to book this room, was it still avail? We chatted for a bit, guest made a comment about not being 'tech-savvy' and I asked if that was why she called instead of booking online? Response back was, 'I can do that? Where?'
She is looking at the calendar, the text states clearly to click on 'an available date' but it's still not clear enough to some viewers. I'm going to look at that again to see if I can make it clearer.
.

People dont read websites Sometimes a form or an image that resembles "booking / calendar" could help?
.

She found the booking calendar, just didn't know what to do with it except call. But, I get what you mean. I had another caller who couldn't find the 'availability,' 'book now,' or 'make a reservation' links in multiple locations on every page.

 

[EmptyNest]

The Most important factor in the web world is whats referred to as "Call to Action". Which from a B&B standpoint would be Check Availbility / Make Reservations prominantly accessible. We just worked with webervations and i am not thrilled about there platform but it does seem to do the job. I am not a big fan of linking away from a website with especially the most important aspect for B&B's being Check Availbility / Make Reservations. But, you have to do what you have to do, hopefully do it as seemless as possible..

In the 'you can lead a horse to water' category is a call I received stating the guest was looking at the calendar, wanted to book this room, was it still avail? We chatted for a bit, guest made a comment about not being 'tech-savvy' and I asked if that was why she called instead of booking online? Response back was, 'I can do that? Where?'
She is looking at the calendar, the text states clearly to click on 'an available date' but it's still not clear enough to some viewers. I'm going to look at that again to see if I can make it clearer.
.

People dont read websites Sometimes a form or an image that resembles "booking / calendar" could help?
.

People dont read websites
Oh boy do we KNOW THAT! You are preaching to the choir here