Importance of Updating your Availability Calendar

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JunieBJones (JBJ)

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Our Availability (last updated Jun 16, 2008 9:42:41 AM)

I was trying to find the thread, and finally gave up. Someone mentioned that they have the online booking available and people still call. I cut n pasted the above from that website. Today is June 20th. I would call as well as it is not up-to-date.
I think it is wise to update the weberv or superinn or whatever you use on a daily basis. We obv update it when we take a booking, but if no bookings come through or all on the phone, we still need to keep ip updated manually.
 
SuperInn, which a couple of us use, automatically updates as soon as I or the guest hits 'save'. I do not have to touch it in re making updates after taking a booking. When we have a walk-in, the first thing I do after getting them into their room is to enter their name and hit 'save'.
I agree, if I saw a date & time stamp, I would wonder. I was going to put 'real time booking' on the reservation page but it would be just my luck someone would be booking online while I was booking someone on the phone (it happened) and we both hit enter at the same time. What I saw on my side was an error message saying that the room was booked. The guest on the phone was upset (and started arguing immediately that they should have preference because they were on the phone) so we upgraded their room. Easier to do that than to contact the online booker.
 
I looked and saw superinn doesn't show a "last updated" date for visitors to view. I wish Weberv didn't as well!
 
In spite of being very happy with our SuperInn program... we still keep a reservation book (one week per 2 pages) We take that with us when we go into the city to shop and have forwarded our calls to us. Double work, but a good back up for us.
 
In spite of being very happy with our SuperInn program... we still keep a reservation book (one week per 2 pages) We take that with us when we go into the city to shop and have forwarded our calls to us. Double work, but a good back up for us..
We use SuperInn but keep a paper backup as well. Just written on an ordinary calendar. It covers those times when power or internet is down. It is also faster to look it up for someone calling than to open the laptop wait for it to wake up...
 
In spite of being very happy with our SuperInn program... we still keep a reservation book (one week per 2 pages) We take that with us when we go into the city to shop and have forwarded our calls to us. Double work, but a good back up for us..
We have the 'book' also. Like Swirt, for times when the power is out, the computer is turned off, I just need a quick look to see if anyone is bringing kids or a dog.
 
I looked and saw superinn doesn't show a "last updated" date for visitors to view. I wish Weberv didn't as well!.
JunieBJones (JBJ) said:
I looked and saw superinn doesn't show a "last updated" date for visitors to view. I wish Weberv didn't as well!
Because there really isn't a 'last updated'. If there was, it could show 'last updated' and a date 2 weeks ago in the winter when reservations come in slowly. THAT wouldn't be good.
On Webervations it could show the last updated only to you on the admin side in case you were wondering if you had updated, but definitely not to the guest who could question the accuracy of the calendar. i know a lot of Webervations users have a disclaimer aobut 'trying' to keep it up to date. THAT doesn't give me warm fuzzies, either.
 
I looked and saw superinn doesn't show a "last updated" date for visitors to view. I wish Weberv didn't as well!.
JunieBJones (JBJ) said:
I looked and saw superinn doesn't show a "last updated" date for visitors to view. I wish Weberv didn't as well!
Because there really isn't a 'last updated'. If there was, it could show 'last updated' and a date 2 weeks ago in the winter when reservations come in slowly. THAT wouldn't be good.
On Webervations it could show the last updated only to you on the admin side in case you were wondering if you had updated, but definitely not to the guest who could question the accuracy of the calendar. i know a lot of Webervations users have a disclaimer aobut 'trying' to keep it up to date. THAT doesn't give me warm fuzzies, either.
.
Webervations shows the Last Updated Date...I am sure. I used to do it daily just so folks would know it was up to date. It only took a click of the mouse..
 
I looked and saw superinn doesn't show a "last updated" date for visitors to view. I wish Weberv didn't as well!.
JunieBJones (JBJ) said:
I looked and saw superinn doesn't show a "last updated" date for visitors to view. I wish Weberv didn't as well!
Because there really isn't a 'last updated'. If there was, it could show 'last updated' and a date 2 weeks ago in the winter when reservations come in slowly. THAT wouldn't be good.
On Webervations it could show the last updated only to you on the admin side in case you were wondering if you had updated, but definitely not to the guest who could question the accuracy of the calendar. i know a lot of Webervations users have a disclaimer aobut 'trying' to keep it up to date. THAT doesn't give me warm fuzzies, either.
.
Webervations shows the Last Updated Date...I am sure. I used to do it daily just so folks would know it was up to date. It only took a click of the mouse..
.
Ah, I didn't know that you could just click a mouse and have it update. I think what JBJ was referring to is if you did that at 8 AM and then a guest went online at 6 PM, they would think it might not be up to date, when it might be perfectly ok. If the date stamp was removed from Web, that would solve the 'it's not up to date' problem, from the guests' perspective.
 
On Webervations it could show the last updated only to you on the admin side in case you were wondering if you had updated, but definitely not to the guest who could question the accuracy of the calendar. i know a lot of Webervations users have a disclaimer aobut 'trying' to keep it up to date.
What I posted orig is what it says on weberv. It shows the guest the last date and time the innkeeper updated it. I was referring to another B&B here who said people are calling, and my thought was maybe this is why? It shows her avail out of date, so to speak. Last updated 4 days ago, which means out of date to a guest.
Yes it is a total pain in the woo hoo to click SAVE every single day so it is uptodate for guests viewing it.
 
On Webervations it could show the last updated only to you on the admin side in case you were wondering if you had updated, but definitely not to the guest who could question the accuracy of the calendar. i know a lot of Webervations users have a disclaimer aobut 'trying' to keep it up to date.
What I posted orig is what it says on weberv. It shows the guest the last date and time the innkeeper updated it. I was referring to another B&B here who said people are calling, and my thought was maybe this is why? It shows her avail out of date, so to speak. Last updated 4 days ago, which means out of date to a guest.
Yes it is a total pain in the woo hoo to click SAVE every single day so it is uptodate for guests viewing it..
Silly me. It didn't even sink in with me that the date stamp you originally posted shows it was updated 5 days ago. So that innkeeper should click everyday whatever button it was that El mentioned.
But, I don't have a date stamp that is out of date and I STILL get asked if the calendar is up to date. I've said that before. Guest on phone asking if such and such room is open for such and such date, 'I am looking at your calendar right now,' and I say the room isn't available (or is) and the guest says, 'A-ha! I KNEW the calendar wasn't up to date!' Click. I never get to figure out WHAT they are looking at! Is it cached from 2 days ago, wrong date altogether, can't figure out the key, or what?
Swirt says I should get them to change my calendar to show RED whenever the room is booked. I should call them and ask for that.
 
Every time I log onto Webervations the first thing I see is "x number of people viewed your availability since it was last updated. Click here to reset." Since I'm a newbie I log on to Weberv at least twice a day, sometimes way more. On weekends I might go most of the day, but the next day it gets updated again, no biggie.
I do still get calls even though we have online bookings. I have a "Rez Book" (it says so on the yellow sticky stuck under the front plastic of the 3-ring binder with paper calendar more than a year out, plus blank forms, people who haven't come yet, people who have come. Like Swirt said, a lot faster to grab the book than to wait for the laptop to find the availability page. Also, Weberv. availability page is just a bunch of x's. My binder has reservations by last name... much easier to know at a glance who I might be able to move, parties traveling together, etc.
 
Every time I log onto Webervations the first thing I see is "x number of people viewed your availability since it was last updated. Click here to reset." Since I'm a newbie I log on to Weberv at least twice a day, sometimes way more. On weekends I might go most of the day, but the next day it gets updated again, no biggie.
I do still get calls even though we have online bookings. I have a "Rez Book" (it says so on the yellow sticky stuck under the front plastic of the 3-ring binder with paper calendar more than a year out, plus blank forms, people who haven't come yet, people who have come. Like Swirt said, a lot faster to grab the book than to wait for the laptop to find the availability page. Also, Weberv. availability page is just a bunch of x's. My binder has reservations by last name... much easier to know at a glance who I might be able to move, parties traveling together, etc..
YellowSocks said:
Also, Weberv. availability page is just a bunch of x's.
This is one area where I think both SuperInn and Rezovation beat Webervations. In SuperInn you get an availability calendar in the innkeeper area that shows names of party and a click takes you to the actual reservation.
 
Every time I log onto Webervations the first thing I see is "x number of people viewed your availability since it was last updated. Click here to reset." Since I'm a newbie I log on to Weberv at least twice a day, sometimes way more. On weekends I might go most of the day, but the next day it gets updated again, no biggie.
I do still get calls even though we have online bookings. I have a "Rez Book" (it says so on the yellow sticky stuck under the front plastic of the 3-ring binder with paper calendar more than a year out, plus blank forms, people who haven't come yet, people who have come. Like Swirt said, a lot faster to grab the book than to wait for the laptop to find the availability page. Also, Weberv. availability page is just a bunch of x's. My binder has reservations by last name... much easier to know at a glance who I might be able to move, parties traveling together, etc..
YellowSocks said:
Also, Weberv. availability page is just a bunch of x's.
This is one area where I think both SuperInn and Rezovation beat Webervations. In SuperInn you get an availability calendar in the innkeeper area that shows names of party and a click takes you to the actual reservation.
.
You get that in the new Webervations. The innkeeper does, that is.
Jeanne
 
Every time I log onto Webervations the first thing I see is "x number of people viewed your availability since it was last updated. Click here to reset." Since I'm a newbie I log on to Weberv at least twice a day, sometimes way more. On weekends I might go most of the day, but the next day it gets updated again, no biggie.
I do still get calls even though we have online bookings. I have a "Rez Book" (it says so on the yellow sticky stuck under the front plastic of the 3-ring binder with paper calendar more than a year out, plus blank forms, people who haven't come yet, people who have come. Like Swirt said, a lot faster to grab the book than to wait for the laptop to find the availability page. Also, Weberv. availability page is just a bunch of x's. My binder has reservations by last name... much easier to know at a glance who I might be able to move, parties traveling together, etc..
Yes, but that doesn't UPDATE your availabilty. You have to go to UPDATE AVAILABILITY Link and then save it again so it renames the date updated.
With my InnReserve, I just click the UPDATE button and it loads the files from my computer to Webervations and changes the update date.
 
Every time I log onto Webervations the first thing I see is "x number of people viewed your availability since it was last updated. Click here to reset." Since I'm a newbie I log on to Weberv at least twice a day, sometimes way more. On weekends I might go most of the day, but the next day it gets updated again, no biggie.
I do still get calls even though we have online bookings. I have a "Rez Book" (it says so on the yellow sticky stuck under the front plastic of the 3-ring binder with paper calendar more than a year out, plus blank forms, people who haven't come yet, people who have come. Like Swirt said, a lot faster to grab the book than to wait for the laptop to find the availability page. Also, Weberv. availability page is just a bunch of x's. My binder has reservations by last name... much easier to know at a glance who I might be able to move, parties traveling together, etc..
Yes, but that doesn't UPDATE your availabilty. You have to go to UPDATE AVAILABILITY Link and then save it again so it renames the date updated.
With my InnReserve, I just click the UPDATE button and it loads the files from my computer to Webervations and changes the update date.
.
I was sure it did. I even posted a comment that it did. Then just now I checked and lo and behold, last updated last night, not this morning when I clicked the link.
I mean, if you see: "There were 0 viewings of your availability calendar since the counter was last reset click to reset" wouldn't you think that mean it was going to change the time it was last updated?
Arghhh!
=)
Kk.
 
Every time I log onto Webervations the first thing I see is "x number of people viewed your availability since it was last updated. Click here to reset." Since I'm a newbie I log on to Weberv at least twice a day, sometimes way more. On weekends I might go most of the day, but the next day it gets updated again, no biggie.
I do still get calls even though we have online bookings. I have a "Rez Book" (it says so on the yellow sticky stuck under the front plastic of the 3-ring binder with paper calendar more than a year out, plus blank forms, people who haven't come yet, people who have come. Like Swirt said, a lot faster to grab the book than to wait for the laptop to find the availability page. Also, Weberv. availability page is just a bunch of x's. My binder has reservations by last name... much easier to know at a glance who I might be able to move, parties traveling together, etc..
Yes, but that doesn't UPDATE your availabilty. You have to go to UPDATE AVAILABILITY Link and then save it again so it renames the date updated.
With my InnReserve, I just click the UPDATE button and it loads the files from my computer to Webervations and changes the update date.
.
I was sure it did. I even posted a comment that it did. Then just now I checked and lo and behold, last updated last night, not this morning when I clicked the link.
I mean, if you see: "There were 0 viewings of your availability calendar since the counter was last reset click to reset" wouldn't you think that mean it was going to change the time it was last updated?
Arghhh!
=)
Kk.
.
YellowSocks said:
I mean, if you see: "There were 0 viewings of your availability calendar since the counter was last reset click to reset" wouldn't you think that mean it was going to change the time it was last updated?
Arghhh!
=)
Kk.
Yes, I would think clicking that link would reset the date stamp to now.
 
I have never clicked reset how many viewed.
I just go in an open availability, click save and sign off. I have asked the guys if they cannot just put a button like the SIGN ON button that we can hit once and it updates it. Since I don't have the new version I don't know if that ever happened.
I WISH THAT WOULD BE TAKEN OFF ALL TOGETHER! We don't need that. Like the other prgms guests view the calendar and book a room. They don't need to SEE when we updated it last. Then we have that stupid disclaimer we put on there "We make every effort to keep our availaibilty up to date ...blah blah blha"
 
I have never clicked reset how many viewed.
I just go in an open availability, click save and sign off. I have asked the guys if they cannot just put a button like the SIGN ON button that we can hit once and it updates it. Since I don't have the new version I don't know if that ever happened.
I WISH THAT WOULD BE TAKEN OFF ALL TOGETHER! We don't need that. Like the other prgms guests view the calendar and book a room. They don't need to SEE when we updated it last. Then we have that stupid disclaimer we put on there "We make every effort to keep our availaibilty up to date ...blah blah blha".
SuperInn is updated all the time. As soon as a room is reserved online, it comes out of availability too. I'm quite happy with the system. I was keeping the rez's in my calendar planner & lugging it with me but I no longer do that. I print out the availability calendar which goes out something like 20 days (you can set it longer but then I'd need stronger readers...haha!) and take that with me since folks are booking more at the last minute. I don't really have anything booked very far out so I decided not to make work for myself for now. I have a Palm Pilot that I'm going to start using to show what's booked by using a "key". I am trying to simplify my life....
 
I have never clicked reset how many viewed.
I just go in an open availability, click save and sign off. I have asked the guys if they cannot just put a button like the SIGN ON button that we can hit once and it updates it. Since I don't have the new version I don't know if that ever happened.
I WISH THAT WOULD BE TAKEN OFF ALL TOGETHER! We don't need that. Like the other prgms guests view the calendar and book a room. They don't need to SEE when we updated it last. Then we have that stupid disclaimer we put on there "We make every effort to keep our availaibilty up to date ...blah blah blha".
SuperInn is updated all the time. As soon as a room is reserved online, it comes out of availability too. I'm quite happy with the system. I was keeping the rez's in my calendar planner & lugging it with me but I no longer do that. I print out the availability calendar which goes out something like 20 days (you can set it longer but then I'd need stronger readers...haha!) and take that with me since folks are booking more at the last minute. I don't really have anything booked very far out so I decided not to make work for myself for now. I have a Palm Pilot that I'm going to start using to show what's booked by using a "key". I am trying to simplify my life....
.
Samster said:
I have a Palm Pilot that I'm going to start using to show what's booked by using a "key".
You have me interested. How are you going to do this?
 
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