Need help with wording

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Morticia

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I have been getting this sort of confusion lately from callers. Others may not call, they may just move on, so I need help with the phrasing. We rarely have 2 night mins but it says on my booking engine: If you wish to book a single night on a weekend that is designated as a '2-night minimum', please call us.
You don't actually know it is a 2-night min until you try to book a single night and you can't. But I think guests are reading that and thinking 'all weekends are 2 nights'.
So, should I remove that altogether? The reason it is there is that I may be able to allow a single night if they call and I can move someone else. Or, convince them to take a different room.
 
We get calls all the time with people who think we have a two-night minimum stay every night, even though our website says it is for Saturdays and holidays. If you rarely have a two-night minimum, I would remove the mention of it and just set it up in your booking engine. It should give a message, then - no? Webervations does, anyway. Better to just field those phone calls for the rare two-night minimum weekends than have people not call thinking there is a two-night minimum.
 
Personally, I'd leave that blurb off until they actually get to the point of booking. You could add a note at that point to let them know that sometimes 1-nights may be available and to call. Or you could just lift the 2-night minimum whenever you have a 1-night opening.
Because some folks are going to read part-way through anything you say upfront and assume that 2-nights always apply or apply equally to Fridays/Sundays as well as Saturday. So, IMHO, it's best to wait until that's an issue to raise it as one.
I always offer waiting lists for folks looking for 1-nights on Saturdays and call those 1st whenever a 1-night hole appears. Some will have already booked somewhere else, but quite often there's still someone who wants the 1-night. They're always happy to get the call, either way.
Gives an extra opportunity for guests to feel a connection to the inn - and to feel like they've gotten something special when you call them.
So rather than alerting all guests to something that may not apply to them, I wait and then ask them if they'd like to be put on the waiting list rather than just outright rejecting them altogether.
 
Are there many weekends that ARE a 2-night min? If there are just a few, perhaps listing them as - these dates are 2-night minimums would help.
I know it does not address the possibility of someone wanting a 1 night but the rules-do-not-apply-to-me people will call you anyway for their one night rez.
 
Are there many weekends that ARE a 2-night min? If there are just a few, perhaps listing them as - these dates are 2-night minimums would help.
I know it does not address the possibility of someone wanting a 1 night but the rules-do-not-apply-to-me people will call you anyway for their one night rez..
The 2 nighters are few, but I thought I was heading off the problem of guests not understanding why they couldn't book 1 night by stating if they run into that to call. It seems to have worked the other way...
I don't want a big, long text block that I have to remember to change so I don't mention the particular weekends.
 
Are there many weekends that ARE a 2-night min? If there are just a few, perhaps listing them as - these dates are 2-night minimums would help.
I know it does not address the possibility of someone wanting a 1 night but the rules-do-not-apply-to-me people will call you anyway for their one night rez..
The 2 nighters are few, but I thought I was heading off the problem of guests not understanding why they couldn't book 1 night by stating if they run into that to call. It seems to have worked the other way...
I don't want a big, long text block that I have to remember to change so I don't mention the particular weekends.
.
Even more reason to just not mention the minimum upfront. If it doesn't apply to most of the guests coming to your site, the chance of confusing (and potentially losing) some guests seems to outweigh any benefit. IMHO.
 
Since you want to keep your wording simple, I would remove it as well. See if you get more 1 night bookings and if so, then you have hit the problem on the head.
Does your booking software provide an area to add info if they are unable to book? Maybe this is where you could suggest they contact you by phone. This to could be a generic phrase stating that you always keep a wait list in the event a room is put back in inventory.
 
I am looking at the booking section and the white font on dark background is almost unreadable to me. Do you have any control over the colors Bree?
 
I am looking at the booking section and the white font on dark background is almost unreadable to me. Do you have any control over the colors Bree?.
You mean on the dark green background? No, that I can't fix unless I call. Are you using Chrome? It looks ok on FF.
 
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