What would you suggest?

[nataliebee]

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..

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.
.

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.

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"
.

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"

EVERYTHING JB SAYS!!! Get with the program. I would never book a place that didn't have on line reservations. I don't want to talk to anyone!
.

Woah! Please read my first edited statement.

 

[nataliebee]

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..

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.
.

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.

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"
.

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"

EVERYTHING JB SAYS!!! Get with the program. I would never book a place that didn't have on line reservations. I don't want to talk to anyone!
.

Woah! Please read my first edited statement.

 

[Morticia]

Edit: Guys, we take online reservations. I was asking about the online-booking option where the customer has the option of not entering their CC # while booking, thus making it an extra step when they get here. We often don't take down the credit card details of walk ins, but everyone pays up front. I didn't mean to make this sound as if it happens as a policy, heck no!.

Edit: Guys, we take online reservations. I was asking about the online-booking option where the customer has the option of not entering their CC # while booking, thus making it an extra step when they get here. We often don't take down the credit card details of walk ins, but everyone pays up front. I didn't mean to make this sound as if it happens as a policy, heck no!

Right back to the beginning! ;-)
We don't write down the cc number on a walk in but you may be able to get it from your credit card processor.
Don't accept reservations without a cc number. It's asking for trouble.

 

[nataliebee]

Edit: Guys, we take online reservations. I was asking about the online-booking option where the customer has the option of not entering their CC # while booking, thus making it an extra step when they get here. We often don't take down the credit card details of walk ins, but everyone pays up front. I didn't mean to make this sound as if it happens as a policy, heck no!.

Edit: Guys, we take online reservations. I was asking about the online-booking option where the customer has the option of not entering their CC # while booking, thus making it an extra step when they get here. We often don't take down the credit card details of walk ins, but everyone pays up front. I didn't mean to make this sound as if it happens as a policy, heck no!

Right back to the beginning! ;-)
We don't write down the cc number on a walk in but you may be able to get it from your credit card processor.
Don't accept reservations without a cc number. It's asking for trouble.
.

Oh yes, understood that point! I just think that the general take-away is that we just do direct bookings. Instead of responding to every post, just thought I'd rephrase!

 

[nataliebee]

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..

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.
.

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.

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.
.

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.
.

We inherited hundreds of 3x5 cards with all that data on them. Or, the old cc receipts with the number printed on them. We went thru and blacked out all the cc info.
If I need to write stuff down to later enter in the computer I then shred the cards.
However, a lot of small businesses didn't even take credit cards or write down the cc info until just a few years ago. So there may not be an extensive data base of valid cc info floating around.
How many people take reservations at your place? I thought you were a small place with just two people on staff. Don't know why I thought that, but I did.
.

Nope. We're the largest B&B in town. We're mostly full in the Summer; Booking.com reservations account for about 80% or more...
I'm always on the lookout for updated ways of doing things, this is from almost 10 years of Administrative office work and training... the house (142 years old) has been a B&B since the late 80s. We staff around 5.

 

[nataliebee]

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..

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.
.

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.

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"
.

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

What JB said.
We pay $70/month for our online rez system. We could pay more or less depending on the company.
$70 is half of one night's fee for staying here. Less than half in peak season. 50% of my reservations are online. (Yes, I still talk with 50% of my guests advance, we're odd way out here at the end of the country.)
If I lost ONE of those online reservations every month because it was 'too much trouble to call' that would more than offset the outlay to have the system. I'd be losing money on lost reservations rather than 'losing ' money having the system.
$70 is negligible in a month like August. It doesn't even register as a %.
If your owner can afford to hire you and your spouse and other people they can certainly afford to buy something that brings in more income.
.

Which online system do you use?

 

[Breakfast Diva]

I'm confused. Nataliebee, are you saying that you have online reservation only through booking.com? Do you have your own reservation system that works with your own website?

 

[nataliebee]

I'm confused. Nataliebee, are you saying that you have online reservation only through booking.com? Do you have your own reservation system that works with your own website?.

Thats correct. And now I feel like I'm on the defense like we are doing something wrong! Feeling misunderstood by this whole thread. Wish I could delete it.

 

[gillumhouse]

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..

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.
.

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.

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.
.

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.
.

We inherited hundreds of 3x5 cards with all that data on them. Or, the old cc receipts with the number printed on them. We went thru and blacked out all the cc info.
If I need to write stuff down to later enter in the computer I then shred the cards.
However, a lot of small businesses didn't even take credit cards or write down the cc info until just a few years ago. So there may not be an extensive data base of valid cc info floating around.
How many people take reservations at your place? I thought you were a small place with just two people on staff. Don't know why I thought that, but I did.
.

Nope. We're the largest B&B in town. We're mostly full in the Summer; Booking.com reservations account for about 80% or more...
I'm always on the lookout for updated ways of doing things, this is from almost 10 years of Administrative office work and training... the house (142 years old) has been a B&B since the late 80s. We staff around 5.
.

Booking.com reservations account for about 80% or more...
You are giving away a heck of a lot of revenue if you depend on bookingdotcon for that much of your reservations. You can use RezKey to get a lot of reservations without depending on a 3rd party. With that much of your business in the hands of a 3rd party - they pretty much own you. And yes, from what I hear from folks who use them, you WILL have problems getting the cc# or cvv # or even the address as they change things on the fly but not for your benefit.
Good luck. I am truly sorry to hear that much of your business is from them.

 

[gillumhouse]

I'm confused. Nataliebee, are you saying that you have online reservation only through booking.com? Do you have your own reservation system that works with your own website?.

Thats correct. And now I feel like I'm on the defense like we are doing something wrong! Feeling misunderstood by this whole thread. Wish I could delete it.
.

Please do not feel defensive. We really are trying to help. It is like texting - WE know what we are saying when we type it, but it changes in the translation when it is read. Sometimes one had to just go in a corner, preferably with a bottle of wine. We can only know what you tell us. We all get caught up in the mental translator at times.

 

[Anon Inn]

I'm confused. Nataliebee, are you saying that you have online reservation only through booking.com? Do you have your own reservation system that works with your own website?.

Thats correct. And now I feel like I'm on the defense like we are doing something wrong! Feeling misunderstood by this whole thread. Wish I could delete it.
.

 

[nataliebee]

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..

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.
.

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.

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.
.

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.
.

We inherited hundreds of 3x5 cards with all that data on them. Or, the old cc receipts with the number printed on them. We went thru and blacked out all the cc info.
If I need to write stuff down to later enter in the computer I then shred the cards.
However, a lot of small businesses didn't even take credit cards or write down the cc info until just a few years ago. So there may not be an extensive data base of valid cc info floating around.
How many people take reservations at your place? I thought you were a small place with just two people on staff. Don't know why I thought that, but I did.
.

Nope. We're the largest B&B in town. We're mostly full in the Summer; Booking.com reservations account for about 80% or more...
I'm always on the lookout for updated ways of doing things, this is from almost 10 years of Administrative office work and training... the house (142 years old) has been a B&B since the late 80s. We staff around 5.
.

Booking.com reservations account for about 80% or more...
You are giving away a heck of a lot of revenue if you depend on bookingdotcon for that much of your reservations. You can use RezKey to get a lot of reservations without depending on a 3rd party. With that much of your business in the hands of a 3rd party - they pretty much own you. And yes, from what I hear from folks who use them, you WILL have problems getting the cc# or cvv # or even the address as they change things on the fly but not for your benefit.
Good luck. I am truly sorry to hear that much of your business is from them.
.

I have no experience with innkeeping, this is why I'm here. I feel a little sorry I posted this, didn't expect to get this reaction. Maybe because I'm new? I'm a bright person, just seeing new ideas outside of this inn, the first one Ive ever seen from the inside.

 

[nataliebee]

I'm confused. Nataliebee, are you saying that you have online reservation only through booking.com? Do you have your own reservation system that works with your own website?.

Thats correct. And now I feel like I'm on the defense like we are doing something wrong! Feeling misunderstood by this whole thread. Wish I could delete it.
.

Please do not feel defensive. We really are trying to help. It is like texting - WE know what we are saying when we type it, but it changes in the translation when it is read. Sometimes one had to just go in a corner, preferably with a bottle of wine. We can only know what you tell us. We all get caught up in the mental translator at times.
.

It may be a case of " I know what I mean!"
I feel frustrated.
Oh well.

 

[Morticia]

I'm confused. Nataliebee, are you saying that you have online reservation only through booking.com? Do you have your own reservation system that works with your own website?.

Thats correct. And now I feel like I'm on the defense like we are doing something wrong! Feeling misunderstood by this whole thread. Wish I could delete it.
.

Thats correct. And now I feel like I'm on the defense like we are doing something wrong! Feeling misunderstood by this whole thread. Wish I could delete it.

This happens on occasion. We're all trying to help, not hinder or harm.
Take a breath and ignore the rest of the posts. Sometimes that's the easiest way to handle it when the thread goes off the rails.

 

[JBloggs]

So you are taking only OTA bookings, not from your own online reservation system. I think that is what you mean. You can't go and delete everything and do that to everyone's time spent replying. Then you might not have any answers here, when everyone was trying to be helpful. Unclear what you were asking, I guess.

 

[gillumhouse]

I'm confused. Nataliebee, are you saying that you have online reservation only through booking.com? Do you have your own reservation system that works with your own website?.

Thats correct. And now I feel like I'm on the defense like we are doing something wrong! Feeling misunderstood by this whole thread. Wish I could delete it.
.

Please do not feel defensive. We really are trying to help. It is like texting - WE know what we are saying when we type it, but it changes in the translation when it is read. Sometimes one had to just go in a corner, preferably with a bottle of wine. We can only know what you tell us. We all get caught up in the mental translator at times.
.

It may be a case of " I know what I mean!"
I feel frustrated.
Oh well.
.

Here is what you do.
First pour a glass of wine.
second - flip the bird to the monitor.
Third - drink said glass of wine.
fourth - come back tomorrow and the sun will be shining