Confirming a Booking for your Holiday Home (Part 1)

So you’ve just received an email saying your guests would like to book your holiday rental home.

Now what?

Well here’s what we do if it helps.

Sometimes there can be a little language barrier to overcome with bookings which is worth noting. If you’ve received an email out of the blue requesting to book your holiday home we would recommend you reply to double check that they would like to go ahead with the booking. In this email you should mention the dates, the total price, and a link back to the property on the website from which they enquired. We would also double check how many people they intend to stay at the property and check on any special requirements which they may have specified. Checking guest numbers is important – we had a request for a group to book that were intending to bring 16 people into a 3 bedroom apartment. You should also be aware of spam fake bookings designed to capture your email address or worse. Come back to the site next week and I’ll share an email we received this week along these lines!  

The next step is to be absolutely sure that you still have availability. You may have reserved the apartment for others whilst a group decision is made. To be absolutely sure we have four mechanisms – an excel colour coded calendar, the online calendars on the third party websites and our own website and each booking or reservation has a unique line in our excel spreadsheet. We check against all of these and we also email the management agency immediately following the booking so they too can cross reference the dates.

Then if you’re sure they’re sure they want to book, and that you want to accept the booking, then we would send an email thanking the guest for their booking reiterating the dates, the arrival and departure times, the payment methods and dates, a link back to the apartment so there is no confusion, and our contact details. Here is an example template for a holiday home booking email. Please note this does not constitute a legally binding document and we recommend you do speak to a local solicitor to draw something up which is signed by the guests and returned to you.

Dear <name of the guest> many thanks for your booking. I have reserved the property <name of property> for you.

Your holiday is from the <full date including year> to <full date including year> and will cost < price including the correct currency> plus a <any other category of charges i.e cleaning charge> of <cost of any additional charges including currency>. (note here you may need some charges to be payable on arrival or departure so be specific) 

Arrival can be from <times at which arrival is allowed – reiterating the date> and departure is by <the time of departure is by – reiterating the date>

Here is a link back to the property- <insert URL to property i.e http://www.rental-retreats.co.uk/rental-properties/properties-in-sao-martinho-do-porto/bay>

All we need from you now to secure the booking is a deposit of <amount needed in the right currency> which we require within <number of days/weeks>. We will reserve the apartment for you for <what is the date you need the deposit by> whilst we await your deposit.

The balance of <how much is left to pay in which currency> is due by <the full date by which you need to balance>. We will also need a breakages deposit of <full amount by currency if you need a breakages deposit> which we will return to you as soon as possible after your holiday provided there have been no significant damage caused to the apartment or its contents.

We would be grateful if you could include the deposit when you pay the final balance. Please also provide us with your bank details for the return transfer of your deposit or your home address for a cheque. 

We can receive funds by <how can you be paid? – by cheque or by electronic transfer, pay pal?>. Our bank details are as follows:

Bank name

Account name

BIC / SWIFT No

IBAN

Sort code

Account No

Please ensure that you mark your payment with a reference as your full name so we know it’s from you. Alternatively please send a cheque to <your full postal address>

Please also see the attached contract <you would need to see a local solicitor for this> which we would need you to sign and return to us by <full date you need it by>

I have attached a copy of our information pack which includes address, directions and local places of interest. Please have a read through the pack and print off a copy to take with you as it is important information for your holiday. 

Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions.

Thank you very much for choosing to stay in our holiday home, we hope that you have a fantastic holiday! 

<your name>

<your contact details including mobile phone>

<the management company phone number in the local area if appropriate>

Once your email booking has been sent we recommend updating all calendars, telling the management company by email about the booking and any special requirements so you have a record, updating your excel spreadsheet or system and setting up alerts for yourself around deposit and final payment dates. We colour code our spreadsheets based on these two stages of payment so we can quickly see where we need to chase payments.

Information we record in this spreadsheet is below:

• Email address of renter
• Full name of renter
• Languages spoken
• Phone number of the renter – ask for mobile if you don’t have it as you won’t be able to get them on their home number when they are at your holiday home!
• Which property they have booked if you have more than one
• Dates of booking
• Colour coded calendar also showing the booking
• Received contract back check box? (if appropriate)
• Sent holiday information pack check box (which includes the arrival and location detail)
• Date and amount of deposit needed
• Date and amount of full balance needed
• Whether a security deposit is needed, the amount and by when
• The bank details of the renter to return the security deposit
• Number of guests
• Any special needs or agreements

Check back to the site when I’ll share what you need to include in your holiday information pack. Hope this is useful.

Jenny Masters