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  1. Arks

    It's the little things...

    Yes, almost without fail!
  2. Arks

    It's the little things...

    ...the little things are what drive me crazy. Like when I get a text message that just says, "Can I check in early?" Not can it check in at 1 pm or can I check in at noon. Just can I? I'm tempted to just reply, "Yes." But I know they would reply, "When?" and I still wouldn't know what time...
  3. Arks

    Goodbye, Non-Refundable Rates

    Good point! It's a contract. They agree to pay for the room they booked, and we agree to forsake all others and hold the room only for them.
  4. Arks

    Goodbye, Non-Refundable Rates

    Correct. He's a big hotel guy, not a mom & pop level guy, but some of what he writes about can help us, too. As as generic mentions above, several of the OTAs offer a non-refundable option, which seemed like a good idea at the time, but maybe their days are numbered.
  5. Arks

    Goodbye, Non-Refundable Rates

    Good article HERE by Vikram Singh, a hospitality industry advisor I heard speak at the PAII (Professional Association of Innkeepers International) conference in Nashville several years ago. He knows the industry very well. Here's a section of the article...
  6. Arks

    Credit Card Processing?

    I use ResKey with Stripe. Works perfectly. In the past I processed through Authorize dot net, but Stripe works as well or better and is much cheaper and easier to deal with.
  7. Arks

    Wordpress Captcha?

    One of my favorites was a post from years ago about a helpless guest who entered their key code then stepped back, thinking the door would swing open on its own, without having to turn the handle and push.
  8. Arks

    Wordpress Captcha?

    Excellent point, but in my case, I get about 1 legitimate contact/month through my contact form, and I was getting about 15 spams/day until I cracked down. It's hard to be sure what to do, but at most I'd be losing 1 potential customer/month if they can't select the photos with a traffic light...
  9. Arks

    Uptick in OTA reservations?

    I've noticed that my reservations through Air, which have always been 5% of my reservations, have been 10% this year.
  10. Arks

    Wordpress Captcha?

    I'll give a recap and update on this topic. My contact form captcha was working quite well for a couple of years, then I started getting multiple spams/day bragging that they beat my captcha and offering to sell me a better one. I switched my webform to Contact Form 7 and installed Honeypot for...
  11. Arks

    How do you handle far-advance multi-day reservations?

    I think I'll also start having it automatically re-send the arrival info 2 weeks before arrival on these folks who book way in advance. Amazing I've been doing this 9 years now, and am STILL tweaking things to make it all run smoothly!
  12. Arks

    How do you handle far-advance multi-day reservations?

    Big festival in the area this weekend. I sold my first rooms for this weekend a year ago, so I raised the rates 50% and still sold the last remaining rooms 9 months ago. Every one of them was booked for 3 nights. So a significant amount of money for a 3-night stay at a marked up rate. I was...
  13. Arks

    Window Treatments

    Excellent advice. It's a big investment, so you'll probably be stuck with them for a long time. Don't go cheap. Durability is so important because guests won't treat your things as gently as you threat your things.
  14. Arks

    Window Treatments

    A wonderful memory, and glad himself realized "happy wife, happy life." I'm just trying to decide if I want to picture you as Scarlet O'Hara in the dress made from velvet drapes, or Carol Burnett wearing the curtains and the curtain rod!
  15. Arks

    What would you do? Who right?

    You do need good photos, but I think it's important that the photos don't make things look better than they really are. To me, it's a success when guests say, "your photos don't do it justice!" which I hear often. Much better than them arriving and thinking, "It looked better in the photos. :-("
  16. Arks

    What would you do? Who right?

    Exactly. And not wanting to go to the trouble to update the website, or in some cases the expense to pay someone to do it. They don't realize good photos can pay for themselves many times over.
  17. Arks

    Duvet vs blanket and other stuff from vacation

    Why would you forego a fitted bottom sheet? They are, as they say, "The best thing since sliced bread." I turned against triple sheets the first time my nightly toss and turn let me feel that blanket against my face!
  18. Arks

    Hi There from Northern Minnesota!

    Ha! Yes, I was about to ask about the snow removal in Honolulu!
  19. Arks

    What would you do? Who right?

    If I'm doing it right, the online photos do the the talking: expensive. Then when they enter their dates I think they're pleasantly surprised that the rates are less than expected!
  20. Arks

    What is wrong with people

    At least they weren't yelling at YOU!! It seems to have worked out as best as could be hoped for.
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