Online Payments and Policies

[Jeff Gauvin]

I am new to the forums but not the industry. Own a B&B in Salt Lake City for 6 years now. I have never charged a deposit unless the reservation was for 5 nights or more. Do you get a lot of no shows? I can count on one hand the total number of no shows we have had. I always thought it was best to take payment at check-in - this gives me better control over cash flow coming in.
Never tried Res Key but love Res Nexus and would never consider changing. Used Rezovation for a winter season running a B&B in Aspen and did not care for that system. Rex Nexus will not allow a fake credit card to be entered if a guest is booking online - I don't have to worry about manually verifying.

 

[JBloggs]

I am new to the forums but not the industry. Own a B&B in Salt Lake City for 6 years now. I have never charged a deposit unless the reservation was for 5 nights or more. Do you get a lot of no shows? I can count on one hand the total number of no shows we have had. I always thought it was best to take payment at check-in - this gives me better control over cash flow coming in.
Never tried Res Key but love Res Nexus and would never consider changing. Used Rezovation for a winter season running a B&B in Aspen and did not care for that system. Rex Nexus will not allow a fake credit card to be entered if a guest is booking online - I don't have to worry about manually verifying..

I am new to the forums but not the industry. Own a B&B in Salt Lake City for 6 years now. I have never charged a deposit unless the reservation was for 5 nights or more. Do you get a lot of no shows? I can count on one hand the total number of no shows we have had. I always thought it was best to take payment at check-in - this gives me better control over cash flow coming in.
Never tried Res Key but love Res Nexus and would never consider changing. Used Rezovation for a winter season running a B&B in Aspen and did not care for that system. Rex Nexus will not allow a fake credit card to be entered if a guest is booking online - I don't have to worry about manually verifying.

Welcome to the forum Jeff! I had guests this week from SLC and her folks live in St Geo.
I agree with you, I don't take deposits unless I have an iffy feeling, or it is a sold out for months ahead of time event, I also don't take payment until check out. Not many of us around that do this.
But there are a couple equations the higher the occupancy the more likely hood of:
1) bad guests, or no shows, or bad cards - not fake cards declined or expired cards.
2) Location may be an issue, for whatever reason, we definately do not all get the same mix of guests, price point, location, child friendly, many variables.
As for ResNexxus the cost is quite a bit more. But if you have an online system that workds, by all means don't change it! We are bombarded with new directories, cc processors, etc. If it ain't broke!
Jump on in the water's fine!

PS I didn't see a blog link on your site, I hope you will consider blogging. I bet there are a lot of things to do in the area you can blog about.

 

[Tom]

I am new to the forums but not the industry. Own a B&B in Salt Lake City for 6 years now. I have never charged a deposit unless the reservation was for 5 nights or more. Do you get a lot of no shows? I can count on one hand the total number of no shows we have had. I always thought it was best to take payment at check-in - this gives me better control over cash flow coming in.
Never tried Res Key but love Res Nexus and would never consider changing. Used Rezovation for a winter season running a B&B in Aspen and did not care for that system. Rex Nexus will not allow a fake credit card to be entered if a guest is booking online - I don't have to worry about manually verifying..

Welcome!
I too am happy with Resnexus, but a warning, they won't accept a b.s credit card number - the cards have to meet a certain internal error check checksum - but that doesn't mean the card is a good card, i.e. with a paying customer behind it. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luhn_algorithm
And, we have not had a problem with no-show/deadbeats so we do not charge in advance.

 

[EmptyNest]

I am new to the forums but not the industry. Own a B&B in Salt Lake City for 6 years now. I have never charged a deposit unless the reservation was for 5 nights or more. Do you get a lot of no shows? I can count on one hand the total number of no shows we have had. I always thought it was best to take payment at check-in - this gives me better control over cash flow coming in.
Never tried Res Key but love Res Nexus and would never consider changing. Used Rezovation for a winter season running a B&B in Aspen and did not care for that system. Rex Nexus will not allow a fake credit card to be entered if a guest is booking online - I don't have to worry about manually verifying..

HEY JEFF...WELCOME...saw you two on house hunters a while ago. Wondered how you liked it. Didn't say you were a previous owner...that is a good thing. Gosh..feel like I know you already...best wishes.

 

[Jeff Gauvin]

I am new to the forums but not the industry. Own a B&B in Salt Lake City for 6 years now. I have never charged a deposit unless the reservation was for 5 nights or more. Do you get a lot of no shows? I can count on one hand the total number of no shows we have had. I always thought it was best to take payment at check-in - this gives me better control over cash flow coming in.
Never tried Res Key but love Res Nexus and would never consider changing. Used Rezovation for a winter season running a B&B in Aspen and did not care for that system. Rex Nexus will not allow a fake credit card to be entered if a guest is booking online - I don't have to worry about manually verifying..

HEY JEFF...WELCOME...saw you two on house hunters a while ago. Wondered how you liked it. Didn't say you were a previous owner...that is a good thing. Gosh..feel like I know you already...best wishes.

.

too funny... glad you caught our show. That was a good decision to do the House Hunters show. Still have guests that already know who we are. Thanks for the welcoming!

 

[gillumhouse]

I am new to the forums but not the industry. Own a B&B in Salt Lake City for 6 years now. I have never charged a deposit unless the reservation was for 5 nights or more. Do you get a lot of no shows? I can count on one hand the total number of no shows we have had. I always thought it was best to take payment at check-in - this gives me better control over cash flow coming in.
Never tried Res Key but love Res Nexus and would never consider changing. Used Rezovation for a winter season running a B&B in Aspen and did not care for that system. Rex Nexus will not allow a fake credit card to be entered if a guest is booking online - I don't have to worry about manually verifying..

HEY JEFF...WELCOME...saw you two on house hunters a while ago. Wondered how you liked it. Didn't say you were a previous owner...that is a good thing. Gosh..feel like I know you already...best wishes.

.

too funny... glad you caught our show. That was a good decision to do the House Hunters show. Still have guests that already know who we are. Thanks for the welcoming!
.

I don't watch TV (cannot stand the remote jerking the programs on me) but welcome.

 

[Madeleine]

I am new to the forums but not the industry. Own a B&B in Salt Lake City for 6 years now. I have never charged a deposit unless the reservation was for 5 nights or more. Do you get a lot of no shows? I can count on one hand the total number of no shows we have had. I always thought it was best to take payment at check-in - this gives me better control over cash flow coming in.
Never tried Res Key but love Res Nexus and would never consider changing. Used Rezovation for a winter season running a B&B in Aspen and did not care for that system. Rex Nexus will not allow a fake credit card to be entered if a guest is booking online - I don't have to worry about manually verifying..

OMG! I love that house! You guys were great on that show! Did you end up turning that room in the back into a massage area?
Everyone's right, I feel like I know you, too!

 

[Jeff Gauvin]

I am new to the forums but not the industry. Own a B&B in Salt Lake City for 6 years now. I have never charged a deposit unless the reservation was for 5 nights or more. Do you get a lot of no shows? I can count on one hand the total number of no shows we have had. I always thought it was best to take payment at check-in - this gives me better control over cash flow coming in.
Never tried Res Key but love Res Nexus and would never consider changing. Used Rezovation for a winter season running a B&B in Aspen and did not care for that system. Rex Nexus will not allow a fake credit card to be entered if a guest is booking online - I don't have to worry about manually verifying..

OMG! I love that house! You guys were great on that show! Did you end up turning that room in the back into a massage area?
Everyone's right, I feel like I know you, too!
.

Thanks Madeleine! Yes we did for a while but it became very difficult to keep the tempature comfortable in there. We also tried taking away one of the guest rooms for a massage room. That was a revenue wash, so we scrapped that too. No more massage on property although my wife has a great practice just down the road.

 

[Joey Camb]

I am new to the forums but not the industry. Own a B&B in Salt Lake City for 6 years now. I have never charged a deposit unless the reservation was for 5 nights or more. Do you get a lot of no shows? I can count on one hand the total number of no shows we have had. I always thought it was best to take payment at check-in - this gives me better control over cash flow coming in.
Never tried Res Key but love Res Nexus and would never consider changing. Used Rezovation for a winter season running a B&B in Aspen and did not care for that system. Rex Nexus will not allow a fake credit card to be entered if a guest is booking online - I don't have to worry about manually verifying..

OMG! I love that house! You guys were great on that show! Did you end up turning that room in the back into a massage area?
Everyone's right, I feel like I know you, too!
.

Thanks Madeleine! Yes we did for a while but it became very difficult to keep the tempature comfortable in there. We also tried taking away one of the guest rooms for a massage room. That was a revenue wash, so we scrapped that too. No more massage on property although my wife has a great practice just down the road.
.

it reminds me of a hotel inspector episode with two brothers running a small hotel in black pool brother 1 had a background in cruses and ran a spa on a cruise boat brother 2 was good at DIY and building but he lived about a 2 hour drive away and drove there and back every day. Brother 1 was determined they were going to have a spa despite the fact the rest of the place needed a complete makeover and they had very little money. I would have boutiqued the place up and then maybe done a spa when there was more money comming in. For myself I would have made a deal with a neaby spa as a start people don't go to a hotel in Blackpool to get their legs waxed! Plus with your wife just down the road you can easily send referals as an when with no extra cost. There was a B&B on 4 in a bed where the lady was a beautician in a previous life and she did nails and beauty stuff makeovers as an add on as you don't really need a dedicated space for either and the equipment is easily stored. The trouble was they hod no idea how demanding it was and thought they could carry on living somewhere else that wasn't event close!