Your properties can be set-up to offer three different booking processes. Most guests prefer to place a booking directly, and to know that their preferred dates are reserved for them immediately. However, some properties, in particular large group or Exclusive Use properties, might prefer to operate on an 'Enquire Now' basis. Each of the options is explained briefly below. 

• 'Book Now' - This option allows the guest to choose their dates, add any options/extras you have set-up, enter the information required by the booking form, and then place the booking, which will immediately block the dates. If you have a Payment Processor set-up, you can also receive the payment of the deposit at the time of booking too. 
• This article illustrates the Guest Booking journey from start to finish, and explains how to test and preview it before the SuperControl calendars are added to your website.

• 'Book Now' (with 'Check Before Booking') - It's also possible to make the property directly bookable, but to include an additional pop-up message asking the prospective guest to check availability prior to booking, as shown below. 
• Once they have contacted you as directed, and you are happy for them to proceed, they can then add any options/extras you have set-up, enter the information required by the booking form, and then place the booking, which will immediately block the dates. If you have a Payment Processor set-up, you can also receive the payment of the deposit at the time of booking too. 

• 'Enquire Now' - It's also possible for Website bookings to configure a property to operate on an enquiry basis. This means that the guest is able to see availability and pricing for the property, and is then directed to 'Send Enquiry' via your Enquiry form. This will register interest, but no payment will yet be taken and the dates will not yet be blocked in the calendar. 
• You will be notified by email that an enquiry has been made, and can then respond accordingly. If you are happy for it to proceed, you would then convert the enquiry into a booking, thereby blocking the dates in the calendar, and send an email with the Booking Summary appended to inform the guest of how much to pay, and if you have a Payment Processor set-up, you can include the payment link to allow them to pay their deposit by card. 
• N.B. Any integrated third party-listings for the property will be governed by the settings set-up on that third party, and so will not necessarily be able to be 'enquiry only' if the third party mandates instant booking as a pre-requisite for connecting the listing with SuperControl. 

We have a full article explaining how to set-up and use the 'Enquire Now' Booking Journey HERE.

• Using a Dynamic Pricing package is the simplest way to get your pricing in place. To find out more about how dynamic Pricing can help you to maximise your revenue, Click here.

Non-Dynamic Pricing Models-

• If you use a 'Length of Stay' pricing model, you will have a series of prices based on the different lengths of stay that you offer, as shown below. You need to enter these in the Price Planner, following these instructions.
• You can also add Per Person Pricing if you wish, following this guide.

The Short Break Pricing can then the set as a fixed percentage of the weekly price (as shown below) or manually entered into the Price Planner Price Bands.

• Or you could use daily pricing (i.e. a price for each night of the week) 

• You should think about your allowed Start Days for Full Week Bookings throughout the year, as well as the short breaks that you wish to offer. The allowed Short Breaks  can be made to vary throughout the year, and once set-up, can easily be copied from one year to the next, or from one property to another. 
• If you require a more complex short break set-up (for example with days that are allowed as departure days but not as arrival days, or with different settings for 7+ night stays) then you can ask for the 'Short Break Departure Grid' to be enabled, to give you greater control of your short break settings.

• It is important to ensure that you have robust and well written Terms & Conditions and a Privacy policy, ready to be inserted into your SuperControl account. 

• You might need to add custom questions or statements to your booking form and/or enquiry form to gather pertinent information, which can easily be set-up following this guide, for example, to ask how beds should be made up (double/twin),

• Using a Payment Processor allows guests to easily pay the deposit for their booking whilst placing it, and enables you to easily send them a payment link, manually or automatically, when their balance is due. We integrate with two main payment processors as well as PayPal. A summary of the two Payment Processor features is below, and we have a whole section of guidance on signing-up and getting started with payment processors- just click here!

• First impressions count! Planning your guest journey, from the time that they first search the dates to the time that they receive a thank-you for staying email helps to ensure a happy guest and minimised admin for you. 

• At the beginning of set-up, we recommend thinking about which emails you wish the guest to receive, and at what points they should get them.  
• Email templates can be set-up with tags to pull through guest, property or booking-specific information, and the link to make payment via a payment processor can be added by appending the booking summary. 

• Automating your Email Templates makes it easier to manage your guest communication - think about what you want the guest to receive and when. You can use automated emails to send your guests arrival instructions, reminders to pay their balance, a thank-you message, or almost anything else they might need to know. You can  even send an email automatically only to bookings that have selected a particular booking extra, such as a dog guide only to those who have chosen to bring a dog? Click HERE for Written Instructions on Automating emails

• Another useful way of optimising your guest communication journey is using the SuperControl Guest Login. This  enables guests to manage their bookings themselves. If they want to add any options or extras, enter in guest names or pay an outstanding balance, they can do this from their own login area. They can also view their previous bookings. Within the Guest Login, you can enter custom pages to provide more information about your business. The good news is that it’s very easy to set up.
• Click HERE to Get Started with the Guest Login!

• Every owner loves a direct booking, and we at SuperControl are committed to helping you achieve more direct bookings. 

  The self-catering accommodation sector is however a highly competitive market, where the on-line travel agents (OTAs) are increasingly prominent and therefore an essential part of your marketing mix.  Channel bookings in SuperControl have grown by an average of 44% year-on-year over the last three years. A quarter of all bookings taken in SuperControl now come through OTAs. Each day our channel manager calculates more than 734 million prices to send live to OTA listings. 

  Channels are not something to be scared of if used correctly, they are a valuable tool to increase the visibility of your properties, and help branch out into new markets. 

  There are broadly three types of Channel that you can integrate with through SuperControl-

  • The International Channels- such as Airbnb, Booking.com and  VRBO/HomeAway.  
  • UK based and Regional Channels- these include Cottages.com, Premier Cottages, VisitScotland, and SimpleView (which powers a great many region-specific platforms). 
  • The Niche/Specialist Channels- we integrate with a number of channels that cater to a specific type of guest or specific market. These include Camping/Glamping sites, Family-friendly travel sites, Group booking specialists and many more. 

• Why not take a look at our Channel Manager Articles, by clicking HERE, to see how listing on channels might help to bring more bookings, and open up your property to new markets.