We often get asked about our eTourism Online request feature and how this works so I thought it would be a good idea to write this blog post about it.
Have you ever had a time when you only had a couple of rooms left and you wanted to put them online but couldn’t in case you wanted to sell them over the phone or to a walkin, only to then not sell the room and end up with a vacant apartment for the night.
We have the solution to your problem - The eTourism Online request feature.
How does it work?
When this functionality is turned on, rather than telling your potential customers that there is nothing to book, you can offer the room on ‘request only’ basis. The customer then gets an opportunity to enter their booking details which will be sent directly to you via email to decide if you want to accept the booking or not.
If you would like to ACCEPT the booking, you can simply click the ACCEPT button and the customer will receive an email confirming your acceptance of the booking. To make this into a confirmed booking, the customer has to click the booking link and complete their credit card details as they would a normal booking. The booking is not confirmed until this has been done. The booking will then be delivered in the normal fashion.
If you would like to REJECT the booking, simply click the REJECT button and the customer will be sent an email saying that the booking cannot be accepted but thank you for your enquiry.
Do I need to add an allotment for the booking?
No, the eTourism Online system will automatically add the allotment if the customer proceeds to make the booking at the point of completing their credit card details.
How long do I have to hold the room?
Once you click ACCEPT, the customer has 48 hours to complete their transaction. Please remember that the customer may have found alternative accommodation in the meantime and may not go ahead with the booking.
Please be aware that if your eTourism Online is connected to a channel manager, you may receive a warning advice from your channel manager telling you that a booking has been made and there is no allotment. In this circumstance, you should not worry about this as the channel manager is not aware of the eTourism Online request feature.
If you would like any further information on this feature or any other feature of eTourism Online please contact our support team on 1300 551 448 or support@etourism.com.au
