PIMS rental management system versus bookingtracker

[kendalcottages]

It isn't ideal as I have no clear stats about where my bookings are from...

But LV... but surely that alone is something that would more than pay for PIMS (or any other similar system)?

With PIMS, you are just a click away from knowing what % of bookings come from where, what % of revenue comes from where... and so on.

If the graphs just flagged up one site you couild dispense with, that would be the fee covered in all probability (not to mention all the other benefits).

[kendalcottages]

I dont because, I have my trusty Diary and backup on the computer],......... 99% of my bookings are for both houses together so 1 booking really,......I dont take paypal and
....... I actually like doing it myself [the fee doesnt enter into it]

Rosxx

I have my trusty diary too (Google Calendar which is on my desktop, my laptop, my phone, etc. and which I can merge with the KC calendar, my wife's calendar, etc.).

I can also take a backup from PIMS at any time.

Not quite sure how PIMS would handle booking 2 properties... I would imagine it would just treat it as two separate bookings, but don't quote me on that one.

I don't take PayPal either. (or credit cards...)

I still feel I'm doing it myself, but just much more quickly.

[Nightowl]

Yeah, I often get my two flat booked together, they both have their own separate calendars in PIMS - if one person is dealing with the two bookings I just use the same name for both and add a (2) after the name to help me differentiate in my records.

I don't duplicate the emails, but in PIMS it's easy enough to tweak a mail directly before sending so I just add in the details I need and send. And update the tasks on each property.

Works fine.

[la vache!]

With PIMS, you are just a click away from knowing what % of bookings come from where, what % of revenue comes from where... and so on.

If the graphs just flagged up one site you couild dispense with, that would be the fee covered in all probability (not to mention all the other benefits).

I suppose I know moreorless which sites deliver from historic emails, so I'm not sure I need all the stats (I hardly have time to look at my own website stats). I just don't have time to input all the information that I'd presumably need for any booking system. With my spreadsheet by date, all I need is the name, the email address, and the deposit paid. I could add a field for where the booking came from too, I suppose. I don't need reminders for sending out the invoices as I can look at the calendar and do it 7 weeks before the start date of the holiday. My payment system takes seconds to set up, I only need name and email address and it takes seconds to send an email with the invoice and payment link on it.
Apart from the stats, am I missing anything else important?

[wallypott]

Seriously LV the stats, with income generated, enquiries from which site etc, comparative incomes period on period, year on year, next years income just absolutely fab. With graphs or not or whatever - per property income - I could go on and on. It is so worth while, and even if you just went from here on in, without updating the historic info it would be worth you while. Honestly it is the thing that brightens my day.

[wallypott]

Forgot to mention the drole little emails I get from ER!

[kendalcottages]

I suppose I know moreorless which sites deliver from historic emails...

I suppose I would be inclined to argue that 'moreorless' isn't really good enough. You want to be *sure* as to which sites are bringing in what, and whether you get any shifts in which sites are working or not, rather than going to any gut feeling, and rather than having to trawl through old emails to try to ascertain what's happening. Why do that, when it's literally just a single mouse click away?

I just don't have time to input all the information that I'd presumably need for any booking system.

Think of PIMS as a managmeent system rather than merely a booking system. The enquiry data can, for the most part, can be put in by the enquirer, so no cut and paste necessary on your part. (Sure, you'll need to put in some info at the start, such as your tariff and various email templates.)

If someone sends an enquiry via our contact form it goes straight into PIMS. From there, at my backend, it immediately tells me the rate... whether it's still available... whether they're trying to fit too many people into the property... whether the dates don't co-incide with our dates... and so on. I don't need to refer to anything else to cross-check. I simply hit 'send email' and choose the pre-written email I want to send (I can tweak it to make it more personalised if I want). And hey presto... it's done. Then there's all the bits afterwards if they should book...

I don't need to take an availability calendar everywhere I go. I was camping in Wales the other week and just continued to deal with enquiries via PIMS from my phone.

I get reminders of all the tasks I have to do, without having to write anything down. If I need to reply to an email, if I need to send out a keycard to a forthcoming guest, if I need to check the new guests just in are happy, if I need to request a review from past guests, if I need to chase someone for a balance of payment, if I need to chase someone for their returned booking form, and so on... it's all there in the 'to do' list. Here's a screenshot of how that looks, taken from Richard's site (I trust he won't mind...)



Really, LV (and Ros!)... I definitely think it's worth having some kind of management system. My only regret was not choosing to go for it sooner, as I was 6 months in when I started and, in the interest of completeness, I entered all the past enquiries up to that point.

[la vache!]

I know you are right, KC, but it is just all the setting up and everything that I struggle with. At the moment I spend so little time on admin which works for me because of all the other things I have to do here. The system I have is so simple - maybe it is easier for me as I only have around 6 months back to back bookings in the summer, mostly of a week or two weeks, so find it easy to keep a lot of things in my head. Winter bookings are more sporadic and so even easier to keep track of. Whenever I get an enquiry I'm so sad that I know immediately if there is availability or not, even without consulting the spreadsheet. If I had 90% occupancy with lots of short lets, I'd have to have a booking system, not question about it. My bookings come from here there and everywhere and the French enquirers in particular are very lax at filling in the appropriate form on the booking form.
I promise I'll think about it a little more deeply, especially as I do everything on my own and if I got run over by a tractor tomorrow my haphazard admin would be extemely difficult for anyone else to understand.