ant to get more bookings this summer? Yes, of course. Read on to learn about the key feature that your booking platform should have that will allow customers to book quickly with little effort.
When people book online for a rental or activity, they want the process to be easy to navigate and quick. Especially if they are booking a popular rental or during a busy time of year. Using an online booking platform, such as BookingCentral, offers the an efficient way to book so the customer can do it within seconds.
A simple booking process should look like this:
- Find the Rental
- Pick available Dates
- Add any Add-ons
- Pay a Deposit
- Accept the Terms
- Complete Booking
However, you likely need more information from the customer prior to their arrival. Renting your equipment such as boats, ATVs, RVs, or snowmobiles often means there is additional paperwork and tasks to do before sending the customer off with the rental. Items such as signed waivers, safety certificates, renter identification, and insurance documents are common requirements. But if you request all these details up front at the time of booking, it will undoubtedly cause some frustration on the customer's part since they may not have all this information on hand. The customer may choose to not book with you since it requires too much information up front.
Don't lose another customer because of this! Get BookingCentral and utilize the Pre-Check In feature.
Hello Pre-Check In!
This is the feature that will guarantee you don't hold customers back from booking with you (and going somewhere else!), but also ensure you have everything you need from the customer prior to their rental start date. It allows you to take the booking and deposit payment up front, and then follows up with the customer after the booking is made to get the important paperwork. They will be directed to a custom Pre-Check In page online to complete everything before they arrive for their rental or activity.
Let's pick back up on the simple navigation to include how Pre-Check In factors in from Booking Complete to Rental Pick up:
- Booking Complete
- Automated Confirmation Email/Text with Pre-Check In
- Customer completes all the required paperwork
- Customer arrives to check in for their rental
- Employee sees all the completed paperwork during Check-In
- Customer is off and enjoying their rental
What options are included in Pre-Check In
Pre-Check In is an automated process that will alert the customer what needs to be completed prior to arrival. Once you have it customized and enabled, there is nothing you need to do to initiate the process. Let's discover the options that you can add to the Pre-Check In feature:
Waivers: Get your waivers completed and signed using an e-signing program such as Smartwaiver. A link to all waivers will be included during Pre-Check In. Once signed, completed waivers will be accessible on the order to view.
Document Upload: If you require to have documents on file with the booking, enable document upload to capture items such as boating certificates, proof of insurance, and driver’s licenses.
Emergency Contact: Ask for the customer to add an emergency contact during Pre-Check In. Some states require this information to keep on file with the booking. It’s a good safety measure in case there is an emergency while the renter is out with the rental.
Participant/Passenger information: Get a count of all participants or passengers for each booking. Include options to request names and email and/or phone numbers for all participants, or gather information about their experience with the activity.
Insurance Options: Have the option to offer renter's insurance to your boat rental customers. A customer can see insurance options and choose to purchase it during Pre-Check In. This option requires that you are set up with Buoy.rent to provide the renter insurance on your vessels.
Choose to add all or some of these options during Pre-Check in - it's your choice!
Pre-check In is the feature you must have! It will allow you to grow your business by giving customers an easy booking process up front, and then get the paperwork completed on their own time before arrival.
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Learn more about all the cool features that BookingCentral offers by reaching out to our team today. We want to help you with a simple solution that allows you to grow your business with easy booking!
