Leaving Hostaway because of their booking fee?

How do I test - eg, see what renters see when goign through quote and rental agreement?

Dewey Getaway
Apr 18, 2020 4:08 PM
Joined Feb, 2020 49 posts

I can't find a way to see the "guest view" anywhere. I've been working on setting things up but want to try to test things to be sure the correct fields are showing.
In general, I want to go through the user experience for my guests before going live and can't figure out a way to do this other than, I suppose, creating a fake booking, but it seems there should be a way to see what guests will see at each step?
Also, is there anywhere that outlines the user flow through the system? I have no idea which emails are sent when and what guests get/see first (eg, quote, rental agreement, etc.).
Please help this newbie!
Thanks.

Chris Hynes
Apr 19, 2020 9:04 AM
OR Team Member Joined Oct, 2012 1401 posts

The best thing to do is to create a quote with yourself as the guest. Send it to yourself, then run through the entire process -- that way you'll see all the emails etc. end to end.

You can also, if you're on a specific quote, click the Payment Form link and it will take you to the guest reservation flow.

Here's a video with more on quotes: https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/quotes-creating-sending-converting-to-booking

Dewey Getaway
Apr 20, 2020 2:26 PM
Joined Feb, 2020 49 posts

Thanks, Chris.

Dewey Getaway
Apr 20, 2020 7:13 PM
Joined Feb, 2020 49 posts

Is there a way to "test" the emails that come from an inquiry? I don't have the widgets set up on my website yet - I don't want to do that until everything has been tested.
Also, is there a way to test emails that come later in the process - eg, check-in email, final payment email? I've tested the quote and booking process but am not sure how to test other parts of the process...

Chris Hynes
Apr 24, 2020 7:24 PM
OR Team Member Joined Oct, 2012 1401 posts

You can test the widgets directly in the preview area after you create them. Those are all fully functional right in the preview -- you can send an inquiry there or even start a book now.

For the later on emails, you've got a couple of options:

a) create a test booking and then send those emails out to yourself
b) on the test booking, wait until they should be sent out (second payment date etc) and make sure that they are -- no need really to do this but if you wanted to test everything exactly as a guest
c) use the Preview button in the editor to see how they'd look -- that lets you pick a booking or payment and see a preview of the email rendered for that specific item

Dewey Getaway
Apr 29, 2020 3:57 PM
Joined Feb, 2020 49 posts

Chris,
Can you clarify where to find the preview button "in the editor" in point C above - is this in the email editor, the booking editor? I'm not sure...

Chris Hynes
May 2, 2020 1:22 PM
OR Team Member Joined Oct, 2012 1401 posts

Yep, in the Email Template editor -- look up at the top when you're editing and there's a Preview button with an eyeball icon.

Or if you're looking at the list in Settings > Email Templates you can access Preview via the dropdown arrow on each row.