"Awaiting Approval"

Is there a way that you the owner can click to accept a transaction, instead of being an online transaction. The reason I ask is that many people ask questions in their inquiry, which require followups. For example, I could send a quote, but they want to see more pictures. Or I want to know if they are bringing any pets, before I give them a quote. Just because they didn't click or mention the pet, does not mean they are not bringing one. Plus, I want to know it is a DOG and not a cat or a money or gerbil, or whatever. So, the first letter isn't necessarily the quote. Or, I want to know how old everyone in their group are. Nobody under 25 is allowed, without a parent.

I would want to know and evaluate if I want them to be in my house - no prom nights, etc...

Basically, I believe now, if I send a quote (or answer their email using the quote feature - is there another way to answer them?), they then can basically reserve, right there and then. Correct?

What if I want to be the one that says, ok, you can reserve those dates and then they go through the process. It won't be done, right at that time, but the customer would have to come back and do it.

Again, is there an OPTION to allow them to reserve, right there and then, or "waiting for approval"? Can we have that option?

Thanks!
Claudia

Hi Claudia,

Couple of things here...

First, the only way the guest can accept/finalize the quote - thus creating the booking - is if they have the payment link. Even if you create a quote, whether manually or when answering an inquiry, the guest won't be able to accept/finalize it unless you actually include the payment link in your message.

We know there's a sort-of requirement to create a quote when answering inquiries right now. Others have pointed that out and we'll be working to resolve that inside the next two sprints. You'll be able to "answer without creating a quote" but for the time being you can always create a quote to get past that step but not send them the link. Each payment link is a unique URL that is virtually impossible to guess.

There was one other lady who asked about your "awaiting approval" thing a few months ago. She had the same worries - she wanted to know names and ages before moving forward.

We've given this a LOT of thought, but honestly we're not quite sure how to address it in a way that is simple and configurable for all users.

There are a lot of edges cases here...

Would the answers they provide be attached to the quote and then the quote be flagged as "acceptable" so that they could move on to booking?

To what extent are questions and answers possible? There are myriad things owners may want to ask of their guests.

This issue is kind of up in the air for us. We know some users want more transparency to their guests, but we need to design features in a way that don't box us in later on or take copious amounts of time. I'm sure you understand that.

You can certainly manage some of this offline. In other words, until we design how this would work in the system, you could ask those questions of guests before sending them the quote payment form. So basically prepare your own questions and answers via email.

I hope that helps,

-Michelle

"You'll be able to "answer without creating a quote" but for the time being you can always create a quote to get past that step but not send them the link. Each payment link is a unique URL that is virtually impossible to guess."

How do I not provide the link? Where is the link on the inquiry?

Claudia

"Would the answers they provide be attached to the quote and then the quote be flagged as "acceptable" so that they could move on to booking?"

Maybe if there was an option at the beginning of the inquiry, where the owner can click on online booking (or something similiar). If it isn't clicked, then until the owner clicks on it, someone cannot do the online booking. OR vice versa. Click NO Online booking and then would have to be unclicked by owner.

As for answers being attached to history, I would say yes. As an owner, I would think you need the history part, just in case a problem arises and you need to refer back to what was exchanged.

Would something like the above be possible?

Claudia

I'm referring to the link that shows in the pre-filled inquiry answer message. The link right in the body. If you remove that text, they won't have the payment link.

-Michelle

Can the be changed later, to include the link? So that it goes through the process.

Claudia

Yes, the link I'm referring to is just the payment URL you see in the text body. Or if you go to the quote, it's the Payment Form tab you see all the way on the right side. You can give that link to the guest at any time, either in your own emails or the ones you send through OwnerRez. There's nothing special about it where it has to be sent by a certain type of form or email. You can copy/paste it to anyone you want.

-Michelle

What did I do wrong? I sent my sister an email of the quote. I erased everything and copy and pasted my wording. When she received the quote it still had ...
View more details | Accept and checkout >> .

Thus, the link somehow stays there.

Claudia

We're talking about two different emails. I was referring to the inquiry answer email which is over under the inquiry area. The email you sent is the quote email. The quote email has the quote (and payment links) hard-coded into it so there is no way to remove it. But you don't have to use that quote email form. If you want to email someone without sending the payment info, you would just use your own email outside of OwnerRez for that.

Now, you probably want to send them the quote, so they can see the charges, but not allow them to accept it? That, you cannot do. At the moment, sending the charges will also show the payment form.

-Michelle

Which goes back to the original post. Would the suggestion I made about clicking for online booking, or not, work - for the future?

Because if there would be two different ways to deal with one customer, it might get confusing. Ideally, it would be one way and use that one system for all.

Claudia

You're right that it's a bit confusing but keep in mind that you're dealing with the same one quote no matter if you send it from the inquiry email form or the quote email form. There aren't multiple quotes created or anything like that. There just happens to be two email forms you can use.

We'll be streamlining this a bit in the future. We have had a lot of questions about this because our inquiry feature came after our quote feature and we added the inquiry response form on top of the existing quote email form.

-Michelle

Ohhhhh, so if I answer through the INQUIRY side, then the link can be removed. If I answer it through the QUOTE side, it automatically appears.

Claudia

You got it.

(And this will be streamlined as we refine and enhance the email functionality)

-Michelle

You would have to put the field tags, or whatever they are called, so that when the letter is sent via the INQUIRY side, the actual calculation can come on when the letter is sent. Or else, I would have to calculate everything on my own, which then wouldn't be helping me using your system. Also, to have a tag for TOTAL COST, since that is what I send out.

I can just create the letter (with the tags) and then copy and paste whenever I need to send it that way. Calculations would then come up.

Because what I did when I sent the original test to my sister, I copy and pasted the letter. The part about the quote was just... look below for quote total. Using the INQUIRY part, I couldn't say that. I would have to give the actual quote.

Claudia

What happens now for most users is that they send both emails. Here's the most typical workflow...

1) Inquiry arrives and they answer it by either asking for more information or saying that "a quote has been prepared for you" with the payment link, just as it is prefilled to say.

2) The user then goes over to the quote and sends that email as well, showing the actual charges in the email.

So if the guest is good to, they'll receive two emails - the first being a casual response to their inquiry and the second being the more formal quote charges.