Booking Engine Checklist
To use SCRUMPY's built-in booking engine you will need to populate some of the fields and parameters. Some of these will be set to a default, however you can amend the durations to tailor the system to your needs.
Check In & Check Out Times - The times that you allow a guest to first arrive for their booking and then the time you require them to leave on the day of departure, in a HH:MM format. For instance 16:00 for a 4pm arrival or 10:00 for a 10am checkout.
Bedrooms, Maximum & Maximum selectable occupants - You should enter the number of bedrooms, along with the number of guests that can stay in those beds as the Maximum Occupancy. If however you can provide the likes of a sofabed, pullout or z-bed, then the Maximum Selectable Occupancy is the number of extra guests that can be accommodated for with these additional sleeping arrangements.
Pets Allowed, Fee & Number of pets allowed - When you tell the system that you accept pets, you are then given the option to charge a fee for the pets (to help cover for additional cleaning costs) as well as set a limit on how many pets are allowed per booking.
Booking Terms & Conditions - For a guest to place a booking, the lead booker needs to agree to your booking conditions. These are shown as part of the checkout process, but you can also display your T's & C's to sit underneath the property page by enabling the "Show terms on property page" tickbox.
Check In Details - You can enter instructions for accessing the property, with information that includes the likes of key collection, meeting the housekeeper on the day and recapping the check in/out times etc. You decide when this can become visible to a guest (most commonly 7-14 days before arrival) in conjunction with the full balance being paid.
Agreements - The checkout process is standardised for bookings. You can however add custom statements that have to be ticked by the lead booker. For example "I agree to adhere to the regulations for the use of the hot tub" or "I acknowledge that the booking deposit is non-refundable" etc.
Full Amount Required Within (Days) - Simply enter when you would like the full balance to be paid by. This is written in a days format, for example "Full amount required within 60 days" where a guest would need to pay for their booking 2 months before arrival.
Booking deposit percentage - This is where you set the booking deposit value, which needs to be paid by a guest to place a booking. A 20% deposit is typical for a holiday let, although you can enter other percentages if you prefer to charge less or more upfront.
Security Deposits - You can require a separate refundable deposit to cover for any potential breakages during a stay. This can be set to be paid online, or you can enter specific "Offline security deposit payment instructions" for the likes of a bank transfer. You will also need to input how many days prior to arrival that this needs to be paid.
Stay Types - To display pricing on your calendar, you’ll need to enter your Stay Types. This is the day that a booking can start, combined with a duration. For instance, you can name one “Weekly” which starts on a Saturday and runs for 7 nights. Or a “3 night Weekend” that starts on a Friday with a Monday morning checkout etc.
Seasons - Once you have your Stay Types you’ll need to assign pricing. This will allow you to charge differently throughout the year with low & peak seasons etc. This highly flexible system allows you to set any date range and charge whatever you like, for a range of durations and their designated changeovers.
Offline payments - If accepting the likes of bank transfer, a small write up with your payment instructions is required and should include your Account No. and Sort Code. This will then be displayed within the guest portal and payment screen.
Online payments - To enable online payments, you can create an account with Stripe (from the backend of your website) who will allow your customers to pay via the likes of debit and credit cards. Stripe charge 1.4% + £0.20 per transaction.
Notifications - You can ask the system to notify you via SMS for any new bookings, as well as via email. Similarly you can set up to receive a copy of all payments made via the system with the "CC Payment emails to" field.
Visible Calendar Months - Whilst we recommend to display at least 18 months on your calendar, you can choose to display as much or as little on your website calendar.