COVID-19 Lockdown 3.0

This article is relevant as of 5th Jan 2021 and specific to England, although restrictions are similar throughout the UK please check the relevant Gov website for your area.

As of 4th Jan 2021 the Government has announced another national lockdown meaning holiday accommodation must once again close. The guidance states:

"You cannot leave your home or the place where you are living for holidays or overnight stays unless you have a reasonable excuse for doing so. This means that holidays in the UK and abroad are not allowed. This includes staying in a second home or caravan, if that is not your primary residence. This also includes staying with anyone who you don’t live with unless they’re in your support bubble.

If you are already on holiday, you should return to your home as soon as practical.

Guest accommodation providers such as hotels, B&Bs and caravan parks may remain open for the specific reasons set out in law, including where guests are unable to return to their main residence, use that guest accommodation as their main residence, need accommodation while moving house, are self-isolating as required by law, or would otherwise be made homeless as a result of the accommodation closing. A full list of reasons can be found in the guidance on closing certain businesses and venues in England.

Accommodation providers are also encouraged to work cooperatively with local authorities to provide accommodation to vulnerable groups, including the homeless."

For full guidance please visit the Government website: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/national-lockdown-stay-at-home

With the ongoing disruption being caused by the Coronavirus outbreak we have put together a list of the things we are frequently being asked by our property owners at this time of uncertainty. Guests are getting increasingly worried so here are some ways in which you can manage your current bookings and help put your guests' minds at rest.

Add a statement to your website

We understand that a lot of enquires are coming in from guests and you may be repeating yourselves a lot. Some of our owners have decided to create a content page with a statement on how they are keeping their guests safe, i.e strict cleaning regimes and reassurance on their upcoming stay. Advise guests on staying home if they have any symptoms and most importantly point them to trusted authorities such as: NHS website, World Health Organisation and Government Guidance.

The best way to add a statement would be to create a content page. Here is a link to our help article on how to create a content page. Once you have created this you can then add a link to it from a content area on your homepage or anywhere you feel necessary on your site. Let us know if you need any assistance doing so.

Send out a custom email to upcoming bookings

If you want to take it further and actively contact your guests who have future bookings you could create a custom email to do so. This could include all the same information as your content page. Here is a link to our help article on how to create a custom email. If you would like it to go out to all future bookings we would recommend leaving the criteria as it is when you create your email. You may wish to select dates for example, you might not want it to go out to bookings in 2021.

Move bookings to a later date

We understand that yourselves or your guests may not wish to cancel their booking but to instead postpone it to a later date. You can do this by logging into your admin and going to viewing the booking in question. You will then simply need to go to the 'Details/Edit' section and change the start date and last night. All of the financials will remain the same.

Updating terms and conditions

You can edit your terms and conditions within the edit section of a property. Here is a link to our help article on Booking Terms and Conditions. You also have the option to Show the terms on the property page as opposed to only showing them to a guest making a booking.

All guests making a booking online are required to agree to terms at the time of booking. If you create the booking on the guest's behalf they will be sent an email with the terms asking them to agree. It is very important that you keep on top of this. Within the 'Bookings' section you have an 'Awaiting Terms' list. We strongly advise taking a look at this and encouraging any guests that are yet to agree to do so.

Cancelling a booking

In the unfortunate event that you have to cancel a booking you can do this by clicking on the booking and going to the 'Details/Edit' section. If you scroll to the bottom you will see a 'Cancel' button. You will then have the ability to add Cancellation notes within here - this is for internal notes only but we advise that you record why this booking was cancelled. For more information on Cancellation Management take a look at our help article.

We're happy to help

We hope you find this useful. If you have any further questions or would like to discuss any of the above then please do not hesitate to get in touch via help@scrumpy.co.uk