Inquiries: Is Automation the Answer?

Some automation is essential if we vacation rental owners are to deal with inquiries and manage our properties efficiently while winning back time for ourselves. This thought was prompted by a recent blog from Revinate + Skift which reports that:

‘Hotels are finding that the current state of guest relations, general email blasts and one-off interactions with staff, is failing to cut through the noise and build loyalty with repeat guests. Today’s traveler expects an increased level of personalized service and continuous, targeted communication. ‘To take it a step further, today’s travelers expect a relationship with the brands and businesses they love.’

Ignore the fact that they’re focusing on hotels, as we too are in the hospitality business. We face surprisingly similar challenges when relating to guests and inquiries.

A degree of automation

Here at Homes and Rooms, we’ve long recognized the benefits of automation in managing a vacation rental. Indeed, it was automation that our founder and CEO Barry Sacks turned to when he took on his first vacation rental back in 2002. Surprised by the amount of time and effort needed to run the property, he decided that a degree of automation was the way forward. Using his background in developing systems and the experience of running his own property, he set about collecting and developing the tools that would help him manage more efficiently. These are the powerful software tools you’ll find in our Homes and Rooms Inquiry Manager. They are now used to help our subscribers automate essential, day-to-day, procedures to free up their time and get more out of their rentals. Let’s start with guest inquiries and your reservations calendar. Unless you’re prepared to answer your phone 24/7, you’re going to miss some potential reservations. On the other hand, you may feel apprehensive letting a fully automated response system take over.

Choose the level of auto response to inquiries

At least, that’s what we thought, so we came up with the Homes and Rooms Auto-Responder which lets you choose the level of automated response yet retain a high degree of personalization in your communications with guests and inquiries. The rapid response to guest inquiries, such as you can provide with automation, will boost reservations. Our service allows you to deliver an automatic response to any inquiry email – one based on your own design – and provide an instant quote the moment the guest requests it. Meanwhile, you could be fixing that leaky faucet at the property – without a mobile tucked under your chin! With our system, the resulting personalized email response can appear as though you typed it for each and every guest!

Review an auto reply

Another great time saving tool is the ability for you to hold back an auto reply to a prospective guest who has posed a question. You can filter incoming inquiries by any keywords you choose such as ‘military discount’ or ‘pets’. Some inquiries you will want to respond to directly and the Homes and Rooms service allows this. In fact, we can provide any level of automation that our subscribers require, empowering them to respond quickly and effectively to guest inquiries using any internet enabled device. That includes a computer, tablet or smartphone. Subscribers can be alerted by email or SMS about inquiries as they come in and, if preferred, can choose to respond to each one manually. Or they can simply let the Auto-Responder handle it. Subscribers to our services can easily set up the degree of automation they require via their online Dashboard. Having realised the benefits of automation to vacation rentals some time ago, following experimentation and experience, we have total confidence in it working very reliably and effectively. Your time and energy is saved, your business looks professional and your guests’ experiences are greatly enhanced. All of which has a positive knock-on to your bottom line.