Please note that this page is updated regularly!
➤ Promote Gift Certificates as an Alternate Revenue Stream
➤ Consider Gift Certificates or Rescheduling in Lieu of Refunds
➤ Moving a Reservation and the Keeping Workers Paid & Employed Act
➤ Communicate with Your Guests
➤ Using Social Media to Connect
➤ Put Yourself In the Best Position to Recover
➤ Small Business Relief: PPP Versus EILD Overview Webinar
➤ Fast Access and Useful How-To's
➤ External Resources
Promote Gift Certificates as an Alternate Revenue Stream
ThinkReservations has a built-in gift certificate system that is ready to go the second you launch with us. That means that each of you has an opportunity to start selling gift certificates as a potential form of cash flow during this time. If you are not already selling gift certificates, we recommend that you review the opportunity to do so and if it makes sense for your property, we make it very easy to get started. Here are some helpful articles to have you up and running selling gift certificates in no time.
Selling Gift Certificates Online
Selling a Gift Certificate in Person or Over the Phone
Gift Certificate Settings
Customizing Your Certificates
Consider Gift Certificates or Rescheduling in Lieu of Refunds
Unfortunately, cancellations are going to happen. However, consider issuing a gift certificate for a future stay or asking them to reschedule instead of canceling and providing a refund. Sharon and Scot offer instruction on how you can do that in ThinkReservations while these articles in our support center provide further guidance: Issuing a Gift Certificate in Place of a Refund or Editing a Reservation
Communicate with Your Guests
As safety measures increase and directions from local and federal governments change, you may find yourself in a situation where your property has to close or significantly alter operations. It is extremely important to communicate any of these altered operations to your guests. We now offer the ability for you to control a message that is displayed on your search page. You can use this to notify guests about closure time frames or reassure them about future reservations: Booking Engine Settings
In the following video, Laura S. will show you how you can add or edit a Booking Engine message.
Sharon also shares some additional tips for ways you can get the message out to your upcoming reservations.
Create a New Email Template
Downloading Your Customer File
Dear ${customer.first_name},
Thank you for choosing to stay with us on ${reservation.check_in_date}!
The safety and well-being of our guests and employees is always our top priority, but that commitment takes on special significance in light of the global outbreak of COVID-19 (coronavirus). We are committed to following recommended procedures and protocols of the CDC, the World Health Organization, and local health authorities. This includes a commitment to the highest level of cleanliness in all public areas, guest rooms, and facilities on our property, as well as the hygiene practices observed by our staff.
<b>Breakfast:</b> In efforts to practice social distancing, we will not be offering breakfast in our dining room during your stay. However, we are happy to provide a breakfast basket, delivered breakfast, or discount.
<b>Postponing Your Stay: </b> It's hard to predict how the outbreak of COVID-19 may impact your travel plans between now and your arrival date. If you would like to postpone your stay for a future date, we are happy to cancel your stay and issue a non-refundable Gift Certificate towards a future stay. Please call our front desk at XXX – XXX – XXXX for more information.
<b>Prevention:</b> We encourage you to follow CDC recommendations and the same personal best practices that are standard for typical flu season – frequent washing of hands; avoiding contact with eyes, nose, and mouth; and limiting exposure to other sick people.
<b>Experiencing Symptoms: </b> To safeguard the health of our guests and other visitors, we ask that you postpone your visit if you are ill with flu-like symptoms, or if you have recently traveled to a region that is experiencing widespread transmission of COVID-19. We also request that you assist us in our efforts by immediately reporting to us any flu-like symptoms you may experience during your stay. We will be happy to assist in locating appropriate medical treatment in the area.
For up to date information on COVID-19, please refer to the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/index.html">CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) website.</a>
Name: ${customer.full_name}
Confirmation ID: ${reservation.confirmation_id}
${reservation.itemized_bill}
Thank you for your reservation! We look forward to seeing you soon.
Sincerely,
Use Social Media to Connect
We recently shared a graphic on Facebook and Instagram for ways your customers can support you during this time without traveling. Most of your customers want to see you succeed and are willing to help you in any way that they can so don't be afraid to share with them ways they can do that. We've created a few graphics that you can download and share on your social media platforms to get the word out. Consider posting a few on your pages, incorporating various links into the accompanying post. For example, if you post the image encouraging people to purchase gift certificates from you, include the link to your gift certificate URL in the post.
Visit our Facebook page for more tips and videos.
Click on a photo to open it in a new tab, then right-click to save the image to your device.
Put Yourself In the Best Position to Recover
It is natural to feel out of control during a time like this, but when that happens, we encourage trying to focus on those things you can control. The future seems grim right now, but history has shown that this will come to an end and normalcy will return. Take this time to evaluate your business offerings such as items and packages, policies, and future rates. We offer regular free webinars to all of our clients to help you boost your operations across the board. You can view those past webinars here and make sure to add support@thinkreservations.com to your safe sender email list to ensure you receive all of our emails about future webinars as well.
How to Create, Edit, and Delete Items
How to Create, Edit, and Delete Packages
Packages vs. Rate Types with Items: When to Use Which
How Do I Update My Rates
In addition to getting yourself prepared operationally, start to think about preparing yourself financially as well. Sharon put together a very informative video with some financial resources you can utilize now to make sure you can bounce back as quickly as possible during the recovery.
Links Mentioned in Video:
SBA Disaster Loan Assistance
SBA Information Notice
Facebook Small Business Grants
Culpepper Chamber of Commerce Data Collection List
Destination Development Association
SCORE
Fast Access to Useful How-Tos
It is likely not every day that you have to issue a refund on a payment from months ago or update your deposit policies. We want to make sure that during this time, the steps you have to take in ThinkReservations are as easy as possible. Here is a list of support articles for frequent actions you might find yourself taking in the upcoming days:
Issuing a Gift Certificate in place of a refund
Rate Types 101 (How to Change Your Deposit Policy)
Refunding a Payment Made More than 120 Days Ago with Authorize.net
How to Refund a Customer
Cancel a Reservation
External Resources
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
World Health Organization
Association of Lodging Professionals COVID-19 Webinar
Association of Lodging Professionals Articles and Resources
Tripadvisor's COVID-19 Page
ThinkReservations Facebook
We invite all of you to follow us on Facebook and Instagram. We have been sharing resources and tips through these channels and will continue doing so in the future. We'll also be adding any new resources to the Support Center page.
