Maximise your bookings.

why you need a 247Booking engine

  • be available for business 24/7
  • increase your website bookings
  • manage your telephone bookings
  • take online payments
  • lighten your workload!

Find the Answer

  • What are the costs of a standard 247Booking account?
    The fee is based upon the number of units purchased: £6 per month for the first unit, £2 per month for the second and further units are charged at £1 per month. We also have discounts for volume users. (A unit is one cottage, apartment, villa, camping pitch etc).
  • Do you charge commission on bookings?
    No, we do not charge commissions on bookings.
  • How long does it take to setup my account?
    The time depends on how much information you have on your website and how many different units you have. After signing up we will send you a standard email with questions for you to answer about your tariffs etc. The setup for a business with one or two units can be completed in a day. Holiday parks and other large accommodation providers might take three or four days. Finally you will need to synchronise your availability and add the appropriate coding for calendars etc. to your website.
  • What do I need to provide if the setup is done by 247Booking?
    1. Your properties - names and details including maximum occupancy.
    2. Terms & Conditions - if you have any, or a simple short series of statements such as Arrival Times, Departure Times, Leaving the property in a tidy condition etc...
    3. Booking dates and rates - including the changeover day (if applicable).
    4. Deposit amounts - whether a fixed amount or a percentage of total cost.
    5. Balances payable - when, for example 6 weeks before arrival.
    6. Payment method: Cheques yes/no - payable to whom and sent to which address.
    7. Payment method: Credit Card yes/no - you'll need to open an account with a payment gateway of your choice. PayPal is the simplest.
    8. Payment method: Internet Banking/BACS yes/no - supply a bank sort code and account number.
    9. Provisional bookings - How long held pending receipt of payment, for example 5 working days.
  • Who else is using 247Booking?
    Click here for a list of clients using 247Booking.
  • What availability display interfaces are provided?
    We provide a standard calendar interface, a planner interface which can display both daily and weekly prices for multiple units, a table interface for weekly-priced units (ideal for holiday parks), a search interface and a clickable interactive map (by clicking on a pitch or property the availability calendar for that unit appears and then by clicking on a price or date the booking process starts).
  • Can I process telephone bookings?
    247Booking has a separate telephone booking section. You can search to see if the contact is an existing customer, perform a price check, amend any prices, enter up all details of a booking and finally send an email to the customer to confirm the booking.
  • How configurable is 247Booking?
    247Booking is designed so you can run everything from your own website. We provide a CSS interface so you can theme your 247Booking account to match your website. Our aim is to make all features editable by you.
  • How do I renew my subscription?
    The billing/subscription options are available from your 247Booking account back office. You can renew your subscription, increase your billing frequency or change the number of units purchased.
  • How can I pay for a 247Booking account?
    247Booking is fully automated. We use the Google Checkout payment gateway. You can use any valid Credit or Debit Card.
  • Can I view my availability/bookings in a planner format?
    Yes - the availability planner, once opened, can be left open and will automatically refresh to show new bookings. You can move, change or create bookings from this screen. You can select a 1, 2 or 3 month view.
  • Do you provide a search interface for my website?
    Yes - you can embed a javascript-based search box into your website which can be tailored to your own design (we provide all the necessary HTML/Javascript code). The search interface can also be accessed by your customers from the category picklist.
  • How are prices handled?
    Prices are normally set up as weekly or daily. You can have a combination of the two if necessary to suit the structure of your season - for example, weekly for high season and peak periods, daily during low season periods.
  • Can I take deposits?
    Deposits can be taken as a percentage of the total, as a minimum amount or as a fixed rate per day. Deposits can be rounded up.
  • Can I take a returnable deposit?
    A Returnable Deposit can be set. There are a variety of options to manage returnable deposits.
  • Can I set up cancellation insurance?
    We call it Cancellation Cover. It can be a daily/weekly rate or by value of booking. The Cancellation Cover can be mandatory and your customers can be required to read and acknowledge this by ticking a box.
  • How does the system handle additional charges or extras?
    Additional charges, fees and information are called 'Extras'. There are many options: You can add one-off charges such as booking fees and additional items ('Cots', 'High Chairs' etc...); you can ask a question to which your customers provide a text-based response, for example 'How long is your caravan?'. Extras can be specifically set to customers booking online, booking online or through reception, or just booking through reception.
  • Can customers be emailed automatically about balances?
    Yes - customers are sent an automatic email reminder about their balance X number of days in advance of arrival as specified in your 247Booking setup. The system default is 42 days prior to arrival.
  • Can I allow part/interim payments?
    You can allow customers to make part payments followed by a final balance prior to arrival via their account. A minimum part payment can be set.
  • Can I handle damage deposits?
    You can set a damage deposit. An email reminder is sent to customers when the damage deposit is payable and you can set different timing options for this reminder.
  • Can I set up Short Breaks?
    When using weekly prices you can enter part-week rates for a 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 day break.
  • Can I set up Special Offers?
    A number of Special Offer types are available - for example, percentage or fixed price discounts or a discount on the cheapest consecutive week.
  • Can I enter prices that are charged based upon the number of days booked?
    Yes. We provide a facility called "cascading pricing" where you can set the number of days and the rate per day.
  • Which payment methods can I use to take bookings?
    We provide pre-configured automated payment gateways as required by the credit card companies - See Which payment gateways are available?. Offline payments such as Cheques and internet banking BACS transfers can be processed.
  • Which payment gateways are available?
    We currently support PayPal, SagePay, Barclaycard EPDQ and RBS WorldPay. Additional payment gateways are added on request.
  • Can I take card payments?
    To take card payments, you must first register for a merchant account with your bank and then sign up with a Payment Gateway such as SagePay or EPDQ. See related FAQ item above for a complete list of Payment Gateways. For a single property PayPal is the simplest to set up.
  • What options are available to describe our accommodation?
    You can add a short description and thumbnail photograph for each unit. The unit description can be converted to a full web page. This web page has an online editor giving you all the options needed to create a full description of the accommodation.
  • Can I handle brochure requests?
    You can add a "brochure request" form to your website which will automatically populate the brochure customer list. In the telephone booking section, we provide a brochure request form where you can enter your enquirer's details.
  • What reports are available?
    Standard reports include Arrivals, Departures, Occupancy, Housekeeping and Cash List.
  • What if a report I require is not available?
    A Custom Report Builder allows you to create your own reports. We can also create advanced bespoke reports on request.
  • How do I link the booking system into my website?
    247Booking automatically builds the code you require, ready to be pasted into any page on your website. A number of designs are available - for example, a standard text or image link on your website through to the 247Booking front-end, or an embedded 247Booking calendar/planner to go into a page on your website.
  • Can I edit the emails that are sent to customers?
    Yes - all of the emails have standard messages which you can edit. We recommend that you take time to review the messages to ensure they provide all the information your customers need to know at different stages of the booking process.
  • What invoices does the system provide?
    A standard invoice template is provided. You can copy and edit this invoice to create a customised invoice. This in turn can be copied and modified and you can insert "tokens" which are different bits of data from your database. Any of your customised invoices can be assigned to different categories of accommodation or to different booking statuses.
  • Can I customise the look and feel of the booking system?
    Yes, most of the system is customisable by modifying the stylesheets and graphics to match your own website.
  • Can I have a custom-built booking interface on my web site?
    Yes. Please contact us for further information about this service.
  • Can I send bulk emails to my customers?
    This option is not available to standard 247Booking customers. If you are a 247Booking PRO customer, all bulk emails are sent from your in-house dedicated 247Booking server.
  • Do you provide a free trial?
    We offer a free 7-day trial. The trial is for a single plot. At any time you can convert a trial account into a full subscription account and add extra units. Some standard and advanced features are not available until multiple units are purchased. The trial assumes that you are familiar with booking systems and have average internet skills. Click here to sign up.
  • Who do I contact if I have a problem?
    Please contact us at support@247booking.co.uk