How to create and manage your rentals
Reactive offers you everything you need to create your online booking website. It supports even the most complex business logic for rentals and gives you all the tools and features to create any type of rental and grow your online bookings.
In this tutorial you will find:
Section General
Section Location
Section Rates
Section Reservation settings
Section SEO
Section Contact
Section Optional
- Visit your admin panel and select Rentals.
- Then click the "Create" button that appears on the top right of your screen.
- Select the appropriate language from the drop-down menu. Find out more about how to set your website in different languages.
Section General
Image: You can add multiple images to best describe your rental by clicking the + button. The images will be shown to the respective location of your rental page according to the template you have previously selected from your Theme Settings. If there are multiple images, the left-most image is the primary one. You can drag and drop to reorder them.
Name: This is the name of your rental shown to your visitors.
Published: When you are done editing your rental, activate the Published option to make it visible on your website. This option lets you define if you wish your rental to be published on your website. If this option is not enabled, the rental will still be available for booking, but it won't be shown in the rental list.
Description: This is the description of your rental. You can give your guests some details about the place or the location. Everything you set in the description field will be shown to the rental page according to the layout you have previously selected from your Theme Settings.
Now you have set up your rental's general information, you need to provide information about size, distribution, and amenities of your rental.
Edit details: Give details about the rental area, the number of guests that your rental can accommodate and the number of available units.
If you have several units of this rental you need to ensure that all the different rooms are the same, so they actually don't have any difference in look, price or amenities.
Edit sleeping arrangements: Select how many beds your rental has of which type. You can provide information about which type of beds you have, so your guests don't get disappointed if one of them has to sleep on a sofa bed.
Section Location
Fill in the address of your rental to inform your guests where your rental is located.
Reactive uses the Google Maps address geolocation information. If the address shown on the map is not quite exact you can simply drag-and-drop the pin to the actual location of your rental.
Section Rates
Base rate / Price per night and minimum stay: Set the nightly rate of your rental, select the default currency and set the minimum number of nights a guest needs to stay at your rental.
This field is required, even if you also set a price per weekday. If you have multiple rental types, you can enter a minimum stay per rental type.
Long stay prices : To set a weekly and/or a monthly rate, switch the button on and enter the rate per week and month.
Custom period: If you wish to offer a rate for a custom period, tick the box and enter the number of nights for which this rate will apply. Enter the rate for this period.
Price per weekday : If you wish to charge a different nightly rate depending on the day of the week, switch the button on and enter the rate for each weekday.
Minimum stay: To set a minimum stay by day of week, enter the minimum number of nights a reservation must meet if it includes that day of the week.
Occupancy : If you wish to apply an extra charge for any subsequent guest, switch the button on. Enter the additional fee amount per guest per night and after how many guests the charge will apply.
For example, If your base nightly rate is €100 and you set an extra charge of €30 after the 3th guest, a reservation for 1-3 guests will cost €100, a reservation for 4 guests will cost €130 whilst a reservation for 5 guests will cost €160.
Short stay premium : If you wish to set an extra charge when the stay is too short, switch the button on. Fill in the number of nights and the fee amount per night.
For example, if you set 2 nights, the short stay charge will apply to stays of one or two nights.
Check-in / Check-out restrictions : If you wish to restrict check-in or/and check-out to certain weekdays, switch the button on and tick the days when check-in and check-out are allowed.
Notes : Use the text editor If you wish to add further information in the rate section of your rental on your website.
Section Reservation settings
Advance notice : Define how far in advance your guests must make a booking.
For example, you can allow only bookings that are made a minimum of 2 days before the arrival date.
Booking window : Define a maximum time span of how far in advance you allow your guests to book.
For example, you can allow bookings to be made a maximum of 180 days into the future. This setting helps you to control your pricing and remain more competitive.
Preparation time :
Define the amount of time you need to prepare for guests in order to get your rental cleaned and make sure everything is ready for your next guests.
Section SEO
Here you can find Meta Tags. Those are the metas defined for Search Engines and Social Media Networks. If none defined platform uses the default meta tags defined under the General Settings of your website. Find out more about how Meta Tags work.
Section Contact
Provide rental contact information (name, email, phone, additional phone, website) and write a few words in the bio area for your costumers. The contact information is empty when you create your rental, however you can edit it anytime you wish. Contact information might not always apply to your business but is frequently used:
- for booking websites who have a dedicated person for every room or concierge services.
- for agencies who might have multiple rentals offered to their website managed by different people or agents.
Section Optional
Season rates
- To create a season rate visit your admin panel and select Rentals.
- Choose the rental you wish to edit.
- Select Season Rates under the Optional Settings.
- Click Add Season, enter the season name and click Save.
Fees and taxes
In this section, you can set additional charges that are not included in the room rate, such as cleaning or service fees and additional taxes according to your local guidelines and regulations.
Fees
To create a fee in your rental:
- Visit your admin panel and select Rentals.
- Select the rental that you want to create the fee for and select Fees & Rental Taxes under the Optional Settings.
- Click Assign existing fee.
- A pop-up window will appear where you can select to assign one of your existing fees to your rental, or you can create a new fee by clicking Add new.
- Enter the fee name and optionally add a description. Make sure to do both for all of the languages you offer on your website.
- Decide on the fee type and select either flat fee or percentage. The next steps depend on this choice.
If you choose Flat fee:
- Enter the amount you want to charge for this fee.
- Choose a single or per guest charge.
- Choose a per stay or per night frequency.
If you choose Percentage:
Enter the percentage of the booking value for this fee.
Apply fee for short stay: If you want to apply this fee only when the stay is too short, switch the button on and enter a number of nights. The fee will be applied for a stay duration equal to or less than this number.
Overwrite default tax: If you want to edit your default tax switch the button on. You can select to asign one of your existing taxes to your rental, or you can create a new tax by clicking Add new. Select whether the tax is already included in the fee or not and enter the percentage.
Local taxes
To create a local tax:
- Visit your admin panel and select Rentals.
- Select the rental that you want to create the tax for and select Fees & Rental Taxes under the Optional Settings.
- Click Assign local tax.
- A pop-up window will appear where you can select to apply one of your existing taxes to your rental, or you can create a new one by clicking Create local tax.
- Give the tax a name and optionally add a description. Make sure to do both for all of the languages you offer on your website.
- Define how the tax should be calculated, choosing either a fixed amount or a percentage. The next steps depend on this choice.
If you choose Flat:
- Enter the amount you want to charge for this fee.
- Choose a single or per guest charge.
- Choose a per stay or per night frequency.
If you choose Percentage:
Enter the percentage of the booking value for this tax.
Sales tax / VAT
To set your Sales tax/VAT switch the button on. You can select to assign one of your existing taxes to your rental, or you can create a new tax by clicking Add new. Select whether the tax is already included in the fee or not and enter the percentage.
Addons
Charge Options:
If you choose Percentage:
Policies
Policies define the payment schedule, cancellation rules, and the amount of the damage deposit. You can create as many policies as you wish and then associate them with your rentals.
- To create a new policy visit your admin panel and select Rentals.
- Choose the rental you wish to edit.
- Select Policies under the Optional Settings.
- Switch the button on to create a new policy for bookings made for this rental, or select to edit an already assigned policy.
A pop-up window will appear where you can create your policy
Name: Enter the policy name, e.g. 50% Prepayment - No security deposit. This name will only be visible to yourself, not the guest.
Payment Schedule : Select the number of installments and decide when you want to collect them.
1 - One payment: You will collect the full payment once the guest completes the booking.
2 - Two payments: You will collect the full payment in 2 installments. Decide if you prefer the guests to pay a percentage of the booking amount or a flat amount. The flat amount uses the currency you selected. Then Select a date when the residual payment is due, e.g. 10 days before arrival.
3 - Three payments: You will collect the full payment in 3 installments. Enter the percentage of the booking amount. Then decide when to collect the residual balance.
Note
The Payment 1 will always be collected at the time of booking and it represents your reservation deposit. You can also decide when and how to collect the Residual balance.
Guest Cancellation. Choose the cancellation policy:
Fully refundable: All prepayments are fully refundable to your guests in case they cancel the booking.
Partially refundable: You must add at least one rule for this refund type. Click Add Rule and then select:
- Refund: Choose if you want to refund in case of cancellations, a percentage of all prepayments or a flat amount.
- if cancelled: How long before arrival, your guests can cancel their booking in order to get a refund.
Damage protection: You can set a damage deposit in case the guests have caused any damage to your rental.
Choose whether a damage deposit is required or not. If you activate it:
1. Define your protection method: Decide whether you prefer to capture the payment for the damage protection manually or via a pre-authorization of the credit card.
2. Define amount: Specify a percentage of the total booking amount or a flat amount.
3. Define your protection schedule: This option is only available if you have a credit card payment gateway. Define the protection period by configuring when the pre-authorization should begin and end.
Create reservation instructions about core operational processes such as check-in instructions, check-out instructions, rental rules, etc. and use this information automatically in any of the notification messages you send to your guests.
Rental directions: Provide Instructions for your guests about how to get to the rental.
Door instructions: Provide Instructions for your guests about how to access to the rental (for example access information, door code, location of keys, etc.).
Wifi information: Provide information to your guests about Wifi network and login details to access your rental's wifi.
Local guide: Give instructions and tips to your guests about the local area, region, sightseeing and relevant attractions.
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