FAQ

This website allows the owner to register a property, enter quotes for the renters and once the quote is accepted, follow the process in an automated fashion till the renter completes the stay at the property. The steps involved are:

1. Owner creates an account on the website
2. Owner enters the property info
3. Owner enters the quotes for the renter for a specific set of dates and rental amount
4. Renter accepts the quote and the system will automatically generate a contract and send it to the renter
5. Renter accepts the contract and pays the initial installment for the rent
6. Renter sends the signed contract with some identification (drivers license etc.) to the owner via email or regular mail – This is an optional step as required by the owner
7. Renter is reminded few days before the start of the stay to send the balance of the rental amount as well as the damage deposit
8. Once all the rent is received, the system will automatically send the renter a document set to use at the property – this will include the instructions and policies created by the Owner
9. Renter completes the stay
10. Owner refunds the deposit amount. If the deposit is returned in full, the system will automatically send a “Thank You” email to the renter

This is the overall process at a very high level – there are many nuances that the Owners have to deal with on a day-to-day basis that the website is designed to address and manage effectively.

There are multiple reminders and alerts that the system generates to keep on top of the process so that the owners do not have to. The intent is to be truly “hands free”!!

Yes – when the Renter makes a payment, the payment amount will be sent the Owner’s PayPal ID that is listed on the property information page of the property. Note that the actual transaction is between the Owner and the Renter and hence the total amount (minus the website usage fee as applicable) received from the Renter is deposited directly in the Owner’s PayPal account.

The Pay Pal ID is required at the time of creating the property since that is an important functionality of this website and makes it convenient for the Owners as well as the Renters. However, if the Owner chooses, they need not process any transactions via Pay Pal. They can receive checks and enter them manually into the system to note that they have received the money from the Renters.

No – there is no monthly subscription fee!! It is FREE to start using the website.

We believe in having you (the Owner) actually use the website site and only when you get a confirmed booking through the website and have got the final rent installment from the Renter, we will charge a 1% of the booking amount (excluding taxes, cleaning fees and damage deposits) as the website usage fee.

We are currently running a promotional and the website usage fee is waived for a limited time. We will send an email to all the users of the website 15 days before the promotion ends.

“Alerts” are actions that the system has created for you the Owner to take regarding the property booking. This is part of the process that make the website “hands free”. E.g. You will see an alert when the Renter does not make an installment payment on schedule. Instead of the Owner keeping track of this, the system will automatically generate an alert for the Owner to take some action. There are many different kinds of alerts that the system will automatically generate for the Owner.

The Owner can click on the Alert which will take the Owner to the specific property and booking that generated the alert and the Owner can take the required action.

We do not have a limit on the number of properties that you can manage under one account.

When you get started on using the website, start with the new quotes that you will be sending out and use the system to automate those processes. Since the system is automated, if you enter the contracts that are already in place, it will send out the emails to those existing Renters and this may not be what you want to do.

Using the system for fresh quotes will make it easier to understand and simple to use.

You can also use the “Block dates” feature under “My Bookings” to block out the dates that you have already rented your property. This will make sure that if you open the site for online bookings, you will not get “double booked”.

The “Status” codes help you to understand where the Renter is in the process. The different codes are as follows:

Quote – A quote has been sent to the Renter
Contract – A partial payment has been received from the Renter
Booked – Full payment has been received from the Renter
Completed – The Renter has completed the stay at the property
Cancelled – The quote has been cancelled
Blocked – The Owner has blocked out these dates

No – The system does not require you to ask for the Driver License or get the contract signed by the Renter. This decision is up to the individual Owner. The system has this functionality so that you can track the receipt of these documents if needed.

At the time of creating the quote, you have an option of specifying whether you need the above two documents.

The website will show the correct date and time of the activities and transactions if you are in the Pacific Time Zone (PST). For all other time zones, it will be a off by the numbers of hours ahead or behind the PST.

Yes – Please click on the ”Manage” tab, go the the details of the quote. On the right side of the screen, you will see a link “Enter Manual Payment”. Click on that link and it will allow you to enter the amount and a reference code. The reference code could be anything that you want to track the payment with e.g. check number etc.

You will be able to see that payment in the Activity Log for that quote.

Sometimes, based on how the Renter makes the payment e.g. via Check etc., it may take a few days for PayPal to clear the money from the bank and send us a payment confirmation. Till that time, it is in a “Pending” status with PayPal. In that circumstances, we do not acknowledge the payment till we get the “Payment Completed” confirmation from PayPal.

There is only one scenario where the system will allow this to happen:

If the Renter makes a payment, PayPal puts the payment in a “Pending” status for some reason e.g. it was a check payment that needs to get cleared by the bank etc., then the system does not update the quote to a “Contract” status. In a meantime, another Renter with a quote goes ahead and makes the payment and the system changes the status to “Contract” to reflect the confirmed booking.

After a few days, the original payment from the 1st Renter clears the bank and PayPal send the payment confirmation and the system will convert the original quote also to a “Contract” status. So, you now have a “Double Booked” situation.

This situation also happens in a real / manual world with payments getting crossed over by multiple Renters and hence we are not stopping the situation from occurring. However, the system will generate an “Alert” for the Owner in this case to be aware and handle this situation.

Sign on to the website. Click on “Add new property” button on the Dashboard. You will be taken through a five step wizard to enter the details of the property. Note that the wizard will not ask for information on property facilities, amenities and nearby attractions. This is optional information to be entered by the Owner. However, we do encourage the Owner to enter this data to make sure that any contract document that goes to the Renter looks professional and complete.

We have some default set of “Instructions” and “Policies” that you can edit and customize for your individual needs. Once the property is entered, you can enter quotes and get the process going!!

Sign on to the website. Select your property on the Dashboard. You will be taken to the “Manage Property” screen since that is the activity that we expect you to do more often than to edit your property.

Click on “Property Info” tab. You can then select the information that you need to update. Note that you cannot update the address of the property.

Yes – You can update the name of the property on the listing. Note that you cannot update the address of the property.

We can imagine that as you acquire more properties, you may want to name them differently so that you can effectively use the website, hence we do allow the name of the property to be changed.

No – we do not permit the Owner to change the address of the property. We keep a lot of useful transaction history with each property like your booking calendar, quotes, actual bookings etc. If we allow a change to the address of the property, all that history will be linked to another property and hence will no longer be useful and very confusing.

Since there is no additional cost to create a new property, it is easy to just create a new listing for each property that you want to manage.

You can have a lock on your property that can be operated by a system generated code. For each rental duration, you can then create a different code. This is called a “keyless entry” lock.

In order to pass that information to the Renter, if you have selected “Yes” in the property information section, then the system will ask for the code before it creates a final instructional document set for the Renter.

You have selected “Yes” in the question for the Keyless Entry code in the property information section. If you do not have a Keyless entry lock, then sign on to the website, select the property you want to edit and then click on the “Property Info”tab.

You will see the “Keyless Entry” buttons at the bottom of the screen. Select “No” and save. You can then continue with your bookings.

You have an option to clone the default set of Policies or Instructions as long as you have not entered any Policies or Instructions on your own. Once you have create your own, Cloning is not enabled since it will overwrite what you have created.

If you wish to clone the default list of Policies or Instructions, delete the ones you have created and you will see the option to clone visible again.

No – At this time, we only have the most common ones available to be used. If you have a specific one that you want to describe, you may want to add it in the property description and it will appear on the final confirmation document so that the Renter will see it.

We can consider adding your specific needs in the next release of the website. Please drop us a note by logging on to the community support site by clicking on “Help” and then “Get Satisfaction” link.

The system will provide a default set of instructions for you. Use this as a starting point to create your own set of instructions specific to your property and needs.

The more comprehensive the instructions you create, the less number of phone calls you will get from the Renter. Ideally, you should not have to talk to the Renter at all once this process starts – the system is intelligent enough to do the follow-ups and you will need to get involved only if the system creates an “Alert” for you to work on.

The system will provide a default set of policies for you. Use this as a starting point to create your own set of policies specific to your property and needs.

The more comprehensive the policies you create, the less work you will have to do on follow-ups in case there are any issues with the Renter. It is always better to have crystal clear policies on what the Renter can and cannot do. This will save you time and money in the long run.

To make the most out of your rental, the system allows you to enter price overrides for given days using two strategies:

1) You can sell a high week using fixed (also called PERIOD) pricing.
E.g. I want to sell a full week from 30th Jun-Jul 7th of 2012 for a fixed base price of $1,535.

2) You can sell a low week using minimum nights with a daily rate (also called DAILY) pricing.
E.g. I want to sell at least 4 nights or more for the week of 15th-22nd Feb 2012 with a daily price of $99.

To maximize your rental income, it is recommended to set pricing overrides for your rental. It is absolutely essential that you setup the pricing rules if you plan to have the renters log in to the website and book the rentals. Please make sure that “Online Calendar Date” is also setup to the last date that you want to have someone log in and book the rentals on their own. E.g. If the July 4th is a big weekend and you have not setup special price rules for that weekend, make sure that the Online Calendar date is not beyond June 30th.

The templates gives you (the Owner) a view into what the renter will be receiving via email as well as some of the emails that you (Owner) will be receiving. This section is the “Value Added” part of the website!!

It shows you in advance, based on how you have entered the information in the “Property Info” section, how the emails that are sent to the renter will look like. It is strongly encouraged to check this out after you enter or make any edits to the property information since that could affect how the system generated email will look to the renter. Currently, there are nine templates available:

To Renter

• Initial Quote Sent
• Payment Received
• Contract Documentation Sent
• Signed Copy of Contract Received
• Copy of Drivers License Received
• First Reminder for Balance Payment
• Second Reminder for Balance Payment
• Received Initial Deposit
• Final Confirmation Letter Sent

To Owner

• Payment Received

Since this is the document that most Renters will be taking to the Resort Office at the time of checking in, some Owners may be uncomfortable with sharing the rental details with their resorts. Hence, we excluded any monetary details from this template.

The Renter already has the contract that he / she has signed and hence is the document that will govern the rental amounts including any policy terms and conditions.

Please click on the “Forgot Password?” link on the Sign In page and follow instructions.

Sign in to the website. Click on “Account” tab, then click on the “Change Password” link.

Sometimes the renters will need to send you documents (e.g. Contracts, Drivers Licenses etc.) via regular mail. Hence, you will need to enter and keep your mailing address updated.

You can enter the mailing address by signing onto the website. Click on “Account” tab, then update your address.

Sign in to the website. Click on “Account” tab, then enter the mailing address.

Sign in to the website. Click on “Account” tab, then click on the “Edit” link on the side of your current email address.

It is not required but encouraged. In case of any issues with your email, your phone number is the only way for us to contact you.

An API (Application Programming Interface) allows PayPal software to communicate with your online shopping cart. In order to do so you have to grant API permissions to The Vacation Hub to use certain PayPal APIs on your behalf – no PayPal login necessary.

1. Log into PayPal
2. Click the Profile tab
3. Click My selling tools menu option on the left
4. Under the Selling online section click the Update link next to the API access
5. Choose Option 1 – and click on the Grant API permission link
6. In the Third Party Permission Username search box copy and paste: <insert username here>, and click Look up
7. Check Issue a refund for a specific transaction and click Add

Please note that PayPal will only allow The Vacation Hub to refund money from a specific transaction back to the initial payer and nothing else. It is designed to work only at your request while using theVacationHub.com at the appropriate time (i.e. while working with a Booking on the Booking details page).

You can still process refunds by manually logging into PayPal and going the particular transaction that you want to refund money from.