HomeAway.com, Inc. 2012

HomeAway.com, Inc. © 2012

All rights reserved. No part of this product may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying,

recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

T

ABLE OF

C

ONTENTS

Welcome to ReservationManager 1  

Introduction 1  

Getting Started 2  

Setup and Configuration 2  

Inquiries and Quotes 10  

Responding to Inquiries 10  

Responding to Reservation Requests 14  

Setting up Response Templates 19  

Exporting Inquiry Data 21  

Sending Quotes 23  

Payment Requests 26  

Sending Payment Requests 26  

Managing Payments 32  

Reservations And Calendar 42  

Managing Reservations 42  

Appendix 50  

Fees and Refund Structure 50  

W

ELCOME TO

R

ESERVATION

M

ANAGER

easy to respond to inquiries, generate quotes and rental agreements, and accept online payments and bookings from guests.

ReservationManager is designed for individual homeowners who manage one to three properties, and it’s included free with your listing

subscription.

 Inquiry management – Respond to common questions with

reusable, customizable email templates and stay organized with a record of all communications you've sent.

 Quotes– Create and send detailed quotes, which are then

automatically included in your rental agreement and online payment requests. Standard rental fees and taxes are saved for future quotes.

 Payment schedules – Specify how much you require to

reserve a booking and when the balance is due.

 Rental agreements – Specify your rental terms, house rules,

and cancellation policy and have guest agree to them online, before making their first payment.

 Payment processing– 2.5% Visa, MasterCard, and Discover

card processing and FREE eCheck payments (ACH

direct-deposits) for US guests; 3.75% card processing for international guests.

 Online booking – Add an optional “Book It” button to your

listing to provide travelers the convenience and security of online booking while maintaining control of when and to whom your rent your property.

G

ETTING

S

TARTED

Setup and Configuration

Set up Online Payments for New Property

Before you can begin taking online payments, you will need to enable online payments.

 Log into your owner dashboard and click Payments under Reservation Manager in the left pane.

 At the intro screen, select the country in which you live and the location of your bank from the list and click Get Started Now.

 Select the Payments Option you prefer.

o Add “Book it” button to your listing – 24  Hour  review  -­‐ Enable  

travelers  to  submit  a  paid  reservation  request  from  your  listing.  You  have  24  hours   to  review  and  either  accept  or  decline  each  request.

o No “Book it” button on your listing - Online  Invoicing  -­‐  Use  

Setup and Configuration

Setup and Configuration

Seasonal Rates and Event Rates. Click Next.

 Set up your Payment Terms. Select whether you prefer one or multiple payments from your guests. Click Next.

 Upload (in .pdf format only) or type in your Rental Agreement and select Cancellation Terms. Click Finish.

Setup and Configuration

 Click Continue to choose your online payment provider.

 Complete the information fields as indicated . Required fields are

Setup and Configuration

 You will see a response within 30 seconds, letting you know if your account is approved and ready to start processing payments online. There are two types of payment disbursement formats:

- Instant– Guest payments will be disbursed one day after receipt and settle to your bank account 3 – 5 business days later (settlement times vary by bank).

Setup and Configuration

- Escrow – Guest payments will be disbursed one day after check-in date and settle to your bank account 3 – 5 business days later (settlement times vary by bank).

 Click I’m Done to close the wizard, or explore links to the additional resources provided.

 You will also receive a welcome email from ReservationManager confirming your account is enabled:

Setup and Configuration

 Once your online payments account is active, your listing will also have a payment badge activated, letting travelers know you accept our most secure form of payment.

Change Payment Model

If you have already set up your ReservationManager account for online payments (manual invoicing), you may add a “Book It” button at any time or vice versa. This must be done for each property individually, if you have multiple properties.

 After logging into your dashboard, select the property to change.  Click Settings under Reservation Manager in the left pane.

Setup and Configuration

 Click Change Model.

 Select the radio button for the payment method you prefer and click Continue.

I

NQUIRIES AND

Q

UOTES

Responding to Inquiries

Respond to Inquiries via Email

When a traveler submits an inquiry on your property,

ReservationManager will send an inquiry email to your designated contact email. The email will show whether your calendar is available for the time period requested.

 From an inquiry email, click Reply. This will open your dashboard directly into the Reply & Quote process.

 In Step 1 of Reply & Quote, type in the text of your response. (The text here will be saved and automatically available for future email replies. It can be changed at any time.)

 Click the Send Reply without Quote link if you don’t want to include a rental quote with your response.

 To include a quote with your reply, click Add Quote (see Send a Quote section below).

Respond to Inquiries from Your Dashboard

 From your Dashboard, click Inquiries under ReservationManager™ to view the complete list of inquiries. Each inquiry will also show from which site it originated if your property is listed across

Responding to Inquiries

multiple sites (HomeAway.com™, VRBO.com™, and VacationRentals.com™).

 Click Inquiry Details to view and manage a specific traveler inquiry.

 From the Inquiry Details, you may view the details of the traveler inquiry and reply to it via the Reply button. This will give you a choice to Reply Available, Reply Unavailable or send a Custom response.

Responding to Inquiries

Reply as Available

 Select Reply Available if your property is available for the time period requested.

 In Step 1 of Reply & Quote, type in the text of your response. (The text typed in will be saved and automatically available for future email replies. It can be changed at any time.)

 Click Send Reply without Quote if you don’t want to include a price quote with your email.

Responding to Inquiries

Reply as Unavailable

 From the Inquiry Details, select Reply Unavailable if your property is not available for the time period requested.  Customize the email response as needed (the text will be

automatically available for future replies, but can be changed at any time):

 Click Send Now.

Send a Custom Response

 From the Inquiry Details, select Reply Custom to create a completely custom email response.

 Type your email response as needed (the text will be automatically available for future replies, but can be changed at any time):

Responding to Reservation Requests

What are Reservation Requests?

If you have enabled the “Book It” button on your listing, you will receive Reservation Requests from travelers that use the Book it button. When a potential guest submits a reservation request, you will receive an email notification, as well as see the request in the Reservation Request tab in the Inquiries view of the dashboard.

You have 24 hours to confirm property availability and the quoted

amount, and answer / ask any questions of the guest before accepting or declining the reservation request. If you do not respond within 24 hours, the reservation will be declined automatically.

View Pending Reservation Requests

 You will receive an email when you receive a reservation request from a traveler. You can also see them in the Inquiries view on your owner dashboard.

 Pending requests will show up as tentative reservations on your calendar until you accept or decline the request.

 You can click Accept, Reply or Decline directly from the email, which will take you into your owner dashboard.

Responding to Reservation Requests

IMPORTANT NOTE

If you do not respond to a reservation request within 24 hours, the request will automatically be DECLINED by the system. An email will be sent to the traveler letting them know that their reservation was unable to be confirmed and that they have not been charged.

Accept a Reservation Request

Reservation Requests will show on your calendar as tentative until they are accepted or declined. Once accepted, the request will convert to an actual reservation.

 From the owner dashboard, click Inquiries in the left navigation pane.

Responding to Reservation Requests

 Click View Request for the reservation request that you have not yet responded to.

 From the Reservation Request, click Accept to accept the booking and payment.

Responding to Reservation Requests

 In the Accept Reservation screen, type in any additional text needed and click Send.

 The traveler will receive an email notification of your acceptance. The reservation request will be moved to your Reservations list and changed to a reservation on your calendar.

Decline a Reservation Request

Reservation Requests will show on your calendar as tentative until they are accepted or declined. Once declined, the request will be removed from your calendar.

 From the owner dashboard, click Inquiries in the left navigation pane.

 If not already showing, click the Reservation Requests tab.  Click View Request for the reservation request that you have not

Responding to Reservation Requests

 From the Reservation Request, click Decline Request to decline the booking and payment. The traveler will receive an email notification of your selection.

 Select the reason for the decline and click Next.

Setting up Response Templates

Set up Your Personalized Response Templates

You can set up personalized inquiry response templates that are used for each type of reply shown (Available and Unavailable).

 Under ReservationManager™, click Settings.

 Click Reply as Unavailable Email Template or Reply as

Available Email Template to make changes to the template text.

 Make the changes needed.

 Use the following tags when you want to include elements that are different from inquiry to inquiry (e.g. the guest's name); make sure to type all caps with the underscore.

- GUEST_NAME = the guest's first name - OWNER_NAME = your first name

- OWNER_EMAIL = your email address - OWNER_PHONE = your phone number  When all changes have been made, click Save.

Setting up Response Templates

 You can revert to the original text at any time by clicking the link provided.

Exporting Inquiry Data

Export Inquiry Data

To download your inquiry history to a spreadsheet:  Log into your dashboard account.

 From the left pane, click Inquiries.  Click Export Inquiry Data.

 Select your start and end date, or click Select all Inquiries. Click

Exporting Inquiry Data

can be opened by any spreadsheet application.

 Go to your downloads folder and find the file that begins with Inquiries. Open this file to view a spreadsheet of your inquiries.

Sending Quotes

Send a Quote

Quotes can be sent during the inquiry process, or sent separately at any time from the Inquiries link.

 From Inquiry Details, click Reply Available to send a reply. Customize your email response and click Add Quote to create a quote to send with your reply.

 In Step 2, complete the sections as indicated (the selections made will be automatically available for future quotes, but can be

changed at any time):

- Rental Amount – type your preferred rates for the period requested. Click Add a Fee to enter additional fees beyond the rental rate (e.g. Cleaning Fee)

- Sales & Lodging Tax – select the appropriate tax option. ReservationManager will automatically calculate the tax amount based on the % you entered.

Sending Quotes

response and quote will display in the Inquiry Details view, above the original traveler inquiry.

 For your reference, the date and time of your response is also displayed:

 You will receive a copy of your email response to the traveler, as shown:

P

AYMENT

R

EQUESTS

Sending Payment Requests

Send a Payment Request

Rental payment requests can be sent from existing quotes or created as needed directly from an inquiry or reservation.

 From the Inquiries or Reservations screen, click Details next to the specific guest.

 Click Book It!.

 If a quote was previously sent, the rental quote information will be pre-populated. Make any changes needed in Step 1 and click Next.

Sending Payment Requests

 In Step 2 – Payment Schedule, select the number of payments you would like to receive from the guest (1 – 3 available). If there is more than one payment, select the due date relative to check-in. The system will divide the payment amounts equally, but you can edit the payment amount if preferred. If there was a refundable deposit selected on the quote, it will be included in the final payment amount. Click Next.

Sending Payment Requests

protection as it will ask the guest to agree to the policy before making their online payment. You may upload your rental agreement in Adobe™ .PDF format by clicking Upload Rental

Agreement. You may also copy and paste text directly into the

field provided. Click Next.

 In Step 4 – Message, make any changes to the email message text as needed. Click Review.

 In Step 5 – Review and Confirm, check your payment request for accuracy. Click Back to make changes. If everything is correct, click Send and Schedule Now.

Sending Payment Requests

 An email will be sent to the traveler with payment details, as well as a copy to your email account.

 Your guest can click the Pay Now link to make their payment online. There is also a link to view the complete Rental

Agreement. Once opened, they can also download and print the

Rental Agreement.

Payment Notifications and Confirmation

When an online payment has been processed, your guest will receive a payment receipt via email confirming their payment. You will also receive a copy of this email.

Sending Payment Requests

The transaction ID provided in the email can be used as a reference should you need to contact HomeAway.com™ or VRBO.com™ regarding any questions about the transaction.

Once a payment has been made, the inquiry is automatically moved to your Reservation list as Reserved.

Sending Payment Requests

Notice of Payment Deposit - VacationRentPayment

Once a payment has been deposited in your bank account, you will receive a Direct Deposit confirmation email from VacationRentPayment showing the transaction, with processing fees deducted:

PayPros™ (PPI) Merchants

If you are a PayPros (PPI) customer, you will continue to receive the same reporting and communication you always have.

Managing Payments

Review Payments by Status

Once a payment request has been sent, the current status will show in the payment details of the inquiry.

Payment statuses include:

 Scheduled - Payment request is scheduled to be sent on a date, but not sent yet

 Sent - Payment request email has been sent (7 days prior to due date)

 Overdue - Payment due date is past and the payment has not been paid online, marked as paid, or canceled.

 Paid - Payment has been paid online

 Refunded - Payment has been fully or partially refunded  Cancelled - Payment was cancelled

 Failed - Payment was not able to be completed due to wrong credit card number, wrong expiration date, NSF, etc.

Managing Payments

Search for Payments by Guest or Status

If your list of payment requests is multiple pages long, you can search by the guest name, email or phone number to assist in locating the payment. You can also select the Payment Status to filter on a status (i.e. Sent, Refunded, Cancelled).

Resend a Payment Request

If the guest did not receive their payment request via email, ask them to check their junk/spam folder and confirm the email address where they would like the request sent.

Managing Payments

 This will resend the payment request to the email address on the inquiry.

Take Payments over the Phone

While it is possible to take credit card payments on behalf of the travelers, it is not advised. The traveler should agree to the terms and conditions, as well as the rental agreement, which is done by checking the “I agree”

checkbox. This can cause a dispute resulting in approved chargeback to your account.

 From the appropriate Inquiry, click Payment Details.

Managing Payments

 Ask the traveler if they would like to add the Carefree Rental

Guarantee to their payment (this also shows up with they make the online payment themselves).

 Select the payment method for the traveler (Credit Card or eCheck).

 Complete the fields as required with the provided information from the traveler.

 Check the checkbox that you read and agree with the Rental

Agreement, Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions. This is required to process the payment.

 Click Submit Payment.

 A Thank You message will appear showing the payment was processed successfully. There is also a link to View Rental Agreement at any time from this page.

Note: If your guest accesses the page after payment is complete, it will

not allow them to pay again, it shows payment already complete.

Managing Payments

Accept Offline Payments (Checks)

 If you receive a check from the traveler instead of an online payment, you can mark it paid manually.

 In the appropriate guest record, click Payment Details.  Next to the payment received, click Mark Paid.

 Click Confirm to mark as paid.

Send Additional Payment Requests

Up to 5 additional payment requests can be sent after the original rental payment request has been sent to the traveler. This can include services and fees other than the rental stay (i.e. for boat rental, additional nights).

 From the appropriate inquiry or reservation, click Payment Details.  Click Add a Payment Request.

 Type the Description, Amount and Message to the Traveler. Click

Managing Payments

 If you are sure you want to send the New Payment request, click

Schedule Payment.

 The Additional Payment Request is sent immediately and is due within 7 days, regardless of the dates of stay.

 The Additional Payment request will be added to the Payment Details tab for the reservation.

Managing Payments

 An email will be sent to your guest, along with a copy to you, showing the details of the Additional Payment request and the due date.

Refund a Payment

Payments to travelers can only be refunded back to the account from which the payment was made (i.e. eCheck payments are refunded back to the eCheck account).

 From Payment Details, click Refund next to a completed payment (status of Paid).

Managing Payments

 Select Full Amount or Partial Amount. Type in the partial amount to be refunded. Partial amounts might be used for a partial refund of a damage deposit.

 Type in the Description and click Refund Payment.

 Payment details will be updated to show Refunded or Partial

Refunded. Once a partial refund has been processed on a single

payment, no other refunds can be processed on that payment.

 An email will be sent to the guest, along with a copy to you, showing the details of the refund transaction.

Managing Payments

 Once the refund has been processed from your bank account, you will receive a confirmation email from VacationRentPayment showing the refund transaction, with the adjustment refunding the original

Managing Payments

Cancel a Payment Request

You can cancel a payment request once it has been sent to the traveler. The system will not allow you to cancel a payment request if a payment has been made. You will have to refund the payment before canceling the request.

 From the appropriate guest record, click Payment Details.  Next to the payment to be canceled, click Cancel Request.

R

ESERVATIONS

A

ND

C

ALENDAR

Managing Reservations

Search for Reservations by Guest or Status

If your list of reservations is multiple pages long, you can search by the last name, upcoming, past or all reservations. You can also specify the check in and checkout dates.

View Reservations on Your Calendar

 Once you locate the reservation to view, click Reservation Details to open the reservation.

Managing Reservations

 The Reservation Details tab will show a timeline of events for the individual reservation.

 Click Add Note to add additional notes regarding the reservation.  Type your note and click Add Note to add to the reservation

Managing Reservations

Create a New Reservation

 From the Reservations list or the Calendar view, click New

Reservation.

 Complete the reservation fields as indicated.  There are three types of reservations:

- Tentative – this can be used to hold the reservation in

anticipation of payment by a traveler. This status should also be used when requesting payment from travelers sourced outside HomeAway Inc. listing sites.

- Reservation – this is a regular reservation by a traveler - Blocked – this blocks the calendar, but not necessarily by a

traveler, it could be for personal use or maintenance  Check in and Check Out dates are required.

 Remaining fields can be completed as needed.

 When complete, click Save. The creation of the reservation will be added to the timeline for the reservation details.

Managing Reservations

 The reservation can be edited at any time by clicking Edit

Managing Reservations

Cancel a Reservation

 To cancel a reservation, click Reservation Details for the reservation to cancel.

 Click Cancel Reservation.

 At the prompt, click Yes to confirm cancellation or No to cancel without making changes to the reservation.

Managing Reservations

View Your Calendar

 Click Calendar in the left toolbar to view the reservation calendar. The default view is by year. Change the Show From month to change the starting month and year.

 Click Month to view a month of the calendar at a time. Click Year to go back to the year view.

Managing Reservations

Print Your Calendar

 From the Year view, click Print to see a printable version of the year’s calendar with the dates color-coded for the type of

reservation (legend at bottom). Your computer’s print dialog will appear allowing you to print the calendar out on paper.

 From the Month view, click Print to see a printable version of the month’s calendar with the dates color-coded for the type of

Managing Reservations

appear allowing you to print the calendar out on paper.

 From the Reservation list, click Print to see a printable version of the reservation list displayed (filter list as needed before printing). Your computer’s print dialog will appear allowing you to print the list out on paper.

A

PPENDIX

Fees and Refund Structure

The following are the fees associated with a VacationRentPayment account:

Service Processing Fee Annual Fee

Visa/MasterCard/Discover 2.5% of Transaction Amount NONE

Visa/MasterCard/Discover 2.5% of Transaction Amount NONE

International

Visa/MasterCard 3.75% of Transaction Amount NONE

Chargeback Fee $25.00 per Chargeback NONE

Basic ACH/

eCheck Processing FREE NONE

NSF Fee $25.00 per NSF INCLUDED

Other Services

HotSpot Tax Services

HotSpot Tax Services™ is a HomeAway partner that helps owners to simplify their tax compliance. HotSpot provides services for all filings, payments, forms and correspondence with local, state, and federal taxing agencies.

In the Sales & Lodging Tax section of the Quote step, there is a tooltip/rollover that opens a link to the HotSpot Tax site:

Property Damage Protection (PDP)

ReservationManager™ provides choices on how you may protect your property from accidental damage caused by guests.

PDP is an insurance policy that you may offer your guests in lieu of, or in addition to, a refundable damage deposit. Your guests purchase the policy on the traveler payment page when they pay online. You may submit a claim to cover any damage to your property during the guest's stay, up to the maximum amount designated by the level purchased. More

information is available at www.propertydamageprotection.com or call (888) 501-3025.

Other Services

There are three levels of protection available:

If you select Property Damage Protection as an option for your guests, the amount of the PDP policy is added to the quote and payment email sent to the guest. Once purchased, your guest will receive a PDP confirmation email showing you, the homeowner as the beneficiary of the policy. You will also receive a purchase confirmation email from CSA, HomeAway Inc.’s partner for the PDP product.

Carefree Rental Guarantee

The Carefree Rental Guarantee reduces concerns potential guests might have about vacation rentals. Travelers can purchase it as an option via the Reservation Manager™ payment page. The guarantee provides up to

$10,000 in protection if the property is significantly not as described, guests cannot access the property, their refundable damage deposit is wrongfully withheld, or their payment is stolen as a result of Internet fraud.

More information is available here:

http://www.homeaway.com/guarantee/home.html

Offering the Carefree Rental Guarantee conveys that you and HomeAway stand behind your property. The Carefree Rental Guarantee reduces concerns potential guests might have about vacation rentals, provides peace of mind that their rental will be as described, and protects rental

Other Services

payments up to $10,000.

The Carefree Rental Guarantee does not cost you anything. Travelers pay a small fee (~2%) of the amount of protection they’d like to purchase. The Carefree Rental Guarantee will automatically be included as an option on the ReservationManager payments page.

To remove the Carefree Rental Guarantee from ReservationManager:

 Log into your account.

 Click Settings on the left side of the page.  Click Product Settings.

 Select “No, do not offer this to my guests” and click Save