Frequently Asked Questions
Ordering Process
Q: How Do I order a website for my company?
Call 1-800-941-0868 or contact us for a free demo.
Hopefully you will find that a Bookt solution will significantly increase your
online success. In that case we can get the process started right away.
Q: What type of satisfaction guarantee do you offer?
We are focused on your online success. As such, we educate you about our process
of designing and marketing your website. We will then follow that methodology to
develop your specific website. If for some reason during that process you don’t
feel our work meets your expectations, you can get a refund of your unused
retainer fees by providing us with a written notice (refunds will be paid out
within 30 days).
Design Process
Q: What is your design process?
We have a proven design process that is guaranteed to give you a great looking
site, and also very effective in marketing your properties. Please
click here to see a detailed breakdown of our design process.
Q: How can I be sure that the design you provide me with is going to fit my
company?
While we recognize that everyone’s taste is different, we also know that there
are certain true and tested site design conventions that are most effective.
After reviewing a wide range of different looks with you, we will narrow into a
specific style. We will then document your requirements and assign designers
most suited for your project design.
Q: How many proofs will I receive from your designers?
If you have ordered the
standard package, we will give you two distinct proofs that match your
design requirements. You will then select one of those proofs and provide
feedback for us to refine it further.
We will then take that feedback and incorporate it into a second proof. If your
design contains any Flash animations, they will also be supplied as part of the
second proof. At that point the project moves on to the next step: building your
site.
For enterprise customers we have a more customized approach to the design
process. Please discuss with your account executive.
Web Development
Q: What browsers will my new website support?
We believe in
web standards and all websites we develop use compliant
XHTML. That means that your pages should look and work the same in Internet
Explorer 6 & 7, Firefox and the latest version of Safari for the Mac. Older
browsers and certain mobile devices can typically access your website but
certain features may look and work slightly differently.
Q: Can I make changes myself to my website?
The Bookt Control Panel is
all about putting you in control. From there you can easily modify information
about your properties and locations. Coming soon, there is also a feature that
lets you edit any other content page in the website without any special tools or
skills.
Domains
Q: How many domains can I link to my website?
You can link as many domains as you like to your website (although we strongly
recommend that you redirect them all to a single domain for search engine
optimization purposes).
Q: What is the process for linking a domain I already own?
Simply log in to the registrar where you bought the domain (e.g.
www.godaddy.com or
www.networksolutions.com) and point it to the following URL:
websitehosting.bookt.com (sometimes this process is referred to as creating
a CNAME). Then log in to the Control Panel and enter the domain in the Domain
Manager. The new domain should start working within 24h. Our professional
services team is more than happy to assist if you need help with this procedure.
Q: Can I access my site prior to buying a new or changing an existing domain?
Of course! Almost all our clients have a pre-existing website before they become
a Bookt customer, and even if that site no longer meets all of their needs, they
still want to keep it up until their new Bookt powered site is ready. We have a
simple process that allows you to access the site through a temporary URL until
your new site is completely ready to go. We can take your new site live within
24 hours provided you have followed the steps in the domain linking process
above.
Email Accounts
Q: Can you provide me with email accounts that match my website domain?
Yes, through a partnership with www.Godaddy.com we can offer industry standard
POP/SMTP and web mail for your company and staff. You can either order these
services through our
www.Godaddy.com
Partner portal or let our professional service team help you.
Q: Can you provide me enterprise level email hosting such as MS Exchange?
We don’t currently offer this service, but we will be happy to refer you to a
trusted provider that do.
Fees and Payments
Q: Why do you require a credit card on file for all your account?
All our services come with a subscription fee that pays for ongoing support,
hosting and maintenance. The fee varies based on your subscription options. In
order to streamline billing and focus our attention on improving our products
and services rather than spending it doing paper based invoicing for a large
number of customers, we require all monthly fees less than $1,000
to be paid by credit card or automatic bank draft.
Q: How can I pay the initial retainer for the standard package?
You can pay the initial retainer fee by Credit Card (Visa, MasterCard, AMEX or
Discover), Wire Transfer or Company Check. Please be advised that we are unable
to hold your launch meeting unless the retainer fee has been paid in full.
Q: Why do you charge an initial retainer?
It is our policy to ask for an upfront retainer for the total amount of the
estimated professional services. The reason is simple: The second you order a
site, a series of tasks are started with project managers, graphic designers and
web developer working together. We cannot start this process without assurance
that we will get paid.
Q: Can I apply unused professional service retainer fees towards paying for my
monthly fees?
Professional service fees are accounted as hours in your billing statement. You
can use those hours for a period of up to six months for any professional
service. They cannot be converted into payment for hosting and support fees.
Q: You offer unlimited support, but I must pay for professional services. How
can I tell what is what?
We want you to use our systems, but know that from time to time you may need our
assistance in figuring out how something works. Therefore we offer unlimited
support via email or phone. Every support request is logged and the resolution
is available in your control panel. Support consists of:
- Explanation of a specific feature or process
- Answering general questions about your system
- Resolving any error message or other non-functioning aspect of your system
The types of tasks listed below are professional services and will incur a fee of $120
/h billed in 30 minute increments. Professional service fees will be charged to
your monthly statement unless your account has unused professional service
hours.
- Graphic Design
- Flash Animations
- Changes to Your Website Content and Structure
- Setting up Data Imports or Exports in your System (there are some self service
tool to do this in the Control Panel)
- Integrating your Bookt system with other Business Systems
- Configuring Domains
- Content Development/Copywriting
- Online Training Sessions for Your Staff
- Custom Programming (some custom programming may carry higher fees depending on
the type of task)
International
Q: Can I really use your solution if my company is not located in the US?
Vacation Rentals, Holiday Lets, Condos, Villas, Ski Chalets, Cottages …
Whatever you call your properties and wherever they are located we can help! The
fact that our solution is built from the ground up to handle a global user base
and hosted in a high performance data center means that you can take advantage
of a Bookt website solution regardless of where your business is located. See
the
International Features Page for more information.
Q: What’s involved in translating the content of my website into a different
language?
While many things related to globalizing your new Bookt website are fully
automated, we still require your content to be translated by a professional
translator. If not, the result would be something
like this. Bookt can certainly help with this process, however additional
professional services will be required to translate and incorporate the
translated content in your site. Certain things like property descriptions for a
large number of properties are usually not practical to translate.
About Bookt
Q: Are you planning on offering your technology for other industries?
No, we are very content to focus just on the travel industry at the moment.
Q: I have a complementary product or service which I think your customers would
value. Are you interested in partnerships?
Absolutely! We are always looking for ways to add value to our services. We are
specifically interested in any service that increases the exposure of our
customers’ properties (e.g. different kinds of portals or other advertising
tools). Since we host all our customers’ data in a secure standardized format,
we can relatively easily set up custom feeds of specific data to your systems
for participating clients.
Q: Bookt seems like a cool place to work. Do you accept unsolicited resumes?
We are always on the lookout for great talent. See the
Work @ Bookt page for information about how you can apply.
Q: I’d like to meet you face to face. Can that be arranged?
While many of our customers only meet us online and over the phone, some clients,
especially Enterprise customers may want to have one or more face to face
meetings before launching a major project. We are headquartered in Sunny South
Florida and will be more than happy to host a meeting here. Our leadership team
is also traveling around the world throughout the year. Let us know what
location is suitable for you and we can hopefully set up a meeting at a nearby
location. We are also participating in industry events such as
VRMA’s annual convention.
Q: Are you available to participate in panels or other public speaking
engagements?
Yes, we love meeting people from the industry and share ideas.
Contact us for more information.
Q: What industry affiliations do you have?
We are proud member of VRMA
(Vacation Rental Managers Association). We are also very open to new
partnerships. Contact us to discuss further.
On the technology side, we are a part of the
Microsoft Partnership Program. We base a lot of our systems on their proven
enterprise technology, although we also utilize tools from other vendors like
Google and open source software.