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Rental #963
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Feb special - save $29 - only $120/nite + tax at Smoky Mountain Tower
Smoky Mountain Tower, Chalet Village North
Gatlinburg, TN 37738 US
Click Here To Visit
View All Rentals By This Owner
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Hi, all,
As an old marketing guy, I'm always interested in seeing how others handle customer service. Unfortunately, there are a lot of awful experiences out there and very few good ones. I tend to complain about the bad ones and never say anything about the good ones.
But I just had a good - no, a GREAT customer service experience. Yesterday, I wrote to John Godar (who's on this board) about a couple of things I'd like to see on IVacationOnLine (IVOL). They weren't the most important things, but I thought it might help me - and maybe some others.
First, as you know, anybody using Authorize.net and accepting Discover Cards has been notified that we also now have to take Diners Club and JCB cards (that's a Japanese bank). But there was no place on IVOL to show those cards.
Secondly, with the addition of new advertising sites, I thought we needed a few more spaces in which to add "I found you on..." check boxes in the Property Listing section. I also suggested adding "Family and Friends," "Owner's Web site," and "Brochure" - since those are ways that people might find out about us.
So I sent all this to John. Within a few hours, he responded back that he thought most of this was possible. I figured they'd get to it in a couple of weeks.
Lo and behold, today I got an e-mail back from John and Joe (his brother) that it has all been done! How's THAT for service!
So I'm sending this message for two reasons. First, if you're using IVOL, you might want to know about these changes. Secondly, if you're not using IVOL, you might want to take another look at it. I can count on the fingers of one hand the times I've gotten customer service that fast and that complete. Hey, VRBO and HomeAway - are you listening?
Thanks, John and Joe, for your great responsiveness. (No, they didn't pay me to say all this!)
Blessings,
Dave
UPDATE...
Glad to find you guys on Facebook. I clicked 'Like' because they don't have a 'Love' button. I can't imagine where we would be without ivacationonline! Besides all the features of the Web site, there is NOBODY who responds faster than the IVOL crew! Thank you very much!
Dave
UPDATE...
Winifred,
This question may be for Jane, but I'll throw my 2 cents in on the subject. We get lots of reservation requests through HomeAway and others (about 40%). But I would never use one of them for actually booking the reservation. I use ivacationonline (IVOL) because I know the owners, I trust them, and I get straight answers from them. I'm not convinced that HomeAway (or any of the others) aren't using my data to solicit potential guests for other purposes. So anytime I get an inquiry, I always direct them to our Web site. From there, they can check availability (via the iframe IVOL calendar) or go right to IVOL to make their reservation. But I want them to go to my site to get more information ie pictures, floor plans, policies, etc.
One other thing: with IVOL, I don't have to send out (and the guest doesn't have to send back) any written contracts. The IVOL system requires the guest to electronically 'sign' a statement that accepts my terms and conditions. Two lawyers and my insurance underwriter have checked this out and they have all told me that it's as good as (or maybe better than) a written contract, because it's electronically linked to the reservation and all done at the same time. Guests tell us that they book with us because of two things: the booking process is simple and we don't charge any extra fees.
Hope this helps. Please contact me off the board if you have any questions.
Dave
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