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May 15, 2015
Volume 5, Issue 5
Booking Trends—2015—Part 2
Creating Our Competitive Edge
“Study
says travelers are booking 14 to 30 days out
in Northwest Florida……”
How can we improve your quality score while creating a
strong competitive edge in the market?

Rates—Staying competitive across all channels, that means
our website, all our channel partners and all advertising

Promotions—Offering compelling promotions that will boost
your rate competitiveness

Availability—Making sure all channels of advertising show actual rooms available. Consistently having availability over
low and high periods (minimum and maximum rates on your
VRBO calendars).


Pictures—Update every six months and have at least 20 high
resolution photos displayed, virtual tours of less than 2 minutes
rate high.
Value—Make sure your ads show value, listing all amenities,
add perks like free beach service, assigned parking, free
parking passes, anything you can pay for as an owner that
the client perceives as an added value over your
competitors.
We ask each of our owners to review this article and contact
Debi Smith at [email protected] to see how you
can be a part of creating your competitive edge!
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Photos & Virtual Tours..…....2
Team Updates….……...…...3
E-Signatures………..…...…..3
Owner Reservations..…......4
Tile & Grout Updates.……...4
SPECIAL POINTS OF
INTEREST

Virtual Tours in 2015

Tile Floor Cleaning

Who’s In & Who’s Out

Sign It On Your IPhone
NLIGHTN MEDIA SERVICES
We at Book That Condo are very excited to offer you the latest in marketing technology to
impact your listing on our website and your other travel partner sites as well.
We have contracted w/ N LIGHT N Media to film any condo in our inventory at the
deeply discounted rate of $100.00 for 24 photos!
N Light N's videographer will be in the Florida Panhandle area during June 2015
(TBD). We encourage all homeowners to take advantage of this promotion. A "Full Motion High-resolution HD Music video" is what will set your condo apart. Your video will
connect "Emotionally" w/ prospective renters and increase your ability to rent your home
this and many seasons into the future. Why? In two-to-three minutes a renter gets a
perfect picture of your home. Not only that, your video is an emotional sales tool. One
click on the video tells your home's "Unique Story ". Book That Condo now has access to
cutting edge video technology to present your home in the most dynamic way. Attached
are two videos filmed recently in the Florida Panhandle by N Light N Media :
Destin, Florida
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvQ27I83BiQ
Pensacola Beach https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqIe81KqNg0
Add a one to two minute virtual tour video for just another $100 when you order your
24 photos.
Contact Debi Smith at [email protected] to set up your shoot today!
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This month we said good bye to Dana Dossett. Dana was with us in
maintenance for the past two years and though we’ll miss his humor and levity we
know he had to move on. We wish him great future success.
We can now welcome Jim Scibelli as
our new Maintenance Supervisor. Jim will be
handling all of our in house maintenance needs including everything
on our Annual Maintenance Plan. He comes to us with over twenty
years in property management experience and four years on the
beaches of Panama City. His email is
[email protected].
Our newest member of the reservations team for our summer season
will be Christina Duer. She majors in social science and wants to go to
South Africa by next year to work with impoverished children! She’s
coming to us as a way to save money by living with a relative and
putting her paycheck into her savings account. She has years working
in the political arena on phones and in customer service.
Jennifer Stone joined team Portfolio Real Estate and Management Group as Reggie John’s personal assistant.
She works closely with Reggie in garnering new MLS listings, current closings scheduled with valued owners
and much more.
Look to our next newsletter for updates on inspectors, vendor partners and more!
E-Signatures Have Arrived
Effective on May 16, 2015 your guests will now be able to sign their Rental Documents
electronically from any device including IPhones, IPads, laptops, tablets, desktops and much more.
This is just another level of service that Book That Condo is providing at no added cost to our
owners or guests. These agreements are kept in perpetuity on the “cloud” so there is no longer the
need to print, scan and email or fax back.
We have also changed our Terms and Conditions page to incorporate new levels of
accountability for guests as charge backs are increasing in volume when it comes to damages.
After meeting with our new credit card processing provider we have included eight new initial lines in
pertinent areas like smoking, pets, damage practices, arrival and departure times, etc.
Please feel free to visit our new Home Page and review the changes, thanks again!
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OWNER & GUEST OF OWNER RESERVATIONS
As the Sales Tax authorities in Panama City Beach and Florida crack down on owners who rent out their condo and
don’t declare income, we will now be instituting an Owner/Guest of Owner Form that will need to be filled out and
submitted through our Reservations Department. This form will appear both in the Owner Portal and at the bottom of
our Home Page so that you don’t have to log in to utilize it. These can be emailed or faxed to the office. Emails will
go to [email protected] and will become part of your owner property file in our office.
Effective June 1, 2015 owners will no longer have the ability to book their condos online and will need to submit the
form for both themselves and guests or family that will be using the condo when no revenue is being collected for
rent. Guests of owners will pay the full cleaning fee and the service fee even when they are rent exempt by the
owner). If you have any questions please feel free to email either [email protected] or
[email protected].
This new process will ensure that any audits that may take place in the future by the governing authorities of Florida
will keep both Book That Condo and our owners in full disclosure.
TILE CLEANING UPDATES
Pictures don’t do the difference justice but here is a before and after. The second shot is before the
floor was fully dry and sealed so it will brighten even more once the grout dries. We will make our way through
each condo as we go through May and June to make sure we don’t have the “black foot” complaints and
comments that everyone else on the beach will have this year.
We appreciate your patience as we got the new machine in and we will be having one of our vendors
do the work at greatly reduced pricing using our equipment and chemicals. This is a three step process where
the tile is first scrubbed with an acid based material, then it is neutralized, last step is the sealing of the grout and
that is placed on your floors twice.
COBRA STRIKE is a concentrated industrial strength grout and tile cleaner and degreaser made from a heavy
duty balanced combination of alkalis, synthetic detergents and solvents. It is immediately soluble in water in all
proportions. It’s heavy emulsifying action promotes rapid removal of soils and stains.
COBRA REVIVE is a colorless liquid blend of NEW SAFE ACID technology coupled with a new generation biodegradable surfactant. It is highly efficient, heavy duty product formulated for removing lime, calcium, soap scum and
efflorescence from stone, tile and grout. Removes a thin layer of grout to revive surface and remove stubborn
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