What Customers Wish Your Space Rental Software Could Do for Them
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The world’s gotten a bit crazier in the past couple of years – but your customers still have dreams. It’s become clearer to just about everyone that getting together with friends, family, and community is at the heart of life. People are excited about renting spaces and holding events again.
And they’re quietly hoping you’ve switched to a more intuitive space rental software by now. One that actually makes producing their special experiences easy!
A Tale of Typical Reservation Frustrations
Picture this: Jenny and Ted got engaged 6 months ago. Now they’re ready to plan their wedding. How exciting! The first thing they need to do is choose a venue. They know they want to have their ceremony and reception together in a quaint, stone house with access to a garden and small pond.
They go online to their local Department of Parks and Recreation website, and start clicking… and clicking…and clicking. They find themselves on a Flickr site, they open up some PDFs… Then, while trying to navigate back they even “x” out of the site a time or two!
But they’re determined to book today, so Jenny opens up the homepage again: “Okay. Back to the beginning. Step one says browse facilities… but where in the world is that button? I just can’t seem to find it….”
After scrolling through the website for a few more minutes, she thinks “Maybe I need a break from this…” before stepping away for half an hour.
That half-hour turns into a couple of days. And in that time, a friend talks her into reserving another stone house on a private property across town.
Your Customers Dream of Ideas That Easily Become Reality
When Jenny initially sat down to book her wedding venue, her first thought was just to git ‘er done and then move on to the fun stuff of dreaming and scheming and inviting her tribe!
The charming location that provided a quick and painless booking experience easily won her business. Even though the Parks and Rec location would have better suited her budget, the process to reserve it was simply not worth it.
You see, customers aren’t looking for “complicated.” They’re not hoping to jump through more hoops. Instead, they’d like to find an all-in-one facility reservation solution that helps them easily find and smoothly implement the events they dream up.
In other words, they want a rental experience that’s fuss-free, clunk-free, and intuitive.
Here are the top things on your renters’ wish list:
1. Facility Information, Communication, and Payments In One Place
Customers like Jenny and Ted would be forever grateful for a one-stop venue rental website with simple navigation.
Everything in one place is the big deal here. Starting with the ability to browse maps and pictures of competing venues without ever having to leave the site.
From there, they want to see:
- availability
- policies
- procedures
- amenities
All easy to find and at their fingertips.
Once your visitor has gathered the info they need, do they want to open a new browser tab and email you with questions or requests to book your space? Of course not. Their fantasy would be to have all messaging take place right there on your website, made possible by your space rental software.
Customers crave convenience and clarity. They just want to click, type, and press “send,” without searching for your voicemail or email responses days later.
And finally, they want to stay on the same site to finish booking and payment.
Why is it so important to have everything in one place?
Because it frees your customer. It frees space in their mind so they can think about other cool stuff! And it frees their time – time they don’t have to spend hunting around for all the different aspects of their reservation. That’s more time they can spend celebrating, anticipating, and planning to make the most of your venue.
2. Up-to-date and Accurate Information – Available 24/7
Another essential feature of the ideal space rental software is current and accurate info, available around the clock.
Basically, your customers are looking for features like these:
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Pictures, pictures, pictures (recent ones!)
The more pictures your visitor views, the more they can experience the venue ahead of time. And that’s good for their expectations and sense of confidence in the rental. If that room in the back of your facility got a new coat of paint in a different color, the renter wants to know that before they book. They don’t want a big surprise when they get there!
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Booking and availability at all hours – even in the middle of the night.
With the ideal platform, there’s no back and forth with the office to determine or confirm availability and booking. Real-time availability is up on the screen and ready to be perused and reserved at a moment’s notice - morning, noon, or night.
It doesn’t get any more convenient than this for your customers!
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Mobile-friendly and available on-the-go
The brutal reality of modern life is that most people are on their phones constantly. (Which is yet another reason why community events are so important!)
According to a 2021 Forbes article, “almost three out of every four dollars spent on online purchases are coming from mobile, and that rate is accelerating.”
Customers don’t want to have to sit down in front of a couple of websites, some PDFs, an email account, and a spreadsheet while they brainstorm how to rent your facility. They want to take care of business quickly, from right where they’re already spending time.
So, you want to make it uber-convenient for your community to invest their dollars with you - by providing a mobile-friendly booking solution.
This also makes spontaneous reservations possible while people are out of the house, living life. Which means more bookings, all around! And more fun times for your customers.
3. A “Minimal Click” Booking Experience
The average number of clicks when renting a space online is upwards of 12… even 16+ clicks are common. And add in more when your visitor gets lost on your site.
You can count even more clicks for switching over to email or calling. Not to mention further clicks throughout the day to check their inbox. Phew!
Needless to say, this is a pretty significant hurdle for your customer to overcome when trying to rent your venue.
Instead, in this era of convenience, what your client is looking for online is a minimal click experience. One click is the fantasy… a handful of clicks is okay too!
A trajectory with minimal clicks implies an experience that’s both efficient and intuitive. Think:
- One-time payment, even for multiple spaces or recurring bookings.
- Need special amenities? Simply check the boxes!
- Ability to see what’s included and not included in the rental at a glance (which saves your visitor the clicks from not having to hunt around in PDFs)
- Assurance that the clicks they DO make actually pack a punch.
For example, with their last click a blast of detailed instructions are sent out to maintenance and management alike. They can rest assured knowing their space will be prepared just the way they want it.
All this creates a smooth bridge for your clients as they go from imagination to implementation of their rental. And all it takes is just a handful of strategic keystrokes and clicks of their mouse.
4. Multiple Ways to Book – Including Priority Booking
We’ve already spoken about mobile booking. But what about the renter who happens to be standing there in your office? They certainly don’t want to be sent back to their phone to complete the reservation themselves. The ideal software would give you the option to offer concierge treatment. Your customer can sit back and sip their complimentary coffee while you enter the details and finalize the booking for them.
And what about other special opportunities that might delight your customer?
Consider a local youth softball league that’s been a faithful and respectful patron of your venue for 10 years now. It’s human nature to expect a little bit of special treatment for that loyalty. Customers like this want to have the chance to qualify for special treatment, discounts, and priority booking as a favorite or special client.
Or, you may be aware that many Parks and Recreation departments require several weeks of advance notice before events. Your community members will appreciate the chance to make last-minute bookings that a more granular, real-time booking software can give them.
In fact, their dream rental solution wouldn’t be complete without a chance to make these opportunities possible!
Your Choice of Space Rental Software is an Opportunity For Your Venue to Shine!
Making the process of renting your space enjoyable, smooth, and fun goes a long way toward creating a happy – and repeat – visitor. When you carefully choose the right cloud-based platform, you’re helping your customers’ dreams come true.
But where can you find an online scheduling platform like this? Does it even exist?
Great news – it does! And you’re on our website right now.
Spotz is a software that does all of the above and more. In fact, we pride ourselves on streamlining and modernizing the space rental reservation process. This creates extra engagement, and more rentals, across communities like yours.