Instant confirmation vs "on request"

[mascamps.com]

We've recently added an "instant confirmation" facility to our website in addition to the old on request booking facility (ie "send us an e-mail").

Anyway, we're in two minds about leaving the original e-mail booking facility on.

On the plus side, it is cheaper (4% on the deposit via paypal and under 1% if people pay the balance here on a credit card) and to reflect that, we've currently added a 2% discount on the "instant confirmation" price to reflect that (we're toying with the idea of upping that to 5%). On the downside, we think that it might be a bit of a turn-off for people to know that they could get the room cheaper if only they'd had a bit more patience.

At present the wording (not the best in the world) is "For an immediate confirmed reservation click book now; for reservation requests (24 hour response with 2% discount on the immediate price), click reservation enquiry. If you are booking within a month of the peak seasons (usually Easter and July/August), it's best to use the "book now" facility although if it's showing no availability, we can sometimes make a room available."

Any thoughts?

 

Arnold

 

[Loiseau]

Gosh, I think that would make my head spin too much and I probably wouldn't book at all!  Sorry.

If you really want to persist with the discount/no discount idea, I'd suggest:

"For an immediate confirmed reservation at published prices, click book now.
For less urgent reservation requests (response within 24 hours, and offering a 2% discount on the published price), click reservation enquiry.
For bookings within a month of the peak seasons (usually Easter, and July/August), it's best to use the "book now" facility (see above); even if the response (?) shows no availability, we may still sometimes be able to make a room available."

...and I would start each variation on a new line.

Not sure what your would-be customer sees on hitting "book now" and finding "no availability", hence my (?).

Angela

[mascamps.com]

Oh, don't be sorry about saying that... 'tis much better for you to say it now than oddles of potential customers not to book.

The possibility of having more rooms than seem to be available on the "book now" button arises because we thought we'd keep a few rooms off the system to avoid double booking if we make mistakes. Well, more than likely "when" rather than "if" we make mistakes. It does make it rather convoluted though as you say; I'll take that bit off.

 

Arnold