A good booking system for rentals handles the whole rental, not just the calendar: booking, payment, access, condition and contracts. Make sure it fits your kind of rental, takes the payment methods your customers use, ties the lock code to the booking and shows your name to the customer. Here are nine points, with the questions to ask the supplier.
Many rental businesses start with a calendar, a form and payment by bank transfer or phone. That works until the bookings grow. Then payments, keys, cancellations and contracts take more and more of your time. At that point you need a proper system, but not everything called a booking system suits rentals. A system built for hairdresser appointments knows nothing about a trailer that comes back late.
1. Does the system fit your kind of rental?
Check that the system handles the rentals you have today and the ones you might have later. Hourly rentals, daily rentals and contracts that run month to month all work differently. A sauna is booked in sessions, a trailer by the day and a storage unit until further notice.
Ask the supplier:
- Do you handle both short bookings and contracts that run until further notice?
- Can I have several locations, each with its own opening hours and closed days?
- Can I add a gap between two bookings, for cleaning for example?
- What happens if two customers book the same time at the same moment?
2. Can you rent out without staff?
If you want to rent out unattended, the system has to link the booking to access. The customer should get a code to a digital code lock when the rental starts, without you doing anything. Otherwise you are stuck meeting every customer in person.
Ask the supplier:
- Which locks work, and do they need internet or mains power?
- When does the customer get the code, and how long is it valid?
- Can I see the locks’ battery level?
- Can I create a code remotely when something goes wrong?
3. Does the system take payment the way your customers want to pay?
Demand card payments, ideally through an established payment provider such as Stripe. In Sweden, also demand Swish, the mobile payment app most Swedes use. Through Stripe the customer can also pay with Apple Pay, Google Pay and Klarna. Qonnecta takes card, Apple Pay and Google Pay through Stripe, Swish in Sweden, and Klarna if you turn it on. The payment should belong to the booking, so you never have to reconcile anything by hand.
Ask the supplier:
- Does the money go straight to my account, or through you?
- Which fees do you take, and which do the bank and the payment provider take?
- How do refunds work when a customer cancels?
- Can business customers pay by invoice?
4. Can the price list handle real life?
Your price is rarely a single price. You need prices per hour and per day, weekend prices, seasonal prices, add-ons, mandatory fees and a fee for late returns. The more the system can do, the less you work out by hand.
Ask the supplier:
- Can I set different prices per day of the week and for a set period?
- Can I add optional extras and mandatory fees?
- How is VAT shown to the customer?
- Does the customer see the full price before paying?
5. Does the customer see your name or the supplier’s?
The customer should see your brand, not the supplier’s. It is your customer relationship, and the customer should come back to you.
Ask the supplier:
- Can I use my own logo, my own colours and my own domain?
- Can I link to the booking from my website?
- Can I take my customer data and history with me if I leave?
- Does your name appear anywhere in the booking?
6. Does the system handle contracts and recurring payments?
For longer rentals, such as storage units, you need to be able to create a contract that the customer signs digitally before the first payment, and then charge the rent each period.
Ask the supplier:
- How is the contract signed? In Sweden: can it be signed with BankID?
- Is the rent charged to a saved card, by direct debit or by invoice?
- Do I see straight away when a payment is late?
- Can I run a credit check on new tenants?
7. Does the system help when something comes back damaged?
Condition checks with a checklist and photos at pick-up and return are your best protection in a dispute about damage. Read more in protect your rentals against damage.
Ask the supplier:
- Can I decide what is checked for each product?
- Are the photos saved on the booking?
- How do I follow up an issue?
8. Does the system talk to the customer for you?
Confirmations, receipts and reminders should go out by themselves, with your wording. That is the difference between a customer who knows what to expect and one who phones you. Some systems also have an assistant that answers customers in a chat.
Ask the supplier:
- Which messages go out automatically, and can I change the wording?
- Are they sent by e-mail, push notification or SMS?
- Can customers get answers to their questions when I am not there?
- Can I see statistics on where customers drop out of the booking?
9. What does it cost, and can you leave when you want?
You should be able to start small and grow, without being locked in. Work out what the system costs per month with your locations, not from the lowest price on the supplier’s website.
Ask the supplier:
- What does it cost per location and month, and what is included?
- Do you take a commission on my bookings?
- Is there a minimum term or a setup fee?
- Who helps me get started?
How do you test a system before you decide?
Book as a customer. Open the supplier’s demo on your phone and go through a whole booking: choose a time, add an extra, pay and see what happens next. If you get stuck, your customers will too.
Then ask to see your own products and prices in the system, and go through a cancellation and a refund. A system that handles everyday work without manual steps is worth more than one with many features you will never use.
One system instead of several
Every separate tool is one more login, one more bill and one more connection that can break. Keeping booking, payment, locks and contracts in one place saves time, and the customer sees the same name all the way through.
How does Qonnecta measure up?
Qonnecta is built for rentals and covers most of the points: short bookings and contracts that run until further notice, several locations, code locks from igloohome where the code is shown in the booking (and we’re happy to find a solution for other locks), card, Apple Pay and Google Pay through Stripe, Swish in Sweden, and Klarna if you turn it on, with the money going straight to your own account, price lists with add-ons and fees, your logo and your colours, digital signing of contracts, condition checks with photos, automatic messages by e-mail and push (text messages can be switched on), an AI agent that answers customers in the chat (in every plan), and statistics. You pay a fixed price per location and no commission.
Need something more, such as direct debit, credit checks on new tenants or a deposit held on the customer’s card? Tell us, and we’ll add it or connect it to what you already use. Long contracts use a fixed code per unit, which you change when the tenant moves out.
Check the prices or all the features. If you have more questions, the answers are under questions and answers.