We own a hostel in the United States and sell beds for rent to tourists over the internet. You can view a sample payment page online at www.loftstel.com/bf/reserve.php
We currently have two methods for guests to make a reservation.
- method 1 is for them to make a long-term reservation (1 month or more) by using the “Pay Now” button. This button is designed through Paypal.
- method 2 is for them to make a short-term reservation (less than 1 month) by using the “search prices” button on the bottom section.
There are a few limitations to this system.
- The Paypal button for long-term reservations is static. If we would like to update our monthly prices, we have to re-design the html for the button and re-install it on our website.
- the short-term reservation button on the bottom is a third-party code. We would like this function to be in-house so we can better control the inventory and prices.
We manage our reservations (as well as the pricing and availability for each bed on a particular date) through Google Docs. You can view a sample of our reservations by visiting this link:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pByE3lHm3YkD7YE3-l7cbbw&single=true&gid=15&output=html
The spreadsheet can also be exported as a CSV or TXT feed through Google Docs. Notice how the price & availability for every date is listed.
We are looking for a programmer to create us an easy-to-use interface for our guests to make reservations. The button should do the following items:
- have a user-friendly interface with (1) a drop-down menu of the room options, (2) the check-in date of the guest, and (3) a drop-down menu to indicate the length of their stay
- pull the information from the reservations page (the availability and the price) to calculate the total balance for the guest
- process the payment through Paypal (or another credit card processor)
- send an automated email (which we can customize) to the buyer
- send a notification email to a designated email address notifying us of the purchase
We encourage you to email us if you have any questions. Here is how the escrow payments will break down:
10% – deposit to start.
20% – button is created that successfully integrates with our reservations
10% – program a back-end interface for us to be able to define variables (such as the contents of the automated email, the email address of the recipient of the automated email)
10% – button sends automated email to buyer after purchase
10% – button sends automated email to us after purchase
20% – test button is released. user will experiment with it for 1 week to work out any bugs and errors.
20% – project is completed.