Don’t worry, we have not blocked the time and you don’t need to send money or anything.
If you wanted the reservation, you would pay (most people use the on-line system from the privacy of their own homes) and then we are notified, then we send you the local driving directions and the code to the key box for that rental.
Our software generates the requested dates and unit you want in a document that it labels as a “reservation”. We can find you with that reservation number (and other criteria) if you do inquire back and this way we have information already stored rather than have to start from point zero (especially helpful and speeds things up considerably when someone calls for a phone quote — we have to use the software since the it does the math and checking that dates are still available).
Some people inquire back months later (some are repeat customers), and for one thing we log the source so we can know what advertising expenditures are actually bringing bookings.
Although it can seem presumptuous to send a “reservation” it does give all the details up front in one step rather than three or four contacts later the potential guest has to ask:
what is the total with everything;
why is the amount I projected on the fly different from the amount you ask for (taxes and deposit make a difference);
when do I have to check out;
when do I check in;
is the day I arrive the same as what you think;
is the day I depart the same as what you think, etc.
We often do bookings one two three four: inquiry, quote, payment, lock code. But only because we provided the information people will want and need to know from the start.
Since reservations are not solid until payment is received, on our side we can process multiple inquiries for the same days. We can see that a period has more than one party making an inquiry but we don’t block days until someone actually completes. In the vacation rental world there are a lot of people who “shop” or just “dream” (and many people who do not look at calendars and want days already booked, etc.) and so perhaps 1 in 10 inquiries is finalized.