A reservation window is the number of days in advance that you allow customers on SpareFoot to reserve units at your facility.
Setting your reservation window can be a tricky process - a reservation window that's too big might create operational friction at your facility whereas a reservation window that's too small might restrict your access to far too many storage-seeking customers on SpareFoot.
Our Recommendation:
- Set a 30-day reservation window: 99% of SpareFoot reservations are made within 30 days of the customer's move-in date. Reservations made farther than 30 days in advance only make-up 1% of reservations and tend to have a lower move-in rate. Therefore, we recommend setting your reservation window for 30 days to really optimize your facility's reservation rate.
- Avoid reservation windows less than 14-Day: Remember, many storage-seekers are often planning in advance of a big life event. Unless your facility's occupancy level exceeds 98%, we advise against reservation windows below 14 days. Otherwise, you could see a significant decrease in your facility's reservation rate.
- Consider Unit-Level Overrides: Instead of setting a facility-wide reservation window, consider using unit-level overrides to restrict reservation window on your highest-occupancy groups.
Remember customer expectations!
Whatever reservation window(s) you set for your facility, remember what customers using SpareFoot expect. Most importantly, they're expecting their reserved unit to be available on move-in day. Some things to consider:
- If your storage management software automatically deletes/cancels reservations after a certain number of days, you should make sure your SpareFoot reservation window matches your software, so you don't inadvertently cancel on a SpareFoot customer.
- If you're using a CRM (like SiteLink Web Edition, e-soft-sys, or Salesforce.com) and can set tasks to stay on top of your prospects, consider a longer reservation window.
Note: The default reservation window is set at 60 days if no changes are made.