Frequently asked questions

• What's the easiest way for an owner to invite people to become members of the owner's shack?
• Exactly how does this inviting work?
• Can anyone who is not invited by the owner book the shack?
• Can I place a hold on a date if I'm not sure if I want to book it?
• What do I do if sometimes I go to the shack with one group and sometimes another?
• I am the owner of a shack. What control do I have over bookings?
• What is an avatar and why do I need to select one?
• Can I use an avatar that's not on this site?
• Why don't you use colour on the booking calendar to show who's booked the shack?
• I'm a blind or visually impaired person. Can I use the booking system?
• I'm an owner and I have a great photo of the shack I want to place on the shack information page. But I can't upload it. What can I do?
• I want to place on the shack information page a map of how to get there. How can I do that?
• I've registered my shack. For how long does the registration last?
• I've forgotten to renew my account and now I can't access the booking calendar. What do I do?
• I'm a member but not a shack owner. The owner of the shack we use has not renewed the account. How can I access the calendar?
• I'm the owner of a shack but I want someone else to take responsibility for the bookings now. What do I do?
• Can I update information about the shack at any time?
• Does every person who uses the shack need to become a member to make a booking?
• I own a shack and I'd like to prevent a current member from using the booking system. How do I do that?
• Can I print the booking calendar?
• How far into the future can I make a booking?
• Can I change my mind about a booking on the actual day that I have booked?
• What if two different families turn up at the shack then realise that one of us has made a mistake. Will the old bookings remain on the site so we can check who really was booked?
• The text on my information page looks wrong. What can I do about it?

Answers to frequently asked questions

• What's the easiest way for an owner to invite people to become members of the owner's shack?
   
  On the 'My account' page there's a link called 'Invite friends to book at this shack.' Click on this link and a window will appear in which you can place the email addresses of the people you want to invite. Click 'submit' and they will each receive a correctly formatted message inviting them to become a member and telling them how to do it.
  
  Each member who accepts the invitation will provide you with their username. Then you add them to the list of members of your shack. When you do this they receive another email message asking them to confirm that they wish to join the shack.
   
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• Exactly how does this inviting work?
   
  
  1. The shack owner invites friends/relatives to join the shack.
  2. The user either sends the shack owner their username (if they are already registered) or they register on the website then send the shack owner their username.
  3. The shack owner adds the user to the shack as a member. At this point, the shack owner can see that the user has been added (to ensure they remember they added the person and don't add them twice) but the shack owner cannot view any of the member's details other than the username.
  4. The user is sent an email saying they have been added to the shack.
  5. Whenever the user next logs on and goes to book they simply have to press an 'Accept' or 'Reject' button on their 'my account' page and they become a full member of that shack.
  
  Note: When a shack owner purchases an account they are automatically a member of their own account. So they don't need to go through the 'invite-accept' arrangement described above.
   
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• Can anyone who is not invited by the owner book the shack?
   
  No. Although anyone can register on Book The Shack, to make a booking they need personally to know the owner of the shack and be invited to make a booking by the owner.
  
   
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• Can I place a hold on a date if I'm not sure if I want to book it?
   
  Yes. You can place a hold on a date and other members will not be able to book that date while it is on hold. However, the hold only lasts for 48 hours. You need to return to the site and confirm the booking within 48 hours otherwise the hold will be removed and other members will be able to book that date.
   
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• What do I do if sometimes I go to the shack with one group and sometimes another?
   
  You need to decide who should make the booking in each case. In one instance you might make the booking yourself. In another instance someone else might make a booking for a group of people that will include you. This might sound complicated, but it's only a matter of talking it through with the people concerned and coming to an agreement.
   
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• I am the owner of a shack. What control do I have over bookings?
   
  As the owner of the shack you can use the booking system to book dates in the same way as other members. Additionally you can set a date as unavailable. (For example, if someone who does not have internet access wishes to book a date, you can set that date as unavailable on the online calendar so no one else can accidentally book it).
  
  As owner you may also remove any bookings or holds on a date.
  
  You can also remove a member if you think it is necessary.
   
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• What is an avatar and why do I need to select one?
   
  An avatar is a small picture that is displayed with your username when you make bookings. You don't need to select an avatar. Your username is sufficient. But many people find the booking calendar easier to read if it has avatars on it.
   
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• Can I use an avatar that's not on this site?
   
  Yes. Just make sure it's smaller than 48 pixels wide and 48 pixels high.
   
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• Why don't you use colour on the booking calendar to show who's booked the shack?
   
  Because colours look different on the screens of different computers. It's possible that a combination that looks good on one screen will look bad on another screen. Or it will be difficult to tell the colours apart. Also colours will not be helpful to a person who is colour-blind.
   
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• I'm a blind or visually impaired person. Can I use the booking system?
   
  Yes. It should work fine with an audio browser. But if you do find any problems please let us know so we can fix them.
   
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• I'm an owner and I have a great photo of the shack I want to place on the shack information page. But I can't upload it. What can I do?
   
  It's possible that the image is too big. Or it might be the wrong filetype.
  
  The maximum size of an image that you can uploaded is 2MB. Image files should be jpeg or png. The filenames should end with one of these: .jpeg .jpg .png .JPEG .JPG .PNG
  
  Click here to learn more about placing images on Book The Shack.
   
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• I want to place on the shack information page a map of how to get there. How can I do that?
   
  If you can't draw this directly on your computer then do it by hand on a piece of paper using a dark pen. Then scan the image or photograph it with a digital camera.
  
  The maximum size of an image that you can uploaded is 2MB. Image files should be jpeg or png. The filenames should end with one of these: .jpeg .jpg .png .JPEG .JPG .PNG
  
  Click here to learn more about placing images on Book The Shack
   
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• I've registered my holiday home. For how long does the registration last?
   
  Registration lasts for one year. Two months before your registration expires you will receive an email inviting you to renew your account. If you wish to renew your account earlier than this or for longer than one year, please contact us and we will send you instructions.
   
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• I've forgotten to renew my account and now I can't access the booking calendar. What do I do?
   
  Simply log in, go to 'my account' and click a PayPal button to renew the account. If it's been less than 30 days since your account expired, the booking information will still be there and the calendar can be reactivated. Even if your account has expired a long time ago you can still retrieve your booking information, however there is a USD9.95 fee for this service. If this applies to you, click on 'my account' to find the PayPal button to purchase this service.
   
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• I'm a member but not a shack owner. The owner of the shack we use has not renewed the account. How can I access the calendar?
   
  You can't access it until the owner has renewed the account. Please ask the owner to renew the account.
   
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• I'm the owner of a shack but I want someone else to take responsibility for the bookings now. What do I do?
   
  There are two options. (1) Delete the account and ask someone to purchase a new account. Put all the relevant information on it then invite the members to send their usernames to you. (2) Or simply give the person who you have asked to take over this responsibility your username and password.
   
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• Can I update information about the shack at any time?
   
  Yes. Just login and you will be taken to your control panel. You can make any changes there.
   
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• Does every person who uses the shack need to become a member to make a booking?
   
  No. Only one representative for each group of people who wish to use the shack at the same time needs to be a member.
   
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• I own a shack and I'd like to prevent a current member from using the booking system. How do I do that?
   
  Just login and delete their username in the appropriate place in the control panel. (You can always reinstate them later if you wish.)
   
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• Can I print the booking calendar?
   
  Yes, but remember that subsequently it could be changed. If you get a message confirming that a new booking has been made or a previous booking has been cancelled then you will need to update your printed calendar. But it would be much better to print a new one. Remember, as far as the members are concerned, the calendar on the website is the authority. It's best only to use the calendar on the website to avoid confusion. (Of course you may want to write your own bookings in your personal diary to remind you of when you've booked the shack.)
   
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• How far into the future can I make a booking?
   
  You can make a booking on this website on any date up to 2038. Otherwise it's up to the owner and members to work out how far into the future they are prepared to accept bookings.
  
  But the facility to easily book a range of dates only operates three years ahead. If you want to book a range of dates more than three years into the future you will have to click the relevant dates on the 'big' calendar one by one.
   
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• Can I change my mind about a booking on the actual day that I have booked?
   
  If the date is set as UNAVAILABLE by the owner or shack administrator this can only be removed before noon* on the day.
  
  If the date is ON HOLD the person who put it on hold can confirm the hold right up until the end of the day (midnight*) but can only remove the hold until noon* on the day.
  
  If the date is BOOKED then you can only remove the booking before noon* on that day.
  
  If there are no holds or bookings for today, you are free to make bookings or holds right up until midnight*, however, once the booking or hold has been placed the above rules apply.
  
  If it is past noon* on the day, the square on the calendar will be greyed out.
  
  If you find this approach doesn't work for you, please contact us and tell us what you think.
  
  (* The cut off time for bookings is midday by default. The shack administrator can change this to any other time that suits the members of the shack. The administrator does this on the 'Edit shack information' page. Please note that these times are in the same standard time zone as the shack is situated. They don't take into account local variations in time, such as daylight saving.)
   
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• What if two different families turn up at the shack then realise that one of us has made a mistake. Will the old bookings remain on the site so we can check who really was booked?
   
  Previous bookings are left on the calendar and cannot be changed once the date has passed. You can check as far back as you like. But remember, the calendar shows who was booked to stay at the shack, not who actually stayed there.
   
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• The text on my information page looks wrong. What can I do about it?
   
  It's possible that you have not marked it up correctly. This might be because you have marked it up manually and have failed to use the correct tag at the end of the marked up text. For instance, if you put [h] in front of heading you must put [/h] after the heading. Otherwise all the text after the [h] will become a heading. The same applies to all the tags.
   
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