Advertisers' Registration   Back to Top   Swap to 4U2 Main Screen

Advertisers' Registration Screen
Before setting up your first advert, you need to complete the Advertisers' Registration process. This is a simple process which allows you to register your email address and contact numbers. At this point you also set up your Userid and password. Once set up, your Userid may not be changed, but your password can be changed at any point by returning to this screen. You may additionally specify a Memorable Place to provide you with additional security. You will then need to provide this each time you log on. We do advise that you do not use sensitive information for your Userid and password such as information you might use to log onto your on-line Banking System.
Fields which are optional are marked with a red asterisk. When you register initially, you will be asked to let us know how you found out about us. This is very useful information for our marketing purposes and we appreciate you providing it.
Once you have registered with us, you are able to proceed to set up your first advert. On returning to the system in the future, access the Advertisers' Logon screen by clicking on the "Owners Home Area" button at the top of any screen or link at the side of most screens.

Viewing your Account Entries   Back to Top   Swap to 4U2 Main Screen

The Owners' Account Details screen allows you to view all your charges and account entries including their current payment status. Each charge has a reference which should correspond to the reference on the invoice sent to you for that charge. The reference of any Promotional Code which was applied to your charge is also listed.
The screen will also tell you the date on which your current advertising space runs out.
Please check the information on this screen carefully and contact us should there be any errors.

Creating a new Advertisement   Back to Top   Swap to 4U2 Main Screen

Each Advert is made up of sections that can be created and amended as many times as required. The only dependency is that the Summary Advertisement section must be completed first. All other sections can be completed in any order you wish. You do not have to create your advert in one session but can leave and return to it at any time in the future as long as you complete you advert within 90 days of registration.

Before you start to create your new advertisement you must decide what type of advertisement to create.

Advertisement Type

There are currently four types of advertisement available:
Standard Self-Catering Advert. (Type SC)
This is the most common type and is for advertising a single property. It comprises a summary advertisement which is displayed when visitors search the site and a main advertisement which contains all the details of the property.
If this type of advertisement is suitable for your property please see: How to Create a Type SC Advert

Guestrooms only Advert. (Type MO)
This type of advert is only suitable for advertising Guestrooms in a Hotel/Bed and Breakfast or Guesthouse. If you also have self catering accommodation you can either take a separate Self-Catering Advert or you may wish to consider a taking out a Multi-unit advert - see below.
If this type of advertisement is suitable for your property please see: How to Create a Type MO Advert

Multi-Unit Adverts. (Type MMO - includes Guestrooms) (Type MSC - Self Catering only)
These types of advertisements are suitable where there are several separate units for rent at the same location e.g. a Gite Complex,B&B with additional self catering accommodation or several apartments in the same apartment block. They are NOT suitable for advertising several properties which are at different locations. Basically a Multi-Unit advert comprises a a combination of up to six standard adverts however the way the are presented differs from that of six separate standard adverts.
see: Multiple Standard Adverts vs one Multi-Unit Advert
If you do have multiple units for rent at the same location then this type of advertisement provides a cost effective alternative to purchasing separate advertisements.

Multiple Standard Adverts vs one Multi-unit Advertisement
Note: *** -- Multi-Units advertisements only work if all accommodation is at the same location --***
The main advantage of taking out a number Standard Advertisements as opposed to a single Multi-Unit Advertisement is that when a search is made without specifying the size of party a summary advertisement will be displayed for every property advertised, whereas in the case of a Multi-Unit advertisement only the summary advertisement for the group will be displayed from which the visitor will have to select to view the summary advertisements for each accommodation unit within the group.

Apart from the cost advantage a Multi-Unit Advertisement has over multiple Standard Adverts the combined capacity of all units as well as their individual capacity is considered when visitors search for properties based on the number of persons that can be accommodated. e.g. If a property contains 3 units 2 of which sleep 4 and another sleeps 6 then not only will the individual adverts summaries appear if they match the required capacity but the the group summary will be displayed if the requirement can be matched by a combination of units i.e. 8(4 + 4) 10(6 + 4) or 14(6 + 4 +4).
If this type of advertisement is suitable for your property please see: How to create a Multi-Unit Advert

For more details and for the cost of each option please view our Options & Charges

Creating a Self Catering Advertisement (Type SC)

To create a Self Catering advert you must complete as a minimum those sections listed below which are highlighted in green. While the other sections are not compulsory it is better to provide as much information as possible. The only dependency is that the Summary Advertisement section must be completed first. All other sections can be completed in any order you wish. You do not have to create your advert in one session but can leave and return to it at any time in the future as long as you complete you advert within 90 days of registration.
The sections are:

Property Summary Property Description Accommodation Details Facilities Location Description
Location Details Additional Information Web Site Link Contact Details Charge Details Photos
Booking Chart maintenance Special Index registration

After you have completed your advertisement and are happy with the way it looks you must select Make Advert Live from the owners home page before it will appear on our site.

Apart from the Photo section if you have managed to enter and confirm the details in the above sections then you have completed that section.
For the Photo section the minimum requirement is that you have loaded the Thumbnail summary photo into position 0.
If you make subsequent changes to your advertisement these will also not appear until you have selected to Make Changes Live.

Creating a Guestroom only advert (Type MO)
To create a Guestroom advert you must complete as a minimum those sections listed below which are highlighted in green. When creating this type of advert there is an additional dependency that the Accommodation Details have to be created before you can enter your charges as you have to link sets of charges to the rooms or room categories you create. All other sections can be completed in any order you wish.
The sections are:

Property Summary Property Description Facilities Accommodation Details Location Description
Location Details Additional Information Web Site Link Contact Details Charge Details Photos Booking Chart maintenance Special Index registration

When completing the accommodation details you are allowed up to 6 slots to describe your Guestrooms or categories of Guestroom. Each slot allows you to enter a description for the room, include a photograph and select the facilities available. If you let out 6 or less guestrooms you have the option of using a slot to describe each room or grouping rooms together under a category. e.g. Standard, Deluxe etc. If you have more than 6 guestrooms you will have to group at least some of your rooms into a room category. The rooms you group together must attract the same charges and should contain the same or very similar facilities.

When adding charges you first have to create a "Charge Set" which you may then link to one or more of the room slots you created when when completing the accommodation details. You may create individual charge sets for each room/room category or group your rooms together under one or more charge sets. This may sound complicated but if your charges are the same for several rooms it allows you the option of describing each of your rooms in detail while only having to maintain one set of charges.

Creating a Multi-Unit Advertisement (Types MMO and MSC)

There are two types of Multi-Unit adverts: A type MSC which effectively comprises up to 6 Self Catering (SC) adverts (which for the Multi-Unit version are a type CSC), and a type MMO which comprises up to 5 Self Catering adverts (Type CSC) plus a Guestroom only (MO )advert(which for the Multi_unit version are a type CMO).
When you create a Multi-Unit advertisement you build a dummy advertisement for the property as a whole which contains the information that is common to all the accommodation being advertised such as location, shared facilities, contact details etc. You then build the adverts for each of accommodation units you are advertising adding the information that is specific to each unit such as its description, the facilities available and the photographs. When you preview these individual advertisements and when you generate the live advertisements for the group you will see that the data from the dummy group advert has been incorporated into each advert. When the live adverts are generated one summary advertisement and one full advertisement is generated for each unit. In addition a summary advertisement and a full advertisement is generated from the group. The full advertisement for the group comprises the individual accommodation unit summaries from which you can select to view the full adverts for the individual units.

The accommodation capacity shown on the Group summary advertisement is the total that can be accommodated in all units. This summary will be presented by our Search functionality whenever the capacity required can be satisfied by a combination of individual units. It has been designed in this way so that larger groups may consider occupying several or all units of accommodation as an alternative to one single large property. From this summary advert visitors can view the summary adverts for each unit and from there the detail advertisements.


The table below shows which sections you create under the group and which ones under the individual Units. You do not need to memorise this information as the system will only allow you to create the applicable sections.

Group Id	Unit Id
Property Summary	Property Summary
Location Description	Property Description
Location Details	Facilities
	Accommodation Details
Additional Information	Additional Information
Web Site Link	Web Site Link
Contact Details	Charge Details
Photos	Photos
	Booking Chart Update

After you have completed the registration process for a Multi-unit advertisement the system takes you to the screen for inputting the property summary information for the Group Advertisement. While you do not have to complete the the Group advertisement first we recommend that you do so that the information that is common to all units will appear when you proof read the adverts for each individual unit via the Display Advert function.

Update an existing Advertisement

You can update your advert at any time by selecting the property you wish to update from the drop-down box in the "Update Advertisement Details" section on the "Owners Home Page" and clicking on the Advert section you wish to update. The changes you make will not change your live advertisement until you select "Make Change Live" from the Migrate section. You can therefore make multiple changes to your advert and proof read those changes using the "Display Advert" Option before the changes appear in your live advertisement. If you are updating your booking chart only you do not have to "Make Changes Live" as the live booking chart is update when you select the save option at the end of the update process.

Special Index entries are also updated automatically after you select the confirm function.

Property Summary   Back to Top   Swap to 4U2 Main Screen

Property Header & Description

The Property Summary is the first thing a visitor will see about your property so it should be made as eye-catching as possible. You have 70 characters of emboldened text + 350 characters of normal text including spaces in which to present the best features about your property. e.g. you may think your large pool and garden is its main attraction or perhaps its location close to the town. Try not be too verbose - better to have less flowing text but more features in terms of bullet points.

If you change this section after your advert is live, the changes will be stored on your Draft Advert but you need to select "Make Changes Live" from the Owners Home Page to activate these changes on your Live Advert.

Accommodation Summary

If you change this section after your advert is live, the changes will be stored on your Draft Advert but you need to select "Make Changes Live" from the Owners Home Page to activate these changes on your Live Advert.

Property Description   Back to Top   Swap to 4U2 Main Screen

The property description gives you 2000 characters of free format text in which to describe your property - its aspect, décor and best features. When completing the description bear in mind you do not have to use this text to list the number of rooms or equipment in the property or to describe the surrounding location. These features are described in other sections.

If you change this section after your advert is live, the changes will be stored on your Draft Advert but you need to select "Make Changes Live" from the Owners Home Page to activate these changes on your Live Advert.

Accommodation Details   Back to Top   Swap to 4U2 Main Screen

For Self Catering advertisements (type SC) the accommodation section is driven from the input provided by you when completing the property summary. The number of bedrooms and bathrooms entered there drives the questions in this section as to the facilities in each room.

For Guestroom adverts (types MO and CMO) you are allowed up to you 6 slots to describe your Guestrooms which you define under this section. If you have more than 6 Guestrooms or would prefer not to describe each room individually you can allocate the slots as a room category such as Standard, Deluxe etc. When creating room categories the rooms you let under these categories must attract the same charges and should contain the same or similar facilities. Unlike the Self Catering adverts the details of the room capacities are specified when completing this section.

If you change this section after your advert is live, the changes will be stored on your Draft Advert but you need to select "Make Changes Live" from the Owners Home Page to activate these changes on your Live Advert.

Facilities   Back to Top   Swap to 4U2 Main Screen

This sections allows you to specify the facilities available within the property and in the surrounding grounds. Most data is captured by simple tick or selection boxes.

If you change this section after your advert is live, the changes will be stored on your Draft Advert but you need to select "Make Changes Live" from the Owners Home Page to activate these changes on your Live Advert.

Location Description   Back to Top   Swap to 4U2 Main Screen

Use this section to describe the location in which your property is situated and the area surrounding it. Remember that other sections are available to allow you to describe the property itself.

If you change this section after your advert is live, the changes will be stored on your Draft Advert but you need to select "Make Changes Live" from the Owners Home Page to activate these changes on your Live Advert.

Location Details   Back to Top   Swap to 4U2 Main Screen

If you change this section after your advert is live, the changes will be stored on your Draft Advert but you need to select "Make Changes Live" from the Owners Home Page to activate these changes on your Live Advert.

Additional Information   Back to Top   Swap to 4U2 Main Screen

Use this section to enter any additional information that you have not had the opportunity to enter elsewhere. Note that, for Multiple Unit adverts, you can enter this information for both the group and the individual unit. Both sets of information will be displayed on the individual unit advert.

If you change this section after your advert is live, the changes will be stored on your Draft Advert but you need to select "Make Changes Live" from the Owners Home Page to activate these changes on your Live Advert.

Web Site Link   Back to Top   Swap to 4U2 Main Screen

Use this section to enter a link to your private Web Site.
You will first be asked to read our Terms and Conditions regarding Web Site Links & References. By clicking the ACCEPT button you are confirming that you have read and accepted these Terms & Conditions.
The next screen asks you to select the type of link you wish to create. Your options are
A Reciprocal Link which is Free of Charge if the link back to us is installed on your web site at the time you make your advertisement live or
A Chargeable Link which you should select if you do not wish to provide a link back to our site. Please see Web Link Charge for the current charge for a Non Reciprocal Links

The screen then prompts you to enter the name of your Web Site which should include the prefix www.

The Code you should enter into your Web Site if you decide on a Reciprocal Link is displayed and the option to email this code to yourself is also available. This information is also available on the previous page which you can refer to at any time.

Contact Details   Back to Top   Swap to 4U2 Main Screen

The Contact Details section allows you to input up to two sets of contact details for your property. You are able to swap between primary and alternative contact details using the buttons at the bottom of the screen. Alternative contact details are optional.
On a multiple unit advert, the contact details are entered once only, at group level, but will appear on each of your individual unit adverts.
When you enter this screen for the first time, you will find that values have been defaulted from your Owner's Registration entry. You may keep these values or overwrite them as you choose.

Most of the fields in this section are self-explanatory, but note the following:
Title: The title field is optional.
Email: Your email address will be validated only to the extent that it contains an @ character. You are asked to enter your email address twice to ensure correctness.
Telephone No 1: Only telephone number 1 is mandatory.
Telephone No 2: Telephone number 2 may be indicated as a fax number by clicking the Fax radio button. If you have a number which is both telephone and fax, we suggest that you enter it as both telephone number 1 and 2 and click the Fax radio button on telephone number 2.

Other Languages: Ideally these should be listed and separated by comments.

If you change this section after your advert is live, the changes will be stored on your Draft Advert but you need to select "Make Changes Live" from the Owners Home Page to activate these changes on your Live Advert.

Guestroom Charge Maintenance  Back to Top   Swap to 4U2 Main Screen

This screen allows you to maintain details of your Guestroom charges.
To avoid having to maintain separate charges for Guestrooms that attract the same charges, the system allows you to create a set of charges and link them to one or more of the Guestrooms you defined when entering the Accommodation Details.

• You can enter/update the currencies and credit cards you accept and write Notes to supplement your charges by clicking the Update button.
  
• Create and Update sets of Charges and link them to your Guestrooms.
• View the Charges you have created by clicking the View Charges button and if your advert is already Live on our system you will be given the option to update your Live Advert immediately by clicking Make Live>.

The very first time you enter this screen, the only option displayed will be Create New Charge. By clicking this button you will be taken to the Charge Details screen where you can create a set of charges.

Once you have created a set of charges you will be returned to this screen, where you will have the option to Link the Charge Set to one or more of your Guestrooms.

To LINK Guestrooms to a Charge Set: Check the boxes next to the Guestrooms you wish to link. Until each charge set has at least one link to a Guestroom, the option to Create a New Charge Set will not appear.
Continue the above process until all your Guestrooms are linked to a Charge set.

To UPDATE a Charge Set click Update Charge Set. Make and confirm your changes.

To DELETE a Charge Set uncheck all Guestrooms linked to the Charge Set. A DELETE button will then appear automatically. Click this to delete the Charge Set.

You can review all your charges as they would appear on your Live Advertisement by Clicking View Charges. If your advert is already Live on our system, an option to Make Live will appear on the View Charges screen. Select this option and your updated charges will be written to your Live Advertisement immediately, otherwise select EXIT to store them in Draft form only.
You can make Draft charges Live at any time by returning to this process or by selecting Make Changes Live from your Owners Home Page. Note: if you do the latter, your advert will be updated with all changes made to your advertisement and not just the charges.

If your advert is not yet Live on our system, the charges will be added once you have completed your advert and selected Make Advert Live from the Owners Home Page.

If you wish to view the Draft version of your Advert at any time, select View Advert.
If you wish to view your Live advert enter the property no in the bar at the top of the screen and click GO.

Charge Details   Back to Top   Swap to 4U2 Main Screen

For Self Catering advertisements (types SC & CSC) this screen allows you to record details of the currencies and credit cards you accept and the basis on which your charges apply e.g. per person or per property, as well as your preferred changeover day.
You can then create a single set of charges for your advertisement.

For Guestroom advertisements (types MO & CMO) you enter the details of the currencies and credit cards accepted on the Guestroom Maintenance screen. These too apply to all charges.
You can either create a set of charges for each Guestroom that you created under the Accommodation section See Accommodation Details or you can link several Guestrooms to a single set of charges.

For each set of Guestroom charges, you can specify a charge and occupancy basis e.g. per room for B&B/Full Board etc and the number of persons the charge applies to.

You can split your charges into as many periods as you wish. Your charge periods can be named e.g. "High Season", "Low Season" but this is not mandatory.

For all charges you must enter a weekly rate. If you only have a daily rate you should simply multiply this rate by 7. You can also enter rates per weekday day and per weekend day - these are optional.

Once you have entered/amended your charges detail and clicked Save you will be presented with a screen showing them in the format they would appear on your advertisement. If your advertisement is already Live on our system and the charges are for a self catering property you will be given the option to save them to Draft only or to Live, which will write them to your Live advertisement immediately.
If your advertisement is not Live then you will can only save them as Draft.
If the charges are for a Guestroom, then you will be given the option to confirm the changes which will save them in Draft format. see Guestroom Maintenance for how to make these charges Live.

If your save your Charges as Draft you can make them Live at any time by selecting Make Changes Live from your Owner's Home Page. If you choose this option all changes to your advert will be made Live.
.

Photos   Back to Top   Swap to 4U2 Main Screen

Before using our automated photo upload and maintenance screen please read the help text below:
Number of Photos Allowed:
Sending your Photos:
Preparing your Own Photos:
Photo Sizes:
Photo Positioning:

Using the Photo upload and maintenance screen:

To upload a photograph:
=> Select the position in which you wish the photo to appear.
=> Select the shape for the photograph.
=> Enter a description for the photograph. This is optional but if entered it will appear on the advert centred below the photograph.
=> Select Browse. This will display a pop up box displaying the files on your own machine. Select the photo file you wish to upload by double clicking on the file or selecting open. The file name will appear in the select file box.
=> Select Upload and the file will be uploaded and appear under current photos.

Processing your Current Photos:

Deleting a Photo
=> Select the position of the photo you wish to delete.
=> Check the delete button.
=> Select Process.

Moving a Photo to a Different Position.
=> Select the position of the photo you wish to move.
=> Check the move to button.
=> Select the position to which you wish to move the photo. If that position is already occupied you need to select hold area. Note Photos in the hold area are not displayed on the advert so you will need to move the photo again once you have moved or deleted the photo that is occupying the position to which you wanted to move the photo.
=> Select Process and the photo will appear in its new position in the current photo display.

Also Use on Summary
You may either upload a separate photo for your summary ad or use a copy of a photo being displayed on your main advert:
=> Select the position of the photo to be displayed.
=> Check the also use as summary button.
=> Select process.

Amending a Photo Description
=> Select the position of the photo whose description you wish to change.
=> Enter a new description.
=> Select process.

Cancelling a Selection
=> Check the Cancel button and the other buttons will become unchecked.

Number of Photos Allowed:

You are allowed to include up to 13 photographs with your advertisement. One of these photographs must be of thumbnail size for inclusion in your summary advertisement.The other photographs may be any one of 5 different allowable sizes. See Photo Sizes. The photographs allocated to your main advertisement are split between the actual advertisement and a supplementary page which visitors select to view from the main advertisement. The number displayed on each will depend on the positioning and size of the photographs. see Photo Positioning

Sending your Photos:

We do not to accept photographs through the post as nowadays most people either have their own digital cameras or have their films developed onto digital media which can easily be sent electronically. This makes the setup process much quicker and less prone to loss or damage. If in the future there is sufficient demand for a postal service we will reconsider this policy.

All photographs must be in jpeg format and must have a file suffix of .jpg or .JPG.

Our preferred method of receiving your photographs is via our automated upload facility which is available from our Photo Update function. This facility can handle most Photos up to 5MB in size. There are however a few Photos less than 5MB that fail to upload. If your Photos are > 5MB or you are left with a blank screen after using the automated upload facility please email the photos to us - see below.

Using this facility you can automatically position your photographs, give them a description and resize them. A small amount of clarity will be lost during the resizing process but if the original photos are of good quality the effect will hardly be noticeable. If you are not happy with your photos' appearance once they are uploaded you can either:
Resize them prior to uploading. In which case you will be able to use your photo-editing software to touch up any loss of quality that has resulted from the resizing process or
Email them to us @ admin@4u2-rent.co.uk and we will prepare them for you and include them in your advertisement.
If you do email them to us you must quote your advert number the position 0 - 12 and shape in which you wish each one to appear and if required a short description. Please note though we cannot guarantee to improve photographs that are already of poor quality.

Preparing your Own Photos:

The quality of a digital photograph not only depends on the quality of the captured image but also on the medium onto which that image is reproduced. When preparing photos for display on computer screens over the web you should consider that at lot of computer screens are not capable of displaying at more than 72x72dpi (dots per inch). It is therefore preferable that your photographs are prepared for display at this density as the resulting file will be smaller and take less time to transmit and will display on your advertisement with no loss of clarity. When re-scaling photographs most Photo imaging packages will prompt you for the resolutions or quality at which you wish to save the edited photograph. As the file size of photographs of the same dimensions vary depending on their content it is not possible to give an exact expected size for dimension. We have however listed what we expect the maximum file size to be. If the files you upload greatly exceed these sizes we reserve the right to reprocess the photographs to obtain a resultant file of a more optimum size See Photo Sizes.

Photo Sizes:

The table below list the 5 sizes at which photographs can be displayed on your advertisement. The file sizes listed are the maximum sizes one would expect for each dimension if the files are saved at 72x72dpi. See Preparing your Own Photos

Type Size(Width x Height)
in Pixels Approx size in mm
@ 800x600 res max file size
in Kbytes Panoramic
Landscape Standard
Portrait Standard
Landscape Thumbnail
Portrait Thumbnail 650W x 250H
300W x 200H
"200W X 300H
150W X 112H
112W X 150H
192w X 70h
89w X 59h
59w x 89h
43w X 35h
35w x 43h 80
45
45
10
10

Photo Positioning:

When uploading your photographs you will be able to select a position for each photograph from 0 to 12. Position 0 is always allocated to the Summary photograph which must be of thumbnail dimensions. The remaining photographs can be of any of the 5 allowable dimensions and will be split between the main advert and the supplementary page. The adverts are positioned from top to bottom left to right starting with the main advertisement and continuing onto the supplementary page. A panoramic photograph will take the full width of the advert while 2 standard size photographs or 4 thumbnail sized photos will be displayed side by side across the page. The number of photos displayed on the main advert will depend on the height of the photographs in the lower positions. A depth of 605 pixels has been allocated on the main advert so allowing for a gap of 5 pixels between each photo it is possible to display 4 standard size landscape photos plus a row of 4 thumbnail photos on the main advertisement.

Make Advert Live   Back to Top   Swap to 4U2 Main Screen

New Adverts:

Once you are happy with the information you have entered to build your advert, your can proceed to activate it using the Make Advert Live button. Note that you can review the expected look of your advert at any time by using the Display Advert function from the Owners' Home Page or from any of the Update screens.
Having proceeded to activate your advert, you will be presented with a confirmation screen which will outline any charges which will be applicable to you once your advert is live. This will include details of the standard annual advert charge, additional charges for multiple unit entries and any Activity Holiday Index entries you may have. These charges will secure your advertising space for a year (or for the length of time indicated by any Special Offer applicable to you) after which time they will be renewed.

Press the Confirm button to proceed. Your advert is now on the Live system and can be selected and viewed by visitors to the site. You will shortly receive an invoice by email detailing any charges which will become due to you.

Make Changes Live

Changes to existing adverts can be activated by using the Make Changes Live button. You will be presented with a confirmation screen. Pressing Confirm at this point will migrate any changes you have made via the Update Advertisement Details functions to the Live system. No additional charges become due as a result of this function.

Note that changes made via Update Bookings and Activity Holiday Index Entries become live with immediate effect and do not require activation.

Maintaining your Booking Chart   Back to Top   Swap to 4U2 Main Screen

Your Booking Chart is a highly important function for potential renters of your property. Keeping it up to date will ensure that you only receive queries for those times when your property is actually available and that potential clients are not frustrated by out of date information.
You may enter bookings up to 15 months in advance on a rolling basis. Therefore, it is advised that you check your Booking Chart frequently as future dates become available for update.
Every time you record a booking your property is submitted to an algorithm that affects how close to the top of the Search Results Page your property will appear, so it is important that you update your booking chart with any bookings you receive, whatever the source.

By default, the system assumes that your property is always available when not booked. You can update your Booking Charts to show bookings and periods of non-availability up to 15 months into the future. We default availability to reduce the amount of information you need to enter and because the system looks for availability when potential clients search by dates - if availability is not shown, your property will not appear in the Search Results for date related searches.

If you would prefer to enter your own availability, the first time you update your Booking Chart you should delete the pre-recorded availability. You can then add your own periods of availability and any bookings up to 15 months into the future. Note that if you do this you will need to add all availability manually in the future.

Rules for updating occupancy
Before updating the Booking Chart you should familiarise yourself with the following rules:
1. Booking and Hold occupancy types can be entered for any period showing as available or to be advised. They cannot be entered for periods that are already occupied. (i.e. Booked or Held). To adjust a period that is already occupied you must cancel that occupancy and re-enter a new breakdown for the period.
2. All occupancies should be recorded based on the actual day on which they start and finish (i.e. the changeover day). On the start and finish dates occupancy types can overlap.
3. All occupied periods that are cancelled will revert to available.

To Add an Occupancy Type
Use the appropriate radio button to select the Occupancy Type you wish to add - Booking, Hold or Availability. Enter the start and end dates to which this occupancy type refers. Click on Update to register the Occupancy. Continue entering or deleting Occupancies as you require.
To Delete an occupancy Type
Click on the start of the Occupancy you wish to delete. Occupancy start dates are always denoted by the presence of a radio button. Click on Update to register the deletion.
Remember: Your additions and deletions will only be added to the system when you finally press Save/Exit.

Specialist Rental Index Entries   Back to Top   Swap to 4U2 Main Screen

Introduction
Specialist Rental Indexes offer an additional way your advert can be found on our system. They are designed for owners who actively support an activity by running, organising or providing clients with detailed information about the activity as part of their rental. Examples are owners who run cookery courses, pre-arrange golfing tee off times for their clients or provide detailed information to bird-watchers as to the exact locations at which certain types of rare birds can be seen. Only properties that are in these indexes will be retrieved when visitors select an activity from the Specialist Rentals drop down list in our Search.

You do not need an entry in these indexes to attract clients who are primarily looking for a great rental property from where they can casually participate in an activity. Separate indexes for most of these activities are created as part of the standard advertisement setup and are used to select properties when the activity is selected from those displayed on the Advanced Search Screen. The Specialist Rental Indexes are specifically designed to target those visitors whose prime interest is the activity and who are looking for a rental that will fully support that activity. There are currently 10 indexes available - Golf, Sub-Aqua, Sailing, Cookery, Painting, Horse Riding, Coarse Fishing, Sea Fishing, Safari and Bird-watching. Only properties in these indexes will be retrieved when a visitor selects the activity from the Specialist rental drop down list in our Search.

To be included in an index you must enter details about the activity. This information will appear in a Special Interest section of your advertisement. The minimum number of characters you are required to enter is 100 although 5000 are available for a full description.

We may make a small charge for each index which is applicable unless you have registered for one of our special offers that includes free index entries in which case the charge will be zero for that period. The charge for each index varies but is displayed in the Specialist Rentals Index maintenance screen.

Creating a Specialist Rentals Index Entry   Swap to 4U2 Main Screen

• After you log on to our system you will be taken to your Owner's Home Area.
• Select "Specialist Rental Indexes" from the menu and you will be presented with a introductory screen describing the indexes.
• Click "Continue" and you will be presented with a list of indexes each with an "Add" or a "Withdraw" and "Update Text" option depending on whether your property is already indexed.
• To Add an index, simply click the Add button and you will be taken to a text entry screen where you must enter at least 100 characters describing what your rental offers in support of the activity.
• Clicking Save from this screen will display the way the text will look under the Special Interest section of your advert. The display will also show supporting text for any other index entries you may have already created.
• If you are not happy with the text entered, click "Back" to make changes.
• If you press Confirm the action that will occur will depend on whether a charge is due and whether your advert is already live on our system or still in Draft form.
• If your advert is already live and a charge is due:
• You will receive an invoice by email and will be taken to our payments screen where you can select either to pay by cheque or bank transfer or make an immediate payment by credit card or Paypal transfer.
• Your index will be made Live.
• If you selected to pay by cheque or bank transfer and payment is not received within 14 days our system will automatically remove your index entry.
• If your advert is live and no charge is due:
• Your index entry will be created and you will be returned to your Owner's Home Page.
• If your advert is still in Draft form:
• If a charge is due it will be added to the cost of your advertising and will be collected when you make your advertisement live.
• Your index will be created when you make your advert live.

Specialist Rental Index charges are annual and at the end of the period you will be sent a new invoice for a further year's entry. If you wish to withdraw from the index, you are able to do so.

Search List Position   Back to Top   Swap to 4U2 Main Screen

The order in which properties appear on our search list is controlled by a search date held against your advert.

When you first make your advertisement live you will immediately be positioned at or near the top of any list of search results for which your property is selected, as your search date will be set to the date your property went live. As new properties are subsequently added your property will gradually go down the list.

The only other way your search position can be changed is by updating your booking chart. When you do so an algorithm is invoked which recalculates your search date.

The date calculated does not automatically place you at the top of the list as it is based on a complex formula designed to avoid individuals manipulating their booking chart entries to improve their search list position and to make it as fair as possible for all advertisers. In general updating your booking chart should improve your position although it is not guaranteed to do so every time and under a few circumstances you could find your advert appears lower in the list. What we can say for certain is that your position will not improve without updating your chart.

Payments   Back to Top   Swap to 4U2 Main Screen

Payment may be made online by Credit/Debit Card or by Paypal Bank Transfer or Offline by Cheque or Bank Transfer.
If paying by Credit/Debit Card or Paypal you will be taken to Paypal's Secure payments screen. You do not need a Paypal account to pay by Credit/Debit Card so you do not have to sign up for a Paypal account to make your payment. After payment has been completed you will be returned to the 4U2-rent website and will receive an email confirmation acknowledging your payment.
If you select to pay by Cheque or Bank Transfer you will receive an email giving details on where to send your cheque and/or details of the account into which the money should be transferred.
Whichever method you select to use, the service for which you are paying will be activated immediately on the 4U2-Rent system, however if you are paying by one of the offline methods (e.g. Cheque) payment must be received and cleared by us within 14 days or our system will automatically flag your account as unpaid and reverse the action.