What is Short Escapes?
Why register your escape?
What's different between your website and any other accommodation directory?
Do I have to pay to register?
What Options Are There To List My Accommodation, Tour or Activity?
Will Short Escapes charge me for taking a booking?
What commission does Short Escapes receive?
Are there any charges for booking Requests (R)?
How easy is it to register?
How much time does it take to register?
What types of accommodation can I load on the site?
How do I load my accommodation?
What options do I have for selling my accommodation?
Why should I load my rooms for sale in real-time?
How far in advance can I load my Escape?
How do I know when I've received a booking?
How do I know when I've received a Request (R) for a booking?
I've received an Email/SMS message confirming a booking what should I do?
How much time do I have to access the customers' credit card details to take an additional deposit and confirm a booking?
Why can't I access a customer's credit card details after 4 weeks after they have made their booking?
I've received an Email/SMS message for a Request (R) for a booking. What should I do?
How many photos/images can I load?
What file size do my photos/images have to be?
What if my photos/images are larger than the size required?
I am having trouble loading my photos/images, what should I do?
I am having trouble loading my accommodation, what should I do?
Can I advertise on the Short Escapes website?
Does Short Escapes offer any Marketing services?
Do I have to pay GST on a Short Escapes booking?
Can I Charge a Deposit?
What if the Customer Doesn't Arrive?
Can I use Short Escapes booking engine on my own website?
Is there a charge for using Short Escapes booking engine on my own website?
How do I contact Short Escapes?

What is Short Escapes?

Short Escapes is a website that has been built to specifically market Boutique Style Accommodation such as Bed and Breakfasts, Self Contained Cottages, Farmstays, Boutique Hotels, and other forms of boutique style accommodation, tours and activities, throughout Australia and New Zealand.

Why register your Escape?

More bookings. Registering your business on Short Escapes will give you exposure to a wide marketplace. We are endeavouring to make Short Escapes the most trafficked website for customers throughout the world who are looking for boutique accommodation, tours or activities in Australia or New Zealand.

What's different between your website and any other accommodation directory?

More bookings and no risk. Short Escapes markets your accommodation, tours or activities with no upfront costs. There is no cost for loading and advertising your accommodation, tours or activities on our website. We simply deduct a 10% commission off the final package price once an Escape has been booked. It's a win-win situation.

Immediate Bookings or On Request Bookings - It's Your Choice. Short Escapes offers you the opportunity to load your accommodation, tours or activities on our secure online booking engine for immediate sale in real-time online. If you list the accommodation, tour or activity as available, the booking is instantaneous. If you prefer, you can list your accommodation, tour or activity as on request, Short Escapes will contact you to check availability and on your agreement will confirm the accommodation, tour or activity immediately with the customer.

We give you your own electronic reservations system for FREE. You get immediate access to Short Escapes online booking engine which will store all of your bookings and customer history. You can access these details any time and use such information for marketing campaigns and the like. There's also no need to maintain a manual log of bookings any more. With Short Escapes all past and future bookings are available for you to look at at anytime. Other operators will charge you hundreds of dollars on an ongoing basis to utilise a system such as this. With Short Escapes the entire system is made available to you for free.

More information & photos. Short Escapes offers the opportunity for you to load more information and photos than many other websites.

Marketing Your Region. Short Escapes also provides customers with information on things to see and do in every region in Australia and New Zealand, thereby drawing more visitors to your region and ranking well in the search engines.

More Exposure. We market our site extensively, and have taken considerable steps to ensure our site features prominently in the listings of all major search engines. We are also currently developing an alliance program with all of the major tourism organisations in Australia and New Zealand.

Do I have to pay to register?

No, you do not have to pay to register your Escape on the Short Escapes website. You only agree for Short Escapes to deduct a 10% commission off the final price once a customer has made a booking.

What Options Are There To List My Accommodation, Tour or Activity?

Short Escapes uses three categories to identify availabilities of Escapes being sold on our website:

1. A price (eg $100) indicates that the Escape offering is currently available for sale on the Short Escapes website at that price.
2. An "R" symbol indicates that the Escape is available On Request. This means that Short Escapes will need to contact you directly to confirm availability.
3. An "S" symbol indicates that the Escape is "Sold" on that particular day and unavailable for purchase.

Will Short Escapes charge me for taking a booking through its website?

Short Escapes will deduct a 10% commission off the final package price for all bookings made through the website.

What commission does Short Escapes receive?

We receive a 10% commission off the final package price for all bookings made through the Short Escapes website.

What's the $3.50 Booking Fee?

Customers are charged a $3.50 booking fee on top of the final package price to cover Short Escapes administration costs. This is not charged to the supplier or deducted from the supplier's fees.

Are there any charges for booking Requests (R)?

No there are no charges applicable when a customer makes a Request (R) for a booking. Once the booking is confirmed Short Escapes will deduct a 10% commission off the final package.

How easy is it to register?

Registering on Short Escapes is a very simple and easy process. You simply need to click Register Your Escape, agree to the Terms and Conditions, and you're on your way. From there on you just follow the steps and prompts to list all the information you want about your property.

How much time does it take to register?

Registering your Escape on Short Escapes should take no longer than 30 minutes.

What types of accommodation can I load on the site?

Short Escapes accepts accommodation in the following categories:

• bed and breakfasts (B&B's)
• boutique hotels (max. 100 rooms)
• cabins or cottages
• farmstays
• holiday houses
• inns (max. 12 rooms)

See Types of Accommodation for more information.

You can also load tours or activities for sale as "extras" with the accommodation that you choose to load.

How do I load my accommodation, tours or activities?

Loading your Escape is a very simple and easy process. Simply click on Register Your Escape and you will be guided through the process by a Help Wizard.

Why should I load my Escape as available rather than on request?

You are five (5) times more likely to secure a booking if you load your Escape for sale as available.. The primary reason that customers use the internet for booking accommodation, tours and activities is easy and immediate bookings.

How far in advance can I load my Escape?

You set the date parameters for loading your Escape. As such you can load your Escape on Short Escapes for as far in the future as you desire.

How do I know when I've received a booking?

If a customer makes a booking for your Escape you will receive confirmation of that booking via an email to your designated email address. At the same time you will also receive notification of the booking via an SMS message to your designated mobile phone number.

How do I know when I've received a Request (R) for a booking?

If a customer makes a Request (R) for a booking for your Escape you will receive that Request (R) via an email to your designated email address. At the same time you will also receive the Request (R) via an SMS message to your designated mobile phone number.

I've received an Email/SMS message confirming a booking what should I do?

There is no need for you to respond to confirmation of a booking. However, if you require an additional deposit to secure a booking you will need to log in to Short Escapes secure booking engine to access the customer's credit card details so that you can process the additional deposit required.

How much time do I have to access the customers' credit card details to take an additional deposit and confirm a booking?

You are able to access Short Escapes secure booking engine for up to four (4) weeks from when a booking is made to secure any additional deposits you may require.

Why can't I access a customer's credit card details after 4 weeks after they have made their booking?

Short Escapes has put in place this policy in order to protect against the risk of possible cases of credit card fraud.

I've received an SMS message for a Request (R) for a booking. What should I do?

As soon as possible after receiving the request please respond to Short Escapes confirming if the Escape is available or not. If you are replying via SMS, simply type in "Y" to indicate YES the Escape is available or "N" to indicate NO it's not available. Short Escapes will immediately get back to the customer once they've received your response. Alternately, you can check you email and respond via email.

How many photos/images can I load?

You can load up to three (3) photos of your Escape.

What file size do my photos/images have to be?

Your photos/images should be no larger than 260 x 170 pixels in size. The file size of each image should be 100kb or less.

What if my photos/images are larger than the size required?

If your photos/images are larger than the size required please email them to help@shortescapes.com.au and they will resize them and load them for you.

I am having trouble loading my photos/images, what should I do?

Email help@shortescapes.com.au and they will load them for you.

I am having trouble loading my accommodation, tours or activities, what should I do?

Email help@shortescapes.com.au and they will load them for you.

Can I advertise on the Short Escapes Home Page?

Yes. Check out Short Escapes Advertising for full details.

Does Short Escapes offer any Marketing services?

Yes. Short Escapes provides consultancy services and advice to assist you in marketing your Escape. Check out Marketing Services for full details.

Do I have to pay GST on a Short Escapes booking?

Short Escapes is responsible for paying the GST component on Booking Fees charged and Commission Fees deducted on all bookings made through the Short Escapes website. Depending on whether your business is registered for GST purposes you may or may not have to charge the customer GST on the balance of their booking payable to you. Check with you accountant on your full GST obligations.

What if the Customer Doesn't Arrive?

Short Escapes charges the customer a 10% non-refundable deposit which is retained by Short Escapes as Short Escapes commission. If the customer doesn't arrive then you are entitled to retain any additional deposits that you have charged the customer. If you have not charged the customer an additional deposit, you are entitled to charge one night's accommodation. It is important that you specify your deposit policy when you load the information regarding your accommodation, tour or activity.

Can I Charge a Deposit?

Yes. Short Escapes charges the customer a 10% non-refundable deposit which is retained by Short Escapes as Short Escapes commission. You may charge an additional deposit or the full balance owing within 4 weeks of Short Escapes confirming the booking. It is important that you specify your deposit policy when you load the information regarding your accommodation, tour or activity.

Can I use Short Escapes booking engine on my own website?

Yes. Email technical@shortescapes.com.au and we'll send you the links to put our reservations engine on your own website. We'll also ensure that your website retains its own look and feel even though the booking system is powered by the Short Escapes booing engine.

Is there a charge for using Short Escapes booking engine on my website?

There is no charge for using Short Escapes booking engine on your website. However you agree that Short Escapes can deduct a 5% commission on the final package price for all bookings made through the Short Escapes booking engine on your website.

How do I contact Short Escapes?

For General Enquiries contact admin@shortescapes.com.au

For Technical Enquiries contact: help@shortescapes.com.au

For Customer Service Enquiries contact: service@shortescapes.com.au

To advise of Cancelled Bookings contact: cancellations@shortescapes.com.au

For Account Queries contact: accounts@shortescapes.com.au

To provide Feedback contact: feedback@shortescapes.com.au

For Telephone Assistance in Australia contact: 07 3287 9195 or 0412 014 903
(assistance is available from 7am to 7pm AEST)

For Telephone Assistance from outside Australia contact: 61 7 3287 9195
(assistance is available from 7am to 7pm AEST)

Our Mailing Address is: PO Box 3124 Loganholme QLD 4129 AUSTRALIA