Online storage unit booking
from choosing the unit to the gate code

How does booking a storage unit online work?

The tenant opens your centre’s booking page, on your website or via a link you’ve sent them. They see the free units, their size and their price. They choose theirs, add the options they want, sign their contract on screen and pay their first month. They then receive their access code by SMS and email. Everything is done from a phone, at a time that suits them.

For your team, the rental comes through complete: an identified tenant, a signed contract, access set up. Nobody had to pick up the phone, copy out an address or set up an appointment. Choosing a tool to offer your units online and integrate it into your website is covered on the page online storage unit rental software. Here, we follow the tenant step by step, and look at what the on-site operator and the manager see of it.

Step 1: choosing a unit online

Free units are the first thing the tenant sees. For each one: its size, its location in the centre, its price. Those already taken are no longer offered. They look at where the unit is as much as at its floor area.

A customer who is moving house wants a unit close to the entrance, easy to reach with a van. A tradesperson prefers a ground-floor unit near a wide door. Someone storing a few boxes takes the smallest free size. When the page shows all that, they make up their mind on their own, and the centre’s operator doesn’t have to walk round the aisles to check what’s left.

What helps people choose

• The floor area of each size and, where possible, its height or volume.
• The location: building, floor, aisle, distance from the gate.
• The monthly price, displayed as it is.
• The centre’s access hours, so they know when they can come.

The presentation of your units is prepared during setup, based on your actual site. When you add units, it keeps up.

Step 2: insurance and options, offered at the right time

Once the unit has been chosen, the tenant sees the options you offer. Your centre’s insurance cover first, because almost everyone wonders: what happens if my belongings get damaged? Then your additional services, if you have any: a padlock, boxes, handling equipment.

At the counter, on a busy day, it sometimes gets forgotten, and the customer finds out three weeks later that they would have liked to be insured. Online, every tenant gets the same information at the same moment, and decides at their leisure. They tick it or skip it, and the total is shown before signing.

The options offered, and the order in which they appear, are set to suit the way you work. We go through them together in the demo.

Step 3: a contract signed on screen

The contract comes already filled in: the tenant’s name, contact details, the chosen unit, its size, the price, the options selected, the move-in date. They read it on their phone, sign on screen and receive their copy by email. The same copy is filed on their record.

A standard contract ready to sign is provided at setup. We go through it with you so that it sets out your terms: access hours, centre rules, what can’t be stored, notice period, security deposit if you require one. What the operator used to explain in person is in writing, and the tenant has read it before going in.

There are no more paper files to sort or contracts to scan, and nobody gives up their Saturday morning for a signature.

Step 4: first month paid, direct debit in place

The tenant pays their first month when booking. In the same journey, they set up the SEPA direct debit for the following months. They have no bank details to send, and nobody at the centre has an account number to copy out.

For them, it’s one less thing to think about each month. For the team, transfers to reconcile and cheques to pay in disappear from the start of the month. If a direct debit fails one day, the tenant is politely notified and everything is back in order as soon as they’ve paid. The page storage unit direct debits and arrears shows how this follow-up happens automatically.

Step 5: the code, then moving in

Once the contract is signed and the first month paid, the tenant receives their code by SMS and email. It is personal. It opens the gate for as long as the contract runs and stops working when the tenant leaves. There’s no key to hand over, and no card to collect at the end of the contract.

They move in whenever they like, within your centre’s access hours. A booking made on a Sunday at 21:00 becomes a move-in on Monday at 07:00. If they get the code wrong, the on-site operator or the manager opens up for them from their phone, wherever they are. The gate, the opening hours and your team’s access are described on the page 24/7 access to a self-storage centre.

After booking: changing units, extending, leaving early

A tenant who took a small size realises after a month that they need something bigger. Another extends because their building work is running late. A third empties her unit earlier than planned. These changes are part of a centre’s everyday life, and they shouldn’t cost the team a whole morning.

Moving to another unit takes just a few clicks: the new unit is assigned, the old one becomes free again, and the contract and code follow. Notice of leaving sets the end date, the code stops on that day, and the on-site operator sees the unit to check in their list. What the tenant does on their own and what goes through the manager is decided at setup, to suit the way you work.

What the operator prepares before opening online booking

Three things are enough: your price list by size, the list of your options and the contract you want signed. Presenting your units, setting up payments and gate access are all part of the setup, carried out with a dedicated contact who then remains your day-to-day point of contact.

The booking page fits into your existing website, and your visitors book without leaving it. The counter and the phone stay open: a rental entered by the operator takes a unit from the same availability, and the tenant signs on the spot or receives the link on their phone.

In the demo, we book a unit together, from choosing it right through to the code, and you see what comes through on your side.