The Management Tool and Management Tool Pro Manual
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The Management Tool and
Management Tool Pro
Manual
Updated: November, 2008
BookingCenter
www.BookingCenter.com
14945 Coleman Valley Road
Occidental, CA 95465 US
+1-707-874-3922
support@BookingCenter.com
BookingCenter Management Tool Manual
2
Overview................................................................................................................................... 4
Basics .................................................................................................................................... 4
Modify Your Password
......................................................................................................... 6
Settings...................................................................................................................................... 7
Contact Information
.............................................................................................................. 7
Tax Configuration
................................................................................................................. 8
Currency............................................................................................................................ 8
Tax Rate ............................................................................................................................ 8
General Settings
.................................................................................................................... 9
No Children and Infants.................................................................................................... 9
Booking Engine Settings
..................................................................................................... 11
Enquiry Screens .............................................................................................................. 11
Guest Information ........................................................................................................... 11
Notification of Bookings................................................................................................. 12
Online Items Header ....................................................................................................... 13
Customized Enquiry System Labelling: ......................................................................... 14
Marketing And Policies
...................................................................................................... 17
Terms for Advance Payments ......................................................................................... 17
Advance Payment Terms for GDS enabled Properties................................................... 17
Network Partner Marketing
................................................................................................ 18
Parameters............................................................................................................................... 18
Sources
................................................................................................................................ 18
Guest Types
......................................................................................................................... 18
Receipt Types
...................................................................................................................... 19
Inventory Groups
and
Inventory Items
.............................................................................. 20
Packages.......................................................................................................................... 20
Availability and Rates............................................................................................................. 24
Room Types, Rates and Seasons - Overview ..................................................................... 24
Flat Rate or Person Rate.................................................................................................. 25
Seasons............................................................................................................................ 25
Rates
.................................................................................................................................... 26
Adding New Rates .......................................................................................................... 26
Room Types
........................................................................................................................ 27
Adding a New Room Type ............................................................................................. 27
Seasons
................................................................................................................................ 28
Adding New Seasons ...................................................................................................... 28
Setting Season/Rate Pricing ............................................................................................ 29
Make a Test Booking ...................................................................................................... 30
Features/Images ...................................................................................................................... 31
Activities
and
Amenities
.................................................................................................... 31
Room Type Amenities
........................................................................................................ 31
Images
and
Room Type Images
......................................................................................... 32
Room Type Images
......................................................................................................... 32
Property Images
.............................................................................................................. 32
Agents ..................................................................................................................................... 33
Agent Relationships
and
Agent Allocations
...................................................................... 33
Make a Test Booking .............................................................................................................. 36
Make A Member's Area Booking ....................................................................................... 36
Online Bookings
................................................................................................................. 36
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Booking Details....................................................................................................................... 36
Network Commissions
........................................................................................................ 38
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Overview
This document describes how to ‘Set up’ the Member’s Area for a business that takes reservations
over the Internet (most often for accommodation). The Member’s Area is an Internet based
management system used to control -
o
pictures and descriptions,
o
terms and conditions for bookings,
o
booking rules,
o
product availability and seasonally adjusted pricing,
o
agent or sales channel management,
o
manage incoming bookings,
o
access guest credit cards,
o
control commissions
The Member’s Area will run on all computers with Internet Access. You must have a Site ID and
Password to access the Member’s Area. If you are unsure of your id and password, call +1-707-874-
3922 ext. 202 or email support@BookingCenter.com.
Throughout this Manual, you will find hyperlinks that can be clicked to go directly to a specific
section of your Member’s Area. You will be asked for your Id and Password to begin each new
session. Therefore, you will get best results from this document if you use it in electronic form with an
Internet enabled computer.
Management Tool Pro Upgrade – Why Go Pro?
Differences between Management Tool and Management Tool Pro
The basic Management Tool product is perfect for managing online sales (ie, a 'Booking Engine')
and/or a GDS and Global Booking Network profile. But sometimes a property manager desires more
power. The Management Tool Pro is for users who want many of the conveniences of a property
management system, but don't wish for a full-blown system. The Pro product is especially helpful for
rental management companies or agencies managing a large number of properties, each managed
individually (per owner, in some cases) and concurrently. All the while allowing for consolidated
availability and reporting via the Portal Admin area. The Management Tool Pro can be added to any
Management Tool to enable the following features:
Letters
The Letters feature is a fully integrated text editor with data merge fields. It gives the user the
ability to create, personalize, and customize multiple letters with ease. For a comprehensive
look at how these Letters can be created and used, see:
Receipts and Adjustment
The ability to manage credits and debits is what this capability provides. Each booking can
have receipts of unlimited types credited against a booking(s). In addition, the system will
track refunds (debits) and adjustments against any booking. An audit trail of who makes each
Receipt assignment or adjustment is saved per booking.
Reports
Reports allow a manager to find out activity that has been made in the system. These reports
are a combination of Central Reservation and Property Management System reports. All
Management Tool Pro reports can be saved and/or printed as .PDF, HTML (web page), Excel
(.xls), and Text (.cvs).
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Taken together, these features make the Management Tool Pro a ‘light weight’ property management
system. See
http://www.bookingcenter.com/products/management_tool_pro.html
for a detailed
overview of how each feature works as a Pro customer.
Basics
The Member’s Area is divided into sections. Each section is opened by clicking a ‘tab’ like a file
folder. When you click a ‘tab’ you will see functions for that section in a brown bar below the tab.
The active function always has a check mark.
Changes made in the Members Area immediately update your live booking system. Please don’t be
afraid to click things and play around. For really important actions like Delete or Cancel, the system
always asks you to confirm before the action is completed.
Often, you will see words and Id’s in
blue font
; this usually indicates a hyperlink that you can click to
get more information.
We hope you will find the lay out of the system logical and intuitive. Naturally, there are many
accommodation types. As options are turned on and off this will customize the display in ways that
will hopefully better communicate the values of your service. We welcome your feedback
(
http://www.BookingCenter.com/contact.html
) and hope you find the Member’s Area a useful tool.
So, let’s get started!
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Log On
To start, every supplier is assigned a “Site” ID and Password. Your Site ID is unique to your business
and can not be changed. Your Password is personal to you and can be changed as often as needed.
Please protect your password and change it whenever you feel the need. This will prevent
unauthorized access to your private management system which stores guest details, credit cards, and
other private business information.
* Please bookmark your Member’s Area, or create an icon on your computer desktop to provide easy
access.
Modify Your Password
If you would like to enter a new password, please click
Modify Your Password
and follow the
prompts.
* Remember, passwords are case sensitive and they should not contain spaces.
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Settings
The ‘Settings’ section contains the controls that influence how your product is displayed to buyers.
Please complete the following steps to the best of your ability.
Contact Information
Please Enter Your Business details - complete all fields to the best of your ability.
For website address must use the following format – ‘www.mybusiness.com’. Please do not include
http:// in your website address.
You will need to enter at least 2 e-mail addresses –
o
Main Email – where you will receive guest booking notification
o
Billing Email – where you will receive billing information from BookingCenter
o
Booking CC Email (
optional
) – used to send a second guest booking notification to the
property at another address.
* Be sure to Click Update to save your changes!
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Tax Configuration
Currency
Please select the Currency used for bookings.
Tax Rate
In the United States, most businesses charge tax that is exclusive of their rates, as they do not advertise
taxed rates. If you do not charge tax, don’t tick either box for “Collect”. If you do Collect Tax, enter
the percentage and tick the box if your prices are tax inclusive (common for Commonwealth and
European countries).
If you have a secondary tax, such as a bed tax or occupancy tax ,the system can track this. If you do
not have Secondary Tax, then leave this box blank.
* Be sure to Click Update to save your changes!
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General Settings
Some fields in General Settings refer to the GDS (
Global Distribution System
) and other networks
inclusive in the Global Booking Networks. If you have not elected to use the GDS, you can skip over
some fields. If you are not sure, or have questions contact BookingCenter.
o
(GDS)
“Adult rates pertain to all guests over X years old”. If you give a reduced rate for
Children, this field determines the age of Adults.
When guests make bookings, the system will ask how many occupants. The number of occupants
controls the maximum number of guests that can be booked into a specific room type and it may
determine price if you use ‘Per-person’ pricing.
No Children and Infants
There are 3 fields on the booking form for occupants that are often labelled – ‘Adults’, ‘Children’ and
‘Infants’. These are just labels that could be changed to ‘Dogs’, ‘Cats’ and Mice’. Many properties
turn off the labels for Children and Infants and change the label for Adults to Guests.
o
No ‘Children’ Allowed – tick this box if you do not differentiate rates for adults and children.
In fact, Children probably are allowed; this will simply turn off the box on the booking form
asking how many Children.
o
No Infants Allowed – same as above; tick this box if you do not differentiate rates for adults
and Infants. In fact, Infants probably are allowed; this will simply turn off the box on the
booking form asking how many Infants.
The following are used by properties listing on the GDS:
o
(GDS)
Local Time Zone
o
(GDS)
Latitude and Longitude – if you buy the option to upload your property to the Global
Booking systems, then you must enter your town’s Latitude and Longitude. This will indicate
you location, which is used to create a list of
Airports
in Parameters. Try this website if you
don’t know your location details -
http://life.csu.edu.au/geo/findlatlong.html
o
(GDS)
Check In Time
o
(GDS)
Check Out Time
Weekend nights are: Friday Saturday Sunday - Some properties have differential rates for
Weekends vs. Weekdays. If you have special Weekend Rates, then you must tick the box for the days
that have special rates.
Use seasonal pricing - If you have Seasonal Prices or Seasonal Minimum Stays, then you tick this
box to turn on more complex rate tables.
The minimum stay for weekly pricing is: 7 nights or 6 nights - if you have Weekly or ‘Extended
Stay’ rates; the system will automatically apply these rates to bookings over 6 or 7 nights. 7 nights is
the default.
Use weekend prices even during weekly ("extended") stays – if you do not want to use Weekly or
‘Extended Stay’ rates then tick this box.
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Stay Restriction default values: if you use Seasons, then Minimum Stay Restrictions will be
controlled in Seasons. If you do not use Seasons, and want to apply Minimum Stay Restrictions that
will apply to all bookings - enter the minimum stay here.
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Booking Engine Settings
Booking Engine Settings effect display and information required from guests.
Enquiry Screens
o
Advertise rates tax exempt - if your property is tax exempt tick this box.
o
Display room capacity and number of beds on results page – displays under each available
room on the results screen - helpful information.
o
Don't prompt for number of guests on enquiry page – Every Room Type has a Maximum
Capacity. If you prompt for ‘the number of guests’ on the enquiry page, then results will be
limited to Room Types with capacity to match the number of guests. In fact, guests often book
several rooms; if you limit the available options to rooms that match the group capacity then
you may miss out on bookings. For example, 4 people may prefer to book 2 Double Rooms
(max capacity 2) rather than a Family Room (max capacity 4).
o
Do Not Show Availability – on the results screen, there is a column that will display the
number of available rooms for ach room type. Some properties want to prefer to hide this
information.
o
Round Bookings to Whole Number – tick this box to round bookings
o
Show Room Type Calendars – if you tick this box, a menu appears below the calendar so that
guests can see availability for specific Room Types. Useful for properties with many room
types, or properties where each room type is a unique room such as a Vacation Rental or a
B&B with theme rooms.
Guest Information
o
Don't ask for Dietary Information – if you serve meals and need to know preferences then
tick this box.
o
Don't ask for Special Needs Information – if you want guests to indicate special needs tick
this box.
o
Phone number Mandatory – if you require a phone number with every booking tick this box.
o
Address Mandatory - if you require an address with every booking tick this box.
o
Guest Must Agree to Terms – some people would suggest that the terms and conditions at the
time of booking are a binding agreement, but in reality we all know this must be tested on a
case by case basis. Still, requiring the guest to tick a box to agree to your terms may help you
in case of disputes.
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Typical Selection
Notification of Bookings
Every new booking will debit availability for future bookings. In addition, the system can send the
property notification of bookings by e-mail or SMS. You also have the option to send an automated
booking confirmation to the guest.
SMS is will send a special message to the operator. There is a set up fee, monthly fees and per
message fee to receive SMS booking confirmations. Please ring +1-707-874-3922 ext. 201 for a
quote.
o
Send me email notification of web site bookings – tick this box to receive e-mail notification
of bookings. (
Highly recommended
).
o
Do not send booking confirmation email to guests – tick this box if you prefer to send
manually generated confirmations to guests.
o
Enquiry System Theme – Changes the background colours of the Enquiry screens used by
guests to make bookings.
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Online Items Header
To Sell Items with bookings, you must purchase the Point of Sale module. Items are displayed for
sale during the booking. For example, you may want to sell tours and services with a booking. Items
will allow you to upload pictures and descriptions for Items.
There are no commissions on the value of Item sales, but you must pay a one-time fee to use this
feature. If you do not use this feature ignore the box titled Online Items Header. If you do use this
feature, enter the Header that will display above your Inventory Items.
Example for Cape Schanck Lightstation -
http://requests.bookingcenter.com/enquiry.phtml?site=SHANCK
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Customized Enquiry System Labelling:
Please change the labels to suit your property, i.e., Suites, Cabins, Camp sites, Beds, etc. If your tax is
called T.O.C. for example, change the label.
There are 3 fields on the booking form that are often labelled – ‘Adults’, ‘Children’ and ‘Infants’. The
first label (Adults) must be used. The 2
nd
(Children) and 3
rd
(Infants) labels are optional. Many
properties switch off the 2
nd
and 3
rd
label and change the first label to Guests. If that is your
preference, change the field for Adults to “Guests” and go back
No Children and No Infants in
General Settings
and tick the boxes “No Children Allowed” and “No Infants Allowed”.
Examples – Cape Schanck Lightstation - Adults, Children and Infants
Example - The Observatory in Port Macquarie - Guests
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Examples of Typical Settings
* Be sure to Click Update to save your changes!
Multi Lingual Booking Engine
The ability to show your international guests the online booking system in ‘their language’ is enabled
by UN-checking the feature “
Do not use Multi Lingual Engine
“. By default, the multi lingual
feature is switched off for you, and defaults to US English.
If the multi lingual engine is on, the system uses a Geoip lookup to try to work out the country the
browser is coming from. It then looks up the Country to determine the default language for that
country. We also use this Geoip lookup to get a default time zone for the Country, which helps with
an issue, for example, where it is "tomorrow in Australia" when it is ‘today’ where the servers reside
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in North America. The supported languages include Spanish, Italian, French, and German, but new
languages are being added all the time. If you desire an additional language, and can help translate the
terms of the ‘Booking Engine’, email
info@BookingCenter.com
and we will send you a template to
translate.
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Marketing And Policies
Terms for Advance Payments
The Online Booking system gives you a secure facility to collect credit cards. The Online Booking
system can process credit cards, but you must have purchased the POS Module in order to do so.
Contact BookingCenter at +1-707-874-3922 ext. 201 for purchase help setting up automatic credit
card collections. If you do not have the POS Module, processing Credit Cards is a manual step
performed by the property. When a guest provides you with credit card details, you must process
their cards like a ‘phone order’ based on your ‘Deposit, Confirmation, and Cancellation Policy
Message’.
Options - “No Deposit”, “1-night deposit”, or “a percentage deposit” (set the percentage). “A credit
card guarantee” is not a legally binding commitment in most cases.
Advance Payment Terms for GDS enabled Properties
If you do not use the GDS, skip to ‘Deposit, Confirmation, and Cancellation Policy Message’
Deposit, Confirmation, and Cancellation Policy Message – explain in ‘your own words’ policies for
advance deposits, conditions for cancellations and refunds and any special conditions specific to your
property. Be sure to tick the box, “
Guest Must Agree to Terms
”, in Booking Engine Settings if you
want the guest to confirm they agree to your terms.
*Tip Confirmed Bookings vs. Enquiries - if you are not able to provide immediate confirmation for
bookings then you should include a statement in your terms and conditions that ‘all bookings must be
confirmed before they are final’.
This Policy Message displays on the confirmation screen, phone or fax form, on the Site Profile page
and GDS listings, at the bottom of the guest booking confirmation e-mail, and in the guest booking
details.
Restrictions – Displays a small message on the first enquiry screen to warn guests of special
conditions.
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The booking system holds enough information about your property to build a mini-website. This
information may be linked to some agent websites. This information is also used to complete listings
on GDS websites like Yahoo Travel, Orbitz, Expedia and others. Please complete this information to
the best of your ability.
Please note that it is forbidden to place phone numbers, website addresses or e-mail addresses in any
description except the ‘Thank you for Booking Message’. If you are listed on the GDS, it is forbidden
to use html tags.
o
Site Description
o
Marketing Message
o
Location Description
o
Customer Reviews
o
Driving Directions
o
Registration Message – not used, please ignore.
o
"Thank you for Booking" Message – this message appears at the top of the automated guest
booking confirmation e-mail. This is a good place to include a contact phone number along
with a personalized message.
Network Partner Marketing
Please complete all that applies and click Update. Please note that AAA is a rating program in the
United States.
Parameters
Sources
Sources, like Agents, are used to track the origin of bookings. Unlike Agents, Sources do not affect
pricing, availability or commissions. When bookings are made with links that do not have source
codes, then the system uses the default source WEB. Sources are viewed on the booking details for all
guest bookings.
Common Examples of Source Codes: WEBSITE for the properties main website, EMAIL for links
added to your outgoing e-mail signature.
Guest Types
Not used.
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Receipt Types
Every booking requires the guest to nominate a payment method. Receipt Types are the methods you
accept for payment, i.e. Visa and MasterCard. The Booking form uses 128 bit SSL encryption to
protect guest credit card details.
Despite the fact that it is safe to give credit card numbers with bookings, many guests are afraid. You
may wish to give them payment options that do not require providing a credit card. One option is
‘Phone or Fax’. This allows the guest to make a booking, print a special form that can be used to send
follow up payment by phone or fax.
Receipt Types are activated when it says ‘Yes’ in the Live column. Not all Receipt Types are credit
cards. To start, all Receipts are set to No. To change a Receipt Type; click the Id in Blue to open the
Receipt Details page. Then click Edit to change the status to Live.
To Add a new Receipt Type, click Add at the bottom left corner of the page. Use 2 character codes
for Receipt Types. The code for Phone or Fax should be ‘PF’.
ID
Description
Credit Card
Live
A3
Air Plus
Yes
No
AX
American Express
Yes
Yes
BC
BankCard
Yes
No
CA
Mastercard
Yes
Yes
CB
Carte Blanche
Yes
No
DC
Diners Club
Yes
No
EC
Eurocard
Yes
No
ER
En Route
Yes
No
JC
Japan Credit Bureau
Yes
No
ND
NoDepositRequired
No
No
O1
Optima
Yes
No
PF
Phone or Fax
No
Yes
VI
Visa
Yes
Yes
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Inventory Groups
and
Inventory Items
To use Inventory, you must purchase the Point of Sale module. Inventory allows guests to buy
additional items when they make room bookings. There is no commission over the value of Inventory
Items, but you must pay a one-time fee to use this feature. Call +1-707-874-3922 ext. 201 to purchase
the Point of Sale module to have the ability to sell Items, Packages, and collect Credit Card deposits
automatically.
If you do not want to buy this module, please skip this section.
When a guest has selected a Room to buy, they are asked to enter their contact details. If you have the
Point of Sale module, a shopping cart appears at the bottom of this page. You can create Items with
pictures, descriptions and prices.
Example for Cape Schanck Lightstation -
http://requests.bookingcenter.com/enquiry.phtml?site=SHANCK
To add Inventory Items, you must first create a Group. For example, you might create 2 groups; Food
and Tours. Then, you create the individual inventory offers. You can upload pictures and
descriptions as well as pricing options. Again, there is no commission on the sale of Inventory Items.
Packages
Many lodging providers realize selling packages is smart, as they provide your guest with a better
overall experience and add to the profitability of your business. There are two general places to sell
your Packages:
1. Packages on your web site or a Portal
Build you own custom package with complete control over the rooms, items, pricing, dates,
and minimum stay requirements. Example: Romance Package Combine a room, flowers, and
a bottle of wine, etc… and sell it from your website with a two night minimum, available any
day of the week.
Example: Midweek Package. Bundle a room, a meal + a spa treatment, etc… and sell as a
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21
package to increase midweek bookings. Available Sunday – Thursday only.
2.
Packages on the GDS systems
Choose your rooms, rates, dates, and minimum stay requirements, and allow travel agents and
large travel portals to add it to their systems to sell as a ‘Package’.
Example: Business Packages Provide the GDS systems (travel agents and corporate planners)
with a special rate and stay restrictions from Sunday – Thursday for business travelers
requiring early breakfast, business office services provided by your staff, and ‘turn down’
service. A great way to entice mid-week business travel to your inn.
Example: Orbitz Package : Provide a Bed, Breakfast, and Spa Package that Orbitz will sell as
a composite package to its millions of shoppers.
How to Setup a Package
The first step is to plan what is desired in the package. Will you simply make a ‘Fixed’ Package
consisting of a marketing ‘concept’ tied to a Room? Or will you make a ‘Dynamic’ Package that taps
into Rom Rates that vary season by season and add to these ‘dynamic rate’ changes Items that may be
dynamic added as well? What dates will the Package be available on? What minimum stay and
maximum stays must be met to purchase the Package? Planning ahead strategically will help when
setting up your Packages.
Details on Making Packages
Example of a Package:
Package ID: This will be the ‘Rate’ that is allocated to a sales channel, - your website, a special
Agent, or the GDS systems – once the Package is ready for sale.
Name: This is the name of the Package as online buyers will see it.
Parent Rate ID: This is the Rate that BookingCenter will use to calculate what the Room would cost
for the Package, as it may vary from weekday to weekend and/or season to season. Additionally, the
Parent Rate will allow BookingCenter to set our ‘calculated Sell’, which can help you price the
Package, by providing an analysis of the Rate’s value is added up with the Items assigned to the
Package.
Type: The ‘Fixed’ package is priced once, and its price is not calculated from the Room Rate or Items
added to it. This is intended for ‘easy to make’ packages that have no daily or seasonal rate changes.
The ‘Dynamic’ package is intended to be used more tightly with Room Rates - as Room Rates rise, the
Package price does as well. As the Room Rate falls, so does the Package price. The Items that
comprise the Package may be shown - or not - to the Guest while being booked. Regardless, if Items
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22
are added to the Package, rest assured they will be in correct quantities, so that they can be tracked and
priced by the Property Management Systems correctly when a Guest buys the package. The ‘sell
price’ of a Package need not be priced on the calculation of the Room + Items, but it can be and
BookingCenter provides a feature for viewing what the ‘calculated price’ of a dynamic package would
be.
Sell: This is the price the Package will be sold at if it is a Fixed package. The sale price will either
include or exclude taxes based on the setting of your Property, as all Rates do.
Calculated Sell: While building the Package, this filed will show what the ‘pieces of the package,
added together’ would amount to. As you add and remove Items to a Package, click the ‘refresh’
button at bottom to refresh the ‘calculated sell’ price. This is not shown anywhere else and is intended
to give a package bui8lder the composite price of the pieces.
Number of Guests: This is the number of guests that can be included in a Package – adults, children,
and infants included:
Closed to Arrival: This setting will make sure that a Package can not be booked to start on the dates
specified, with the first date value a Sunday. So, there should always be 7 (one for each day of week)
Y’s (yes) or N’s (no) in this field. If there is no day of the week this rate can be purchased for an
arrival, make that day N. For example, if a Package rate is closed for arrival on Fridays and
Saturdays, but is available for other days, then the field would look like: NNNNNYY
Minimum Stay/Maximum Stay: The minimum and maximum number of days that need to be
booked to allow the Package to be purchased. For a Dynamic Package, these can be different values,
but a Fixed package the min and max values must be the same.
For example, a Dynamic package consisting of a vacation rental (self-catering facility) and a cleaning
fee that recurs every 5 days can have a different min and max stay. A Fixed package must have the
same value for min and max stays, as the rate is not based on a day-by-day dynamic price, but on a
‘fixed’ duration and grouping of Rooms and Items.
Valid From/To: By entering dates, this will show which dates the Package can be booked on. Dates
outside of these settings will not be able to be booked.
Display Items: This setting will show the Guest who books a Package on the BookingCenter Booking
Engine ONLY the actual Items that comprise a Package. When booked via the Global Booking
Network, the Items are not displayed ever, only the marketing text and images are presented to the
buying Guest. The options are to show the Items in email (the email confirmation that guest to a Guest
after a booking) web (the web pages of the Booking Engine that show a summary of the Package
being bought). The package builder can choose whether or not to show the Items comprising the
Package by selecting these options.
Promote: This value will highlight the Package at the top of a BookingCenter Booking Engine screen
in order to promote it above basic Room rates. This has no value outside of the BookingCenter system,
ie no effect on its promotion within the GDS systems.
Live/Not Live: This is how you can ‘turn on/turn off’ the Package from being shown anywhere.
Short Description: The short description that shows on the BookingCenter Booking Engine that
entices Guests to look at – and book - the Package. If the Package will be distributed to Global
Booking Networks, then do not place HTML in this field as it will be rejected. Maximum 100
characters is recommended for this field.
Long Description: The long description that shows on the BookingCenter Booking Engine that
entices Guests to look at – and book - the Package. If the Package will be distributed to Global
Booking Networks, then do not place HTML in this field as it will be rejected. There is no
recommendation for how many characters this field will support, but some GDS systems only support
a maximum of 100 characters for the length of any description – long or short. For this reason, if the
Package will be distributed to Global Booking Networks, keep all relevant text in the first 100
characters.
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Managing Items within the Package
Once a Package has been saved, whether or not is ‘dynamic’ or ‘fixed’, the manager can add Items to
it to both change its ‘calculated price’ and also give the Guest a detailed look at what Items are
included in the Package besides the Room. Choose the ‘Add Items’ to add Items that have been setup
in the
Member's Area
or the Property Management System.
Qty: This is the quantity of the Item that will be sold with the package and this will import these
quantities into the Property Management System for management and delivery.
Cost: This is the ‘sell cost’ that the Item will be posted to the Property Management System when it
imports.
Recur Days: This is to help a problem whereby a Package requires certain Item(s), such as a cleaning
fee or a meal, to be added for each x day of the stay. If this is the case, choose how many Items for
each day of the stay the Item should be added to the Package. For example, if a cleaning fee is only
needed to be attached to the booking once each 7 days, make the recur days as 7. For each 7 days of
the booking, one additional ‘cleaning Item’ entry will be added and priced. Thus a 21-day booking
would have 3 ‘cleaning fee’ Items added to it.
• Note - to Delete an Item from the Package. Choose the number “0” and click the ‘change’
button to remove that Item from the package.
Items and Packages for MyPMS customers
If you are using MyPMS as a Property Management System, the Item IDs must match the NAME of
any ‘sub-types’ that you have set up in the Setup | System | Postings | Charge area of MyPMS. If the
NAME of your MyPMS Item and the Item ID in the Members Area do not match, then when the
Package is broken apart into Items, or an Item is sold directly from a website, that Item will not
properly dowloaded into the MyPMS onto the Guest’s folio. Please contact BookingCenter Support
for help doing tis if you are unclear how the MyPMS system must match the BookingCenter system.
Airports
If you have purchased the option to list your property on the
GDS Networks
, then you must enter
information related to the nearest airports. Assuming you have added your Latitude and Longitude on
in
General Settings
, then you should have a list of local airports.
* Try this website if you don’t know your location details -
http://life.csu.edu.au/geo/findlatlong.html
Letters
If you upgraded to the Management Tool Pro package, the ability to use custom Letters for each
booking will be available. The Letters feature is a fully integrated text editor with data merge fields. It
gives the user the ability to create, personalize, and customize multiple letters with ease. To see if this
upgrade is right for you, see:
http://www.bookingcenter.com/products/management_tool_pro.html
and
then contact BookingCenter to upgrade.
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24
Availability and Rates
The Web-based Management system is a great way to simply and easily manage Online Bookings. It
is not a Front Office accounting system or a Property Management System – which BookingCenter
does sell - therefore it is not necessary to enter every Room Type and Room in the system. Instead,
you will only need to load the inventory needed to represent the product you wish to sell online. The
Web-based Management System will run ‘alongside’ your main accounting system.
* Tip - For those who prefer a fully integrated front office reservation system that will automatically
update availability based on changes at the Front Desk – download a free 45 day trial of our
BookingCenter Software
.
Room Types, Rates and Seasons - Overview
The First Step will be to organize a sales strategy. A Room Type is a marketing package; it has a
description, picture, maximum guest capacity and rate. A Room Type may be a common description
for a number of Rooms, or it may represent a single room.
Each Room Type will have an inventory of Rooms available to book.
Example – ABC Motor Inn - 18 rooms:
o
6 - Standard Rooms with Queen Bed,
o
10 - Standard Rooms with a Queen and Single Bed
o
2 - Honeymoon Suites with a King Bed.
Loading every Room into the system could make the day to day manage of availability more
complicated to manage. Often, we recommend that you load just enough rooms to meet demand. *
Guests commonly book several rooms at a time; you may risk loosing larger group bookings with too
few rooms.
Room Types (Example ABC Luxury Inn):
Room Type ID
Room Type Description
Default Rate ID
Num Rooms
Max Guests
STD
Double Room
STD
4
2
TWIN
Twin Room
STD
4
3
HM
Honeymoon Suite
SUITE
1
2
3 Room Types
In the past, the ABC always called their rooms Standard Rooms. When guests booked by phone the
staff would always ask the guest how many beds were required. Now, guests are booking without
talking to the staff. That changes the way you communicate. Guests need a clear way to indicate how
many beds they require. Therefore, it makes sense to create 2 Room Types where in the past there
was only one Room Type.
For this example, instead of labelling all 16 rooms as Standard Rooms; we’ve create 2 Room Types
(Double and Twin). Now every booking is clearly indicating how many beds are required. In fact,
when a guest books a Double you can always put them in a Twin. Clear labelling will avoid the
uncomfortable mistake of putting 2 co-workers in one bed.
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Rates (Example ABC Luxury Inn):
In this example, the Double and Twin Rooms both use is the same rate - STD. The Honeymoon has a
unique rate - SUITE. Create as many Rates as needed. Only 1 Rate will apply to each Room Type.
Later we describe how special rates can apply to
Agent Bookings
.
Flat Rate or Person Rate
There are 2 types of Rates:
o
Flat Rate - is a single price for all occupants up to the capacity of the room, i.e. $92 per night
no matter how many guests.
o
Per-Person - has a base rate for the first X guests plus an additional guest rate, i.e. the first 2
guests pay $80 plus $12 for each additional guest up to the capacity of the room. There is an
option to set a different rate for extra adults and extra children.
Each Rate has 3 Price rules – Weekday, Weekend and Weekly or Extended Stay. This allows you to
set different rates depending on the day of week and length of stay.
Weekends - To define a Weekend, go to
General Settings
– tick the box to include Fri, Sat and/or Sun
as weekends. You must include a value in the Weekend price column. If you have the same rates for
weekdays as weekends, then enter the same value in both columns.
Weekly or Extended Stay – this rate applies to stays equal to or greater than 7 nights. Enter the
nightly value in this column. For example if you charge $1,400 per week – the Extended Stay Rate is
$200.
*You have the option to turn off Extended Stay rates. Go to
General Settings
and tick “Use weekend
prices even during weekly ("extended") stays”. This will cause the system to add up each night’s rate
to make a total booking cost.
Seasons
Seasons
give you the option to set special rates and minimum stay rules for specific date ranges, i.e.,
Long Weekends, Holidays, Sumer, etc.
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26
Rates
*Tips - I always work out rates with pencil and paper before I enter anything into the computer. You
need to create Rates before you create Room Types. Leave Seasons to last.
Adding New Rates
Click this link >
Rates
go to the bottom of the page and click ‘Add’.
1. Enter an ID (* ID’s must begin with letters, it may then use numbers and letters - no spaces
and no special characters allowed).
2. Descriptions – anything that helps you (peak, school holiday, Labour Day, etc.).
3. Number of Guests – used for Per-Person to set the rate base.
4. Rate Type – Per-person or Flat rate
5. Minimum Stay – sets the minimum number of nights for bookings with this rate. Seasons, if
used, will override this minimum stay.
6. Maximum Stay - sets the maximum number of nights for bookings with this rate. Currently
not an active feature.
7. Adult Day – rate for week day nights.
8. Adult Weekend – rate for weekend nights. See
General Settings
to set weekend nights.
9. Adult Week – rate for stays of 7 nights or more.
If using Flat Rate stop now. If using Per-person Rate continue.
10. Extra Day, Weekend and Weekly – the rate for extra Adults.
11. Extra Child/Infant Day, Weekend and Weekly – applies to the number of Child/Infant greater
than the base set in ‘Number of Guests’.
Be sure to Save Changes.
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Room Types
Room Types are marketing descriptions. (Room Type is a label that can be changed to suit your
property, i.e., Suites, Dorm Beds, Camp Sites, Holiday Units, Rooms, etc.) You can have as many
Room Types as needed.
Room Types normally have consistent values; maximum guest capacity, number of beds, a picture,
descriptions, amenities and rate. If Rooms don’t all match a Room Type’s criteria, then you may need
to create additional Room Types. It is not unusual to have Room Types with Rooms that are very
similar, but slightly different.
Most Room Types are ‘private rooms’ where 1 booking occupies the entire room. A Hostel may sell
beds in Share Rooms or Dorm Room. If you sell Beds, then you need to create a Room Type called
Dorm Bed; then every bed in the room would be a treated like a ‘room’ for inventory management.
Then, you set the capacity of a “Dorm Bed” to 1. Guests will then make group bookings; booking as
many Dorm Beds as needed. If you’re unsure, ring support and let us help you.
Each Room Types has an inventory of rooms. Like the example, it is not be necessary, and may not
be beneficial, to add every room to your inventory. If you have too few rooms this will limit your
ability to sell. If you are unfamiliar with the ‘Class’ or ‘Quality’, simply make your best judgement.
There is no empirical definition of these terms, so use your best professional judgement.
Adding a New Room Type
Click this link >
Room Types
go to the bottom of the page and click ‘Add’. Complete all the fields
applicable to your specific Room Types. ‘Save’ your changes.
* Important Reminder – All ID’s must start with letters and can contain numbers, but they can never
contain spaces or punctuation characters.
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* It is forbidden to enter phone numbers, websites or e-mail links to descriptions.
Seasons
Seasons give you the ability to set special conditions (price surcharges and minimum stays) for a
specific date range. Often, this is used to manage rates for peak periods – Long Weekends, Special
Events, Holidays, etc. If you don’t have seasonal prices skip this section.
Each time you add a new Season, the system automatically sets the Rate for that season to the Default
Rate. Once you have finished adding Seasons, you must go to each Rate and adjust prices as needed
for each Season/Rate.
* Before you can use Seasons, you must turn on Seasons in
General Settings
.
Adding New Seasons
Click this link >
Seasons
. Click the Add button at the bottom of the page.
Unused Date Ranges – normally, you will only enter Seasons that have a different price/min stay
condition from your Default Rate. If later you wish to enter new Seasons to fill these gaps, select from
Unused Date Ranges.
Id and Description – enter anything suitable.
* Important Reminder – All ID’s must start with letters and can contain numbers, but they can
never contain spaces or punctuation characters.
From/To Dates – determines the beginning and end of a season.
* Dates must use the following format: DD-MMM-YYYY - example 08-JUN-2007.
Skip ‘May Not Start’ and ‘May Not End’.
Add Notes as needed.
Be sure to Save Changes.
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Setting Season/Rate Pricing
The system automatically sets the Rate value for each new season equal to the Default Rate.
To adjust seasonal prices, go back to
Rates
. Select a Rate by clicking the Rate Code.
Clicking the Rate Code opens the Rate Details for a specific Rate. Page down to the bottom of the
screen to view Seasonal Rates. To view/adjust Seasonal Rates, click the Rate Id.
*Tip – often the Seasonal Rates table is hidden until you scroll down the page.
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30
In this example, we click on the Rate ‘MAY07’ to change prices for the Double Rate in the Season
May 07. This opens a new window which allows you to Edit or Delete. Click Edit and adjust prices
to match your seasonal surcharge.
Review Your Work
After you have entered Room Types, Rates and Seasons there is a convenient table to view your work
-
View Current Rooms, Types, and Seasons
. This table displays the Room Types and Seasons. To
view the values for each Rate, click the Rate Code.
Make a Test Booking
It is always a good idea to make a test booking to see what the Guest Sees.
* If you complete the booking; 2 e-mails are automatically sent – 1 to the property’s e-mail and 1 to
the guest’s e-mail. If you don’t want the property to receive notification of your test bookings - go to
Contact Information
and change the main e-mail.
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Features/Images
Activities
and
Amenities
Activity and Amenities apply generally to the property. Indicate if the Activities are onsite or in the
area. Please tick all that apply.
Room Type Amenities
Amenities are a preset list of
features specific to a Room
Type.
Tick the box for all Amenities
applicable to a Room Type and
then
Update to save your changes.
If you have multiple Room
Types, please set Amenities for
each
Room Type. Select any Room Type from the list, then click Display to load Amenities each Room
Type.
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32
Images
and
Room Type Images
Images communicate the values of your business. Images should be optimized for the Internet – set
up with the appropriate file size and dimension. Images straight out of a digital camera are not
optimized for the Internet – they are very high resolution for printing. The average image size should
be between 15 and 50k.
If you need help, send images to
mailto:support@BookingCenter.com
with accurate descriptions of
each image. We can then size them for you and upload to your booking system.
To upload an image to the Internet, click ‘Browse’ and select the image desired from your computer.
Then, click ‘Submit’ or ‘Replace’ to upload the image.
* Tip - If you are replacing an image, often your browser will continue to display the old image even
though you have uploaded a new image. Click ctrl + F5 to Refresh your screen.
Room Type Images
Each Room type is allowed 1 image. In some cases, it is attractive to make a collage of images. If
you are selling through the GDS, you are not allowed to use collages and the images must be (300 x
300 min and 480 x 480 max). If you are not selling through the GDS then it does not matter what
size images are used.
Property Images
The Main Images used are:
o
Banner – Image Header above the Booking Screens. The optimum image is no more that 150
pixels high. Must not include phone numbers or e-mail.
o
Exterior
(300 x 300 min - 480 x 480 max):
– Usually a road shot of the property.
o
Exterior Thumbnail
(110 x 110 max)
o
Map
(300 x 300 min - 430 x 430 max)
In addition, we are now uploading images to select websites linked to the GDS distribution. If you do
not use the option to sell through the GDS you can ignore these images. Images size restriction - (300
x 300 min - 480 x 480 max)
o
Conference
o
Golf
o
Lobby
o
Pool
o
Property
o
Recreation
o
Restaurant
o
Spa
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Agents
Your website is the centrepiece of your Internet Marketing, but you can’t afford to stop there. The
Booking System is a powerful sales and marketing tool that helps you build a presence across a wide
variety of websites and the Global Distribution Systems (GDS), collectively known as the Global
Booking Network. In the past, you bought ads in travel websites just like ads in magazines. Today,
the leading travel websites work on commissions instead of fixed fees. That means you only pay for
results. With a small budget you can list on more websites.
The Online Booking system gives you centralized control over many sales channels. A change to
availability or pricing immediately updates all linked websites. Booking made at one website
immediately update availability for all websites. Advance payments are always paid direct to the
property based on their own terms and conditions.
Tracking the origin of bookings and paying commissions is also simplified. Any booking that is
cancelled will automatically reconcile commissions payable to Agents. Agents have a special
management system to view booking history. Agents are issued an ID and password. This gives them
the ability to track bookings and commissions. If you have specific agents you want enabled to make
online bookings, please contact BookingCenter at +1-707-874-3922 ext. 201.
Our goal is to help you develop a
network of agents and travel websites we call the Global Booking
Network
– and specifically those relevant to your business targeting local, regional and topical travel
websites. There is no cost to become an agent.
Equally attractive is the opportunity to sell through
Global Distribution Systems
used by Domestic and
International Travel Agents as well as links in over 10,000 International Travel websites such as
Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity. The GDS is a special service that requires a one time enrolment fee.
Contact BookingCenter at +1-707-874-3922 ext. 201.
Agent Relationships
and
Agent Allocations
Most properties give all agents equal access to sell all rooms on a first come first serve basis. From
time to time, there is need to provide special allocations. Examples:
o
A wholesale agent that buys at an entirely different rate,
o
Websites that are do not see all Room Types,
o
Prices are adjusted up or down to reflect commissions
To View all agents currently able to sell for your property, click
Agent Relationships.
Click Agent Id
to view contact details for agents. Click Rooms Allocated to view the specific rooms this agent can
sell.
Rate Loading is a simple way to adjust the prices paid by guests for a specific agent.
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34
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35
To adjust Room Type allocations for specific agents, go to
Agent Allocations
. Page down to the
Agent that you want to adjust. Set the number of Rooms Allocated for each Room Type and click
Update to save changes.
If you have 4 Double Rooms, and you allocate 2 to Agent BC, this means buyers booking from this
agent source can only book the first 2 available Double rooms on any given day. Therefore, if you
have 4 Double Rooms available the buyer can see and book 2 rooms. If you have 2 rooms available,
the buyer will not see any available Double Rooms and therefore can not make a booking.
Reports
The
Reports
area is available to users who upgraded to the Management Tool Pro. The purpose of
these Reports are for managers who many of the conveniences of a property management system, but
don't wish for a full-blown system. The Management Tool Pro – and specifically the reports area - has
been especially helpful for rental management companies or agencies who manage a large number of
properties and wish each one to be managed individually (per owner, in some cases) concurrently
allowing for consolidated reporting via the Portal Admin area. To see if this upgrade is right for you,
see:
http://www.bookingcenter.com/products/management_tool_pro.html
and then contact
BookingCenter to upgrade. The Reports area is divided into functional groupings and is intended to
be run for property-by-property needs. Included are the following reports:
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36
Make a Test Booking
Make A Member's Area Booking
If you have not already done so, please make a test booking. There is not cost to make test bookings.
Please make as many bookings as needed to learn the system and train your staff.
The easiest way to make a Test Booking is to click
Online Bookings
and then “Make a Members Area
Booking”. It’s always a good idea to cancel test bookings when they have served their purpose.
Online Bookings
Online Bookings is used to create reports that display a summary of bookings. The default report
displays bookings made in the ‘Last 7 Days’. To change the results; select the desired month or time
period and click ‘Fetch’. Use ‘where’ to find bookings with specific criterion such as guest name,
arrival date, etc. Sorting bookings will order a large report to make results easy to use.
*Tip – Any Month will display all bookings, and sorting makes it easy to find specific results. If a
booking has been cancelled, it will not display if your report criterion calls for ‘cancellations’
excluded.
Booking Details
Online Bookings displays a summary of bookings. To see the full detail of a booking, you must click
the Booking ID.
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37
*Tip –The ‘Booking Status’ refers to:
• Incomplete: awaiting credit card authorization – if no authorization is obtained in 10 minutes
from booking, the booking will be automatically cancelled. This status in only available to
Point of Sale (POS) users who are processing automatic deposits into their merchant accounts.
Email confirmations only go to Manager and Guest after the card authorization is acquired
and status is changed to ‘Confirmed’.
• Review: Awaiting Confirmation
• Confirmed: obvious
• Unconfirmed: obvious
• Active: Booking has been ‘checked in’
• Cancelled: Booking was cancelled
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38
Receipt Details
A Receipt is created each time a deposit is taken or a credit card transaction is processed. If you are
setup to use online processing of deposits, then ‘receipts’ will be automatically issued against the
booking in the amount specified in the deposit. Clicking on the Receipt link shows Receipt Details,
including an authorization and transaction ID when using a credit card gateway with the POS Module.
If you wish to use the features for adding Receipts – both credits and debits – to bookings, then make
sure you upgrade to the Management Tool Pro product. To see if this upgrade is right for you, see:
http://www.bookingcenter.com/products/management_tool_pro.html
and then contact BookingCenter
to upgrade. In addition to offering the capability for managing credits and debits, the Management
Tool Pro provides a comprehensive
Letters
feature to allow unlimited customized communication –
via printer, email, fax, or .pdf – for sending correspondence to Guests associated with bookings, as
well as a full suite of Reports to better manage the system.
Network Commissions
Bookings are considered to be Completed and Commissionable unless they are cancelled.
Commissions are payable after bookings are completed by the guest. It is good practice to cancel
bookings as soon as you know the guest will not complete the stay. This restores availability to new
buyers and adjusts your commissions payable to agents and the network.
On the 1
st
of each month, the property will receive an automated e-mail with a list of all completed
bookings. If a booking was not completed, go to the Booking Details and Cancel the Booking. If a
booking was completed, but the value of the booking changed; go to the Booking Details and Edit the
Booking Value. All reconciliations must be completed by the 15
th
of the month.
On the 16
th
of the month, your account will be deemed due. Commissions are payable immediately.
Failure to pay commissions by the 30
th
may result in having your account suspended or paying a ‘late
fee’ as stipulated in your Account Form.
Global Booking Network
Any booking made through a Global Booking Network systems (such as Pegasus, Sabre, Galileo,
WorldSpan, and Amadeus) must be cancelled from the same place it was made.
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39
Example: A guest who booked at Travelocity calls/emails to cancel. He must go back and cancel
directly from Travelocity.
Example: A guest who booked with a Travel Agent wants to cancel. She must go back and cancel
directly from her Travel Agent.
If the booking is not cancelled from its origin, there will be a cancellation fee charged to you.
If you are sold out of a unit and want to cancel a booking, you have three options:
1. Contact the guest and see if you can switch them to a different (similar) unit so that you can retain
the booking.
2. Offer to ‘walk’ the guest - by suggesting another local inn for the guest.
3. If you cannot accommodate the booking, please contact the guest to cancel the booking. Have the
guest cancel through the channel that they booked.
Important Note About Cancellations About Network Bookings: For a Travel Agent booking, contact
the Agent who made the booking to get the guest’s contact details and have the Agent cancel the
booking. If a booking is made on a GDS or a Global Booking Network Site – known by the Source on
the booking, as well as the CRS Confirmation ID –then it is imperative that you inform the Guest
he/she must cancel the booking with the Agent or the website from where it was booked. If you cancel
the booking directly in the Member’s Area, that booking will be considered cancelled ‘Out of Channel
and you will be billed US$10. For more information on the Global Booking Network and Out of
Channel Cancellations, please review the Global Booking Network Frequently Asked Questions
(FAQ) at: http://www.bookingcenter.com/support/.
Modifications to the amount
Adjustment to the amount can be made until approximately the 15
th
on the month after check-out. This
is useful if the guest extended or shortened their stay. Simply click the ADJUSTMENT button and fill
in the actual booking amount. There is more detail on this process at:
http://www.bookingcenter.com/help/adjust_booking.html
If you have a cancellation or a no show, your policy should cover any fees that will be incurred.
Enforce your no show policy and charge the guest a penalty. Please review your cancellation and no
show policies to make sure they will cover any commission charged through the GDS channels.
