BookingCenter Customer Newsletter Winter 2007
Seasons Greetings and best wishes for a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2008. In this edition
of the BookingCenter Customer Newsletter you will find:
New: BookingCenter Management Tool Enhancements
New: Sabre Star Rating Process
Join The Priceline Merchant Model and be enrolled in Agoda.com
Coming Soon: BookingCenter Desktop Pro Version 6
As always, we appreciate your support and welcome your comments about how BookingCenter helps your property. Write to us at: http://www.BookingCenter.com/contact.html or call us at +1-707-874-3922.
BookingCenter MyPMS Enhancements
These new features were added automatically in the last update to MyPMS:
High Balance Report: Addition of Payment Method to Arrivals List: Online Users Display: Pass on Log: Reservation Comments Report:
This report offers a way to view current in house balances that exceed the authorization on the credit card used at check in.. Accessed via the Reports Menu > Daily Reports > High Balance Report. Specify the amount you consider to be your high balance, then select how you would like to sort the results, by: Room, Folio Number, Guest Name, or Balance.
This has been added to both the report version, and the interactive version accessed by clicking on the Arrivals button on the main front desk navigation bar.
This feature will display any and all users currently logged into your property. The display refreshes itself automatically every time the Front Desk Screen is accessed, or when Front Desk button is clicked.
Now users can pass on pertinent information from one shift to the next. It can be accessed from the Front Desk drop down on the main navigation bar, and selects the add button. Next the user simply inputs a Title, and a message. Once done, click save, and the information will be displayed on the main front desk page until the night audit has incremented to the next business date. Users can also add additional comments to the original message if more information needs to be shared.
You can now pull a report for a specified date range, with up to 3 types of comments left on reservations for those days. This report is filterable by: Guest Comments, Reservation Comments, Folio Comments, and all Comments. And Sortable by: Confirmation number, Guest Name, or Folio Number. This report is also available in our new On Screen/Interactive format for easy access to the guest record.
BookingCenter Management Tool Enhancements
The enhanced Members Area offers immediate improvements, including:
The Availability Calendar shows what blocks or bookings were made or last modified, keeping an audit of user activity to be able to answer the question - When was that changed?
The Booking Details screen in the Members Area can now break out complete details of all booking related details, from Items sold as POS Items, to Items included in a Package, to deposits, and all tax details.
This allows users of the Management Tool to have Booking Details act as near to as a Property Management System as possible. This new feature also allows users of the Desktop or MyPMS Property Management Systems to view complete details of what online bookings or Packages were sold - and in what configuration (deposit for Room or Item(s), taxed deposit, etc) - to the customer. This is especially important if bookings get edited or altered by staff after the booking occurred.
New Sabre Star Rating Process
The GDS system Sabre has issued a new process for their Star Ratings, called Crown Ratings. This Crown Rating process is similar to a AAA rating, but is used only by Sabre. There is no fee for participation in this program.
If your property in the GDS system and has an interest in obtaining a crown rating through Sabre, please send an e-mail to sabrehotelreq@ntmllc.com with your hotel name, your property address, and property phone number. Sabre, through a company called Northstar, will start the process to have this star rating for your property. Sabre will confirm this internally and post on the GDS. Unfortunately, this process must be done manually through the process outlined above.
Join The Priceline Merchant Model and be enrolled in Agoda.com
Properties participating in Priceline/Travelweb merchant programs can gain exposure and generate bookings from the large Agoda Pan-Asian customer base. Agoda.com offers online reservations in 12 languages and reaches hundreds of thousands of customers in the Asia Pacific region. Receiving more international business from Agoda.com is an excellent reason to become a Priceline/Travelweb merchant partner and automatically be enrolled in Agoda.com as well.
For more details contact BookingCenter GDS Support at: gds_support@bookingcenter.com
Coming Soon: BookingCenter Desktop Pro Version 6
BookingCenter is close to completing our beta testing of Version 6 Desktop Property Management Software. Version 6 is Macintosh OSX and Vista compatible, has an updated look, new navigation menu, and is prettier to look at. Look for the official release announcement for BookingCenter Version 6 in mid January 2008.
We appreciate your continued support and are here to help in any way. Just email support@BookingCenter.com or call us at +1-707-874-3922.