Our Development Team has outdone themselves with this release! We are excited to share not only a large number of enhancements but quality features for your property.
New Features and Improvements:
eRes Enhancements
- Speed Optimization - We have optimized the loading time of the eRes Booking engine to decrease the loading time by as much as 5x.
- Rate Category Filtering - Guests will now have the option to filter by ‘Rate Category’, whether through the eRes Booking Widget on the property website or from the primary search page on the booking engine. For existing properties that have a booking widget, if you would like to convert to the new Widget with the Rate Category filter, please contact support. To learn more about this update to eRes – CLICK HERE
RoomKey Enhancements
Market Segments
Previously, when entering Market Segments on Rate Plans, the field was a “free form” type and did not allow for modifications. A new ‘Market Segment’ tab has been added to the ‘Property Master’ menu so managers can define, modify, or inactivate Market Segments as needed. To learn more about the Market Segments feature CLICK HERE
Rate Wizard Permissions
Additional permissions have been added to the ‘Rate Wizard’ that will allow the property managers to give access to ‘Rate Wizard’ but limit the areas that clerks can modify such as Length of Stay, Rate Update, Close, etc. To learn about new permissions added to Rate Wizard CLICK HERE
Rate Wizard Enhancements
In the current version of RoomKey, the ‘Rate Wizard’ screen has one tab for updating rates (General Tab) and one tab for reviewing the changes made to the rates (Rate Calendar). RoomKey now allows you to immediately see the changes you have made to the rate on the same ‘General’ tab. To learn more about this Rate Wizard enhancement CLICK HERE
When creating Rate Plans in ‘Rate Wizard’, a ‘Rate Category’ and ‘Market Segment’ is needed to create the ‘Rate Plan’ and then a ‘Client Type’ is needed to attach the Rate Plan to. Because ‘Rate Category’, ‘Market Segments’, and ‘Client Type’ exist in different areas outside of the ‘Rate Wizard’, it only made sense to create shortcuts to these areas in the Rate Wizard.
Number to Sell
The ‘Number to Sell’ (NTS) feature in RoomKey has received three enhancements:
- The NTS function was previously only used for the eRes Online Booking engine but it is now also available for ‘Direct’ hotel bookings
- NTS can be set on a ‘Tiered Rates’
- ‘Accumulate Number To Sell’ has been added and is configurable across ‘Room Types’ and ‘Tiered Rates’.
To learn more about the enhancements made to Number to Sell (NTS) CLICK HERE
Hide Rate Added to Rate Plans
Currently in RoomKey there is a ‘Hide Rate’ feature available on ‘Client Types’; this feature has now been made available on the ‘Rate Plan’ level in ‘Rate Wizard’. To learn more about the new ‘Hide Rate’ feature CLICK HERE
As an added bonus to both ‘Hide Rate’ features, we have added a flashing ‘Hide Rate’ indicator to the reservations. To learn more about the ‘Hide Rate’ indicator - CLICK HERE
Adjustment Reasons and Reversing Adjustments
Two big impact changes have been made to making adjustments in RoomKey. To learn more about adding a reason to Adjustments CLICK HERE
Going a step further to improve usability, Adjustments can now be reversed. To learn more about reversing an Adjustment CLICK HERE
Group Changes
Two changes were made to Groups, firstly RoomKey now shows ‘Block Totals’ on the ‘Group Block’ tab. Secondly, is the ability to maximize the ‘Group’ window; this will come in especially handy on the block screen for hotels that have a large number of ‘Room Types’ or a group that has multiple nights.
Default Landing Page for RoomKey
In the ‘Clerks’ area, there is now an option to set the open screen for each clerk. Managers may want to be set to the ‘Property Dashboard’ whereas the ‘Reservation Agent’ may be interested in opening to the ‘Inventory Calendar’. To learn more about this update to the Clerks area CLICK HERE
RoomKey Group Reports
Now available are three new Group Reports. The new Reports will help properties identify segments, properly forecast group revenue as separated from transient revenue, and truly identify the performance of the groups:
- Occupancy and Revenue Actual Group vs Transient- CLICK HERE for more info
- Groups Room Control (GRC) - CLICK HERE for more info
- Group Revenue Summary- CLICK HERE for more info
Advance Invoicing
This feature will primarily be useful for long term stay properties or long term stay guests where the guest pays for periods of stay ahead of time. This feature will display a ‘Guest Folio’ with scheduled charges for past/present/future charges. To learn more about this Advance Invoicing feature CLICK HERE
Interfaces & Integrations
Skywire Spa Integration
Our newest interface connects seamlessly to Skywire's intuitive Spa management solution that allows for easy Spa management. With a direct integration with the RoomKeyPMS guest folio, this interface creates a seamless guest experience. For more information on Skywire's Spa solution, please contact RoomKeyPMS sales team at [email protected] or visit http://www.skywire.com/solutions/skywire-spa.
Go Moment Integration - Mobile Texting Engagement Platform
Go Moment automates guest engagement at hotels nationwide, boosting reputation and revenues on autopilot. Go Moment is a texting engagement platform that allows hotels to communicate directly with hotel customers using a mobile device and texting tools. This allows hotel managers to collect, manage and respond to customer feedback while they are on-property. Utilizing RoomKey’s API to determine check-in time, date, phone number and check-out date hoteliers can easily engage the customer’s from the moment they arrive on property.
For more information on Go Moment, please visit http://www.gomoment.com/.
Business Insights Reports
Through the Business Insights portal we have added a few new key reports:
- Reservation Productivity Report - CLICK HERE for more info
- Revenue Management Best Available Rate Report - CLICK HERE for more info
Report Tweaks in Business Insights:
- Display All Blank Columns when exporting to Excel
- When Exporting to Excel, all number are exported as numbers, not text, so that they can be used in formulas. E.g., Sum of numbers
- Room Night columns are now included in the CSV export, not just the column that displays the total number of room nights
Tweaks and Defects Fixes:
We have also fixed a number of defects in RoomKey including:
- Re-organizing of reservation summary
- Implemented backend efficiencies to eRes search when clients are making bookings on eRes
- On the Calendar Screen of a reservation, if Client Type, Arrival Date, Departure Date, Nights, adults, or children is changed and you click on Rate selection, RoomKey gives the warning “You must Refresh the Page”; now RoomKey will auto refresh
- Reports => Financial => Transaction Register Balance => previously the report was showing the Clerk as RoomKey whenever a City Ledger Transfer was performed; it will now show the actual Clerk name the performed the transfer
- Additional fields have been added to the Future Reservations created under Operations => Property Dashboard => Future Reservation Created Report. New fields include: Book Date, Client Type, Source of Business, Rate Plan, Market Segment, and ADR
- Reports => Forecasts => Occupancy and Revenue Forecasts - report was not using overridden rates from groups rate tab (from last release)
- Check Out Time on groups was defaulting to 12:00 pm check out for all properties, now defaulting to the Default Check-Out Time set under System Configuration => Property => Preferences
- No Show view was affected by Time Zone settings where No Show would be hidden on the No Show screen between 12:00 am to 1:00 am; issue has been resolved
- On interfaced iHotelier - TravelClick reservations, the Source of Business were all coming through as “TravelC” instead of using Source of Business sent through iHotelier; interface will now reflect Source of Business sent through interface
- When creating Rate Override Reasons, the reason would copy over to Cancel/Check Out Reasons; this has been fixed
- For Multi-Property users, there was an issue with a Custom Reg Card format from 1 property, effecting other properties in the chain; this has been resolved so that each Properties Reg Card within the chain will be their own
If you have any questions about these items please contact our support team at [email protected].