The following article explains what Guest Services are, and how to create them in the PMS.
What are Guest Services?
Guest Services are add-ons that can be attached to a reservation at the time of booking.
Guest Services can be used in two ways:
- To identify specific guest requests in which there is no additional charge required (ie: away from elevator request, near elevator request, high floor request, etc…). These Guest Services have no cost associated with them; they are simply used to indicate guest preferences.
- As a method of charging guests for a specific guest service (ie: cot, bike rental, ski tickets, etc…). These Guest Services have a cost associated with them and can be charged per stay or daily, per room or per person, and for adult, children or both. This type of Guest Service is often used when creating a Dynamic Package.
Guest Services Module Overview
Go to System Configuration > Guest Services.
The Guest Services area has 3 tabs:
1. Services - The main tab where the Guest Service is created.
Vendors
2. Vendors - This tab is used to track vendors that the property may use to supply some of the Guest Services offered. For example, if the property uses Island Scooters as a 3rd Party rental agency to offer scooter rentals to guests, a Vendor account would be created, and the scooter rental Guest Service would be attached to it so that any scooter rentals can be tracked by vendor. This is done using the Guest Services By Vendor report.
- To add a vendor go to the Vendor tab and select Add
- Input all the vendor information and then select Post
If a Vendor is no longer being used, they can be deactivated by selecting their account in the list, clicking Edit, and un-checking the box next to Active.
Service Groupings
3. Service Groupings - This area allows Guest Service Groupings to be created. Guest Services can be added to a grouping, and the grouping can be used as a filter to help find specific Guest Services from the list quickly. This is especially helpful when there are a large variety of Guest Services available in the PMS.
- To add a Service Grouping select Add
- Input the name for the Service Grouping and select Post
NOTE: It is advisable as a Best Practice to create all Vendors and Service Groupings prior to creating the Guest Services.
Creating A Guest Service with No Charge
Under the Services tab, click Add and fill in the following information:
- Code – codes can be up to 20 characters in length. This code will appear on all of the guest service related reports
- Name – a short name for the guest service that can be up to 30 characters in length, this name will appear under the Services tab in the Reservation window
- Description – a description of the Guest Service
- Repeatable – Depending on the intended purpose of a guest service, the components can be made repeatable. The Transaction can repeat charge based on Stay, Daily, Weekly or Monthly, and can be applied to a Room, or a Person. If applied to a Person, it can be applied to either Adults, Children or Any (ie: both adults & children). In the Away from Elevator guest service example below, this service does not need to be repeatable as it is a Guest Preference which will be addressed prior to the guests arrival.
- Transaction Based – there is no charge affiliated with this guest service and therefore this section does not need to be filled out.
- Vendor – there is no vendor affiliated with this guest service and therefore will leave the vendor blank
- Grouping – this guest service is being grouped as a Guest Preference. Therefore, when creating a guest reservation, the grouping Guest Preferences would be selected to filter to this guest service, and any other related guest services.
When done, click Post to save.
Adding Guest Services to a Reservation
When creating or modifying a Reservation, under the Services tab, use the Grouping drop down menu to select the desired Service Grouping.
With the Guest Services grouping selected, the list filters down to services in that grouping only. Use the arrow to move the desired service from the list on right, over to the reservation.
Because this guest service is just a preference and has no fee attached to it, the Price will show $0.00. Under the Dates for the stay, there is a 1 under the first night (March 18), as the service is not repeatable, and only occurs once, as it is not based on the number of people in the room.
Guest Services Report
Reviewing the Guest Services report, the service will show up as below.
Creating a Guest Service with a Charge
For any Guest Services with charges associated with them, a corresponding Transaction Code must be set up first. For more information on creating Transaction Codes, please consult the article How to set up a Transaction Code in the System Configuration manual.
When setting up a Transaction based guest service, both the Transaction Code, and the Guest Service must follow the same repeating rules regarding how it posts. In the example below, the Valet Parking Transaction Code is set to repeat Daily, per Room.
Go to System Configuration > Guest Services. Under the Services tab, click Add and fill in the following information:
- Code – codes can be up to 20 characters in length. This code will appear on all of the guest service related reports
- Name – a short name for the guest service that can be up to 30 characters in length, this name will appear under the Services tab in the Reservation window
- Description – a description of the Guest Service
- Repeatable – Depending on the intended purpose of a guest service, the components can be made repeatable. The Transaction can repeat charge based on Stay, Daily, Weekly or Monthly, and can be applied to a Room, or a Person. If applied to a Person, it can be applied to either Adults, Children or Any (ie: both adults & children). In the Valet Parking example below, the guest service is set to repeat daily, per room. This is the same rule that was set on the original transaction code in the Transaction Code module.
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Transaction Based – Place a check in the box next to Transaction Based to indicate that there will be charge for this guest service
- Using the drop down menu, select the associated transaction code that will be used to post charges for this guest service
- Insert the rate to post for this guest service
- Vendor – If there is a 3rd Party vendor that supplies this guest service, select them from the drop down list
- Grouping – this guest service is being grouped as a Guest Service. Therefore, when creating a guest reservation, the grouping Guest Services would be selected to filter to this guest service, and any other related guest services
When done, click Post to save.
Adding Guest Services to a Reservation
When creating or modifying a Reservation, under the Services tab, use the Grouping drop down menu to select the desired Service Grouping.
With the Guest Services grouping selected, the list filters down to services in that grouping only. Use the arrow to move the desired service from the list on right, over to the reservation.
Because this guest service is transaction based, when added to the reservation, the charge will show up under the Price column. In this case, the charge is $42.00 per night. Under the Dates of the stay, (Mar 18-20) there is a 1, indicating that this charge will post once per day, each day of the stay. The associated charges for the guest service will show at the bottom of the screen, with totals including any taxes that may apply.
Editing the Posting
NOTE: It is possible to edit the Price, and the frequency of when the service posts each day by simply typing over the fields. For example, the price could be re-entered as $30, and if the guest only has the car for the first two nights, under Mar 20, delete the 1 to prevent the service from posting on that night. The price will update at the bottom to reflect the changes made.
Guest Services Report
Reviewing the Guest Services report, the service will show up as below.
The Seasons tab
The Seasons tab is used to control price fluctuations of a Guest Service by date range. In the below example, the Valet Parking guest service is set to post at $42.00 per night. To change the price of the service, click Insert.
Changing Prices
Fill in the following information:
- Date From - Will default to the current date, but can be set to start on any date past the current date
- Date To - Will default to the current date. If the price of the service goes up or down based on seasons, and end date can be entered. If the price is just going up, and there is no projected end date when it will change again, this field can be left blank, making the change effective indefinitely
- Price - Enter the new price of the service
- Not Available (optional) - If the Guest Service is truly seasonal, such as Lift Tickets or Kayak Rentals, it can be made unavailable for a period of time, so that it cannot be used during the off-season. This will remove the Guest Service from the Services tab of the Reservation window during the selected dates. It will also remove it from the eRes Mobile Booking Engine, if it was made available for booking online.
When done, click Post to save the changes.
Creating Seasons
To create seasonal pricing, follow the same steps as above, but use the Date From and Date To to define when the pricing changes.
