New Tax Option For VAT Included

For users in countries where tax is included in the price, we now have an option to set the system to include VAT. Taxes are still calculated, but are not shown to the guest. To see the tax information, a template can be created using the tax merge codes, or export the reservation data to an Excel file.

To enable this, change the setting in Settings tab, Preferences:


Once changed, the system will no longer show taxes in the {{resdetails}} codes, or in the Reservation Summary. In the Reservation Summary, taxes can still be shown by clicking Taxes, such as is shown here:


Example of what {{resdetails_ledger}} looks like without the tax information:


Setting up taxes and rates remains the same, except that the rates should now include the tax. We also added a new enhancement to the split tax rules. It is now possible to select whether Part 1 of the split tax should be a straight money amount, or a percentage of the price (such as tax 50% of the total price at 25% and the remaining amount at 8%). Example:


If you are interested in using this feature, and want to help us refine it, feel free to send suggestions.

New Flexibility in Taxes on Items for Sale and Fees

It is now possible to set exactly which taxes (if any) apply to Items for Sale and Fees. Previously, we had just one setting taxable or non-taxable. Now, to set as non-taxable, just don't check any taxes to apply to the item. Otherwise, check the taxes that should apply. This allows for greater flexibility, and is more straightforward when setting up the three areas where taxes may apply (Rate Plans, Items for Sale, and Fees). Each section is the same now; just check which taxes to apply.

Example of selecting which taxes in the Item for Sale settings screen:


When adding an Item for Sale or Fee on the fly to a reservation, it is also possible to select which taxes to apply. Example:


We have converted all the old taxable/non-taxable settings to use this new system. This can be double checked by looking at your Items For Sale settings (under Website tab) and verifying the correct taxes to apply are checked. And the same goes for Fees (under Properties tab).

Press Enter To Search

A few fields have been updated to have the ability to start a search by pressing enter instead of having to click the search button.

Places you can press enter instead of clicking a search button:
- last name field in the Reservation Summary screen (opens the contact search box)
- last name field in the contact search popup box
- Reservation Manager, Guests tab - the search field

New Option to Include Tax on Percentage Items for Sale

Now you can set whether or not an item for sale that is a percentage should calculate the percentage price based on the total reservation price, including or excluding tax. This is useful if you are selling something such as Trip Insurance, that needs to be based on the total price of the entire reservation, including tax.

Section for making this selection:

New Alert If Auto Payment Does Not Complete

We have added an alert in case a PayPal subscription payment is not automatically received. Prior to this, account access would be automatically disabled as soon as the currently paid month expired. The difficulty with this is sometimes users would find themselves unable to log into their ReservationKey account without advance notice. Usually the payment is not received because the credit card used as the PayPal funding source has expired. It is an easy fix by logging into PayPal and updating the credit card, but frustrating because user's accounts would go inactive until the payment issue was corrected.

Now, we have instituted a 15 day grace period in which to correct the payment problem. Once the funding source in PayPal is updated, PayPal will usually try to make the payment again, automatically. In these cases no further action will be needed on the part of the user. If, for some reason the payment does not happen automatically, the new 15 day grace period will give the user enough time to contact Support and sort out the issue.

Here is an example of what the new alert looks like (it will only appear if an account is in the non-payment grace period):

Arrive Depart in Calendar Search Mode

We've added lines for Arrive and Depart dates in the summary section when in the Calendar Search Mode (mode where users click calendar to select dates). This addition matches what we already had in the Availability Search Mode. This should help guests be extra clear on the arrive/depart dates they have selected.

Example:

New Guestbook Spam Prevention

In order to prevent spam being submitted on the Guestbook comments form, we have added a new section. To successfully submit a comment, a simple numerical question must be answered by selecting the correct answer from a dropdown list. The questions ask for answers to the sum of random numbers. This is our first attempt at solving the spam issue. If the problem continues, we will refine our spam prevention techniques.

Example:

New Internal Messaging System

Welcome to the new internal messaging system. We will be using this system to announce changes and improvements to the system.

Also, a big part of the system is the ability to send communications internally to Support, instead of by email. We hope to transition the majority of our support messages to this system rather than by email. By having everything internal, all support messages are automatically linked to your account, which makes it much easier for us to match questions to accounts. A problem with email is we don't have your user name when you send a message, which makes it more time consuming to find the user account asking the question. Another big benefit of this new system is we will be saving all correspondence which will make it very easy to quickly get up to speed with an account's support history. And the ability to quickly send out announcements to all our users will be very useful in keeping users up to date with changes and improvements.

As the system gets used, we will be refining it and adding more features, one of which will be a search feature.

Thanks for using this new messaging system, and please let us know any suggestions you may have concerning it.

Thanks!

John

Fees and Items for Sale Line Items

Now, instead of breaking down multiple Fees and Items for Sale into one line per item, they are combined onto one line. If the quantity is more than one, then a number is added after the description, to indicate how many were added. Currently this is only for items added internally. We likely also will change items added through Reservation Pages to display in this format.

Send a Reply to this message if you have any reason why we shouldn't display items like this. Thanks!

Example:

How to Create Dropdown Field for Check-in Time

By popular demand, you can now customize the Check-In Time field to leave it as a text field, or make it a dropdown with your own dropdown selection text.

To make a dropdown, go to Website tab, Reservation Pages, edit your page, scroll down to near the bottom, the section called Reservation Form, and click Customize. In the label field for Check-In Time, add your label, in this format:
[label name] dropdown:[value1#value2#value3]

Everything after the word "dropdown:" will be assumed to be the dropdown values, separated by # sign. Everything up to the word "dropdown:" is treated as the label for the field.

Such as:
Check-in Time (11am - 11pm only) dropdown:11am-1pm#1pm-3pm#3pm-5pm#5pm-7pm#7pm-11pm

Here is what the final product looks like:

New Tax Merge Codes in Templates

Added new codes to email templates - for total amounts paid of each tax category. The format for the new codes is like this:

{{tax(876): Hotel Tax}}
{{tax(877): Sales Tax}}

New Internal Title Field for Templates

A field for an internal title has been added to the email templates screen. This allows for an internal template name to be used rather than just the template subject. If no template name has been entered, the subject line will be continued to be used to reference the template. The template name is used internally only; guests will not see this name.

No More Accidental Deletion of Admin User

Removed "Delete" option from listing of user accounts, for the admin account. This will prevent the admin account from being accidentally deleted.

Example: