Slight Change Calendar Header Functionality

We've made a small change to the calendar header functionality, in order to make it easier to view past reservations from earlier in the current month.

Now, when clicking the current month, just like when clicking any of the other months, the calendar will start at the first day of that month (instead of X number of days prior to today's date).



The calendar will still load based on today's date, but if you click the month name it will start the view at the first of the month. You can still go to "today" by clicking the [T] link.

Change Status/Add Star(s) Automatically if Discount Code Used or Item for Sale Added

It is now possible to have the reservation status set automatically when a Discount Code is used or when Item(s) for Sale are added to the reservation. This is useful if you want a visual alert as to which reservations have items for sale or a discount code was used.

Items for Sale

Go to Website Tab, Items for Sale and edit an existing item or create a new item. Select Advanced Options and set which reservation status color the reservation should be set to, and select which star(s) to apply (if any) when this item for sale is added to the reservation.



Save your changes, and now these settings will be automatically applied when a new online reservation is received that contains this item for sale.

Discount Codes

The process is basically the same. Go to Website Tab, Discount Codes, add/edit, and select the status code and/or star(s).




Note, if BOTH an item for sale and a discount code is used, only the settings from the discount code will apply. If multiple items for sale are added, only the settings from one item for sale will apply.

New Mobile Version - Easy to Setup

Trends in computing are constantly changing, and one big trend these days is that more and more people are using their mobile devices to accomplish what they might have previously done with their full size computers. Therefore it is important to make sure your website and reservation system displays nicely on mobile devices as well as on traditional laptop and desktop computer based browsers. Larger devices such as iPads and other tablets likely display your regular website without much difficult, but smaller devices such as mobile phones (iPhone, Android, Windows Phone, etc.) might have a harder time since their screens are typically much smaller.

In response the this increasing demand for mobile usage, we have created some new options which make it extremely easy to use your existing Reservation Page on a mobile device. In the Reservation Page settings, we now have a section for selecting which theme to use when your guest is viewing your Reservation Page on a mobile device. To accompanying this, we have created a brand new theme called "Mobile Simple One Column" and an option to display the Reservation Page in one column. Previously all of our different styles of Reservation Pages (multiple units, single unit, hotel, etc.) always used two columns. On a small screen however, it is much more difficult to display two columns since the screens simply are not wide enough. So now you have an option to use a single column system on mobile devices. ReservationKey will automatically detect when a guest is using a mobile device and change to the theme you have set as your mobile theme.

To set this up, go to Website Tab, Reservation Pages, and edit. Go to the themes section (near the top), and select which theme to use for mobile. We highly recommend using the new Single Column theme, and make sure you check the box to use the One Column Layout.



Once you have saved these settings, this is all you have to do to turn your existing page into a page that is nicely formatted for mobile use. Now, when a guest visits your Reservation Page with their mobile device they will automatically see the mobile version. Of course, we recommend testing your page on a mobile device and that you make any changes necessary to improve the guest experience.

The mobile interface starts with asking the guest to enter their dates.


After clicking Search, the rooms are displayed.


Once one room is selected, the page will automatically scroll down to the Items for Sale section, or the Reservation Summary if no items are listed.


Then the guest continues scrolling down to complete the reservation form.


The system also works well in landscape mode.


Of course, you might want to edit the look and feel of the mobile version, and that is possible just like we do for the normal themes. Simply load the new Mobile Simple Single Column theme in the Themes and edit as you like.


As always, we will continue to tweak this feature as we receive feedback, and as technology changes.

Require Consecutive Night Stays

Of the five reservation page types we offer (multiple units, calendar search mode, single unit, single unit search, hotel), with two of these types (calendar search mode and single unit), guests click dates on a calendar which means that it is possible for them to reserve non-consecutive night stays. This was actually created on purpose, to give guests the option to reserve non-consecutive night stays. However, some users have requested that reservations always be for consecutive nights. Therefore we have add an option in the Reservation Page settings for whether or not to require consecutive night stays.

The option is about half way down the Reservation Page settings:



Once this is set to Yes, if guests select non-consecutive nights on one of the clickable calendars, they will see an error message. By default, this setting is set to No, don't require consecutive stays.

New Google Analytics Features

We've added additional functionality so that you now can use Google Analytics to track your sales. To use this feature, first add your Google Analytics code to your Reservation Page settings. Copy this code from your Google Analytics account.



The final step is to enable e-commerce tracking in your Google Analytics account.

1. Click Admin in the upper right corner of your account.



2. Click All Website Data



3. Click Profile Settings



4. Under E-Commerce settings, select Yes, an E-Commerce Site.



Now, your sales will show in your Google Analytics account. To view your activity, click Reporting at the top of your account. Then click Conversions, Ecommerce, Overview, on the left side of the page.



You can then view sales by room/unit, and items for sale.

Link Email Messages to Payment Methods

For internally added reservations, it is now possible to select an email template which will be sent automatically as soon as a payment is entered. This is useful if you want to automatically send a confirmation message to the guest, once a payment has been added to the system.

To set this up, first go to Website Tab, Payment Methods, and edit the method you are using. Select one of your templates to use, check whether to always send this message after a payment, or just after the first payment entered, and set the recipient fields.



Now, when you go to the Payments section when editing a reservation, you will see the messages field pre-selected to the message you set. You also can edit the recipients, if necessary. If you have opted to only have the message sent automatically for the first payment, the next time you load the payment section, the message field will default to "No Message" but you can easily override that setting by selecting a message to send. Additionally, at any time should you not want to send a message, just set the selection to "No Message."



The sent message will appear in the Correspondence History & Queue.

As always, even if you do not add a payment prior to confirming a reservation, you still can send a message manually, by clicking on the Correspondence button and selecting a message to send.

Items For Sale Enhancement

It is now possible to link Items For Sale to specific units. For example, if only certain rooms are pet friendly, you can have the pet item for sale only show if the pet friendly room is selected. Or, another example, if only some houses have an optional hot tub, the hot tub can show as an available item only as long as one unit linked to the hot tub is selected.

To make this setting, go to Website Tab, Items for Sale, and select which units the item is linked to, at the bottom, in Advanced Settings.



Then, on the public page, the item will only appear if one of the linked units has been selected.



These enhancements also affect items for sale shown internally. Now, only items linked to the unit(s) selected will show, and, only items that are restricted to show in a certain date range will show depending on the dates of the reservation.

More Status Options; Keeping Rates on Room Changes

Skip Auto Emails and Exclude From Reports

We've noticed that users are now using the Reservation Status "Don't block the calendar" for uses other than for what it was originally designed for, for cancelled reservations. Since this was originally for cancelled reservations any reservation set to a status which doesn't block the calendar would not have automatic emails sent and also would not be included in most of the reports. But since it can be useful to have real reservations set to statuses that don't block the calendar, we've added two new options, in order to make this a bit more flexible.

You can now set whether or not automatic emails should be sent based on the status. And, you can also set whether or not reservations should be excluded from reports based on the status.



In order to keep things functioning as they have been, all statuses that were previously set to not block the calendar have been updated to have both these new options checked. But if you do have a status where you want autoemails to be sent, you can now go to the Settings Tab, Reservation Status and adjust these settings.

Use Original Rates

Now, when moving a reservation to a different Room/Unit, we have an option whether or not to keep the rates of the originally assigned Room/Unit. By default this box is NOT checked, but if you want to use the original rates check the box before clicking Change. If the box is not checked, then we will pull the rates for the new Room/Unit from the rate plan.

Captcha Option for Gift Certificates

If you find you are receiving spam through your Gift Certificate purchase page, there is now an option to require users to enter a captcha code. We made this an option, because if spam is not a problem on your page, then there is no reason to make your buyers go through this extra step.

Enable this in the Gift Certificates settings page:



Once enabled, buyers will need to enter the captcha code:

Color Code Units; Search by Room/Unit

It is now possible to set the color of the Room/Unit name on the internal calendar. This can be useful for grouping units into different properties, especially for users that are managing many properties with ReservationKey.

The setting can be made at any level - Property/Location or Room/Unit or Fraction. Setting the color at the more specific level overrides a color set at a more general level. For example, a color for a specific fraction will override any color set at the Room/Unit or Property/Location level. If you want all units that are part of the same Property to use the same color, then just set the color at the Property/Location level and all units that are part of that Property/Location will inherit that color setting. Or, overrride the color by setting different colors for specific Rooms/Units.

These settings are in the edit screen. Such, as is seen here, in the Properties/Location screen:



Setting the colors, has this affect on the internal calendar:



And, unrelated to this, you can now search by specific unit, in the Reservations tab:

New Features for Property Managers

For property managers using ReservationKey, it is now easier to create owner reports. The first step is to enter all your owners, in the Settings Tab, Lists.



Next, going to the Properties Tab, and edit each unit, under Rooms/Units. At the bottom, there is a new section for linking the owner to the unit, and for setting your standard commission amount.



In the Reports section, open the Owner's Report. There you can select which columns to show, which fees to include expenses on, whether to include any expense categories, and a few more settings. The commission amount will be based on what you set in the rooms/unit settings. NOTE: the commission can be overriden on a reservation by reservation basis, by adding expenses. Any data saved in the expenses section will replace the standard commission, on this report.



To email the report to the owner, once you have all the settings as you like them, click the Email button. From the email page you can create and save email templates for use in sending the report. You also can preview the report before sending it.

New Option for Displaying Cancellation Policy

In response to requests from users, we have added an option to set whether your cancellation policy should display the full text on the reservation page, instead of being displayed in a popup box. It seems that the credit card companies have become more strict about where the cancellation policy needs to be displayed. Unless it is showing right on the page, immediately above the Make Reservation button, there is a greater chance of the credit card company siding with the buyer in the case of a challenge regarding a charge due to a cancellation.

To set this, first check the box in the Website Tab, Reservation Page settings:



Once this is checked, the full text of the cancellation policy will display on the reservation page.



If you opt to display the full text on the page, then we also will be showing the checkbox for your user to check to indicate their agreement. We hope this helps with fighting back against people that claim not to know about your cancellation policy.

New Internal Availability Search Feature

Now there is a way to search availability internally, for a date range, and select unit(s) from those that are available. In some situations, this may be faster than selecting dates from the Availability Calendar.

Just click the [S] in the Availability Tab.



This brings up the search box, where the arrive/depart dates can be entered, and it is possible to filter by a specific property (only shows if you are managing more than one property in ReservationKey).



After clicking search, the available units will be displayed. Select at least one unit (or select more to add multiple units to one reservation) and then the Add Reservation button will appear. Click it, to continue to the Reservation Details screen to complete the reservation.




One more new feature...

It is now possible to filter by Reservation Status, in the Reservations Tab. Click Show Advanced Search to open the advanced settings.

Happy New Year (and a few new features)!

Just a quick note to say Happy New Year to all of our great clients! Thank you very much for using our software and supporting our business. We have had a great year in 2012, started working with a lot of new users, and are looking forward to a strong 2013. As always, we continue to grow thanks to your referrals and ideas. Many of our best features were thought of by users. Just skimming through the blog and these internal messages, shows how much changed in 2012. And we have lots more ideas for 2013.

Again, thank you for being a ReservationKey client, and have a great 2013!

John


(on the job, at a client meeting in Mexico)


And now, the new features list...

We've added a new report, this one called, Custom Fields Report. It is currently the third one from the bottom of the list of reports. It is a great way to create a list of reservations based on answers to custom fields. First, select the custom field, then select the answer (if a dropdown type) or enter your search criteria.



Over in the Gift Certificates section, we've added the ability to edit existing certificates. Also, when editing, there is now an option to send (or resend) the confirmation message to the buyer.

Quicker Access to Calendar

Now there is another way to directly select which month to jump to on the internal availability calendar. This is useful when you need to go to a month different from the last viewed month, without having to load the calendar first (such as when you are on the Reservation Details screen and need to jump to a different month on the calendar).

Just put your mouse over the [T] link and a menu of months will appear. Previously the [T] was to take you to "Today" only. Clicking the [T] still does that, but now you can also select a month to jump to.

New Features in Email Templates

We've added two new features:
1. Link email templates to specific rooms/units.
2. Set a default From email address.

Most of the additional settings in the templates section have been moved to an expandable Advanced Options section.

Linking Email Templates To Specific Rooms/Units

With this feature, it is possible to set which templates should appear in the Correspondence button list (in the Reservation Details screen). If a template is linked to specific rooms/units, then the template will only show up in the list if the linked rooms/units are part of the reservation. This feature most likely will primarily be used by our property manager users since they often have emails that are specific to the unit (such as a vacation rental) being reserved. Now, instead of having to sort through a list that contains many emails not related to the reservation, the email list only shows the emails pertaining to rooms/units contained in the reservation.



If NO units are selected, then the template is treated as generic and will always show in the Correspondence template selection dropdown field.

Default From Email

When opening the Correspondence window, it is now possible to set what the From field should default to. This is in addition to the To, CC, and BCC fields which were previously user configurable.



We plan to also expand this feature to the Email Schedules, where we will have an option to set a From email address for all of the different triggering events.

New Option For Disabling Online Bookings

Maybe this is the time of year that you want to turn off your online booking page and take a break for a few days. Some innkeepers want to be able to take reservations, but only via phone calls so that they can properly instruct potential guests. Or maybe you have a special message you want to show the guest, and as long as they have read the message, they can continue and make an online booking.

To turn your page off and display a message, go to Website Tab, Reservation Pages, edit, and scroll down to the part for Disable Online Bookings. There, set the start and end dates for the period you want your page to show your offline message. Select a message from one of your templates. If you haven't already created a message for this purpose, be sure to do so in the Website Messages section.

The new features here, are the checkboxes (highlighted in the screenshot below) that allow you to include a Continue button below your message. And also, now a checkbox to hide the Waiting List form in case you don't want to use that form for these disabled periods.



Here is an example, of how one user is using this feature, with the Continue button enabled. The text of the button can be modified using our Custom Text feature.



Individual rooms can also be blocked with the Set As Unavailable on the Rooms/Units page. We have short tutorial videos on how to block rooms and how to un-block rooms.