In early 2023, InnQuest sent out an email to all users of its hotel property management system (PMS) roomMaster 2000 to notify them that the on premise version of the software would stop working at the end of 2024. All hotel clients would have to migrate to roomMaster Cloud or roomMaster Anywhere. One of my hotel clients changed over to roomMaster Cloud recently. There has been several issues with the process from start to finish. Below are some things to be aware of during the transition to help hotels make an informed decision.

What is roomMaster Cloud?

Let’s start at the beginning with a quick overview of what is happening.

roomMaster 2000 is an on premise hotel PMS that is ideal for medium-sized properties up to 100-150 rooms. That means that the hotels have a main computer acting as the server for roomMaster with a central database, and then additional workstations that would access that server over the local network. This allows for multiple users to be accessing the hotel database (i.e. two front desk computers and an office administrator/General Manager) but also allows housekeepers to update the status of rooms being cleaned by dialling from the in-room phone. There were many benefits to having on premise server, but the main one was the ability for the hotel to still function during a power outage as long as the computers were connected to a UPS power backup. The main downside is anyone away from the hotel did not have access without using remote desktop software to connect to the server.

That setup is familiar to anyone who worked in hotels in the late 1990s and were using Opera, Maestro, or a lot of other hotel PMS systems around the world.

roomMaster Cloud takes the server away from the hotel and makes it accessible remotely through the internet using a web browser. This is how most modern hotel PMS systems are now, in addition to the internet in general. Not only does that allow hotels to have as many users as they want connected to the hotel PMS, it allows for InnQuest to upgrade the software more easily. With the on premise version, a support tech would have to set a scheduled time to log into the hotel server and perform the software upgrade manually. With the Cloud, the support team can upgrade more easily at night automatically.

The downsides to using a cloud-based PMS are generally going to be that the system is slower (dependent on your internet connection speed) and the system will be unaccessible if the internet or power goes out completely. In a larger city, this is less of a concern, but in more remote locations, it is something to be aware of.

With the on premise version ending, hotels will have to decide whether to buy a different on premise system (Maestro and Opera being two options) or go through with the conversion to Cloud. The primary reason to go to Cloud is the hotel database will be fully intact – reservations, rates, direct billing accounts, guest profiles, etc. With a new system, there may be a lot of manual entries unless they can import the roomMaster database (which is unlikely). Manually entering the reservations would be a major chore, but doable. The biggest loss if going to a different PMS, in my opinion, is all the guest information and company history disappearing.

Differences

There are very minor differences with Cloud versus roomMaster 17 (latest on premise version). The first difference is accessing the software. At front desk workstations or other computers at the property, there will be a launcher on the desktop. This will open up roomMaster Cloud automatically through the default web browser. Nothing too different there besides the web browser.

With people not at the hotel and want to connect remotely, they will have to first access a different website, sign-in, and then it will redirect them to roomMaster Cloud where you have to sign in again. It behaves differently than expected, and a bit clumsy compared to all the other interfaces we have come to be comfortable with on the web. What appears to happen is a person accesses the first website, enters their credentials, and the system pulls up the correct location of the Cloud server to have you remotely access that computer. There is a Windows log-in screen, but you don’t have access to anything else on that server except for roomMaster (which is understandable).

After you sign-in, the look of roomMaster Cloud is going to be almost identical. There are some minor differences to the look and how things function, but instead of writing them out, it will be best to watch some of the short videos InnQuest prepared. There are 9 videos, roughly 30 mins in length in total, which covers all the differences. I compiled them into a playlist to make it easier for people to watch.

Besides the differences in the software, another difference will be the requirement of a separate keypad to be used to record credit card numbers. A regular keyboard won’t work when entering the credit cards on roomMaster. There are two keypads included with the installation, and it is critical that they be on site before migrating to the Cloud. Be sure to follow-up about the keypads being sent and ask for a tracking number.

The final annoyance has been with file exports. Sending the PDFs by email worked well for guest folios and company statements. In order to save the PDF or CSV files to a computer, a user will have to go through OwnCloud, which is a private OneDrive/Dropbox for companies. From roomMaster Cloud, the file will be exported to OwnCloud, and then 5-20 minutes later, the file is available to transfer from a folder on your personal computer. The delay is a major nuisance and there is no workaround right now. InnQuest support did tell me that they are working on integrating a new solution, but there is no timeline for that to occur.

Next Steps

Assuming you have taken the time to research the options, watched a demo of Cloud, and have decided to go through with the migration to Cloud, the next step is receiving the quote. This process is relatively straight forward (number of rooms, any interfaces required like call recording or connecting to a channel manager like SiteMinder).

The primary thing to be aware of is the contract that is sent out is not the full contract. There is a brief mention of their master services agreement which is linked to but the language is not included in the document you sign. The other thing of note is it was a bit slow communicating with the InnQuest representative. It took a few weeks from the initial email stating we wanted to proceed to a contract being sent to us.

There was also no clear guideline of what was to happen after the contract was signed. The assumption was the next steps would be communicated promptly after the contract was signed. There was no contact for three weeks with anyone. I think part of that was a closure for the Christmas holidays, but I expected something, not radio silence.

When you are contacted by an onboarding agent, there are three appointments:

1. First onboarding call to remotely access roomMaster and review the configuration
2. Tokenization of the credit cards currently in the system
3. Migrating the database to the Cloud and switching the hotel on

The first call is to answer any additional questions you may have about the migration. They also test the internet connection to make sure it meets their requirements of 30 Mbps download and 10 Mbps upload speeds. During this call, it will be important to try to nail down a schedule of when things are going to happen so you can plan. Be sure to provide the information for all the people who are going to remotely log-in (names and email addresses) so their accounts can be setup in advance.

The tokenization of the credit cards is securing the information so it can be transferred to the cloud from one database to another. It does require no one using roomMaster for 10-15 minutes while the process starts, but otherwise roomMaster remains functional. The only limitation during this process is credit cards can’t be authorized or charged. You may also have to restart the server after it’s done. When the tech was completed, the hotel wasn’t informed and received error messages from the server.

The migration of the database is the most important day in the whole process. During this time, roomMaster will not be able to be used. It’s the biggest inconvenience with switching a PMS to a different one. In the case of this hotel, it required some important preparations. I put the list into a Google Doc for everyone to review and modify for their unique situations. Depending on the size of your roomMaster database, there may be some information that won’t be accessible afterwards. This is dependent on the technician eliminating some older information that won’t affect future reservations. It will be best to clarify with the technician what is going to be accessible and what won’t be after the migration.

When Going Live

After the conversion is complete, the front desk agents will be able to sign into roomMaster Cloud using their old credentials. Before ending the call with the technician, there are a few things to be mindful of:

• verify that an account with Admin level authorizations can log in, in case passwords need to be reset for anyone working that night
• verify that remote access is working
• verify that the keypads for credit card numbers is working
• verify that credit card authorizations are working (create a test reservation and run a personal card for $5)
• verify that all the extras connected to roomMaster are working (key card machines, POS, call accounting, channel managers, etc)

This should all be checked by the technician on the call, but wasn’t in my case, which lead to several follow-up calls in the next few days. Dealing with it all at once will be much better for everyone.

The only other thing to add about this whole process is the support office for InnQuest can be terribly slow. For nearly 15 years, I have been working with the InnQuest Canada support office which has been fantastic. It was a bit of a wake-up call dealing with the US office now through all this. Looking at some of the reviews for InnQuest, I don’t seem to be alone.

Other than the process to changeover to roomMaster Cloud, the hotel using it hasn’t had any challenges. All the reservation data transferred over seamlessly, city ledger accounts were accurate, and guest history was all there. It still remains a solid choice for medium-sized properties. A smaller operation or a simpler structure like a motel will like be better off with Little Hotelier or other cloud-based PMS.

If you have any other questions or concerns about this process, and whether roomMaster Cloud is right for your property, feel free to contact me. I will answer your questions to the best of my ability to make sure your process goes more smoothly than it did for me.

The post Navigating the Shift from roomMaster 17 to Cloud: Key Considerations and Cautions appeared first on Four Sides Hospitality Consulting | Hotel and Airbnb Consultant | Canada.

Earlier in the year, an article titled Use SiteMinder To Save Money And Earn More Revenue was published here, projecting the savings that would happen after switching a property’s central reservation system (CRS). That article was mainly speculation on the fees associated with direct bookings and not having to pay for a service like GuestFolio for guest messaging. Around the same time the article was published, a boutique hotel was switched over to SiteMinder. Now, some more accurate numbers can be shared about the effect SiteMinder is having on that property.

Lower Fees – Big Time

In that article, the following table was shared to come up with an baseline to work with.

Followed by this table with an estimated cost for the same amount of bookings but using SiteMinder:

That projected difference works out to a savings of 44%. The actual savings in the last six months on the fees above is 61%!

But, the higher fees for the SiteMinder platform also includes Guest Experience for messaging and guidebook. This boutique hotel was using GuestFolio which was charging $400/month, plus the Sabre monthly fee on top. SiteMinder combined with Guest Experience is less than GuestFolio, creating another small savings.

Booking.com

The big surprise in savings came from Booking.com.

One of the main features of SiteMinder is Demand Plus, which creates a featured link on Google searches, TripAdvisor, and Trivago. It puts the link to the hotel at the top of the listings. If you use the free link from the Google Business profile, the link appears at the very bottom of all the options.

It was not entirely clear how much of an effect adding the link to the very top of the results would have. Turns out, it’s quite dramatic.

For this hotel, the Booking.com fees have dropped by 60% for the last six months. Those commission fees (18%) can really add up, so to have them essentially eliminated while maintaining the overall hotel revenues has been a real blessing.

The other side benefit to this is the hotel receives all the contact information for the guest and can keep encouraging them to book directly at the site, rather than through Google. The added savings should only grow. With Guest Experience on SiteMinder, every Booking.com reservation is sent a link to fill out their personal details. That helps pull more people away from Booking.com (or other OTAs) and gives the hotel the opportunity to have them book directly.

The other thing of note with Demand Plus occurred when reviewing their analytics page. It shows the impressions and conversion rate for each platform. Google was regularly in the 30% conversion range, while TripAdvisor was in the 10%’s, and Trivago had nearly nothing. This hotel is regularly one of the top 3 hotels in the city on TripAdvisor, so it was surprising to see the conversion rate be that much lower.

Combining the fees for reservations, commissions, and monthly fees, the overall costs over the last six months have been down nearly 40%, without having lost any revenues.

Switching to SiteMinder has made a lot of sense financially, and the user experience has been as expected. The only real headache was adjusting the confirmation/pre-arrival emails to look better. The email editor is in HTML, but not a WYSIWYG editor like some other platforms. Overall, I think the emails look good now, and not something that needs to be adjusted for a long time.

Fully Featured

The full set of features for SiteMinder can be found on the page devoted to it: Learn More about SiteMinder

There is currently a sale on SiteMinder, along with a free trial. To learn more about the sale, fill out the form below and more information will be sent to you. For the trial, click the button below to sign up.

Any signups through Four Sides Hospitality Consulting include assistance with the transfer from one CRS to SiteMinder, and consulting time to talk about best practices with SiteMinder.

The post Maximizing Efficiency: The SiteMinder Experience – 6 Months Later appeared first on Four Sides Hospitality Consulting | Hotel and Airbnb Consultant | Canada.

SiteMinder, the world’s leading channel manager, is offering a special discount between now and the end of November, 2023.

To learn more about SiteMinder, take a look at these articles on this website:

• SiteMinder – a general overview of the product
• Use SiteMinder To Save Money And Earn More Revenue
• How to Use Turbosuite and SiteMinder to Increase Your Revenue in 2023

The Deal

Save 50% for the first 6 months when adding on Demand Plus.

This offer is only valid for new properties signing up between now and November 30th, 2023.

Demand Plus is featured in the article about saving money and earning more revenue above. It’s the add-on that allows hotels to direct bookings towards the hotel’s website and away from the OTAs like Booking.com and Expedia. Get bookings directly from Google Search results using your Google Business Profile, TripAdvisor, Trivago, and even on a Facebook page. The commission-based fees are lower than Booking.com (as low as 3%) and well worth exploring.

How to Sign Up for the Deal

To take advantage of this offer, fill out the form below. The deal is only offered through the certified SiteMinder Partners, which Four Sides Hospitality Consulting is one of. The information will be passed along to a sales representative at SiteMinder to provide a demo and more information.

If you have questions or would like an initial quote, please put them in the comment box below. You will receive a response within 24 hours.

The post SiteMinder – On Sale Now appeared first on Four Sides Hospitality Consulting | Hotel and Airbnb Consultant | Canada.

Earlier this summer, trivago announced a new way for independent hotels to drive bookings through a free booking link. This link appears on the hotel profile when doing a search on the website. With trivago receiving 60 million visits per month, allowing hotels to redirect to their own websites from the site is incredibly important in capturing the guest.

We believe metasearch is well positioned in this environment, and we’ll focus on making it even easier for travellers to find great deals on our platform.

Matthias Tillman, CFO Trivago

The metasearch companies, like trivago, that compile the the various room rates across other booking sites are becoming a more important step in the booking process for the traveller. Before this year, those searches redirected the traveller to Booking.com, Expedia, and other booking sites. The hotels pay higher commissions for those reservations, but the guest also pays in the form of a worse booking experience.

With the free booking link, similar to the links that can be created on Google Business and Apple Business Connect, hotels will be able to give those guests the best booking experience from the start. It will allow guests to see all the available room types, add on dinner reservations, or explore the other options available at the property that generate more revenue for the hotel.

The completed bookings will be charged a commission depending on the partner and the campaign you choose. It is going to be a lower commission than Booking.com and Expedia, and the guest information will be yours to use with future offerings. Continue reading for more details about this.

trivago Business Studio

The starting point for the free booking link is trivago Business Studio. The Business Studio is laid out in a very clean and organized way, with only a few areas to look at.

The main page is a dashboard giving you valuable insights into how the hotel is performing through TripAdvisor.

The top of the dashboard is the conversion funnel, showing you the number of searches for hotels in your location, impressions on the property, and then the number of clicks on the property deals. That report gives you the total number, and breaks it down into the different distribution channels. With this example, you can see the SKKY Hotel, is experiencing 70% click-thru to the website for reservations.

If you use a channel manager that partners with trivago, like SiteMinder, you will be able to determine how well those reservations are converting. On SiteMinder, trivago is part of the Demand Plus area, which pushes the up to date rates out to trivago to display. On their Insights tab, it tells me that the reservations are converting around 20%, which is the same as Booking.com reservations.

The other tab on trivago Business Studio allows hotels to update all their information about the property. Unlike Booking.com that goes through an approval process for changes, trivago updates the listing instantly. There isn’t as much control over how images are displayed (i.e. changing the order or adding captions), but uploading the pictures was quick and easy. The other information that is available to change is the description for the hotel, and all the amenities at the property using checkboxes. The amenity list is not quite as extensive as Booking.com’s list.

TripAdvisor Rate Connect

The Rate Connect tab is where the hotelier will be able to determine what commission structure they would like. With SiteMinder, the structure is a pay per stay for completed reservations. In order to get access to the other options, you will have to be working with one of trivago’s connectivity providers.

Pay-per-Click: This campaign allows you to set a monthly budget and get charged when a potential guest clicks through to your website. The hotel will be charged regardless of whether the guest books or not.

Pay-Per-Booking: With this campaign, the hotelier chooses their commission structure (12%, 15%, 18%, or 25%) and allows trivago to place their property appropriately within the search results.

Pay-Per-Stay: Similar to the pay-per-booking option, without the higher commission tier. The commissions available are 10%, 15%, or 18%.

The main difference is the commission for pay-per-stay is on completed stays, while the pay-per-booking is charged regardless (i.e. the hotel is using a non-refundable rate). The other difference between them is they all use trivago’s Automated Market Selection, but the Pay-Per-Click has the option to choose any market they would like. That may be a good option for people with a higher end property wanting to show up in listings in a nearby city or wanting to offer a more convenient location for people wanting to get to the airport in a major city.

Taking control of your property on trivago Business Studio is free and necessary for the hotelier to ensure the information is updated regularly. Adding on the booking link will require a little more work, but is valuable for the longterm. Being able to send offers to the guests that have stayed at the property will generate repeat guests and longterm growth.

Learn More About:

The post Drive Direct Bookings with trivago’s Booking Link appeared first on Four Sides Hospitality Consulting | Hotel and Airbnb Consultant | Canada.

I previously wrote about how effective SiteMinder, one of the world’s best channel managers for accommodation providers, is at generating revenue and saving your operation money. Combining SiteMinder with revenue management software can take those revenues to the next level. Coming available later this summer will be one of the best options available on the market turbosuite. turbosuite is working on integrating fully with SiteMinder, but is still a powerful tool to use right now for your hotel, motel, or Airbnb vacation rental.

Before getting into how turbosuite integrates with SiteMinder and what it can do today, let’s first discuss what revenue management software is.

Revenue Management Software

Everyone reading this should understand what revenue management entails when being applied to the accommodation industry. There are five basic components to it: collecting the data about the operation and market; creating segments from the data to help analyze it more thoroughly; building revenue forecasts; planning and taking action; and analyzing the process and results to determine what can be improved upon. Revenue Managers would be doing each of those areas manually or creating simple automatic rules that their PMS would follow when settings rates and restrictions.

Revenue management software simplifies each component by using artificial intelligence to power it. No longer are revenue managers loading Booking.com and copying competitor rates into an Excel spreadsheet, or poring over their PMS data to see which rates are selling when. The software does the work for them. Revenue Managers still oversee each component and analyze the results to ensure everything is working as well as it should, however. Using the tool is not completely hands off and automated.

turbosuite

There are plenty of revenue management systems available and several of them integrate with SiteMinder. They all include the same basic functionality, so what makes turbosuite different?

There are two main differentiators that I can see:

1. All types of accommodations are analyzed

When I was looking at the different options for revenue management systems, most specialized with one type of accommodation. Hotels, motels, or vacation rentals. Revenue management functions the same for each type at its core, but the big difference is how a market is analyzed. With hotels, there are broad categories based on location (downtown, airport) and type of hotel (boutique, full-service, high-end, etc). Hotels are mainly limited to a few online travel agency sites (OTAs – i.e. Booking.com, Expedia, Trivago). Pulling together the rate information is easier for hotels because you create a competitive set of hotels that match your location, type, and usually only look at a few sites.

Analyzing the market for vacation rentals is more complicated. Instead of a competitive set of 10-15 hotels, you are finding the information for 50-100 (or more) units in your market. Your property is not only competing within the city, but may also be competing within your own building. For a quick example, in Kelowna, there is one condo tower downtown that has around 75 different units listed as a vacation rental. The downtown core may have around 300 units total (not including the hotels) and the city may have 1000 different units. Analyzing the market manually is time intensive and likely inaccurate too.

turbosuite analyzes both types of accommodations effectively. They are pulling in the data from Booking.com, Expedia, and Airbnb. Other revenue management systems may only be looking at Booking.com or Expedia if they focus on hotels, or only Airbnb if they focus on vacation rentals. Having all that data leads to the second point.

2. Analyze the full market, not a comp set

With turbosuite, they analyze the entire market for you. With other revenue management systems, you can be limited to having 10-15 properties that you compete with to compare against. With turbosuite, there is no limit to the properties you are compared to. It compares pricing between the hotels and the vacation rentals, matching up properties that have similar amenities to find the best rate in the market. The amenities can be as large as a pool, fitness centre, or parking included, to as detailed as having a coffee maker or internet at the property. turbosuite offers a comprehensive look at the market with daily updates to show how all your properties compare.

By analyzing the total market, turbosuite is dialled into any sudden shifts in demand. If one hotel sells out, while the others remain mainly empty, it is likely a sign of a large, hosted meeting taking place. But when hundreds of vacation rentals get booked up within a short amount of time, that is signalling a larger, city-wide event. turbosuite will notice that shift and suggest new rates to take advantage of that increase in demand. It won’t be able to determine if that event is the latest Taylor Swift concert being announced, or the city has won the rights to the Super Bowl, but it will set your rates to the appropriate amount.

With vacation rentals, the rate suggestions can also take into account the cleaning fees and adjust those to different levels. Most properties have fixed cleaning fees based on the unit and number of people. It makes sense to treat it as a separate form of revenue that can be adjusted to not only cover the cleaning costs, but also put a little more profit into the pockets.

Forecasting and Reporting

With all this data at their disposal to analyze, turbosuite can provide accurate revenue forecasts for up to a year. It uses the current demand for accommodations and combines it with the historical records to create a forecast that accommodation providers can use to build their overall revenue budgets. turbosuite will be able to determine the spikes in demand, and the dips during shoulder seasons, to be as accurate as possible.

The reports on the system are varied and useful. The revenue forecasts are part of the reporting system, but other reports will help you determine how effective turbosuite is doing for your properties. It will track the valuable metrics of room nights, revenue, and ADR, but also the properties web rankings, how visible the properties are, and the conversion rates on the various sites. Another component of the reporting system is showing you the pickup report for the revenue generated by a set period.

Putting turbosuite Into Action

Turbosuite is excellent at pulling in all the data to analyze, but how do properties change their rates?

Turbosuite makes that part incredibly easy. The main screen shows the calendar for the month with different rates – your base rate, and the ideal competitive rate. Underneath, there are codes to give you the information you need to determine whether a day needs to be acted upon or not. Opening up a day will provide even more detail about how far below/above your rate is from the competition, making manual adjustments to the rate or stay restrictions, and more. At the bottom are the magic buttons to push the new rates out to SiteMinder (or other channel manager) or revert back to the original base rates.

During the demonstration I received, this process was quick and painless. If someone wanted to, they could select the entire month and click the button to adjust the rates automatically, all at once. Of course, it is advisable to look at each day/week more carefully and understand that is happening in the market.

All of the above is just a quick overview of what turbosuite can do for your properties while using the SiteMinder channel manager. There is a lot more to be shown, so if the above is of any interest, I encourage you to reach out to turbosuite and get a demonstration of their software. It does integrate with other channel managers or property management systems, as well.

If you are interested in learning more, please visit their website: turbosuite or fill out the below form that will be sent directly to them.

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The post How to Use Turbosuite and SiteMinder to Increase Your Revenue in 2023 appeared first on Four Sides Hospitality Consulting | Hotel and Airbnb Consultant | Canada.

SiteMinder is the world’s leading channel manager that is packed with features to help hotels perform better. Some of those features includes its website builder, its ability to be integrated with 100+ property management systems (PMS) for hotels, and the ability to be connected to 200+ online travel agencies (OTAs) and other web apps to help with productivity. All of these are great for hotels to improve their overall operation. This post is going to highlight some of the other positives for SiteMinder: low transaction fees, Demand Plus, and the Insights that are available for the competition.

Low Transaction Fees

This is the one feature that will save your hotel or property the most money. If you use a competing channel manager like Sabre’s SynXis, hotels are charged a small fee for every reservation they take that goes through the channel manager. At the low end, fees are generally cheaper (maybe even free) for web bookings – reservations that are made through the hotel website. At the higher end, are fees for reservations through the GDS (travel agent booking system). In between, there are fees for bookings made through other channels, like Booking.com or Expedia. These fees cover the costs of the development of the channel manager software and integration with the PMS so reservations booked online can be entered into the PMS automatically.

The downside of these fees are they can quickly add up. Below is a sample chart of the fees based on a 33/33/33 split between web bookings, OTAs, and the GDS. To keep the math simple, let’s say there are 3,000 total reservations taken, which is a reasonable number for a 100 room hotel.

A few caveats to the above numbers, they don’t include any commissions you may be paying for the GDS bookings (usually 10%) or the commissions charged through Expedia, Booking.com, etc (around 18%). Altogether, the fees will be much higher than $22,500.

For SiteMinder, they still have a transaction fee for GDS bookings (which is charged by the GDS systems), but they waive the transaction fees for web bookings and OTAs. That produces a chart like this:

The general hotel is likely going to save a lot of money by switching over to SiteMinder. This does not include the potential savings from using SiteMinder’s new product for guest communication, GuestJoy, which is 25% the cost of the competing service, Guestfolio. And, of course, there will be opportunities to earn more through SiteMinder.

Demand Plus

Last year, Google announced a change to their Business Profiles for hotels which allowed hotels to enter in their own rates and link to their website. I thought it was a great addition to the product for hotels.

What I did not realize at the time, however, was the hotel link tended to be buried underneath all the advertising services, namely Booking.com, TripAdvisor, trivago, etc. This can change with SiteMinder’s Demand Plus service.

With Demand Plus, hotels get boosted to the top of the listings. It still marks the hotel as the official site, and will show the lowest rate available on the website, not the BAR/RACK rate, which allows hotels to advertise a lower rate than Booking.com to gain some direct business. There is a minor commission fee attached to these bookings, but the major plus to these bookings is you receive the guest’s full information. No masking of email addresses, phone numbers, or credit card numbers, allowing you to take ownership of that guest experience from the time of booking through to checkout. More opportunities for room upsells, other products at the hotel to book, and to retain them as a guest in the future directly rather than a OTA service.

Each month, you will receive a statement to verify the bookings. Hotels aren’t charged for no shows or cancellations, only for stays at the hotel.

Direct Plus also offers quick analytics for reservations. It will tell you how many times it has been viewed, the clicks, reservations made, and the revenue from the Google profile, trivago, and TripAdvisor.

Insights

So far, you have seen ways that SiteMinder can help you save money and earn more bookings online, but it can also help you earn more money on all your reservations, online or at the hotel level. Insights offers different views of the hotel operation from the online bookings. A lot of this information is likely similar to the hotel’s overall reservations, but presented in a easily understood graphic manner. There are different charts for booking performance compared to the same period last year, channel mix (direct, different OTAs, GDS bookings), country mix, and room and rate type mix. The last two items offer a lot more information with a charts about ADR, average length of stay, and average lead time. That information can help determine if a certain room type should be priced higher if it is more in demand, or whether to offer rate discounts for longer stays.

The next section is a pace report, which can help track how well the hotel is performing with its reservations compared to previous years. You can filter down to a set period of time to compare to a similar period (i.e. to compare holiday weekends that may change each year) or to the same period (month vs same month a year ago).

The final two areas of the Insight section are going to be very useful.

Rate parity is going to help keep track of your rates being pushed out to the OTAs. The one benefit of a channel manager is the rates that are sent to the OTAs should be the same. There can be errors with the information, so it is useful to check. The rate for Direct Booking is currently the lowest available rate for the hotel.

Competitors rate is a monthly view of the rates pulled from Booking.com. It compares the hotel rate with the median hotel rate of a comp set that you select. You are able to select up to 10 other hotels to include within your comp set. The monthly view shows you whether your hotel is higher or lower than the median rate (arrows are for +/- 10%).

Clicking on a date, gives you a way to drill down to each day to see the competition in a easier way. It brings in the lowest rate, room type, plus has the median rate at the top for quick comparison.

This feature alone will save a lot of clicking around on Booking.com. The monthly view will help General Managers and Revenue Managers set their room rates for several months to come as well.

Summary

This is only a slice of how SiteMinder can help your hotel, motel, or vacation rental business improve the operation and save money.

Switching to SiteMinder will require some work with the setup. If you are currently using a channel manager, there will be a lot of copying and pasting of descriptions and policies. Because of the time involved with switching over, I am offering my time and expertise in SiteMinder to help you get setup more quickly and more smoothly.

Fill out the form below to get started.

The post Use SiteMinder To Save Money And Earn More Revenue appeared first on Four Sides Hospitality Consulting | Hotel and Airbnb Consultant | Canada.

Apple announced yesterday Apple Business Connect, a way for business owners to control their information across Apple Maps, Wallet, Siri, Messages, and more. Business Connect allows the same amount of control as Google Business but offers more integration across all Apple devices. For hotels, it will also offer the opportunity for users to make reservations directly and see special offers for the hotel, restaurant, or other aspect of the hotel.

Get Started

It is easy to get started with Apple Business Connect. Enrolment is through the link and is connected to your Apple ID. If you do not have an Apple ID, you will be able to create one. You will be able to add additional users at a later step.

After signing in, you will be asked to locate your business on Apple Maps. Maps has been populating the business information over time. For hotels, it has been pulling the information from TripAdvisor and Yelp. If your hotel is listed on either of those sites, there should not be a problem locating the hotel.

After agreeing to the terms of service, you will be asked to verify the hotel listing. The easiest way to do this is by Apple calling the hotel and providing a code over the phone. The other option is sending Apple documents which will delay the listing being verified. The verification process is important because without it, you will not be able to upload pictures or change any other information.

The Hotel Listing

The listing for the hotel is going to be fairly basic. The logo and cover image are images that can be modified. The call and website buttons will link to the information you provide (i.e. the phone number could go to a reservations desk rather than the front desk). The Book button gives you two options, TripAdvisor or Booking.com.

This is going to be one of the main differences with the Apple Business listing compared to Google Business listings. With Google, users have the option to check availability and make a reservation directly at the hotel. Maybe that will change for Apple Business in the future.

Modifying the Listing

The listing has a few areas that are able to be changed:

• cover image and logo
• basic description (only 100 characters)
• photos
• amenities
• and other basic information (hours, address, phone number, website)

The photos have to be above a certain minimum size and have a maximum size set. Businesses are only able to upload 100 photos. The full list of size restrictions is found here, Apple Business Connect photo standards.

With the photos, businesses will be able to add a short caption and alt-text for each image. Right now, there is no way to modify the order of the images, so that is something to consider when adding the photos.

Apple is verifying every photo to make sure it is up to their quality standards and does not break any of their rules (harmful language, spammy, discriminatory language, etc).

The one area I was not able to explore was Showcases. From the Apple News release:

Showcases, a new feature in the place card, helps businesses present customers with offers and incentives, like seasonal menu items, product discounts, and more. Businesses can easily update the Showcase section of their place card through Business Connect. Showcases are available to businesses in the US beginning today, and will be available to businesses globally in coming months.

Apple News Release

Overall, I think Apple Business Connect is a quality start to offering more control over the listings that were already available on Apple Maps and other products. I am looking forward to see how Showcases can be used, and what other enhancements Apple will be making with the product in the coming years.

The post How to Start Using Apple Business Connect for Your Hotel appeared first on Four Sides Hospitality Consulting | Hotel and Airbnb Consultant | Canada.

Earlier this year, Google announced an additional feature to the Google Business Profile for hotels and other accommodations. For over a year, the Google Business Profile featured partner links for hotel reservations to sites like Booking.com and Priceline, plus a link to the website for the hotel. This added feature allows people to search for availability and have the option to book directly at the hotel.

The direct booking feature is simple to setup and even easier for potential guests to use. For properties looking to fill up available space, it is well worth exploring.

Get Started with Google Business Profiles

To get started with the direct booking feature, the hotel needs to claim their business profile on Google Search or Maps. If you have not done this for your property yet, it is something every business owner should do. The Google Business Profile allows you to take control of your profile, adding relevant business information, hours, pictures, deals, and respond to the reviews being left.

In order to claim your business profile, do a search on Google for the business and then click the “Own this business?” link in the profile. Read more about the Google Business Profile to get started.

Add Hotel Rates

After you have the profile claimed, there will be another link in the profile to get started with managing your rates above the search for availability section.

Once you click it, you will be able to view the terms and conditions for the feature. The feature is also undergoing beta testing and is limited in what it can do for right now. For example, you can only set one base rate for one room type. Once guests click through on the direct booking link, they will be able to select a different room type, change the check-in date, etc.

Hotels will also be limited to only having dates be open or closed, no option to limit to dates that only allow arrivals, departures, or minimum stay lengths, and so forth. The feature is best used for dates when there is a lot of rooms still available.

When you first start entering the rates, you will be presented with a calendar for the current month. You can set rates/availability per day by clicking the Edit button, or do a bulk edit by selecting the button at the top.

As you fill out the rates, the Rate Coverage percentage at the top will change. Google would prefer you set rates for at least 365 days. You are able to set rates for several years in advance.

The important thing to remember is the rate is meant to be for your lowest best available rate. Having a lower rate than what is available is not advised. Having a rate that is meant for one of your upperclass rooms may not work as well as you would like, because the search results will be displaying the lowest available rates at the other websites. Potential guests are unlikely to click on the link to book directly at the hotel, if other sites are displaying rates $20+ lower than yours.

The next screen will help you setup the tax rate for your property. You can have multiple tax rates, and the rate can either include or exclude them. The tax breakdown will display before guests click through to book at your website. Again, it will be important to show accurate information to prevent the guests from having any rude surprises when they actually book.

The final step will confirm your booking engine. Google will scan your website to determine the booking engine based on the outgoing links. It identified the SynXis (Sabre) link immediately for one of my client hotels. After confirming the link, Google will then prepare the correct URL to use when a guest clicks on the official website link.

Test It

Once Google has confirmed the booking link, the direct booking link will be live. Run a quick search for some available dates and then again for some dates that are not available to confirm that the link is working. If the hotel is not available for booking, no links will display. Instead, Google will display the information about when the hotel is next available to reserve.

The previous step about confirming the booking engine on the website allows Google to prepare and use the correct URL scheme when the direct booking link is clicked. It will take the guest to the booking engine with the correct check-in/out dates and number of guests. It should allow for a quicker reservation capture, rather than a guest having to re-do a search they already ran.

There is nothing to say about this feature for now. As mentioned previously, it is still in beta, and there will likely be further enhancements as the year progresses in time for the high season in 2023.

If you need further assistance with the product, take a look at this Google website or contact me and I may be able to assist you.

The post How to Get Started with Google Business Profile for Your Hotel and Best Practices appeared first on Four Sides Hospitality Consulting | Hotel and Airbnb Consultant | Canada.

June is the month that most property owners transition their rentals from long-term rentals to short-term vacation rentals. There is a lot that goes into preparing a property to have it available for summer rentals, from the photos and advertising, to managing the bookings, and finally to checking in the guests and making their stay be exceptional.

There are a lot of resources online to help you with all the various steps. One of the best sites available to help you become a better AirBnB host is How to Host.

They have offer a variety of services: short-term property management in the Okanagan, consulting services from a distance, and, their latest offering, a template package for hosts to have beautifully designed signage and paperwork.

AirBnB Host Bundle

These templates were designed in Canva, a free, online graphic design platform that can be used to make all sorts of images and documents to be shared online. With the templates being made in Canva, adjusting them to your colour palette and changing the images will be simple for everyone to do.

Included in the bundle is a wide assortment of documents that every host will require for their property:

• guest welcome guidebook
• house items and cleaning checklists
• welcome and WiFi signs
• check out checklist

The guidebook is 22 pages in length, covering all aspects of a guest’s stay at your property. Meet the host, about the home, house rules, emergency info, information about the area, and more.

It is a well-thought-out guidebook and looks gorgeous. Every AirBnB or VRBO host property should have a guidebook like this made available for guests. It will help with the overall presentation of your rental property.

Independent hotels and motels will love using the guidebook as well. It can be easily changed for each type of room you offer or have a generalized one for the property. There would also be the opportunity of having local restaurants and attractions pay for advertising in the guidebook – an additional source of income.

There are a variety of templates available and a short ebook as well.

The post Download a Guestbook Template for Your Airbnb or Hotel appeared first on Four Sides Hospitality Consulting | Hotel and Airbnb Consultant | Canada.

“Study the past to define the future.” — Confucius

This post is to shed some light on how to get the most value from a hotel revenue pickup report.

Be Diligent

The first step that needs to be mentioned is how important it is to be diligent in when you gather the information. The pickup report is meant to analyze previous data by comparing apples to apples. If you skip a few days, you will have gaps in your data that is not beneficial to you. It may seem like a pain to build the habit of entering the data on a daily basis, but the payoff will be immense.

After you go through the process of collecting the rooms and revenue on the books, you will open doors to what kind of information you can extract from it.

Setup Your Rules

Looking at all the numbers can be confusing and dizzying. The pickup sheet has some of the rows highlighted to make it a bit easier, but for analyzing the numbers you will want to setup conditional highlights.

Conditional highlights are a way of creating rules for each cell and then highlighting the ones that match the rule. The rules are going to be more specific to your property (i.e. the rules created for a 32 room hotel will be different than a 100 room hotel), which are why they aren’t built into the pickup report already. The rules can be created for any of the sheets, depending on what information would be valuable to you.

Some examples:

• highlighting occupancy in the data set (red for sold-out, yellow for 80-95% full, green for 65-80%.)
• highlighting revenue in the data set being over set intervals
• highlight revenue based on the ADR (conditional highlights can include formulas that involve other cells)
• highlight rooms picked up in the monthly sheets
• highlight revenue or ADR in the monthly sheets

The conditional highlights let you see patterns more clearly than by looking at the plain numbers. By having some leeway with the numbers, patterns will be more visible.

Pattern Recognition

Once your conditional highlights are setup, you can easily zoom in on the data to spot trends. For the sample data above, I created a separate grid to put more emphasis on the weekends as that is what I am more generally interested in. Looking across the 6-8 lines in the spreadsheet above, i can notice a trend of a general lead-time for most reservations of 4-5 days, plus more activity the day before the arrival date. This allows me to instruct the Front Desk agents to not offer discounts 4 days in advance, potentially discount 2-3 days out, and then remain firm with the rates with last minute reservations. 

I can also go back and see that the bulk of the reservations are likely one night only given the number of gaps in the highlighted cells (when looking down the column.) When I look down the column for the 4th, I can see that I had a string of days of 4, 1, 2, 2, 3, and 0 reservations. That tells me that I had at least 3 single night reservations the first night, and 1 on the fifth night. Depending on the overall occupancy levels, incentives could be created to encourage people to stay additional nights. 

Another thing I could pick up on is very few people are booking both Friday and Saturday nights. When looking down the columns, I can see more reservations being made for Friday than Saturday, and vice versa. If that trend continued (which it does in the first image), a weekend package could be created to help encourage couples to have getaways to help fill up the hotel. 

While the pickup report can give you a lot of information in these regards, you still need to compare it to your actual stay information to make the best decision. For example, with one hotel I work with, they host international flight crews on the weekends that fill up the hotel. That makes it impossible to offer weekend getaways because no one will be able to book it. That kind of information isn’t going to show up in the pickup reports. 

Planning For Next Year

Analyzing the data from the current year is useful to notice short-term trends (i.e. lead time for reservations), but it can also be very instructive for longterm planning. By using the monthly pickup sheets (again, being diligent about entering the data every month), new trends will emerge. The trends are much easier to pick up on so I haven’t highlighted the cells this time. 

In the monthly pickup sheet, the blue columns are the difference between that month and the data the month prior, giving you the pickup rooms and revenue for reservations made in that month. Looking across the May-July lines, you can see that in February they didn’t have much activity, lots of activity in March and April, and then relatively little in May. That would allow me to be more firm in pricing for March and April when taking reservations for the summer months. The closer I was to the month, I may have to lower rates or come up with other promotions to encourage people to book and fill the hotel up. 

Again, it will be important to compare to your actual stay information and be aware of any large group blocks being entered. Maybe a large convention booked for June in March, but it only occurs once a year, or maybe March is when the international flight crew books their rooms for the summer months.

There are a lot of variables in play, but the monthly pickup sheet helps highlight those potential areas that requires further investigation.

After filling out your pickup report on a regular basis, you will have a lot of information that will help guide your hotel operation. All of the information you extract from this report should be shared with other team members, so that collectively you can shape a revenue management strategy that aligns with the hotel’s needs and works well with the marketing and sales plans. Your competition is unlikely to be using a report like this, so use it to your advantage and watch your revenues grow.

If you haven’t already, you can grab a copy of the pickup report below, and if you want to learn more about reading forecast and pickup reports, check out the book below. It’s a fantastic resource for revenue managers that are new to the profession, or general managers that want to learn more.

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