Make the technology adapt to your business – not the other way around
One of the most frequent questions we get from prospects is: "Can your online technology support this scenario…?" Early on when we designed our platform we made the strategic decision that we want to always be able to say yes to questions like that and therefore implemented extremely flexible system architecture. Some of the things you can easily control are:
- Rate Rules
- Terms and Policies
- Booking Engine Rules
Specials – Fill Your Units
Constantly running meaningful specials on your website for harder to sell periods and inventory can easily increase overall occupancy and online conversion. The key is ease of use and flexibility.
With our specials engine you can create a wide variety of rules such as:
- Fixed Discounts
- Percentage Discounts
- Free Nights
- Nightly Rate Replacement
In each case we take specific conditions into account such as minimum nights, blackout periods, cut-off dates (for advance bookings), etc.
You can enter the specific terms and coupon codes to be used on the website. Easily add images and descriptions that further merchandise your offerings. And you can track the results and measure the effectiveness of your campaigns through our lead source functionality. (And refine them next time for greater performance!)
The Flip Side – How to Maximize High Demand Periods
Sometimes you have the opposite scenario: Periods of very high demand. While we encourage you to read more about our very flexible revenue management tools, raising rates is not the only way you can maximize profits. Our flexible rules engine allows you to:
- Take higher advance deposits
- More stringent change, refund and cancellation rules
- Enforce specific minimum stays and turn days
As with all other configuration options, these rules can be applied to all or some of your inventory for specific date periods.
Other Configuration Options
Again, we have designed the system for maximum flexibility
Rate Options
You can enter daily, weekly or monthly rates. Rates can be per unit or per person. Rates in search results can be quoted in several ways. E.g. with or without taxes and fees. We understand that your competitive situation is unique and can adapt your solution to those circumstances. .
Taxes
We can handle a combination of multiple taxes and complex tax calculations, based on only lodging or all provided service for multiple municipalities.
Fees
Fees can provide you with additional revenue and can be configured to be optional or mandatory. They can be calculated on many different factors such as number of nights, number of travellers, etc. This allows you to easily upsell your customers on higher margin services.
Terms and Policies.
Easily enter and edit policy terms that are displayed prominently during the check-out process. You also have the ability to force acceptance, eliminating extra paperwork and faxing.
Configurable Booking Engine Screen Flow
The scariest part of an online transaction is giving out your credit card. For some types of inventory (e.g. Vacation Rentals) it often makes sense to just capture the most basic lead information in a first step and then ask for the credit card in step 2. If the user is not confident yet, you still have a hot lead; your reservation team can follow up on. Other clients find that a single booking screen works best. Talk to our highly experienced Lodging Success Consultants to learn more.