Clock PMS Update (9 Mar 2016)

CRS / C-WRS

C-WRS (Central Web Reservation System)

We have added new customisation and design features to our central reservation system, as well as instruments to help your clients easily find the hotel they are looking for.

• Property type, Facilities and Star Rating. With these new filters, it is easier than ever for your clients to search for and view your hotels. If your chain has a greater number of hotels, especially in one destination, this might be a problem when presenting them all to your potential guests. The long list of hotels can be confusing and make it hard to make a choice. Therefore we have added an option for grouping hotels by three indicators, so your clients can have clearer results
  • Property type – you can enter the type of your property, e.g. Hotel, villa, apartment or bungalow. To do so, go to Settings - Account info - CRS - Property type. The web system enables clients to search by multiple property types.
  • Star Rating – enter the star category of each hotel in Settings - Account info - CRS - Star rating. In the web system, once again clients have the option to search by multiple star categories.
  • Facilities – you can enter a list of the facilities you offer and clients expect to find in your hotel, e.g. Free Wi-Fi, Pool, Restaurant, Car Park, etc. This can be done in: Settings - Account info - CRS - Facilities, as each of them is to be entered in a separate row. In the web system, multiple facilities can be chosen. In contrast to the other filters, the search results will only show the properties meeting all the criteria set.
  • If you fill in a field for one hotel at least, the related filter will appear automatically in your C-WRS.
  • The list of search criteria will be automatically completed with the entered information of property types, facilities and star rating for all your hotels. If you don't like the automatic list for some reason, you can stop its automatic generation and create it manually. This way you can arrange the list the way you need it to appear. To do so, select CRS (from the All Accounts screen) - Settings (from the navigation bar). In the 'Customize search fields' section, enter your text for the respective fields.
  • You can also change the names of the search filter lists (Property type, Star Rating and Facilities). This way these filters can be used for other purposes, too. For example, change the name of the Property type list to 'Apartment Size' or something else.
• Logo or header image – use the new setting to customise the view of your C-WRS. Upload an image to appear at the beginning of each page. You can use it as your logo or a design element of your reservation system. To do so, from the CRS, click the settings gear icon and upload an image from the 'Header image' field. Save.
• First page background image. Upload a large size image to use it as a background image on the first page. From the CRS, click the settings gear icon and upload the image from the 'Background image' field. Save.
• Header and Footer text. Enter the header text for each page (e.g. the name of your hotel chain), as well as the footer (e.g. Contact info). To do so, access any of your hotels and go to Settings - Languages and Texts - C-WRS Header/Footer/Other. Enter the 'WRS page title' and 'WRS page footer'.
• We have improved the C-WRS design and fixed some issues.

Central Rate & Availability

To meet the needs of the central booking offices of hotel chains even better, we have started the development of a new CRS module. Apart from providing quick access to any hotel of the chain, it also has a Rate&Availability screen for work with multiple hotels simultaneously. Even if you have no central booking office, the new instruments will help you boost cross sales.

The new CRS Rate&Availability screen features:

• Search for hotels by location. All your hotels can easily be found by multiple location tags. For example, you can set the following tags for your hotel: Paris, France, Europe and it will appear as a result of wider or narrower searches.
• Choosing a specific hotel. You can select a particular hotel from the list of results of the given search.
• Filter the desired rates through the 'Rate Tag'. Use different rate tags to quickly group and find the rates in all your hotels. For example, you can create the following rate groups: Golf_package, SPA_package, Promo, Long_stay, etc. This way you will be able to easily see all SPA packages in all your hotels in a certain destination.
• A company and related rates. Selecting a company, the filtered search results will also include the company-related rates.
• Event. Choosing an Event, you will see information on the remaining block of rooms for the event next to each room type.
• Availability and prices. Take advantage of the compact availability view - by room types, available rates and amount of room charges for the period selected. Use the button next to each rate to make a booking, as the period data, number of adults and children, the room type and rate will be automatically filled in. Enter the guest's contact info and the booking is ready.

A link to to the new CRS (Central Reservation System) module can be found on the hotel selection screen. To access this screen, click the Eject button or the All accounts link in the Other dropdown menu. The CRS module is a paid add-on. Contact our support team to ask for a trial or enquire about the price.

Attachments

We have added an option for sharing and archiving files in your organisation. Through the new feature, you can upload multiple attachments (up to 2 MB each) to any booking, company or event. Use attachments to store enquiries from your guests, contracts, offers or any other documents.

The files attached are stored in the Amazon cloud providing exceptionally high level of information security.

To add an attachment:

• Booking. Open a booking. In the Attachments section, click Upload. Select a file. Enter a description, if you wish. Save. To download the file – click its link. To delete it – click the Delete button.
• Companies. Open a company screen. The rest of operations are similar to the ones for a booking.
• Event. Open an event screen. The rest of operations are similar to the ones for a booking.

Profiles

Clock PMS supports guest profiles automatically, using the guest email as identifier. The profiles generated automatically are auto updated with each new contact detail entered for a booking. This is an easy way to build profile database without unnecessary complications.

The automatic update, however, is not always convenient. Now you can create and/or edit profiles manually, and also add a profile note. Once entered manually, the guest details are no longer updated automatically. Since it has to be done manually, we have made the procedure easy and convenient.

We have made some improvements to the profile features, so that the work with the manually created or edited profiles is much more convenient.

• On the booking edit screen, we have added a quick access button (a pencil icon next to the guest email field:

  

  to edit/save a profile.

• When changing or saving guest profile data, the system also shows how many related expected or checked-in bookings there are. By default, it updates these bookings with the data you have edited in the profile. This automatic update can be stopped by unticking the checkbox in the lower part of the profile edit screen.

• When automatically creating a new profile based on the booking info, the data entered in the booking is automatically transferred to the new profile screen to spare you the entering of the same information twice.

  

• The entered or edited data on a profile screen is also used for updating the booking information.

Here is an example how it works:

• You create a booking
• Search for the guest by email, but you don't find any match
• Click the button to edit/save a new profile (the pencil icon next to the the guest email field)
• Enter the rest of the guest details in the new profile and save it

More:

• The profile screen, which can be accessed from the booking screen now shows information on the bookings from all hotels in your chain.
• Profiles can be viewed and edited, if you have the following right granted: "Access: basic"

Reports

We have added two new reports.

Trial Balance. The report tracks the balance of charges (debit) against payments (credit). It can be run for a certain period and provides information on:

• Opening balance at the beginning of the period.
• Summarised turnover (debit and credit) by items (revenue groups or payment types) for the period.
• Closing balance at the end of the period.
• Note: The report is based on the chronological entries of charges and payments and it does not change for previous periods.

Charge, Tax and Payment Records. A new detailed report for a certain period, summarising all information in one place regarding each charge (net value), its tax (presented as a separate entry), as well as each payment. The report supports a standard CSV export and is suitable for exporting information to accounting systems.

YieldPlanet

We have integrated a new channel manager to Clock PMS: YieldPlanet. The new integrated channel manager expands the portfolio of supported channels, preserving the same model of management of OTA channels.

The channel manager has four main features:

• Availability update in OTA channels
• Update of prices and restrictions in OTA channels
• Download of bookings created in OTA channels
• Error control

Availability

The update process is fully automated and doesn't require user intervention. The integrated channel manager lets you apply the desired availability management strategy, maintaining the balance between maximum sold rooms and the risk of overbooking.

Here are the possible strategies:

• Automatic upload of all available hotel rooms. All availability elements are taken into account: bookings, OOS rooms, blocks and their expiry dates, availability adjustments, etc. In case of changes, Clock PMS uploads the updated availability to the channel manager automatically. Then the information is sent to all OTA channels.

  This strategy aims at maximising sales via all channels. In this case, the risk of overbooking is highest, as all available rooms can be booked through all channels at the same time.

• Max rooms for each room type. Set a maximum number of rooms per room type that can be submitted for sale by OTAs. When these rooms are sold, new ones will be submitted to restore the set maximum.

  This strategy limits the risk of overbooking by reducing the number of rooms sold at a time.

• Allotment for each OTA channel. Enter each of the OTA channel allotments as individual events or blocks for the respective company (OTA). The blocks will reduce the total number of available rooms.
  Then, the rooms sent through the channel manager will never exceed your actual availability and you can fulfil your allotment commitments to OTA channels without overbooking.
  
  Here is how it works:
  • The free rooms exceeding the OTA allotments will be sold through all channels.
  • When the only free rooms are those blocked for OTA allotments, sales will stop through all channels without allotments.
  • Sales through channels with allotments will continue until all blocked rooms are sold.

Prices and Restrictions

Clock PMS tracks changes to the prices and if there are such ones, it automatically updates the channel manager which applies these changes to all channels.

The integrated channel manager enables you to manage the prices in all channels through the powerful rate system of Clock PMS.

The Clock PMS rate system also provides you with great flexibility and options to apply your Yield Management strategies and maximise your ADR:

• Seasons, weekend prices and day prices. You can define prices in detail as per your pricing policy.
• Derived rates. Easily use a rate as the basis for another one. Just add or subtract a certain amount or % to or from the base rate. This option considerably reduces the number of rates you need to manage.
• Occupancy Adaptable Rates. These rates can automatically change price levels depending on the hotel occupancy for the specific room type. This way you can apply a very complex yield management policy increasing prices with the increase in the hotel occupancy without even lifting a finger.
• Rate Restrictions. Channel managers usually maintain a limited number of rate restrictions (STOP, Closed for arrival, Min stay). The integration of a channel manager with the Clock PMS rates adds a few more restrictions to the list: Active from date, Active to date, Min days before arrival, Max days before arrival, Max free rooms, Min free rooms.
• Different rates for each channel or one rate for all channels. You can choose to easily manage all channels with one rate or have different prices for different channels (or at least for the more important ones only).

Download of Bookings

The integrated channel manager of Clock PMS automatically tracks, downloads and imports new bookings.

Here are the import features:

• Automatic recognition of new bookings, cancellations and booking updates and implementation of a suitable operation. You can track the information on all bookings, cancellations or booking updates in a special Inbox.
• Creation of To-Dos for each operation to be informed of each action. You can easily check the progress of each operation in the booking change log.
• Detection of update conflicts.In case you haven't edited a booking, the automatic update checks if there is a conflict between your changes and the information coming from the channel. In case of conflict, the system notifies you and requires your intervention to solve it, and if not, the changes are automatically imported. Here is an example of a conflict:
  • Initially, the booking is imported for a DBL room type
  • You edit it to DBL++
  • The channel updates it to become for an APP room type.
  • In this case the system detects the conflict and notifies you with a special To-Do. You can edit the booking room type, e.g. to APP room type and import the rest of the changes automatically.
• Creation of bookings having prices coming from the channel (through the use of the manual price feature).
• Detection of missing data or incorrect mappings. For example, you receive a booking for APP4 room type, but you don't have the necessary mapping entered to import the booking. The system detects the missing setting and informs you with a To-Do. After fixing the problem, you can import the booking successfully.
• Automatic Room Number Allocation. For the properties requiring bookings to come with initially allocated rooms, the system offers you a setting to use this option or not.
• Automatic recognition of profiles. When channels submit the real guest's email, the system finds if there is a match. If so, the booking is linked to the matching profile automatically. This way you will know if this guest has stayed at your hotel (or at any other hotel in your chain) before.
• Processing various taxes. If you receive different types of prices from the different channels, with the tax included or not, this can be reflected in the settings for each channel.
• Adding marketing information to each booking. You can set the marketing channel and source for each OTA channel
• Sending special pre-arrival emails. You can create special emails to be sent to OTA guests. For more information, see the Guest Mailer feature.
• Confirmation, Self Service Portal, Kiosk, etc. All features of the system are accessible for the bookings imported.
• PCI DSS compliant. The integrated channel manager processes credit card data in compliance with the strict requirements of the PCI DSS standard.

Error Control

In any operation involving a price or availability change, there is a possibility for the respective OTA channel not to accept the change. The reasons for that can be various, but the most common ones are:

• Wrong rate or room codes submitted due to incorrect mappings or non-existing products.
• Violated contract terms – most often these are agreed allotments, minimum and maximum price limits, etc.
• Incorrect setup of access – user names and passwords

Whatever the channel communication mistakes are, users should be able to check them, as well as the channel manager status. To that end, the integrated channel manager offers the following options:

• Channel manager communication status
• Full log of updates and prices with options to search by period of change submitted or date updated. There is a product filter, too.
• Full log of XMLs sent for thorough investigation.
• Full log of XMLs received in relation to the import of bookings, with all the originally sent data.

Adyen

We have added an online payment interface to a new payment operator - Adyen . Adyen operates on a global scale with offices all over the world. It offers a wide range of payment instruments, combining payments by credit card, on-line banking payments and other specific regional payment methods. As a result, you can provide your clients with the most convenient payment methods for them.

The interface to Adyen is Hosted Payment Page based and therefore there are no PCI DSS requirements to the hotel.

Here are some payment methods supported by Adyen:

• Visa, V-PAY, MasterCard, Maestro, American Express, Diners Club, Discover, JCB, CUP - Expresspay, UPOP, Western Union, Bitpay, PayPal, Neteller, Boku, UATP, Carte Bancaire, BanContact/Mr. Cash, Moneta, Qiwi, WebMoney, Argencard, Cabal, MercadoPago, Dineromail, Oxxo, Alipay, TenPay, Doku Wallet and more
• SEPA Direct Debit, SOFORT Überweisung, Giropay, Ideal, Trustly, Open Invoice, Finnish e-Banking, MultiBanco, PayShop, Safetypay, Polish eBanking, Mandiri Clickpay, CashU, POLi, Bank Transfer and more

For the full list of payment instruments, including the ones specific for your region, please contact Adyen .

The payment interface has been added to all points where your guests can pay:Web Reservation System, Web Voucher shop, Self Service Booking Guarantee/Check-out, Kiosk Check-in/Check-out.

More information on the activation and setup of your Adyen HPP (hosted payment page) payment interface can found here: Adyen Setup.

Users

Constantly striving through Clock PMS to offer the highest class of of security and PCI DSS compliance, we have made some changes to the structure of users:

• API Users. For the needs of the API, we have introduced a new type of users – API users. Now the API can be used by API users only. They cannot log in to the system as regular users. This division of users gives a clearer idea of the operations performed by each user or external system. All current users with a generated API key are migrated as API users. The setup of the API users is similar to the one of the regular users, but it is done in Settings – API Users. Instead of a password, an API key is generated for accessing the API.
• System Users. We have changed the activation procedures for the WRS, Self Service Portal, Gift Voucher Webshop, Web Table Booking System, ParityRate. They no longer require you to create a user. This facilitates the settings. And you can easily see if a operation has been performed by the system or an actual user. In the logs, the system users have the '~' prefix before their names ( ~web, ~self_service, etc.) and the regular and API users don't. To enhance security, you can deactivate the users created for this purpose.
• Activation of deactivated users. Now it is possible to activate a deactivated user . To do so, access the user's edit screen and press the 'Reactivate' button.

Other improvements and changes

• Self Service Portal– a new feature – PIN change. Your guests can change their PIN for the Self Service Portal with one being easier to remember, for example.
• Authorize.net – a new setting has been added, so that your clients can know if their credit card type is supported without being necessary to enter their credit card details.
• WRS – Additional services – it is no longer forbidden to enter 0 in the quantity field. When 0 is entered in the field, no service charge is posted.
• New subscription - "Demo data" checkbox. When creating a new subscription, you can choose whether to have it with demo data or not. This way you can start a completely blank subscription.
• API add-on. In order to use the API, you need to contact the Clock PMS support team and request the API add-on activation.
• To-Do – deletion and editing – now you need to have the "PMS - Access: basic" right granted
• Now you can also use the browser spell checker in the rich text editors (Guest Mailer, Mail Templates, etc.)

Fixes

• Blocks are no longer included in the occupancy data for previous periods which used to distort the occupancy figures.
• Occupancy and Charges D-M-Y Report – the bug with the doubling of figures has been fixed.
• Channel manager – it is no longer needed to enter your password when editing the channel manager settings.
• Self Service Portal – background image and theme are now shown on the login screen.
• Self Service Portal - Guarantee – now you can guarantee by credit card if no deposit is defined.
• The right/control event 'Booking: Add or delete past nights' now works with new bookings, too.
• When a To-Do is deleted on the home screen, this To-Do is no longer shown on the booking screen.
• Custom confirmations – no more problems with the visualization of the location (map) in certain situations.
• Advanced Search – the amount columns no longer include amounts from deposit folios.
• Advanced translations for a subscription can now be edited by other users, not only by the subscription owner.
• Gift Voucher Webshop – in case of wrong email when paying through Authorize.net, now there is a clear error message.
• Channel Managers – in case of a conflict when editing a booking, now there is a clear error message.

API

• A new API for updating rate prices. The goal of the API is to enable the integration of external revenue management and rate comparison systems with Clock PMS. The updated rate prices can be used for reference or comparison purposes or for actual sales.
• pms_api - product_search – now there are period validation and clear error messages in case of a wrong period.