RezOvation GT How Do I

From RezOvation Wiki

Want to know how to use some of the most common features in RezOvation GT? Find out using our "How Do I?" FAQ.

How Do I ...

Contents 1 Guests & Reservations 1.1 Merge duplicate contacts 1.2 Book multiple rooms 1.3 Book a split reservation 1.4 Change the reservation length 1.5 Change colors on the occupancy map 1.6 Use quick search on the reservation and contact lists 1.7 Use filters on the reservation, customer, and gift certificate lists 1.8 Set up automatic follow up and reminder emails 1.9 Take a single payment for multiple reservations 1.10 Book a group reservation 2 Printing & Emailing 2.1 Print all registration cards for arriving guests 2.2 Create a marketing list 2.3 Send a mass email 2.3.1 Through RezOvation GT 2.3.2 Through your favorite email marketing software 3 Configuration & Administration 3.1 Take a room out of service 3.2 Adjust rates and availability 3.3 Modify a letter or report template 3.4 Move RezOvation GT to a new computer 4 Online Reservations 4.1 Add pictures to my rooms 4.2 Sell packages and addons online 4.3 Allow only certain rooms to be available on your Booking Engine 4.4 Troubleshoot Incorrect Rates on your Booking Engine 5 Fix a particular error 5.1 Administrator has locked this invoice on computer 5.2 Verify Server Name and Port Number

Guests & Reservations

Merge duplicate contacts

1. Go to the Customer List.
2. Select the customers you wish to merge. To select multiple customers at the same time, click and drag in the list, or hold the CTRL key and click each contact. Alternatively, you can use the quick search menu at the top of the screen to filter the list by contact name (type in any portion of the name, address, phone, etc. to filter).
3. Click the Merge button in the menu, or right-click on any highlighted customer and select "merge".
4. The merge customer dialog will appear. Select the customer record that is the primary record (all contact information from this record will be kept, and the other selected records will be merged into this one). If you're not sure which customer should be the primary, click the Edit link to view the customer details.
5. Click OK, and the customer records will be merged.

Book multiple rooms

1. Go to the Occupancy map.
2. Click and drag to select the night(s) in the first room you want to book.
3. Click and drag again and select the night(s) in the second room you want to book.
4. Repeat until all nights are selected (hint: you can select rooms for different nights if you wish; there is no need for all rooms to be booked for the same length).
5. Right-click on any selections and click "Book Reservation".

Book a split reservation

There are two ways you can add a split.

1. Click the Add button on the Reservation list or Occupancy map, select the dates you want to book and the guest name, and then click the Add Room button. In the window that appears, click any days you wish to book, including days in different rooms (e.g. 3 nights in room A, 2 nights in room B).
2. Go to the Occupancy map. Click and drag to select the night(s) in the first room you want to book. Next, click and drag to select the night(s) in the second room you want to book. Right-click on any selection and choose "Book Reservation".

Change the reservation length

There are two ways the change the reservation length.

Via the Occupancy Map

1. Go to the occupancy map, and find the reservation that you wish to modify.
2. Place your mouse over the either the left or right edge of the reservation, depending on whether you are changing the length to make the arrival earlier (left edge) or departure later (right edge).
3. Click and drag the edge of the reservation to extend it.

Via the Edit Reservation screen

1. Open the reservation that you wish to modify, either by double clicking it on the occupancy map or from the reservation list.
2. Click the Actions button at to the bottom of the screen.
3. Click Change Dates.
4. Enter the new arrival or departure date, and click OK.

Change colors on the occupancy map

You can easily change whether colors appear for payment statuses on the occupancy map, and what colors are used. To do so:

1. Go to the Configuration screen.
2. From the bottom right side of the screen, select Lists and Occupancy Map.
3. Select the option for "Show Payment Status Color Band".
4. To change the colors used, click "Select Occupancy Map Colors".

Use quick search on the reservation and contact lists

The quick search box is available for searching any list. To use it:

1. Click in the Quick Search box at the top of the screen.
2. Enter your search criteria, which can be partial (e.g. part of customer name), or full (e.g. city name). This can be any number of things depending on which screen you are on. Examples:
   • Customer name (customer list or reservation list)
   • Group name (customer list or reservation list)
   • Email address (customer list)
   • City (customer list)
   • Room name (reservation list)
   • Arrival or departure date (reservation list)
   • Confirmation number (reservation list)
3. To reset the list, click the Clear button, or delete any text in the search box and press Enter on your keyboard.

Use filters on the reservation, customer, and gift certificate lists

The filters on the left side of the reservation, guest, and gift certificate lists allow you to quickly filter the lists using pre-defined filters, or using custom filters.

A "Quick Search" filter is also availability at the top of each list, which filters the list by search terms such as "name" (partial matches work), "rooms", "confirmation #", and more. (The quick search filters will vary depending on which list you are using.)

• To use a pre-defined filter, simply select it from the left side of the screen. You can then use the Quick Search to further filter the list.

• To use a custom filter, select the custom filter option from the left side of the screen. You can now select from a number of custom filter options.

• You can add multiple search criteria to your custom filter by clicking the "Add Criteria" button at the bottom right of the screen.

• Select "AND" if you wish for the search to include both criteria (e.g. Arrival date between 8/1/09 - 8/31/09 AND state = Texas), or select "OR" if you wish for the search to include either of the search criteria (e.g. No Payment OR Balance Due).

Set up automatic follow up and reminder emails

RezOvation GT includes a feature to schedule follow-up and reminder emails for reservations and for occasions (such as birthdays, anniversaries, etc.). Use this feature to remind guests about an upcoming stay, to thank them for staying (and write a review!), or just to say "Happy Birthday!".

A few things you should know about scheduled reservation emails:

• Reminder emails can be scheduled and turned on / off at any time from the Configuration screen under the Email section.
• Use the "default" setting in the template configuration window to select which template you would like to send. If you would like to change templates (e.g. if you want to send different emails based on time of year), just create a new template and set it as the default.
• Scheduled occasion emails will only be sent to customers who have the marketing permission flag enabled in their customer record.
• The name of the template determines the email subject line, so make sure that your template name is meaningful.
• Emails are sent every day from the computer where RezOvation GT is installed. If this computer is not running, then the emails will queued and sent whenever the computer is running again.

A few things you should know about scheduled occasion emails:

• Occasions can be scheduled from the Manage Customer Occasions section.
• Scheduled occasion emails will be only be sent to customers who have an occasion set in their customer record.
• Scheduled occasion emails will only be sent to customers who have the marketing permission flag enabled in their customer record.
• The name of the template determines the email subject line, so make sure that your template name is meaningful.
• Emails are sent every day from the computer where RezOvation GT is installed. If this computer is not running, then the emails will queued and sent whenever the computer is running again.

Take a single payment for multiple reservations

If you have multiple reservations which require a single payment, then you should consider using the "pre-paid account" feature.

1. Create an invoice to hold the pre-paid account. You can either add the pre-paid account to a new retail sale invoice (click the Add button from the Reservation list and select "Retail Sale"), or add the pre-paid account to an existing reservation.
2. From the invoice, in the "Items" section, click Add > Add Pre-Paid account.
3. Enter the account name, number, and amount. If necessary, change the account owner. Click OK.
4. Add a payment to the invoice for the amount of the pre-paid account.
5. Edit the first reservation that you need to pay. From the Payments section, click Payment > Pre-Paid Account Payment.
6. Click Search and locate the pre-paid account you just created.
7. Select the amount to use, and click OK.
8. Repeat for all reservations.

Book a group reservation

See Group Reservations in RezOvation GT.

Printing & Emailing

Print all registration cards for arriving guests

Note: this feature works for any filter on the reservation or customer list, including departures, groups, wait list, etc., and also works for any type of letter from folios to custom letters.

1. Click the Arrivals radio button on the reservation list (alternatively, you can use a custom filter).
2. Click and drag to select all reservations -- or press CTRL A on your keyboard.
3. Click the Print button and select Registration card.
4. All registration cards will be sent to the default printer.

Create a marketing list

See Marketing Emails and Letters.

Send a mass email

Through RezOvation GT

Note: sending mass emails through RezOvation GT is not recommended for a large number of emails (e.g. 50+) This is due to the fact that your email provider may set a limit on how many emails you can send in a short time period. You should first check with your ISP to see if any restrictions exist.

1. Go to the Customer list or Reservation list, and use the Custom Filter or built-in filters to narrow the list.
2. Click and drag to select all customers -- or press CTRL A on your keyboard.
3. Click the Email button and select the email document you wish to send.
4. All documents will be sent to the first email on the customer record (email 1).

Through your favorite email marketing software

1. Go to the Customer list or Reservation list, and use the Custom Filter or built-in filters to narrow the list.
2. Click the Marketing tools menu at the top of the screen
3. Select Generate Email List to generate a list of guest names and emails, or select Generate Mailing List to generate a list including address and other details.
4. This will create a CSV (spreadsheet) file, which can then be uploaded into your email marketing software.

Need email marketing software? We recommend Constant Contact, iContact, AWeber, or MailChimp.

Configuration & Administration

Take a room out of service

To add out of service:

1. Go to the Occupancy Map.
2. Click Commands > Manage Out of Service.
3. Select the rooms you wish to place out of service.
4. Select the date range.
5. Enter a reason for out of service.
6. Click OK.

To remove out of service:

1. Go to the Occupancy Map.
2. Click Commands > Manage Out of Service.
3. Select the rooms you wish to clear out of service.
4. Select the date range.
5. Select the option for "Open Days"
6. Click OK.

Adjust rates and availability

Rates and availability can be adjusted via the Rate Seasons and Adjustments screen, which you can access from the View menu. See Rate Management in RezOvation GT for more details.

Modify a letter or report template

Please see How to Modify a Letter or Report Template in RezOvation GT.

Move RezOvation GT to a new computer

Please contact support if you need assistance with moving RezOvation GT. If you are comfortable doing it yourself, please follow the steps below.

There are two methods for moving your database: restore the database, or move the database files. Moving the database files is usually faster, but more technically involved.

Method 1: restore the database from the RezOvation portal server

1. Ensure that you have your unique activation key available. If you do not, contact RezOvation Support.
2. Open RezOvation GT on the original computer. Log in as the "Administrator" user.
3. Click File > Move Server.
4. Click Generate to create the movement ticket, and copy this number (this is different from your activation key, which you will also need).
5. Go to the Configuration page and click the link at the top to suspend the RezOvation Server Sync.
6. RezOvation GT will now stop communicating with the portal server. You should not enter any more data into RezOvation GT on this computer as it will not be sent to the data portal and will be lost when you enable RezOvation GT on the new computer. It is recommended that you uninstall RezOvation GT from this computer as well.
7. Install the latest version of RezOvation GT on the new computer. You can download the install file here.
8. When prompted, enter your activation key, and click Next
9. You will now be prompted to enter your movement ticket. Do so, and click Next.
10. The data will be restored onto your new computer. Depending on the size of your database, this process can take a few hours, or a few minutes. (Typically, a larger property or a property with a long history of reservations will have a larger database).
11. When the restore is done, click Finish, and RezOvation GT will open. You may need to re-enable the RezOvation Server Sync from the Configuration page.

NOTE: due to PCI compliance requirements, the RezOvation data portal does NOT store credit card data. If you restore your data from the portal, any credit cards will be purged; however, the last 4 digits of each card is still stored. If you use our integrated credit card processing, you will still be able to process refunds for any transactions on file.

Method 2: move the database files

1. Open RezOvation GT on the original computer. Log in as the "Administrator" user.
2. Click File > Move Server.
3. Click Generate to create the movement ticket, and copy this number (this is different from your activation key, which you will also need).
4. Go to Start > Control Panel, and select Uninstall Programs (or open Add / Remove Programs if using Windows XP). Right-click on RezOvation GT and select uninstall.
5. Close RezOvation GT.
6. Browse to the RezOvation installation folder (typically C:\Program Files\RezOvation\RezOvation GT) and open the System Files directory. Locate the RezOvation.mdf and RezOvation_log.ldf files, and either copy these to a USB / flash drive, or copy them over the network to the new computer.
7. Install the latest version of RezOvation GT on the new computer. You can download the install file here.
8. Copy the RezOvation.mdf and RezOvation_log.ldf files into the System Files folder in the RezOvation installation folder (typically C:\Program Files\RezOvation\RezOvation GT).
9. Reboot your computer.
10. Start RezOvation GT.
11. You will see a message at the bottom right corner of the RezOvation GT window indicating a "Server communication error". Double-click on this error message, and the Move Server window will appear.
12. Select the option to "Register this computer as the main computer".
13. You will now be prompted to enter your movement ticket. Do so, and click Next.
14. The database will now be active on your new computer. You may need to re-enable the RezOvation Server Sync from the Configuration page.

Online Reservations

Add pictures to my rooms

Having great photos for your online reservations is important for convincing guests to book. Fortunately, RezOvation GT allows you to easily add and update photos to your online reservations, and also provides a photo gallery which guests can browse.

To add or update photos to your booking engine:

1. Go to the Configuration screen.
2. Click the Rooms link.
3. Double-click on a room name.
4. From the photos section at the bottom, click "Add".
5. Browse to the location of the photo your computer. The photo can be any size -- you'll have the change to crop it in just a minute. It must be either a JPEG, GIF, or Bitmap. Click Next when you've selected the photo.
6. Crop your thumbnail version (which is displayed in the rooms list on the booking engine) by moving the yellow square. You can also expand or restrict the size of the yellow square to crop the photo. Click Next when done.
7. Crop the full size version, and click Next.
8. Enter a description, and click Finish.
9. If you need to edit the photo later, select it and click the Edit button. Click Delete to remove it.
10. Add as many photos as you want! The first photo in the list will display on the main rooms list in the booking engine. Just use the "Up / Down" button to change the order. Subsequent photos will appear in the photo gallery, which the guest can view by clicking on the room name or room photo from the booking engine.

Sell packages and addons online

Selling packages and add-ons online is easy! If you already have some packages created, it's even easier -- just click a button to enable them for online booking.

1. Go to the Configuration screen.
2. Click the Packages link under "Optional Property Settings".
3. Double click the package name, or click "Add" to create a new package. The Edit Package window will appear. (Tip: you'll need to create some Extras from the Extras section in the configuration, if you want to build packages that include items other than rooms).
4. Choose your package type. "Lodging" packages include rooms and can optionally include extras. "Add-on" packages include just extras, and if you have a single extra item that you want to sell online, then just put one extra in the package. e.g. if you sell champagne as an add-on item, create an extra called "champagne", and then create an add-on called "champagne" and add the extra to it.
5. Add some photos -- an important step for really selling those packages!
6. On the right hand side you'll see a checkbox for "Availability for online reservations". Just check it. If you wish, set some more restrictions around the package, e.g. seasonal restrictions, day of the week, etc.
7. Click OK. The packages will be available online within a few minutes.

Allow only certain rooms to be available on your Booking Engine

In order to have rooms show up in your software and not on your booking engine, you will need to set up a new rate type and change an option in your base rates to allow only certain rooms to be booked.

1. Go to the Rate Types options. View>Program Configuration, then check under the “Enable Online Reservations via” column. If the RezOvation Booking Engine is showing in the column, then proceed to step 2. If it is not showing, then skip to step 4.
   
2. Double click on the rate type that has the “RezOvation Booking Engine” text to Edit that rate type’s options.
   
3. Make sure that the checkbox next to “RezOvation Booking Engine” is unchecked. When it is unchecked, click okay to close the window.
   
4. Now you will make a new rate type to be used by the booking engine. Select the rate type you wish to copy, for example the Rack rate type, and then select the Copy option at the top of the “Edit Rate Type” window.
   
5. In the new window that pops up, name the new rate type something like Booking Engine, check the checkbox next to “RezOvation Booking Engine,” then click okay to finalize the copy options.
   
6. The computer is now copying the new rate type. This can take several minutes. Once this is done close the rate type window to go back to the Program Configuration screen.
   
7. Now that you are back at the Program Configuration screen, click on Base Rates.
   
8. In the base rates window click on the tab at the top that says Booking Engine (or whatever you called the new rate type in step 5).
   
9. Here you will see a list of all of your rooms. Double click on the name of a room you do NOT want to be bookable on your booking engine to edit it’s options.
   
10. In the upper left-hand corner of the window you will see a checkbox that says “Allow ‘__’ to be booked at the ‘____’ rate." Un-Check this box, and then close the window to save your changes.
    
11. Repeat steps 9 & 10 until all of the rooms you do NOT want to be bookable on your booking engine are set correctly.
    

Troubleshoot Incorrect Rates on your Booking Engine

If your rates are not showing up correctly on your booking engine, try following these troubleshooting steps:

1. Make sure you are communicating with the booking engine by going to the Configuration Screen and checking that your server sync is enabled. Also look at the bottom right corner and look for the Portal Status: Online.
   

   
   

2. Make sure that the correct Rate Type is associated with the Rezovation Booking engine. For my example the Booking Engine pulls its rates from the Rack Rate Type. Go to the Configuration Screen> Rate Types:
   

   
   

3. If this is correct, then check your Rate Seasons and adjustments screen (Configuration Screen > Rate Seasons and Adjustments) to make sure that the correct prices are showing for the associated Rate Type (Note: adjusted rates will be in bold).

Fix a particular error

Administrator has locked this invoice on computer

Generally this error refers to the situation when you try and open an invoice that is already open on the computer. Here is a description of the most common scenario we have seen.
You open the Edit Reservation window, either from the reservation list or the occupancy map. Then, you edit the customer information and bring up the Edit Customer window by clicking on the “Edit” button next to the customer info on the Edit Reservation window. Now, you are looking at the Edit Customer window, and can see all of the different invoices/reservations that Customer has. If you try to open the invoice/reservation you were just looking at, it will give you the "Administrator has locked this invoice on computer…” error.

This can also happen if you have Rezovation GT networked, and the invoice is open on another computer.

The easiest way to fix this is to close Rezovation GT, and then reopen the program. Then, go directly to the invoice/reservation you are trying to edit.

Verify Server Name and Port Number

Please try restarting the SQL Express and Rezovation Property Manager services as follows:

1. Click Start -> Run (Vista users: Click Start -> Search)
   
2. Type 'services.msc' (no quotes) and hit Enter
   
3. Scroll down and click on the "Rezovation Property Manager" service to highlight it.
   
4. Click on the blue Restart link at the left. If Restart is not an option, select Start.
   
5. Next, scroll down and click on the "SQL Server (SQLEXPRESS)" service to highlight it.
   
6. Click on the blue Restart link at the left. If that option is not visible, select Start.
   
7. Wait fifteen seconds.
   
8. Start RezOvation GT normally.