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Limit Guest Requests on the IRM 

Article ID: KI0058   5/18/06

The Internet Reservation Module (IRM) can make guest reservations by room type (inventory) or room number (preassign).  Customers running hotels tend to reserve by room type since all the rooms of a given type are basically the same.  On the other hand, our vacation rental customers reserve by room number, which allows guests to see the unique aspects of each available condo or house, including pictures and complete descriptions.  Please see Factors to Consider When Configuring Unit Types and Unit Numbers.
 

When the IRM is configured to use preassign reservations, the process is as follows:

  1. Configure each room number for a maximum number of people allowed.
  2. The guest selects the arrival date, departure date, and number of people (required search criteria to find available rooms).
  3. Configure up to 9 additional search criteria, such as the number of bedrooms, location, price range, etc. 
  4. The IRM searches for rooms as follows:

The result is that available rooms which are big enough for the party and match all search criteria are displayed in owner rotation order.  The system can show a picture of each room as well as a description.  A sample of the display is below.

 

Problem Overview & Solution

The design above works well as long as the number of search criteria is limited.  The critical factor is to make sure the guest sees some available rooms.  In the example above, there are five search criteria as follows:

Search Criteria Possible Guest Selections
Number of Bedrooms 1, 2, 3, and 4 bedrooms
Location Summit County, Vail, and Beaver Creek
Price Range Low, Medium and High
Smoking Smoking or Non-Smoking
Jacuzzi Yes or No

 

At first glance, these search criteria appear logical.  But what if the guest were to search for an available four bedroom condo in Vail that was in the low price range and allowed smoking.  It is very possible that there are no rooms that match all of these criteria, and the guest will see the message "no available rooms match all search criteria" even though every room could be available!  This results in a poor experience for the guest.  They must enter many different search criteria to find a room.  The guest could decide to reduce the search criteria and search again.  However, the results could be interpreted as there are not rooms available.

The solution is to reduce the number of search criteria to the most critical.  All search criteria entered for rooms that are used by reservationists do not have to be used on the IRM.  Perhaps the only search criteria for Location is used.  The IRM would then display all available rooms in Vail that are big enough to accommodate all members of the party.  The guest can then look at the pictures and descriptions of each unit to decide which one to book.  

Providing a great experience for the guests using the IRM is critical.  RDP will be glad to provide free consulting to optimize the revenue generated.  Please call RDP support at 970-845-7108.  Also please see Additional IRM Tips.

IRM Troubleshooting Links

Troubleshooting the Internet Reservation Module (IRM)
Eliminate Session Running Warning and Correct Linking to the IRM from your Marketing Website
Testing and Troubleshooting the IRM with IRMTOOLS.HTM
Limit Guest Requests on the IRM
Configure Room Types and Numbers
Troubleshooting DNS (Domain Name Services) with IRM
Using Filemon.exe and Regmon.exe to Find Security Problems with IRM and Data Server
Changing Pervasive Terminal Services Security with RegEdit
Correcting a Stat 94 - Editing IRM Bridge Server SAT Entries
Installation, Configuration & Troubleshooting Internal SMTP Outgoing E-mail Server
Windows Internal Firewall May Need to be Turned Off
Knowledge Base (IRM)

 

Links to RDP Data Server and Internet Reservation Module (IRM) documents

 

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