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New User Documentation |
RDPWin Reservation Configuration |
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This document outlines the configuration options for the RDPWin Reservations/Front Desk Operations. The configuration options include how to configure functionality for your own property operations in the following areas: New Reservations, Tape Chart, Availability, Check-In, Check-Out, Res Access, Folios, House Status, Activities, Other Charges, Long Term Rentals, Cancellations, Deposits, Daily Charges, People, Preferences and RDP-DOS. |
Reservation Configuration can be found on the Main Menu -> Reservations -> select Configuration.
Many of the configuration options in RDPWin are also switch functions. It is at your discretion how you would like to configure your system. The configuration tabs allow for a more user friendly option whereby multiple functions can be configured at one time rather than needing to search and find all the appropriate switches. RDPWIn Configurations provide you with dynamic usability in the ever changing hospitality business.
New Res Tab – General Attributes
Selection of one or 2 of these options should be made i.e. either pre-assign and multiple or Inventory and multiple or just pre-assign or inventory would be possible combinations.
Allow Pre-assign Reservations – will require a room number to be assigned when the reservation is being made.
Allow Inventory Reservations – requires a room type to be selected prior to making the reservation however a room number does not need to be assigned.
Allow Multiple folio Reservations – Allow multiple folio allows multiple reservations to be allowed in a certain room. Generally used for group functionality, often assigned to a room type of N/R (Non rental)
Allow Pre-assign option when checked requires a room number selection
When Allow pre-assign reservations box is checked you will be required to select a room number before the reservation process can continue.
Select a room
A quote must be added – Quote for the room number appears in the lower screen
Reservationist can now continue with the “Make Reservation” process.
Making an Inventory Reservation
When allow inventory reservations box is checked only a room type selection is required.
Room Type Selection must be made
General attributes Continued
Use Individual folios A & B (Switch 414-05) if checked this will display additional folios A & B for billing purposes at your property.
VRS: Hide total rate override field (Switch 414-36) – switch must be turned on to use this. The reservationist can then enter a total amount for the res and adjust it without really taking nightly rates into account.
If it was desired in the VRS system to not allow users to override the total rate checking this box would hide this field.
Non-VRS: Show total rate override field (Switch 414-37) if checked this will allow users to see and enter a total rate override amount on Non-VRS reservations.
Always search guest history (Switch 414-47) if this box is checked the system will automatically take you to guest history rather than prompting you on whether you want to look in guest history.
If once you search in guest history and the customer is not there, close the search and the guest name you type should remain in the new guest setup screen
Customer Search Field
New Customer name appears in the New Reservation
General attributes continued
Initial no of Nights field – this configuration will always default the reservation being made to the default number of nights
Type of res for F5 (Switch 414-09) can be customized for your property operations If this is set to Owner each time the F5 key is selected a new reservation for an Owner will appear.
Block Res for guest type – can create guest types for problem guests and block them from having the ability to make a reservation
e.g. A guest type is configured called DNR – ‘Do Not Rent’ guest type. Then you can default this res guest type in the above setting.
Now your guest has been marked as a DNR guest type. You go to try and make a reservation for that guest the following message will appear.
You could view the guest’s history to see why this might be the case.
This Guest type prevents you from renting to this customer unless a change is made to their guest type profile.
NOTE: RDP DOS does not have this blocking feature so it would have to be managed simply by monitoring the guest type category.
Default rate plan – the rate plan selected in this default is what you want the rate plan always to default to when making new reservations.
Yield Management Configuration Options
Number of rate plans to display field to 5 is the best setting for functionality & viewing but can be changed.
Display only current rate plan initially – slow systems checking this will allow the system to run a little faster. Initially you will only see rack rates in the yield mgmt screen.
Display the actual number of rooms available according to the Calendar - if checked when making a reservation a rooms column will appear in the Yield Mgmt screen – this column looks at the tape chart and provides a total of rooms available in this column.
Hide Invalid Rate Plans (414-27) - If a rate plan is not valid during a specific timeframe chosen for the reservation you are researching, you can configure the system so any invalid rate plans will not show in yield management. In order for the rate plan to not show it has to be invalid for all nights of during the selected booking dates, if invalid for only 2 of 4 nights it will still show in the Yield Management grid.
The available rooms display options are very important for revenue production within a company. Room rotating/sorting etc will help drive the potential rental income for particular owner properties.
Available rooms can be sorted by different rotation options.
Sort by options include:
Last used – rooms will show at the top of the list in order of usage. Rotates through the rooms based on the last one used. Top moves to bottom with each rental.
Room Number – displays rooms by number order
Best Fit – looking for best occupancy for back to back options. Choosing this sort option will have the system sort by the Fit column in available rooms.
B = back to back perfect fit on arrival side
A = back to back on both sides of res.
C = back to back on departure side
D = no back to back
The system does the sorting but the guest still really drives what choice is the best one
Occupied Nights – occupied nights in the current month, will help distribute owner revenue by nights (per month) to allow best usage for all owners.
The sort by option selected will be specific to your property policies and procedures.
Additional rotation selection options
Owner Radio Button - If checked when the owner makes a reservation their room will go to the bottom of the room selection listing.
Guest of Owner Radio Button - If checked when a guest of owner makes a reservation the room will then go to the bottom of the room selection listing.
Maintenance Radio Button - If checked when the room is placed in Maintenance once released it would go to the bottom of the room selection listing.
Display rooms immediately – if this radio button is unchecked you will need to make filter selections before the available grid rooms will show. If checked the available rooms will show, then you filter additionally and redisplay the grid.
Hide rooms when filtered.
Check contract dates – owner contract may not start until later, on owner master field you enter the contract date, the system will not allow you to make a reservation until the contract date has occurred.
Show Occupied Nights column – if checked the occupied nights for that room will display.
Housekeeping comment label – allows for column in Rooms availability to be renamed with a more appropriate name for this field type.
Add Room configurations
Add Room Configuration Options
Prompt for reservation type when adding a room (Switch 424-09) – if this radio button is checked you will be prompted as to whether you wish to do a pre-assign or inventory type reservation. (This is a feature only available in RDPWin.)
When adding a room to an M (Multiple folio) type reservation, use reservation Type: Prompt, Pre-assign, Inventory, Multiple. This pre-selection option will allow you to predefine the reservation type you would like all additional reservations to be defined as when you have created a Multiple type reservation.
Tape Chart Tab View
Starting Days – this setting allows for you to default the displayed rooms on the tape chart to default to the current date + number of starting days set in this field. E.g. you always want the tape chart to show today’s rooms to start the starting days setting would = 0
Number of Weeks – the number of weeks of reservations you would like to display on the tape chart. The larger this setting the smaller the view on the tape chart. RDP recommendation is no more than 4 weeks for ideal viewing options.
Default sequence – this will determine in what sequence the rooms will display on the tape chart. The option to display rooms in a custom sequence will become active once the Tape Chart Sequence field is being used in the Room Master setup.
To set up a Daily Charge –
Create a description for the daily charge.
Select the transaction code that you have created for the charge, if you do not have a transaction code you will need to create it in Accounting->transactions.
Check the quantity radio button if the charge is to be defaulted with a quantity.
Check appropriate radio buttons for IRM and GDS if applicable.
Daily Charges Tab View
When setting up daily charges things to keep in mind are
Daily charges will charge to customer’s folios for each night of their reservation if the Default Radio button is checked and there is a quantity associated with the charge.
If not then you can apply it to any guest’s reservation at the time of their reservation check-in.
If IRM default is checked this charge will show on customer’s reservation when making a reservation using the Internet Reservations Module.
GDS Default radio button if checked when a reservation is uploaded from GDS it will have the daily charges added.
NOTE: If new daily charges are added to the system after initial configuration it is essential that new charge codes are created in ascending order otherwise reservations that have already been created and transactions will accrue incorrect daily charge assignments.
When viewing a customer’s reservation if Daily Charges are defaulted you will see the charges in their reservation Daily Charges tab. Charges can also be added manually to select reservations via this tab.
Daily Charges View on Reservation
The Check-out tab allows you to configure check-out functions specific to your property operations.
Check-Out Tab View
Direct Check-out (Check-in disabled) (Switch 414-01) – If checked this will disable the Check-in function and is designed for Vacation Rental operations only.
You may also configure the system to skip printing folios during direct checkout by checking the Skip the print folio option during check-out radio button
A password may be configured to only allow certain users to check reservations out with Balance Due (Switch - C1BALREQ). The password is entered in this field.
Allow payment to group balance on reservation (Switch 422-14) – if this radio button is checked payments can be made to a group balance on a reservation.
It
must be determined once Mass Check-out is enabled whether it is desired to
include in mass check-out the following reservation types
· Reservations with a balance due
· NR rooms
· Maintenance reservations
If these are not included in mass checkout they must then be checked out individually.
When Mass checkout it enabled it appears on the Options menu (left side of the Reservations screens).
Select the correct departure date for Mass Checkout
All reservations for the selected departure date will be checked out at once
The availability tab allows you to configure what information will display when the availability screen is used in reservations.
Availability Tab View
Starting Days – this will be the default date viewed in the Availability screen below. The days set in this field will be the current date + no. of days in this field. If it is desired for the availability screen to always show the current date as the default the days setting = 0
Number of Days – this is the default for the number of days to view in the availability screen. Days can be edited in this view as needed.
Sequence settings – defines whether the availability grid will display by group or room type.
Group sequence view
Room Type sequence view
Block/Available format – this can be defaulted to show Block and Available or Available Only rooms. These settings can also be changed in the availability screen seen above, as needed.
Check-In Tab View
The Check-In tab allows you to configure specific functions when checking guests in.
VRS Direct Checkout configuration option
VRS Direct Checkout if this radio icon is checked reservations will not be checked in.
Payment Options View
Payment options can be set so at check-in the payment screen will appear and be defaulted to a particular payment type e.g. credit card.
When the check-in option is selected it will immediately retrieve the payment screen with the default payment type selected. Check-in can be processed with very few mouse clicks.
Add to authorization amount (Switch C1ADDPRE) – a particular dollar amount or percentage can be set to pre-authorize for a guest at check-in.
Allow Bill Charges to Owner on pre-assign reservations if checked will allow charges to be billed to a room owner when pre-assign reservations are made.
Default Payment Option is set to Payment
Payment and Credit Card payment are the defaults in the check-in tab. Once payment is processed click check-in and the reservation is checked in and completed.
Registration Card View
Configuration can be made to prompt staff to print registration card during the check-in process.
The crystal report with the registration card info and a default printer must be set for the registration card defaults to work correctly.
Mass check-in can be configured so that front desk staff can mass check-in reservations for the day. Selections can be made for Mass check-in to include reservations of the following types
· Reservations with balance due
· Non Rental room type reservations e.g. for group leaders
· Maintenance Reservations
· Reservations with dirty rooms.
Mass Check-in View
Display revenue column - the House Status screen by default shows revenue on screen. Often managers do not want front desk users to see this, the box could be unchecked to not show revenue on the house status screen.
Default for ‘Show Reservations in N/R Rooms’ – if checked N/R room reservations would be included in the counts on the House Status screen. (House Status screen also provides you with a radio button to Show Reservations in N/R Rooms if it is not desired to have this default checked).
Minutes between automatic refresh – allows you to set the timeframe during which the House Status screen will refresh with any updates made in the system.
House Status Tab View
Cancellation tab
This tab is where your property cancellation policies would be configured to suit your specific needs.
Cancellation Tab View
Default refund payment type can be set as Credit Card, check or cash.
Default refund amount to total deposit amount (switch 414-17) – if this radio button is checked when cancelling reservations the refund amount will automatically be the full deposit amount.
Enable Mass Cancel of S-Type reservations (Switch 414-42) if checked this will allow you to cancel S-Type reservations in bulk.
Use Cancellation Policy radio button – when checked this enables the cancellation policy automatic calculation fields to be set.
Sample Cancellation policy setup
The above Cancellation policy setup would be as follows - 20% deposit is forfeited if the reservation is cancelled more than 5 days prior to arrival, 100% forfeit if cancelled less than 5 days prior to arrival.
Additional charges can also be configured to be forfeited upon cancellation. These are configured in the other charges tab when the Forfeit radio button is checked on particular charges.
Configuration for travel insurance charges to be forfeited upon cancellation
Forfeited transaction code configuration
Additional configuration selections will need to be made for forfeited deposits.
Forfeited transactions can be sent to either -
Hold cancelled reservation deposit for a future stay configuration
Radio icons can be checked to display the Held Deposit option on the cancellation screen and to default the “Held Deposit” as selected.
If your property collects deposits the deposit tab allows for specific configuration on how deposits will be collected.
Configuration options include the ability to collect 2 deposits.
Deposits Tab View
Deposit 1 Date Calculation would be set based on the date the reservation is created, number of dates from the current .
Deposit 2 Data Calculation is based on chosen date setting and the Number of Days
The People tab provides access to activate what people categories your property uses.
These should not be changed once initial setup has been done if it is altered it will affect all reservations that have been put in the system prior to the change prior reservation data may be incorrect.
Min max options set whether the people setting has a min or max default. Min/Max radio button if checked will enforce the min/max settings.
Each people type can have a default setting e.g. Adults can always default to 2 people.
People set-up provides short and long descriptions.
People Tab View
In the above People Tab View – all 4 people fields are in use at this property.
The people 1 field is the default – always active and in use. Other people fields can be used optionally based on property requirements.
NOTE: People Min and Max values can be overridden by Rate Set min and maxes in the S1 table, for each rate set. If these are not defined then the People defaults from this tab will be used.
Preferences are set up and then values within each preference will need to be assigned.
Preferences can be set up with conditions including is equal to; greater than or equal to; less than or equal to; greater than or less than. (currently = is the only condition supported by RDP)
When the in use radio button is checked this preference is available to be used at your property. If unchecked the preference will no longer display for use.
Preferences Tab View
Once the preference short and long descriptions have been defined and the condition values must be created for the preference. Below is an example of values for Location preferences that can be chosen.
Preference Change Value set-up example
Once preferences have been configured they are then assigned to each room masters with the correct value. Go to each room in Master-> room list and define the values.
Location Preference setup in a room master
RDP DOS Tab
DOS Configuration Tab View
Some functions in RDPWin cannot be seen in DOS e.g. booking fees. You are given the option to restrict particular functions that you cannot use in DOS.
In the above example other charges 3-7 are being used thus this particular property is aware that they have limited DOS functions with these additional charge buckets.
If travel agent flat rates and credit card encryption were also being used in RDPWin these would also be set to true.
All functionality associated with the above features should always be managed and administrated in the RDPWin product.
Other Charges Tab View
In RDPWin other charges may be configured in such a way that Pre-assign and Inventory Reservations are always charged by checking the default radio icon on the specific charge.
RDPWin supports the use of 8 charge buckets. DOS does not have buckets 4,5,6 A or B.
The BU Table - Bucket Descriptions
The C7 table is where owner pay codes would be set up with the percents that owners would get revenue for related to each bucket.
C7 Table Owner pay code configuration - OA, OB, OC
This means Bucket 0 owner would receive 65%
Bucket 1 would receive 65%
Bucket 2 would receive 0%
BV table signifies what owners are receiving for each owner pay code in buckets 3 through B
When clicking into each Owner pay code percents applied to owner revenue for each bucket will be listed.
Charge fields are buckets but actual bucket number for charge fields are as follows -
Charge #3 = Bucket 4
Charge #4 = Bucket 5
Charge #5 = Bucket 6
Charge #6 = Bucket A
Charge #7 = Bucket B
Above shows percents that are going to the owner for the additional buckets in RDPWin ONLY.
See the RDP-DOS Tab for details on restrictions in the RDP system when using buckets 4,5,6, A & B
This tab allows the user to specify particular double click functionality on the reservations grid.
Reservation Grid Double-Click Defaults
In the reservations grid when double clicking an arriving reservation you change choose for the system to move to the Change Res or Check-in screen.
Res Access Double Click Configuration Default Options
When double clicking on a future reservation you can choose to be taken to the Change Res screen or Check-in screen.
When double clicking on an in-house reservation you can choose to go to the Change Res screen, Checkout screen, Deposit/Payment screen or Post Charge screen.
When double clicking on a departing reservation you can select for the system to move to the Check-out screen, Deposit/Payment screen or Post Charge screen.
The long term tab allows configuration for properties that do long term rentals i.e. RDP’s definition of Long Term rentals are those that are more than 30days.
Day of month next month’s rent is considered due – allows you to set the date of the month when the system will consider rent to be due on e.g. the example below would be the 15th.
Use first month’s rent as deposit amount radio button if checked allows you use first month’s rent as deposit then set the number of days the deposit is due from a particular date options include Today’s date or Arrival Date.
Default tax - the default tax type for long term rentals may also be configured
Long Term Res Tab View
Prompt for starting date when folios are printed (switch 419.12) – If this radio icon is checked you will be prompted for a starting date when printing folios.
Allow room move for long term reservations (switch 419-11) – if checked users will be allowed to move rooms for long term reservations.
Default the tax to TZ for reservations greater than or equal to X days (Switch C1LTTax) – this setting will allow users to set the number of days after which time a long term reservation will have a tax exempt status.
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