Reservation software question?

Hi everyone! Sorry I have not been able to post much. I have a family member than has been very sick and is currently in the hospital.
I do have a quick question. It's about our reservation program. The one I'm talking about is the popular one one here. I don't really want to mention the name because of the conversation.
Has anyone been having a lot of issues with it lately? I have had a lot of people calling about errors when making a reservation or just checking. I'm getting a bit nervous, our numbers are way off of last year during this same time. The problems started shortly after the move of the software. I had a guests call yesterday and said he tried to make a reservation and received an error message. I checked in the system and found his name by search. The reservation never showed up as a booked room. I checked with Aut.net and his card was charged. This is not good. I was just wondering if any of you have had any issues? I know on the program forum there is a list of issues that are backed up and not really being resolved. I'm a little worried. I hope all of you are doing well! I miss hanging out here.

I haven't heard of any problems, but now you've got me worried! Especially about issues not getting responses on the forum. Growing pains, perhaps. Growing faster than one or two people can manage. Hope it gets sorted out pronto!

I have a problem with the time difference since software move. Apparently, it is based on GMT, which does not serve well for us in the States if you have it programmed to not accept reservations the same day. I know for certain I have already lost a one night stay because of this. The guest tried to book at 8 PM CST, which is after midnight GMT, and so it did not allow them to book and took them to the default message of "Put yourself on waiting list, etc", so they thought the inn was full. I wonder how many others have done the same. It's frustrating, and I'm not sure how quickly it is going to be fixed.

BananaE29 said:

I have a problem with the time difference since software move. Apparently, it is based on GMT, which does not serve well for us in the States if you have it programmed to not accept reservations the same day. I know for certain I have already lost a one night stay because of this. The guest tried to book at 8 PM CST, which is after midnight GMT, and so it did not allow them to book and took them to the default message of "Put yourself on waiting list, etc", so they thought the inn was full. I wonder how many others have done the same. It's frustrating, and I'm not sure how quickly it is going to be fixed..

Click to expand...

There is a setting for your time zone.

Sugar Bear said:

BananaE29 said:

I have a problem with the time difference since software move. Apparently, it is based on GMT, which does not serve well for us in the States if you have it programmed to not accept reservations the same day. I know for certain I have already lost a one night stay because of this. The guest tried to book at 8 PM CST, which is after midnight GMT, and so it did not allow them to book and took them to the default message of "Put yourself on waiting list, etc", so they thought the inn was full. I wonder how many others have done the same. It's frustrating, and I'm not sure how quickly it is going to be fixed..

Click to expand...

There is a setting for your time zone.
.

Click to expand...

Yes, but I would have to change it to GMT to match what his program is set for. There is no fix right now - he has said as such. But he is working on it.

BananaE29 said:

Sugar Bear said:

BananaE29 said:

I have a problem with the time difference since software move. Apparently, it is based on GMT, which does not serve well for us in the States if you have it programmed to not accept reservations the same day. I know for certain I have already lost a one night stay because of this. The guest tried to book at 8 PM CST, which is after midnight GMT, and so it did not allow them to book and took them to the default message of "Put yourself on waiting list, etc", so they thought the inn was full. I wonder how many others have done the same. It's frustrating, and I'm not sure how quickly it is going to be fixed..

Click to expand...

There is a setting for your time zone.
.

Click to expand...

Yes, but I would have to change it to GMT to match what his program is set for. There is no fix right now - he has said as such. But he is working on it.
.

Click to expand...

Change what you waiting list page says. Go to Website Messages and modify what the page says.

I've had several problems lately and have been concerned. I've signed up for TA TripConnect, but there is some glitch with the minimum night requirements, so I haven't gone live on TA. If anyone does a search, it shows no rooms available unless they are looking at 4 or more nights! I've contacted John twice with this, but even though he said he'd look at it, nothing yet and it's been weeks.
Also, I only get an error message with the Book It app for FB. Again, John said he'd try to get to it, but hasn't. The FB app is no big deal.
It's my very slow season so I'm not getting as many reservations as usual, but no one has contacted me about problems making reservations with the system.

Breakfast Diva said:

I've had several problems lately and have been concerned. I've signed up for TA TripConnect, but there is some glitch with the minimum night requirements, so I haven't gone live on TA. If anyone does a search, it shows no rooms available unless they are looking at 4 or more nights! I've contacted John twice with this, but even though he said he'd look at it, nothing yet and it's been weeks.
Also, I only get an error message with the Book It app for FB. Again, John said he'd try to get to it, but hasn't. The FB app is no big deal.
It's my very slow season so I'm not getting as many reservations as usual, but no one has contacted me about problems making reservations with the system..

Click to expand...

I'm switching over at the moment and spoke to John. He did say he was going on vacation this week and next. And he's having trouble with dealing with the switch over to AWS.

Sugar Bear said:

Breakfast Diva said:

I've had several problems lately and have been concerned. I've signed up for TA TripConnect, but there is some glitch with the minimum night requirements, so I haven't gone live on TA. If anyone does a search, it shows no rooms available unless they are looking at 4 or more nights! I've contacted John twice with this, but even though he said he'd look at it, nothing yet and it's been weeks.
Also, I only get an error message with the Book It app for FB. Again, John said he'd try to get to it, but hasn't. The FB app is no big deal.
It's my very slow season so I'm not getting as many reservations as usual, but no one has contacted me about problems making reservations with the system..

Click to expand...

I'm switching over at the moment and spoke to John. He did say he was going on vacation this week and next. And he's having trouble with dealing with the switch over to AWS.
.

Click to expand...

AWS?

Breakfast Diva said:

Sugar Bear said:

Breakfast Diva said:

I've had several problems lately and have been concerned. I've signed up for TA TripConnect, but there is some glitch with the minimum night requirements, so I haven't gone live on TA. If anyone does a search, it shows no rooms available unless they are looking at 4 or more nights! I've contacted John twice with this, but even though he said he'd look at it, nothing yet and it's been weeks.
Also, I only get an error message with the Book It app for FB. Again, John said he'd try to get to it, but hasn't. The FB app is no big deal.
It's my very slow season so I'm not getting as many reservations as usual, but no one has contacted me about problems making reservations with the system..

Click to expand...

I'm switching over at the moment and spoke to John. He did say he was going on vacation this week and next. And he's having trouble with dealing with the switch over to AWS.
.

Click to expand...

AWS?
.

Click to expand...

Amazon Web Services

Bob, Please wish your family member well from the Road Trippers. We SO enjoyed getting to meet your family members - all of them. It is a very trying time for all of you right now. In my prayers

Harborfields said:

Breakfast Diva said:

Sugar Bear said:

Breakfast Diva said:

I've had several problems lately and have been concerned. I've signed up for TA TripConnect, but there is some glitch with the minimum night requirements, so I haven't gone live on TA. If anyone does a search, it shows no rooms available unless they are looking at 4 or more nights! I've contacted John twice with this, but even though he said he'd look at it, nothing yet and it's been weeks.
Also, I only get an error message with the Book It app for FB. Again, John said he'd try to get to it, but hasn't. The FB app is no big deal.
It's my very slow season so I'm not getting as many reservations as usual, but no one has contacted me about problems making reservations with the system..

Click to expand...

I'm switching over at the moment and spoke to John. He did say he was going on vacation this week and next. And he's having trouble with dealing with the switch over to AWS.
.

Click to expand...

AWS?
.

Click to expand...

Amazon Web Services
.

Click to expand...

A lot more reliable and distributed worldwide, but there are growing pains.

We had an issue when he made the switch over. The system lost a couple bookings during the transfer. He emailed not sure if it was a blanket email or one only to those with missing data. Luckily they were easy to reestablish on my end.

While I am sure that no problems were planned, it may have been nice to have had heads up "system may be down on Xday between XandY." Hind sight is 20/20, something he may have learned from the experience.
FB reservation app worked well for me the other day, my 1st FB reservation came through, but I don't know if there have been issues in the past......
Hang in there, I haven't used anything techie that has not had a hick up or 2 along the way, it is when they don't go away that is the problem. Hopefully John will come back from vacation feeling refreshed and ready to tackle the world.

Sugar Bear said:

BananaE29 said:

Sugar Bear said:

BananaE29 said:

I have a problem with the time difference since software move. Apparently, it is based on GMT, which does not serve well for us in the States if you have it programmed to not accept reservations the same day. I know for certain I have already lost a one night stay because of this. The guest tried to book at 8 PM CST, which is after midnight GMT, and so it did not allow them to book and took them to the default message of "Put yourself on waiting list, etc", so they thought the inn was full. I wonder how many others have done the same. It's frustrating, and I'm not sure how quickly it is going to be fixed..

Click to expand...

There is a setting for your time zone.
.

Click to expand...

Yes, but I would have to change it to GMT to match what his program is set for. There is no fix right now - he has said as such. But he is working on it.
.

Click to expand...

Change what you waiting list page says. Go to Website Messages and modify what the page says.
.

Click to expand...

I did do that...after I figured out what was going on and lost that one booking I'm sure all these glitches will be worked out - John is fantastic and the program is awesome. He deserves the time off he's taking right now.

I sometimes wonder how accurate we are in reviewing the "effectiveness" of booking engines. Even a $100/month difference in cost can easily be compensated for when operating under a better, more reliable, and more robust booking engine. Is a cheaper engine LOSING reservations? Down time costly? Sadly, these things cannot possibly be determined, only surmised. It's important to not be penny-wise and pound foolish. Maybe in choosing booking engines - as in the rest of our business decisions - quality costs a bit more, but the results are superior. Maybe the popular booking engine has hit "red-line"? Just sayin'.

Buckeye said:

I sometimes wonder how accurate we are in reviewing the "effectiveness" of booking engines. Even a $100/month difference in cost can easily be compensated for when operating under a better, more reliable, and more robust booking engine. Is a cheaper engine LOSING reservations? Down time costly? Sadly, these things cannot possibly be determined, only surmised. It's important to not be penny-wise and pound foolish. Maybe in choosing booking engines - as in the rest of our business decisions - quality costs a bit more, but the results are superior. Maybe the popular booking engine has hit "red-line"? Just sayin'..

Click to expand...

I have had a very expensive mainstream property management system and had major problems with reservations, update problems, and bad customer service. Every system has it's glitches every now and then.

"Bad customer service". So true. Isn't it troubling how many pre-sale dialogues with salespeople are so upbeat and interactive...then AFTER the sale/purchase it's like "poof". Slow communication "deflation". We just switched phone plans and bundled internet, local, and LD. Of course, the happy sales rep failed to hear us when we mentioned our TOLL-FREE number. Yeah....here it comes.... Our phones get switched over. No problems. Two weeks later a call-in reservation stated that they almost gave up on us thinking we were out-of-business because the TOLL FREE had a "NOT IN SERVICE" recorded message!
It took me another 2 weeks, 5 phone calls, 3-4 different people to FINALLY get our number back and working. It was held in limbo by the first company for want of PAPERWORK between the two companies.
I guess I'm trying not to dwell on the unknown amount of "lost" revenue. But I WAS spitting nails for 2 weeks...
But I digress.....this was a booking engine "problem" thread....my apologies.... <but I feel much better now...>

gillumhouse said:

Bob, Please wish your family member well from the Road Trippers. We SO enjoyed getting to meet your family members - all of them. It is a very trying time for all of you right now. In my prayers.

Click to expand...

gillumhouse said:

Bob, Please wish your family member well from the Road Trippers. We SO enjoyed getting to meet your family members - all of them. It is a very trying time for all of you right now. In my prayers

Click to expand...

Thank you so much! I know you mean what you say.

Sugar Bear said:

Breakfast Diva said:

I've had several problems lately and have been concerned. I've signed up for TA TripConnect, but there is some glitch with the minimum night requirements, so I haven't gone live on TA. If anyone does a search, it shows no rooms available unless they are looking at 4 or more nights! I've contacted John twice with this, but even though he said he'd look at it, nothing yet and it's been weeks.
Also, I only get an error message with the Book It app for FB. Again, John said he'd try to get to it, but hasn't. The FB app is no big deal.
It's my very slow season so I'm not getting as many reservations as usual, but no one has contacted me about problems making reservations with the system..

Click to expand...

I'm switching over at the moment and spoke to John. He did say he was going on vacation this week and next. And he's having trouble with dealing with the switch over to AWS.
.

Click to expand...

Sugar Bear said:

I'm switching over at the moment and spoke to John. He did say he was going on vacation this week and next. And he's having trouble with dealing with the switch over to AWS.

Click to expand...

I know everyone deserves to have a vacation but I do feel his timing was off. He moved everyone over to AWS and has had a lot of problems. If you look on the reservation forum there are all kinds of issues that are not being responded to. He probably should of waited until after vacation to do the move. It makes me a little nervous. Yesterday I had a customer call and they had been double charged. I did not take the reservation, they made it online. I checked my Aut.net account and sure enough they had been charged twice. It's not the program that looks bad when this happens, its our business. I wonder if he is doing this program by himself or if he has others helping. God forbid something happens to him where does that leave all of us? I'm happy he is doing so well but I do feel he has an obligation to fulfill with his customers, vacation or not. If he is doing all this by himself then he needs to have someone cover for him when he is gone. Ok, vent over!

I can only report that I've been having online reservations come in lately with no problems, and no reports of any error messages. Don't know why it would work for some while others have problems, but such is the nature of software I guess. Hope it all gets sorted out soon, and hope mine continues to work like it has been!