Front Desk and Reservation Systems

Hi All,
You've been so helpful on my other queries - thank you!
It is time to choose a front desk/rez system, ideally with a channel manager.
What do you like? I'm considering Little Hotelier but it doesn't partner with bedandbreakfast.com. Is one forced into Rezovation for that?
My website will be on wordpress.
Thank you!
Tamara

Only Rezovation does that. And if you want antique software, that's the way to go. It's still using Silverlight... no longer supported in Chrome, Microsoft Edge. It also uses NPAPI, also discontinued in Chrome and soon Firefox. BTDTBTTS and have the scars.
I use Reskey and MyAllocator, not a perfect solution, but there is no perfect solution.

We use WebReserve and Siteminder to tie all the on line res systems together. it prevents double booking.
Siteminder is a bit ugly on the website, but it works.

I need to ask, have you taken any aspiring innkeeper courses? Conferences etc?

When I bought our B&B, it used Rezovations, but within a year it was clearly not keeping up with technology and needs. We finally cut the cord in January 2015 and went with a ResNexus/MyAllocator setup. It's a little more money but it's all web-based and not dependent on whether we're on PCs, Macs, using Silverlight or whatever.
Don't underestimate which system has the best user experience when they book online. ResNexus is good but I don't think it's the best UI out there. It does no good to have a front desk system that works for you if the online booking is so cumbersome your guests go elsewhere.

PhineasSwann said:

When I bought our B&B, it used Rezovations, but within a year it was clearly not keeping up with technology and needs. We finally cut the cord in January 2015 and went with a ResNexus/MyAllocator setup. It's a little more money but it's all web-based and not dependent on whether we're on PCs, Macs, using Silverlight or whatever.
Don't underestimate which system has the best user experience when they book online. ResNexus is good but I don't think it's the best UI out there. It does no good to have a front desk system that works for you if the online booking is so cumbersome your guests go elsewhere..

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see thats why I like MYUKtravel which is actually a newzealand company! is a channel manager for everything we want plus reports - but is also cloud based so I can even run everything take a booking, reports or cancel a booking from my phone, tablet, computer anything

Thanks all. Anyone try Little Hotelier or Beds24?

JBloggs said:

I need to ask, have you taken any aspiring innkeeper courses? Conferences etc?.

Click to expand...

JBloggs said:

I need to ask, have you taken any aspiring innkeeper courses? Conferences etc?

Click to expand...

Ii haven't, would you recommend? I do tons of online research and ask a lot of questions though!

Tamelon said:

Thanks all. Anyone try Little Hotelier or Beds24?.

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looked at beds24 who are also behind stayin.town which is an up and coming commission free along the lines of innspiring type web site - trouble was we have zip and link rooms which can be made up as 2 seperate beds or zip together and make a double - their software couldn't accommodate that they had to be 1 type also seemed difficult to swop rooms about ie move a booking from 1 to another which I do all the time. - but that was about 3 years ago and to be fair they listened to my feedback as my situation is very common in the UK so they may have tweeked it.
Little hotelier looks good on paper and my neighbour uses it and raves about it - but feel its very expensive - i basically get the same thing with myuktravel for half the price.

Tamelon said:

JBloggs said:

I need to ask, have you taken any aspiring innkeeper courses? Conferences etc?.

Click to expand...

JBloggs said:

I need to ask, have you taken any aspiring innkeeper courses? Conferences etc?

Click to expand...

Ii haven't, would you recommend? I do tons of online research and ask a lot of questions though!
.

Click to expand...

Take one! Highly suggest from your State Association. They will know the rules in the State you will have your business in.

Hi Tamara,
Yes, you will be forced into a HomeAway product like Rezovation for integration with bedandbreakfast.com.
There are many good options out there. I think the main areas to consider are:

• Ease of use. Is the system user friendly?
• Integration. Do you absolutely need to integrate with other channels (OTAs, TripAdviser, etc.)
• Cost

I hope this helps!

PhineasSwann said:

When I bought our B&B, it used Rezovations, but within a year it was clearly not keeping up with technology and needs. We finally cut the cord in January 2015 and went with a ResNexus/MyAllocator setup. It's a little more money but it's all web-based and not dependent on whether we're on PCs, Macs, using Silverlight or whatever.
Don't underestimate which system has the best user experience when they book online. ResNexus is good but I don't think it's the best UI out there. It does no good to have a front desk system that works for you if the online booking is so cumbersome your guests go elsewhere..

Click to expand...

We also use resnexus. Seems to work for us but you need to coordinate with expedia and update you calander.

Camge said:

PhineasSwann said:

When I bought our B&B, it used Rezovations, but within a year it was clearly not keeping up with technology and needs. We finally cut the cord in January 2015 and went with a ResNexus/MyAllocator setup. It's a little more money but it's all web-based and not dependent on whether we're on PCs, Macs, using Silverlight or whatever.
Don't underestimate which system has the best user experience when they book online. ResNexus is good but I don't think it's the best UI out there. It does no good to have a front desk system that works for you if the online booking is so cumbersome your guests go elsewhere..

Click to expand...

We also use resnexus. Seems to work for us but you need to coordinate with expedia and update you calander.
.

Click to expand...

Or you can just pay the extra $21 a month and add MyAllocator. Worth it to me not to constantly have to scramble to manually post rates.

PhineasSwann said:

When I bought our B&B, it used Rezovations, but within a year it was clearly not keeping up with technology and needs. We finally cut the cord in January 2015 and went with a ResNexus/MyAllocator setup. It's a little more money but it's all web-based and not dependent on whether we're on PCs, Macs, using Silverlight or whatever.
Don't underestimate which system has the best user experience when they book online. ResNexus is good but I don't think it's the best UI out there. It does no good to have a front desk system that works for you if the online booking is so cumbersome your guests go elsewhere..

Click to expand...

same experience. All set up on Rezov and scrapped it for ResNex, a clean entirely web-based interface.
Guest experience is huge issue. For any booking software, get list of a few customers and browse other, established inns as a prospective guest. Does the interface match your style, what you are offering? A while back we tried a switch to ResK and on that interface the guest is prompted for number of adults and number of children in the party. We generally don't have children stay and I felt just having that click box sent a message to the potential customer that there would be rooms with -- pull it down -- 1, 2, 3 or who knows how may children. [yes, maybe they have fixed it, but it takes a lot of my time to set up the trial.]

Tom said:

PhineasSwann said:

When I bought our B&B, it used Rezovations, but within a year it was clearly not keeping up with technology and needs. We finally cut the cord in January 2015 and went with a ResNexus/MyAllocator setup. It's a little more money but it's all web-based and not dependent on whether we're on PCs, Macs, using Silverlight or whatever.
Don't underestimate which system has the best user experience when they book online. ResNexus is good but I don't think it's the best UI out there. It does no good to have a front desk system that works for you if the online booking is so cumbersome your guests go elsewhere..

Click to expand...

same experience. All set up on Rezov and scrapped it for ResNex, a clean entirely web-based interface.
Guest experience is huge issue. For any booking software, get list of a few customers and browse other, established inns as a prospective guest. Does the interface match your style, what you are offering? A while back we tried a switch to ResK and on that interface the guest is prompted for number of adults and number of children in the party. We generally don't have children stay and I felt just having that click box sent a message to the potential customer that there would be rooms with -- pull it down -- 1, 2, 3 or who knows how may children. [yes, maybe they have fixed it, but it takes a lot of my time to set up the trial.]
.

Click to expand...

Very simple setting to get rid of children dropdown on RezKey.

Tamelon, we use Rezstream and it's great. It is a web-based program that is a booking engine (works great with our WordPress site) and reservation system. They have a Point of Sale system, and Gift Certificate System and a bunch of other great features. Their support people are great. I can't really say enough good about them. If there is anything they can improve on is using the system with a mobile device. I've voiced this and it is better than it used to be, but it is a work in progress.

REZOVATION is not keeping up with the times. I hate it, but hard to switch during high season. Our computer died, new ones come with Windows 10, out of luck.

We changed to ThinkReservations 2 years ago. It does interface with bedandbreakfastdotcom and bookingdotcom.

focsle said:

REZOVATION is not keeping up with the times. I hate it, but hard to switch during high season. Our computer died, new ones come with Windows 10, out of luck..

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I managed to export all my data from Rez and John at ResKey imported it all for me.