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Baygirl

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I've been wanting to switch to a web based reservation system for a while now. Finally made the switch to Reservation Key. Now instead of using two systems...Guestall and Webervations I now have one. Feels great when a reservation comes over online and I don't have to then retype all information over to Guestall.
I love the fact that I can take reservations from anywhere and have them added into my system and not have to wait until I get home.
I CANNOT say enough about how WONDERFUL John is to work with. Every single thing I've asked he has done and is so QUICK to do it. It's terrific knowing he's there for me. His customer service is ABOVE and BEYOND.
Just wanted to share....Hope you're all staying warm. We are at a balmy -5 today.
 
I switched last Spring. I echo everything you said. I had a problem w/tax dept last quarter - this quarter just printed Res Key report & sent with form & check - it showed my exempts so no questions this time.
 
I've been using Res Key in the background for a couple months now and I'm a fan also. I say in the background, because new website has been rebuilt and is ready for unveiling in the next few days, so I haven't had the opportunity to receive my actual bookings through res key since my old site uses webervations. I have to print up the webervations info and had input into res key, so I'll be thrilled when it all gets synced in. John has been working with the crew at Acorn because we're asking his system to do a bit more than was originally designed, and it has gone smoothly.
Customer service has been good and I hope once the company gets bigger, they're still able to maintain this level of service. The other day I was on the res key website looking up some info and on their website there's a chat feature which showed someone was online, so I was able to immediately get some answers to some questions/problems and John fixed a couple little glitchy issues within a couple of hours.
Keep up the good work, Reservation Key!
 
And they just sent out their first newsletter, saying this would be more regular now to all rezkey clients.
 
Did the gift certificates thing get worked out or do you still have to use Paypal?
 
Did the gift certificates thing get worked out or do you still have to use Paypal?.
Right now you still have to use Paypal or the other processing system, but John said that if enough people gave them feedback that they wanted just a manual option for online, it wouldn't be too difficult to create that. I've just created a paypal account for the biz and am trying to figure out how to get it set up for Res Key. I'm willing to have just the Gift Certificates charged by Paypal, but would never do it for all my processing. The processing rate is pretty standard.
 
Ok, it's official. Our new site has been up since Friday and I've been getting reservations through Reservation Key and it's terrific. It has taken me a lot of time to get all the settings and form letters right and grabbing every link out in cyberspace that used to be webervations, but since you only have to do that once, it's smooth going now. I was able to hook up the gift certificates to paypal with no problem (after an online chat with John).
Thanks to JB for introducing us to Res Key!
 
Ok, it's official. Our new site has been up since Friday and I've been getting reservations through Reservation Key and it's terrific. It has taken me a lot of time to get all the settings and form letters right and grabbing every link out in cyberspace that used to be webervations, but since you only have to do that once, it's smooth going now. I was able to hook up the gift certificates to paypal with no problem (after an online chat with John).
Thanks to JB for introducing us to Res Key!.
Breakfast Diva said:
It has taken me a lot of time to get all the settings and form letters right and grabbing every link out in cyberspace that used to be webervations, but since you only have to do that once, it's smooth going now.
That's why I strongly suggest using a redirect on your site to go to your reservation system. That way all links point to the redirect on your site so in case you need to ever change systems again, all you do is change the destination of the redirect (1 change) and all the links out in cyberspace still work just fine.
 
Ok, it's official. Our new site has been up since Friday and I've been getting reservations through Reservation Key and it's terrific. It has taken me a lot of time to get all the settings and form letters right and grabbing every link out in cyberspace that used to be webervations, but since you only have to do that once, it's smooth going now. I was able to hook up the gift certificates to paypal with no problem (after an online chat with John).
Thanks to JB for introducing us to Res Key!.
Breakfast Diva said:
Ok, it's official. Our new site has been up since Friday and I've been getting reservations through Reservation Key
Looks beautiful! All the best.
Rezkey have been adding more and more really useful features, I am appreciate of all of them. I need to utilize them more now. It is all a learning curve, but a very powerful program.
 
Ok, it's official. Our new site has been up since Friday and I've been getting reservations through Reservation Key and it's terrific. It has taken me a lot of time to get all the settings and form letters right and grabbing every link out in cyberspace that used to be webervations, but since you only have to do that once, it's smooth going now. I was able to hook up the gift certificates to paypal with no problem (after an online chat with John).
Thanks to JB for introducing us to Res Key!.
Who did your photography? It is very good.One comment...can you adjust the background colors of your availability and your gift certificates so that it more closely resembles your site colors? I think that might be a nicer look and make if flow a bit more. Your new site looks great.
 
Ok, it's official. Our new site has been up since Friday and I've been getting reservations through Reservation Key and it's terrific. It has taken me a lot of time to get all the settings and form letters right and grabbing every link out in cyberspace that used to be webervations, but since you only have to do that once, it's smooth going now. I was able to hook up the gift certificates to paypal with no problem (after an online chat with John).
Thanks to JB for introducing us to Res Key!.
Who did your photography? It is very good.One comment...can you adjust the background colors of your availability and your gift certificates so that it more closely resembles your site colors? I think that might be a nicer look and make if flow a bit more. Your new site looks great.
.
catlady said:
an you adjust the background colors of your availability and your gift certificates so that it more closely resembles your site colors?
You can do that in Rezkey. You just need to pop in the code. You can customize all the colors to match.
 
Ok, it's official. Our new site has been up since Friday and I've been getting reservations through Reservation Key and it's terrific. It has taken me a lot of time to get all the settings and form letters right and grabbing every link out in cyberspace that used to be webervations, but since you only have to do that once, it's smooth going now. I was able to hook up the gift certificates to paypal with no problem (after an online chat with John).
Thanks to JB for introducing us to Res Key!.
Wow! Great new site!
 
Thanks everyone! I'll be tweeking ResKey more and working on those colors. The area photos are a combo of those taken by me, a relative who really should be a professional photograper, and our guests. Most of the room & food pictures were taken by a pro photographer. It was a learning experience for the photographer and myself. Our place was one of the first b&bs he's done and he had never done food shots, so I was his assistant and composed a lot of the shots with him.
The site was technically a "site lift", but because of a lot of changes I made with the designer, it took a lot longer and was more expensive than a typical site lift. I'm sure I drove the designer crazy!
 
I cannot believe everyone is not using this system now. It does soooo much more than anything else out there and is cheaper. The last feature John added for me was to allow me to set certain future dates on my availability calendar to give the potential guest a message that says "We will be open on the days you are requesting but you need to give us a phone call" (you can put whatever text you want on the page). This allowed me to go on a vacation without completely blocking all of my rooms. I told my repeat guests when they called we would have a continental breakfast out for them at a reduced rate and they could stay even though we were gone. I had over $600 in revenue while I was on vacation. That paid for Reservation Key for the next 4 years.
 
I cannot believe everyone is not using this system now. It does soooo much more than anything else out there and is cheaper. The last feature John added for me was to allow me to set certain future dates on my availability calendar to give the potential guest a message that says "We will be open on the days you are requesting but you need to give us a phone call" (you can put whatever text you want on the page). This allowed me to go on a vacation without completely blocking all of my rooms. I told my repeat guests when they called we would have a continental breakfast out for them at a reduced rate and they could stay even though we were gone. I had over $600 in revenue while I was on vacation. That paid for Reservation Key for the next 4 years..
I really wanted to make the switch but ResKey is actually more expensive and less functional for us than Webervations. We have 9 rooms, ResKey would cost $216/year versus Webervations which is $89!
The gift certificates issue is HUGE for us, we sell a lot of them and people like not having to pick up the phone to do it. On Webervations it's just like making a reservation except you're purchasing the gc...why ResKey has to have you go through Paypal is beyond me. I just don't get it. IMHO, Paypal does NOT look professional and I wouldn't have it on my site anywhere.
The other big problem was packages...with ResKey if you offer any kind of package it's always right there on your calendar. This works fine for add-ons like flowers, chocolates, etc. but we don't do these. We do theme weekends and ResKey has no capability to limit packages to specific dates.
It was just frustrating to me, we put a lot of time into trying to make the switch and at the end of the day ResKey could just not accommodate us. I wish these issues would get resolved, but even if they do the price issue remains big for us.
 
Thank you everyone for the great feedback. It is great to see that our system is working well for most of the people that have made the switch.
To Don Draper, we are sorry that it did not work out, but our product is constantly evolving. Regarding the price, we are pretty sure our price remains very competitive. I believe for the $89 on Webervations that only includes the online portion and not the full featured back end that we include in our price. With our system you basically only need one system. If you are looking for ONLY an online calendar, then there are less expensive alternatives.
With Gift Certificates we went with only online payments (for now at least) in order to streamline and modernize the process. I am pretty sure the way Webervations does it, you have to manually run the card after the order comes through (by email?). We are trying to make the process entirely automatic from purchase to use. And you can use Authorize.net as your payment method instead of PayPal if you like. With this method, the credit card fields are right with the rest of the purchase fields so there is no redirect for payment. The only option we are not currently supporting with Gift Certificates is the ability to manually collect credit card numbers and run them offline.
Regarding packages, as we say, our system is constantly evolving. So far we have had very few requests to limit packages by date, but it certainly seems doable. The reason packages all show on one page is that we are limiting the guest experience to navigating only one page when making a reservation. Everything they need is on one page instead or requiring navigating multiple pages before finally completing their reservation.
I hopes this helps clear up some of these points. Thanks!
 
Thank you everyone for the great feedback. It is great to see that our system is working well for most of the people that have made the switch.
To Don Draper, we are sorry that it did not work out, but our product is constantly evolving. Regarding the price, we are pretty sure our price remains very competitive. I believe for the $89 on Webervations that only includes the online portion and not the full featured back end that we include in our price. With our system you basically only need one system. If you are looking for ONLY an online calendar, then there are less expensive alternatives.
With Gift Certificates we went with only online payments (for now at least) in order to streamline and modernize the process. I am pretty sure the way Webervations does it, you have to manually run the card after the order comes through (by email?). We are trying to make the process entirely automatic from purchase to use. And you can use Authorize.net as your payment method instead of PayPal if you like. With this method, the credit card fields are right with the rest of the purchase fields so there is no redirect for payment. The only option we are not currently supporting with Gift Certificates is the ability to manually collect credit card numbers and run them offline.
Regarding packages, as we say, our system is constantly evolving. So far we have had very few requests to limit packages by date, but it certainly seems doable. The reason packages all show on one page is that we are limiting the guest experience to navigating only one page when making a reservation. Everything they need is on one page instead or requiring navigating multiple pages before finally completing their reservation.
I hopes this helps clear up some of these points. Thanks!.
Thanks John for your responses. I do appreciate that your product is one that is constantly evolving and you have a limited amount of personnel resources to work on these issues, and I do appreciate your general responses to questions, both with me personally and here on the forum. However, you and I first discussed these issues (GC's and packages) back in August of 2010 and at that time you said these were "being worked on". Today you are saying the same, while there is a GC model in place it does not suit my needs and I'm sure those of many others, and there are no options are available on the packages. The answer you give above regarding packages, "Not enough people are looking for that", just does not fly with me...I take that as my problems are not important to you or your company, so that's the lasting impression I get, just FYI.
To be fair, the $89 yearly fee for Webervations is strictly for online availability and bookings, no PMS. But even at 9 rooms (fairly large as far as the "average" US b&b), I don't NEED all the very intricate PMS features which cost so much more. I can simply export my Webervations data to an excel spreadsheet and everything I need is right there. Perhaps it's because we are fairly savvy with Excel, but I don't need the reports and all the extras that cost so much more with a PMS. I can do it myself for free.
WHY can gift certificate orders not be made using the same interface as a room booking? This is the format Webervations uses and it is seamless with the rest of our website. You're still inputting a cc number, just like when you make a reservation. And yes, I manually run the cc for ALL of my transactions (reservations and gc's) because there is no way I'm letting Intuit/QuickBooks into ANY of my personal or business info. I understand that some here use that service and are happy with it, but I have had nothing but HORRIFIC interactions with that company.
 
Thank you everyone for the great feedback. It is great to see that our system is working well for most of the people that have made the switch.
To Don Draper, we are sorry that it did not work out, but our product is constantly evolving. Regarding the price, we are pretty sure our price remains very competitive. I believe for the $89 on Webervations that only includes the online portion and not the full featured back end that we include in our price. With our system you basically only need one system. If you are looking for ONLY an online calendar, then there are less expensive alternatives.
With Gift Certificates we went with only online payments (for now at least) in order to streamline and modernize the process. I am pretty sure the way Webervations does it, you have to manually run the card after the order comes through (by email?). We are trying to make the process entirely automatic from purchase to use. And you can use Authorize.net as your payment method instead of PayPal if you like. With this method, the credit card fields are right with the rest of the purchase fields so there is no redirect for payment. The only option we are not currently supporting with Gift Certificates is the ability to manually collect credit card numbers and run them offline.
Regarding packages, as we say, our system is constantly evolving. So far we have had very few requests to limit packages by date, but it certainly seems doable. The reason packages all show on one page is that we are limiting the guest experience to navigating only one page when making a reservation. Everything they need is on one page instead or requiring navigating multiple pages before finally completing their reservation.
I hopes this helps clear up some of these points. Thanks!.
Thanks John for your responses. I do appreciate that your product is one that is constantly evolving and you have a limited amount of personnel resources to work on these issues, and I do appreciate your general responses to questions, both with me personally and here on the forum. However, you and I first discussed these issues (GC's and packages) back in August of 2010 and at that time you said these were "being worked on". Today you are saying the same, while there is a GC model in place it does not suit my needs and I'm sure those of many others, and there are no options are available on the packages. The answer you give above regarding packages, "Not enough people are looking for that", just does not fly with me...I take that as my problems are not important to you or your company, so that's the lasting impression I get, just FYI.
To be fair, the $89 yearly fee for Webervations is strictly for online availability and bookings, no PMS. But even at 9 rooms (fairly large as far as the "average" US b&b), I don't NEED all the very intricate PMS features which cost so much more. I can simply export my Webervations data to an excel spreadsheet and everything I need is right there. Perhaps it's because we are fairly savvy with Excel, but I don't need the reports and all the extras that cost so much more with a PMS. I can do it myself for free.
WHY can gift certificate orders not be made using the same interface as a room booking? This is the format Webervations uses and it is seamless with the rest of our website. You're still inputting a cc number, just like when you make a reservation. And yes, I manually run the cc for ALL of my transactions (reservations and gc's) because there is no way I'm letting Intuit/QuickBooks into ANY of my personal or business info. I understand that some here use that service and are happy with it, but I have had nothing but HORRIFIC interactions with that company.
.
Don, if you're not looking for the backend of a PMS, then Res Key probably is not the right fit for you. I've been using a PMS (RezOvation) for many years and love the ease that a PMS gives. All the info is right at my fingertips in one place. Like you, I would never have it directly linked to quickbooks. My quickbooks is separate and it gives me more control that way.
Fortunately, we're all different and Res Key is not for everyone.
 
Thank you everyone for the great feedback. It is great to see that our system is working well for most of the people that have made the switch.
To Don Draper, we are sorry that it did not work out, but our product is constantly evolving. Regarding the price, we are pretty sure our price remains very competitive. I believe for the $89 on Webervations that only includes the online portion and not the full featured back end that we include in our price. With our system you basically only need one system. If you are looking for ONLY an online calendar, then there are less expensive alternatives.
With Gift Certificates we went with only online payments (for now at least) in order to streamline and modernize the process. I am pretty sure the way Webervations does it, you have to manually run the card after the order comes through (by email?). We are trying to make the process entirely automatic from purchase to use. And you can use Authorize.net as your payment method instead of PayPal if you like. With this method, the credit card fields are right with the rest of the purchase fields so there is no redirect for payment. The only option we are not currently supporting with Gift Certificates is the ability to manually collect credit card numbers and run them offline.
Regarding packages, as we say, our system is constantly evolving. So far we have had very few requests to limit packages by date, but it certainly seems doable. The reason packages all show on one page is that we are limiting the guest experience to navigating only one page when making a reservation. Everything they need is on one page instead or requiring navigating multiple pages before finally completing their reservation.
I hopes this helps clear up some of these points. Thanks!.
Regarding the gift certificate/paypal issue, the logo Res Key has says "Paypal" and shows the credit cards. When I was setting up my Paypal merchant account, it had a "button" logo that just said "Pay Now" and showed the credit cards. Can that be used on the Res Key certificate page instead of the other? I wasn't aware until I signed up with my account that a customer didn't have to have a Paypal account....they can use any credit card and not be part of Paypal, and I think that would help people to actually click through to pay if they didn't see the Paypal on the button. The next page shows customers that they don't have to go through Paypal.
 
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