RezOvation

[JunieBJones (JBJ)]

Please post info on RezOvation on this new thread so we can keep track of it.
Costs, features, links...
Anyone interested in RezO please ask your questions here.

 

[swirt]

One question that I have related to recommending the product to my own clients:
What would be the deciding factors to choosing whether to use A or B
A) RezOvation GT with Webervations as the online booking engine
B) Rezovation GT with the Rezovation booking engine

 

[JBanczak]

One question that I have related to recommending the product to my own clients:
What would be the deciding factors to choosing whether to use A or B
A) RezOvation GT with Webervations as the online booking engine
B) Rezovation GT with the Rezovation booking engine.

One question that I have related to recommending the product to my own clients:
What would be the deciding factors to choosing whether to use A or B
A) RezOvation GT with Webervations as the online booking engine
B) Rezovation GT with the Rezovation booking engine

Good question -
1) If you only want "request-only" than it would have to be A above.
2) If you do not believe that the booking engine pages make a big difference in how your property is viewed by inngoers, and how well you convert lookers to bookers - then you would want to save money on A above vs. B. I personally believe that beyond a shadow of a doubt the extra money on a good booking engine will pay off in multiples on more revenue, but clearly everyone does not believe that - or they would all be switching to these products!!! So we have two options.
3) If you want to do real-time rez, have the credit card authorized/charged and put right into your system... and not have to go through a lot of manual processes - then B over A for certain. You get the rez and you just don't have any manual intervention. I like to think of it this way - of the many hats an innkeeper wears... Host, Cook, Accountant, General Contractor, Housekeeper, Concierge, Marketer, Front Desk Clerk, Strategic Planner, Reservations Agent, Manager, Motivator, Mentor, Employee and probably 10 more I can't imagine... the question is how much time do you want to spend as reservation agent. Option B frees this up quite a bit.
4) Would you like to give users the option of using a date-picker right on your homepage (which is a great tool that consumers love) and also seeing a fully-bookable availability calendar in addition. Then option B.
Ultimately for me it always comes down to what is going to put more money into an innkeepers pocket by the end of the year, and there is no doubt in my mind that innkeepers will be measurably wealthier with option B - and over the course of the year they will spend far less time to get there. We are talking about hours of time each week - and when you add in some other features like cc processing you start talking about potentially hours/day.

 

[JunieBJones (JBJ)]

If you want to be, GT works seamlessly with Expedia, hotels.com, Kayak, Sidestep, Nextag, BedandBreakfast.com, others.
What does this mean, is this for those ALREADY participating in Hotels.com, Kayak, Expedia or will an inn who signs up for RezO have the option to do this THRU RezO?

 

[JunieBJones (JBJ)]

Sorry, I am asking so many questions, but you seem to have the answers here - tell me or link me to the part about the cc processing. So what is required on my end to do this? Are you saying I can get rid of the terminal, rental fee and contract with my current processor and then use authorize.net? So i get a pc card swiper or? The deposit it taken automatically when a rez is processed? See this I LOVE. Having to manually input that is more user error.
I am asking for the benefit of anyone reading this thread. To help clarify.

 

[swirt]

Sorry, I am asking so many questions, but you seem to have the answers here - tell me or link me to the part about the cc processing. So what is required on my end to do this? Are you saying I can get rid of the terminal, rental fee and contract with my current processor and then use authorize.net? So i get a pc card swiper or? The deposit it taken automatically when a rez is processed? See this I LOVE. Having to manually input that is more user error.
I am asking for the benefit of anyone reading this thread. To help clarify..

It uses Quickbooks for the credit card processing. So you could get rid of your current processor and machine. You would just use a usb swiper plugged into your computer (way cheaper than a credit card terminal) That and all the data goes directly to Quickbooks So all the reconciliation is done too. (I think Bree uses Quickbooks as her processor) John had shown some average processing fees for Intuit/Quickbooks processing in this thread.

 

[JBanczak]

No problem JBJ -
Yes - anyone using Expedia/hotels/bb.com online rez already can just switch to Rezo GT. GT is connected - in a VERY specific/ideal way. This is somewhat hard to explain - but GT was built with a "nested" inventory control system. This means that for every room - you can have multiple rates - AND you can assign availabilty to those rates... So you could have a room open one night for Rack - AAA - and BBcom/Expedia... and if ANY of those rates book, the room would show as booked. The next night (lets say big weekend night) you could have Rack and AAA open - but not Expedia. Then only Rack or AAA could book.
You can mix in various min-stays as well... So your Rack would always be open... AAA always open with rack + 1 min stay if you like... and so on. All rates/inventory feeds up to BB.com/Expedia/hotels.com/sidestep/kayak - and all rez go right into the system so there are no double-bookings and nothing manual.
You can do it this way either using Webervations 1.0 as your website booking engine, or the Rezo BE - it doesn't matter.
As far as CC processing, swirt has it right. Although you don't have to use Quickbooks. Our program communicates directly with intuit merchant services. So even if you don't use quickbooks for accounting, they can still provide the merchant processing services directly through the program. You just swipe into the program, it records the transaction/runs the card. You just go into any rez or anything you want to pay for (i.e. massage, book, gift shop item, whatever), hit add cc payment - screen pops up, you swipe the card and it auto-fills everything as well as transmit the full swipe data.

 

[JBanczak]

Sorry, I am asking so many questions, but you seem to have the answers here - tell me or link me to the part about the cc processing. So what is required on my end to do this? Are you saying I can get rid of the terminal, rental fee and contract with my current processor and then use authorize.net? So i get a pc card swiper or? The deposit it taken automatically when a rez is processed? See this I LOVE. Having to manually input that is more user error.
I am asking for the benefit of anyone reading this thread. To help clarify..

I answered most of this below, but didn't get it all. Yes - you have no more rental fee. Your "contract" is with Intuit Merchant Services - they do the same thing as authorize.net - except that auth.net is NOT lodging certified... and cannot do swiped/local transactions. Intuit is both, and there is no up-front fee. You also get free Quickbooks if you want it. We had a deal going where we give you the USB swiper for free as well - I think I can still arrange for one of those.
If you use our BE - the deposit is taken, charged, put in your account automatically for every online rez... and at the property you swipe right into the system. Nothing to hand-enter ever (unless the mag stripe is messed up on a card which is going to happen from time to time). That is it - pretty straight-forward.
If you do use Quickbooks then - it all gets exported right in there so you can see every detail of what happened.

 

[EmptyNest]

Sorry, I am asking so many questions, but you seem to have the answers here - tell me or link me to the part about the cc processing. So what is required on my end to do this? Are you saying I can get rid of the terminal, rental fee and contract with my current processor and then use authorize.net? So i get a pc card swiper or? The deposit it taken automatically when a rez is processed? See this I LOVE. Having to manually input that is more user error.
I am asking for the benefit of anyone reading this thread. To help clarify..

I answered most of this below, but didn't get it all. Yes - you have no more rental fee. Your "contract" is with Intuit Merchant Services - they do the same thing as authorize.net - except that auth.net is NOT lodging certified... and cannot do swiped/local transactions. Intuit is both, and there is no up-front fee. You also get free Quickbooks if you want it. We had a deal going where we give you the USB swiper for free as well - I think I can still arrange for one of those.
If you use our BE - the deposit is taken, charged, put in your account automatically for every online rez... and at the property you swipe right into the system. Nothing to hand-enter ever (unless the mag stripe is messed up on a card which is going to happen from time to time). That is it - pretty straight-forward.
If you do use Quickbooks then - it all gets exported right in there so you can see every detail of what happened.
.

WOW.. I must say you are winning me over with all of this explanation...but..I actually don't need it any longer but will pass along to others if asked.

 

[JunieBJones (JBJ)]

1. No set up fees
2. No monthly minimum payments
3. Only $14.95 per month
4. No terminals to lease/purchase (already own two)
5. No long-term contracts or commitments
Intuit QuickBooks Credit Card Processing Kit

 

[JunieBJones (JBJ)]

DH was asking about this sort of cc processing (usb swipe).
JB Question re license. When we go to sell this place which will be in a year or so, how does this work if we sold it turnkey with all of this involved? If the license per pc and owner only or can we hand it over to the new owner of the business? We would not be giving them this pc here.
Intuit link here
(I just called my BB&T merchant account and there is no penalty to close our acct, it is simply a written notification)

 

[JunieBJones (JBJ)]

QuickBooks POS Merchant Service Fees
Application Fee FREE!
Address Verification Service (AVS) Fee
FREE!
eMerchant View online reports and statements 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. FREE!
Monthly Statement Fee $17.95
Monthly Minimum Fee $0-$15 (based on monthly processing volume)

I cut out just these I had question about: Is the statement fee ONLY if you want a printed statement, not mandatory? ie you can use the online eMerchant View in lieu of the printed statement?
I am trying to assess the ACTUAL TOTAL monthly charge I would be incurring.

 

[JBanczak]

Sorry - posted but got kicked out! We have special pricing with Quickbooks - you have to follow our link though... It is $12.95 only, no minimums, no early termination, etc. and you get free quickbooks. Unfortunately the statement fee is just a different way of saying monthly... there is no waiving that with anyone I've seen. I can get you free usb swipers as well - have some left from the last promo. Those are all the fees - nothing else.
You can see Rezo's fees here: https://merchant.intuit.com/signup/fees.wsp?appType=1&p=rzovtn-QBpro&b=rezovation. Copy and pasted:
[tr][tr][td]** Special Offer **[/td][/tr][tr][td] [/td][/tr][/table][/td]Free QuickBooks Pro 2008[/td][/tr][tr][tr][td]Monthly Fee[/td][/tr][tr][td]Service fees charged per month.[/td][/tr][/table][/td]$12.95[/td][/tr][tr][tr][td]Discount rate for Visa, MasterCard, and Discover ® Network*[/td][/tr][tr][td]This percentage of every MasterCard/Visa/Discover Network transaction is deducted as a fee. You are billed for the accumulated charges of each batch submitted.[/td][/tr][/table][/td]Card-Swiped Rate: 1.72%
Key-Entered Rate: 2.24%[/td][/tr][tr][tr][td]Per-authorization fee[/td][/tr][tr][td]This amount is charged each time a transaction is submitted for authorization and any time a daily batch is closed. It is in addition to the discount rate.[/td][/tr][/table][/td]$0.20[/td][/tr][tr][tr][td]Monthly Minimum fee[/td][/tr][/table][/td]$0.00[/td][/tr][tr][tr][td]One-time setup fee[/td][/tr][tr][td]Non-refundable, one-time fee to set up your Merchant Service.[/td][/tr][/table][/td]$0.00[/td][/tr][tr][tr][td]American Express[/td][/tr][tr][td]Charged per authorization if American Express is accepted. Other fees that apply on American Express transactions can be viewed here.[/td][/tr][/table][/td]$0.20 per authorization[/td][/tr][tr][tr][td]Cancellation fee[/td][/tr][tr][td]One-time fee charged if you terminate your Merchant Service within the time period specified by the financial institution.[/td][/tr][/table][/td]None[/td][/tr][tr][tr][td]Gateway fee[/td][/tr][tr][td]Fee for access to an internet payment gateway[/td][/tr][/table][/td]Included[/td][/tr][tr][tr][td]Statement fee[/td][/tr][tr][td]We will send you a paper statement at the end of each month via U.S. Mail.[/td][/tr][/table][/td]None[/td][/tr][tr][tr][td]Annual fee[/td][/tr][tr][td]Fee charged per year[/td][/tr][/table][/td]None[/td][/tr][tr][tr][td]Chargeback fee[/td][/tr][tr][td]This fee is assessed each time a customer-disputed charge is filed, in addition to the disputed transaction amount.[/td][/tr][/table][/td]$20.00[/td][/tr][tr][tr][td]ACH Reject fee[/td][/tr][tr][td]Fee applied to your billing if credit card transactions cannot be credited or merchant fees debited from your bank account via Automated Clearing House (ACH). This usually occurs if your merchant account has invalid ABA/DDA account numbers, insufficient funds or if the account is closed.[/td][/tr][/table][/td]$15.00[/td][/tr][/table]

 

[user 26]

i tried to view the availability calendar sample but 'session has timed out' was all i could see ... can you provide something else?

 

[Morticia]

Sorry, I am asking so many questions, but you seem to have the answers here - tell me or link me to the part about the cc processing. So what is required on my end to do this? Are you saying I can get rid of the terminal, rental fee and contract with my current processor and then use authorize.net? So i get a pc card swiper or? The deposit it taken automatically when a rez is processed? See this I LOVE. Having to manually input that is more user error.
I am asking for the benefit of anyone reading this thread. To help clarify..

It uses Quickbooks for the credit card processing. So you could get rid of your current processor and machine. You would just use a usb swiper plugged into your computer (way cheaper than a credit card terminal) That and all the data goes directly to Quickbooks So all the reconciliation is done too. (I think Bree uses Quickbooks as her processor) John had shown some average processing fees for Intuit/Quickbooks processing in this thread.
.

It uses Quickbooks for the credit card processing. So you could get rid of your current processor and machine. You would just use a usb swiper plugged into your computer (way cheaper than a credit card terminal) That and all the data goes directly to Quickbooks So all the reconciliation is done too. (I think Bree uses Quickbooks as her processor) John had shown some average processing fees for Intuit/Quickbooks processing in this thread.

Nope, not me. I have the processor from hell. Trish had QuickBooks and absolutely (there's that word) loved them. The problem I forsaw with that was having to take the guest's cc to another room to swipe it as I do not have a computer setup in the inn. Trish had her office right off the entryway.
But they had the lowest rates of anyone we checked. Debit cards were a flat rate of something like $.25. Holy cow.

 

[JBanczak]

Thanks JBJ -
I'm assuming folks want me to post some info here about the program. If that is not the case, please tell me - my goal is not to "promote" the product, but Swirt seemed to think a forum on this to enable folks to see details made sense. I'll post some basic info focusing on RezOvation GT since 90% of innkeepers opt for it vs. our older Desktop program.
Pricing - you can either flat-out buy it for $199, or you can do a monthly program that includes a lot more: http://www.rezovation.com/pricing_rezovationgt.html
All monthly packages include the fee for Webervations in them. Meaning if you sign-up for one of the RezO monthly packages - you don't pay anything for Webervations, it is included. You can also run the GT Booking Engine or Availabilty Calendar on your site - and still connect to Webervations for your association.
Details about the program itself are here. I can answer specific questions, but felt it was too much to just list everything: http://www.rezovation.com/rezovationgt/rezovation_gt.html
Folks often wonder why we might cost more, I think a sample of an availability calendar helps explain it - has some great features: http://www.thehillcountryinn.com/index.html. Just click on the availability calendar link.
Same goes for the date-picker booking engine: http://www.thehillcountryinn.com/index.html (this is the home page - you will see the embedded date-picker. You may notice that if you pick dates that are NOT available - it automatically loads an availability calendar so as customers can see other days available. This was a neat features suggested by Churchill Manor in Napa last year that we loved!) With the date picker, you can either embed a little widget anywhere on your site, or you can link to a customized page directly. All folks who use this can also use the availability calendar at the same time if they want to use both. There is no extra charge.
We have not updated this with our latest feature release. You can see some details here: http://www.pr-inside.com/rezovation-earns-microsoft-gold-status-r899746.htm
Interesting info about an award we won for our help tool: http://www.rezovation.com/press/press-080204.html
Customer Testimonials here: http://www.rezovation.com/testimonials.html
Production comparisons here:
Resnexus: http://www.rezovation.com/resnexus.html
Superinn: http://www.rezovation.com/resnexus.html
Booking Center: http://www.rezovation.com/bookingcenter.html
Hope that is a good start. I'll add more to this as I get questions.
What about web metrics? We setup Google Analytics for eveyrone who wants it. Easily supports full referral revenue tracking. This does not work yet with Weber 1.0 but will once we get a chance to fix it.
Do we work with any cc merchant processor? No - only Intuit. Very few providers are certified for lodging, and we will not use a non-certified processor for PCI reasons - it is against the rules. We chose to work with one and it has worked flawlessly. The best rates - no headaches at all - no complaints about downgrades - and seamless integration into the program.
Do I have to be a BB.com member for these prices? No - not at all.
Do I have to be in the BB.com online rez program/Expedia program? No - not at all. If you want to be, GT works seamlessly with Expedia, hotels.com, Kayak, Sidestep, Nextag, BedandBreakfast.com, others.
Can you import my guest data from other systems? Yes - contact data for all past guests, no problem. Future rez - from Munsenware Guest Tracker, Innpal (GMS - not online), RezO Desktop - no problem. From others - not right now, but we are working on a tool for this that should be pretty slick.
Are you PCI compliant? Yes - but we are NOT PA-DSS compliant which is the latest thing. Every application that accepts and stores cards must eventually - as an application - become compliant. I'm not going to lie to you, we are not - but no one else in our market is yet either and this is something that we will be working on. We do provide full daily scanning for every property that uses us. That is included in the price and it is a really great benefit - no one else to my knowledge does this.
What is with the Microsoft certification? We submit our application to them to get it certified. This signifies that we go through a lot of testing and procedures to make sure our application works well with windows. We are now a MS Gold Certified Company - which we earned after a few years of testing/re-testing the app and working to get accredited.

 

[JBanczak]

i tried to view the availability calendar sample but 'session has timed out' was all i could see ... can you provide something else?.

Sorry - we encrypt each session with a key that times out just in case you had someone go on a public computer that a customer might have gotten through the process/left cc on it - so it times out. I sent you my session link. Ooops. You can view it from the homepage of the prop here: http://www.thehillcountryinn.com/index.html . Just click on the avail calendar link.

 

[egoodell]

Sorry, I am asking so many questions, but you seem to have the answers here - tell me or link me to the part about the cc processing. So what is required on my end to do this? Are you saying I can get rid of the terminal, rental fee and contract with my current processor and then use authorize.net? So i get a pc card swiper or? The deposit it taken automatically when a rez is processed? See this I LOVE. Having to manually input that is more user error.
I am asking for the benefit of anyone reading this thread. To help clarify..

It uses Quickbooks for the credit card processing. So you could get rid of your current processor and machine. You would just use a usb swiper plugged into your computer (way cheaper than a credit card terminal) That and all the data goes directly to Quickbooks So all the reconciliation is done too. (I think Bree uses Quickbooks as her processor) John had shown some average processing fees for Intuit/Quickbooks processing in this thread.
.

We can't get rid of our machine because we also run wine tours and have to manually put in those charges. We use the knuckle buster out on the road and bring the paperwork home.
And yes, I have checked into the portable ones. They are now down from $700 to $600. We have two vans and I don't have the money for one of those, much less two of them at this time. We're still working down our building debt so that we can put on our second wing. When I have 5 rooms I would probably be able to afford those portable processing machines.
Riki

 

[swirt]

Sorry, I am asking so many questions, but you seem to have the answers here - tell me or link me to the part about the cc processing. So what is required on my end to do this? Are you saying I can get rid of the terminal, rental fee and contract with my current processor and then use authorize.net? So i get a pc card swiper or? The deposit it taken automatically when a rez is processed? See this I LOVE. Having to manually input that is more user error.
I am asking for the benefit of anyone reading this thread. To help clarify..

It uses Quickbooks for the credit card processing. So you could get rid of your current processor and machine. You would just use a usb swiper plugged into your computer (way cheaper than a credit card terminal) That and all the data goes directly to Quickbooks So all the reconciliation is done too. (I think Bree uses Quickbooks as her processor) John had shown some average processing fees for Intuit/Quickbooks processing in this thread.
.

We can't get rid of our machine because we also run wine tours and have to manually put in those charges. We use the knuckle buster out on the road and bring the paperwork home.
And yes, I have checked into the portable ones. They are now down from $700 to $600. We have two vans and I don't have the money for one of those, much less two of them at this time. We're still working down our building debt so that we can put on our second wing. When I have 5 rooms I would probably be able to afford those portable processing machines.
Riki
.

John would have to verify this, but I think you can still enter them by hand on your computer in pretty much the same way you would if you swiped it, you'd just get the hand entered rate. The same process would apply for reservations made by phone. Hand entered.

 

[egoodell]

Sorry, I am asking so many questions, but you seem to have the answers here - tell me or link me to the part about the cc processing. So what is required on my end to do this? Are you saying I can get rid of the terminal, rental fee and contract with my current processor and then use authorize.net? So i get a pc card swiper or? The deposit it taken automatically when a rez is processed? See this I LOVE. Having to manually input that is more user error.
I am asking for the benefit of anyone reading this thread. To help clarify..

It uses Quickbooks for the credit card processing. So you could get rid of your current processor and machine. You would just use a usb swiper plugged into your computer (way cheaper than a credit card terminal) That and all the data goes directly to Quickbooks So all the reconciliation is done too. (I think Bree uses Quickbooks as her processor) John had shown some average processing fees for Intuit/Quickbooks processing in this thread.
.

We can't get rid of our machine because we also run wine tours and have to manually put in those charges. We use the knuckle buster out on the road and bring the paperwork home.
And yes, I have checked into the portable ones. They are now down from $700 to $600. We have two vans and I don't have the money for one of those, much less two of them at this time. We're still working down our building debt so that we can put on our second wing. When I have 5 rooms I would probably be able to afford those portable processing machines.
Riki
.

John would have to verify this, but I think you can still enter them by hand on your computer in pretty much the same way you would if you swiped it, you'd just get the hand entered rate. The same process would apply for reservations made by phone. Hand entered.
.

That would work for us too, then!
Thanks for the info!
Riki