Webervations Wishlist

[swirt]

Resurected this discussion from back in February. It was originally one thread but I will split it up by product. (I'll do my best to attribute who said what and convert usernames to present names as best as I can.) Some of these feature requests will apppear in multiple porduct trheads as they were addressed to "All". Feel free to keep adding to it. Please lets keep these on track as feature requests/bug fixes and not who likes which product best... Hopefully this will be fo help to John as they work on improving Webervations. (Most of these webervations suggestions came in before the "update" was offered on webervations, so soom may no longer apply)

The ability to advance the mini-calendar forward in time as opposed to just being stuck with the current month or two months.

The ability to attach photos to guest info, so that those of us with aging memories can remember who is who when they come back for a second time.

-popdown for number of adults and number of children on reservation form
- popdown for guest pets on reservation form
- allow innkeeper to designate which rooms take pets (if a guest indicates a pet for a non-pet room, message directs them to a pet-friendly room)

I would like them to ask potential guests if they would like to see available packages - without having packages come up first or just the rooms so they do not know they can book a package.
One online reservation I tried had the packages come up first - which knowing how nervous (some) people are with computers - not wanting to accidently book a package when all they want is a room - would leave immediately (I know I would be afraid to click through). Then the problem was rooms showed but did not offer a way to get to packages. Now I find out I did not have the code for my packages on my Specials page (did not realize anything was needed there) for Webervations so have no idea how that would work (see potential guests are not the only ones who do not know things). Have not signed up for the new version yet so do not know exactly what it does.
Just since we are saying what we would like to see - that is mine. Packages is where I have an opportunity to make some money.

Being able to add tracker code to the booking engine would be a very helpful feature. Example: add your Google Analytics code number and then you can track who actually makes it all the way through to the reservation and determine where others abandon the process.

An emoticon (using the yellow smileys) rating system to rate the quality of the guest so that you don't have to read all your notes if they are on the phone with you and asking to come back.
= Good Guest / Easy Guest
) = Happy/Funny Guest
= Grumpy
:| = Pay and Go
8( = DENY Future Reservations
:$ = cheapskate
:? = unknown

In the calendar view, to be able to click under the date AND beside the chosen room and go straight to the res form for that. It's a wasted step to have to click on the "reserve this date" button and then have to select the room.

Breakfast tracker. When it comes to guests who come back we often ended up scratching our heads as to what we served them on previous times. In our second year we started recording it in the notes section when they check out. It would be nice if the system could keep a table of meals served each day, and then when looking up a guest could connect their dates of stay with the meals table and show you what you have served them in the past. It would be easier just recording it once per day instead of writing it in everyones notes when they check out.

 

[JBanczak]

Thank you - appreciate the list. Couple comments:
1) On the mini-calendar, which one are you talking about? Can you send me a url? There are so many different treatments of this, some that do this already.
2) Photos of guests - unfortunately I can tell you this is not going to happen anytime soon. Pretty big database/storage issues, and we did survey folks on this a while back - hardly anyone said they wanted it and some even said they couldn't imagine taking time to do this. I think it is a neat idea, but I'll be honest we have bigger fish to fry.
3) Pop-downs - will be doing this, but not for pets. The system is not configured in any way to have a data field tied to room type for number of pets. This would require a complete reworking of the display, code, DB calls, availability - quite a big project unfortunately. The rest from Happyjacks makes total sense and should not be that difficult
4) Packages - this one I'm not sure of. Seems like a good idea, although what I hear most often from innkeepers is they always want to proactively show them. Either way, we'll look into it. Not sure what would be involved.
5) Google Analytics - yes - definite priority. We do this in RezOvation already - track rez all the way from referral to booking. We will make this happen in Webervations as well. Question - what other systems support this, and does anyone have verification of them working?
6) Emoticons - nice to have, although similar with photos it might have to wait....

7) Go right to reserve - agree - this would be a great improvement. Will need to look into it more though because I don't know how it works now.
8) We enable breakfast choice on rezo GT pretty easily for each customer, but not for each day. Do you think peole would really take the time to keep this up-to-date?

 

[swirt]

Thank you - appreciate the list. Couple comments:
1) On the mini-calendar, which one are you talking about? Can you send me a url? There are so many different treatments of this, some that do this already.
2) Photos of guests - unfortunately I can tell you this is not going to happen anytime soon. Pretty big database/storage issues, and we did survey folks on this a while back - hardly anyone said they wanted it and some even said they couldn't imagine taking time to do this. I think it is a neat idea, but I'll be honest we have bigger fish to fry.
3) Pop-downs - will be doing this, but not for pets. The system is not configured in any way to have a data field tied to room type for number of pets. This would require a complete reworking of the display, code, DB calls, availability - quite a big project unfortunately. The rest from Happyjacks makes total sense and should not be that difficult
4) Packages - this one I'm not sure of. Seems like a good idea, although what I hear most often from innkeepers is they always want to proactively show them. Either way, we'll look into it. Not sure what would be involved.
5) Google Analytics - yes - definite priority. We do this in RezOvation already - track rez all the way from referral to booking. We will make this happen in Webervations as well. Question - what other systems support this, and does anyone have verification of them working?
6) Emoticons - nice to have, although similar with photos it might have to wait....

7) Go right to reserve - agree - this would be a great improvement. Will need to look into it more though because I don't know how it works now.
8) We enable breakfast choice on rezo GT pretty easily for each customer, but not for each day. Do you think peole would really take the time to keep this up-to-date?.

Here's a mini-calendar. They are nice for display on a room page, but there is no way to advance them.

I understand the photo thing is a long shot. (Just remember that it is a lot easier than my "single field type everything in and let the software parse it out" suggestion. LOL)
I actually think the "new" version of webervations handles packages but I'm not 100% certain.

 

[JBanczak]

Thanks - where did you get that calendar from though? Can you point me to the url of the page?
Both versions actually handle packages - I think the question was can you ask the guest whether they want to see them or not. Right now it shows them all as either packages, or "add-ons" presented to every user. Works pretty well actually, but doesn't allow for turning on/off per user. We do not do this at Rezo either - honestly first time I've heard this request.

 

[JBanczak]

Ah - okay. We should be able to swap in a java-based calendar that would do this. Will check.

 

[EmptyNest]

Thanks - where did you get that calendar from though? Can you point me to the url of the page?
Both versions actually handle packages - I think the question was can you ask the guest whether they want to see them or not. Right now it shows them all as either packages, or "add-ons" presented to every user. Works pretty well actually, but doesn't allow for turning on/off per user. We do not do this at Rezo either - honestly first time I've heard this request..

Anyone with webervations can create this calendar image and place it on their web pages. In webervations it is under WEB PAGE SET UP.
for any member. You can see one in action here:

Insert Webervations Individual Unit Availability Calendars any place on your Web site:

Insert Webervations Summary Availability Calendars on your Web site:

 

[gillumhouse]

Thanks - where did you get that calendar from though? Can you point me to the url of the page?
Both versions actually handle packages - I think the question was can you ask the guest whether they want to see them or not. Right now it shows them all as either packages, or "add-ons" presented to every user. Works pretty well actually, but doesn't allow for turning on/off per user. We do not do this at Rezo either - honestly first time I've heard this request..

It is on all three of my room pages on my web site.

 

[sandynn]

I love this. I would love to have the days of the week like Saturday July 3rd so when the request comes in I could see what day of the week they want. Also when I send the auto letter to accept also would like it to say the day of the week with the date.