Author: FrontDesk Master

July – Release notes

Hello everyone,

Along previously announced new channels, we have also improved few other features in July. Please see the details below.

Thank you!

FrontDesk Master Team

Coupon (discounts) manager

Following your requests, we have added multiple options to coupon management.

You can now determine precisely when the coupon is valid or to which rate it applies. Check it out.

Pickup report

We significantly improved the pickup report which allows you precisely track how your hostel is acquiring bookings, for which periods in the future and how it compares to the past dates.

Group bookings optimization

We have worked with few hostels to improve the performance of functionality related to group bookings. Such activities as:

  • deleting bookings
  • adding rooms
  • editing prices in bookings

should now work significantly faster. Further works are in progress. Thanks for your help.

We are looking for raising stars!

A challenge for a Portuguese-Spanish speaking sales person is:

In next months, you will be introducing FrontDesk Master to dozens new customers. Some of them will contact you directly, some of them will be contacted (email or called) by you initially. You will demo the system (mostly online, rarely on site), explain its functionality and act as en expert who helps the user understand the benefits. Finally, you will help implementing the system at the ho(s)tel reception. You will be talking to many people from Latam and Europe, you will answer 3 billion questions and show people that you are their best friend they can always count on. They will love you and your work and they will join the vast group of FDM users.

Interested? Send your CV or other relevant information at cv@frontdeskmaster.com.

Selected candidates will be contacted for the interview the latest 23rd August. If everything works fine, we will start working together in September the latest.

Thank you.

New channels added!

Hello everyone,

We are happy to announce that we have added new channels to FrontDesk Master. The following connections are available now:

  • AirBnB XML
  • Hotelbeds
  • HRS.COM
  • Ostrovok.ru
  • HomeAway
  • Budgetplaces
  • Ctrip
  • Dorms.com (in beta version now!)
  • … and more

Please contact us at sales@frontdeskmaster.com to find out more and start the integration.

Have a nice day!

FrontDesk Master Team

Sneak peak & online payments

New Booking engine sneak peek

As previously announced, we are working on upgrading our booking engine.

Please click here to see the new design.

(The final UI will be obviously responsive.)

Feel free to let us know what you think at feedback@frontdeskmaster.com.

Online Payments under way!

In the upcoming weeks, we will be launching the pilot program for automated payment processing.

How will it help you?

1) You will be able to automatically charge all Non-refundable reservations.

2) You will be able to automatically pre-authorize the credit card before guest arrival and let him know in case of a card failure.

3) Without charging the guest, you will be able to verify the validity of Booking.com-provided credit cards.

Please see a 1-question survey here so that we better understand how we can suit your business.

Thanks for your help.

Mateusz Sznir

Online check-in

Hello everyone,

We have released a beta version of Online Checkin-in in FrontDesk Master. Before we wrap up the UI (design) and we officially add this to our offer (conditions to be confirmed), we would like to hear your feedback about the functional side of the process.

Please have a look at the solutions to see how to enable it and how to test it: KNOWLEDGEBASE

Please contact us with feedback at checkin@frontdeskmaster.com or support email.

Thank you. Have a great week!

Mateusz Sznir

 ¿Eres un rockstar?

Buscamos una persona enérgica y sonriente con un interés marcado para las ventas, el desarrollo de negocios y el networking para integrar nuestro equipo de ventas. Una persona apasionada por la industría del turismo. De preferencia, tienes que conocer bien FrontDesk Master y ¡creer en el proyecto!

Si te interesa, por favor mándanos tu CV a chile@frontdeskmaster.com con una corta introducciôn de tu experiencia con FrontDesk Master y tus motivaciones.

16th May – Release notes

Hello everyone,

We are happy to inform you about recent improvements in the system

Thank you for being with us!

FrontDesk Master Team

Group bookings

Group bookings will appear on BedView under a group name now and you can filter them out in Reservation View!

Reservation View filters

You can now filter bookings by invoice or payment status:

Foreign Police Report for the Czech Republic was released

Go to REPORTS / GUEST REPORTS / GUEST LIST to generate a new report.

Quick View List

A list of beds was added to the list of arrivals and departures.

Pick up report

Pickup report was significantly improved. Go to REPORTS / REVENUE MANAGEMENT / PICKUP:

Pricepoint integration

Pricepoint integration was released. It means that Pricepoint can provide 100% automated revenue management to FrontDesk Master users.

See www.pricepoint.co

Automated smart pricing for everyone!

Hello everyone,

We’re happy to inform that FrontDesk Master is now integrated with Pricepoint.

What is Pricepoint?
Pricepoint is an automated revenue management system which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to provide hostels with real-time dynamic pricing. It doesn’t require any special skills. It’s for everyone!

So, how can Pricepoint help me?
Pricepoint pricing engine will analyze your current and past booking trends to provide you with the most optimal prices at which you should sell your rooms. Pricepoint has only one objective:  improve hostel revenues.

How much can I increase revenues? 

There have been two hostels – FrontDesk Master users – using Pricepoint during a pilot program. Both hostels increased revenues over 20%! 

What does it mean that Pricepoint is integrated with FrontDesk Master?

Bookings and prices are automatically exchanged between systems.

Is there a special deal for FrontDesk Master users?

Pricepoint offers an extended 60-day free trial for FrontDesk Master customers.

There are NO commitments. You can just increase revenues for free for 60 days! 

I want to know more!

Please check the website at www.pricepoint.co.

How can I start?

Please contact Pricepoint team at info@pricepoint.co or complete the sign up for on the website.

Enjoy,
FrontDesk Master Team

Partnership pilot with Guestbuddy!

Hello everyone,

We are happy to inform that we are launching the pilot program with the new hostel app Guestbuddy.

Enjoy!

Mateusz Sznir, FrontDesk Master Team

What Guestbuddy does?

Bunch of things but primarily:

  • It helps hostels improve revenues from extra services (i.e. upsell).
  • It enables pre-arrival check-in.
  • It enables online payments for bookings and extra services
  • It allows requesting reviews and it pushes the good ones (!) to Tripadvisor
  • It also does pancakes … or more specifically tells the guest where to get the pancakes near your hostel.

Check here for more information www.guestbuddy.io.

What is the pilot program?

  • We are looking for 3 hostels only that would like to start using Guestbuddy asap.
  • These properties must be ready to get familiar with the app, set it up and start using it in April.
  • Hostels which launch Guestbuddy in April successfully get 12-months free and 50% lifetime discount.

What do you need to do to start?

  • Don’t buy a pig in a poke! Test it first!

Send your name and hostel name at wannademo@guestbuddy.io to get guest-like access to Guestbuddy.

  • If you like what you see…

Send an email at sales@guestbuddy.io to discuss the details.

Introducing the Integrated Passport & ID Scanner

Check in just got easier! Streamline your front desk operations with a simpler way to check-in guests.

After several successful months of testing the passport scanner at one of the coolest hostels in Europe, we are excited to announce that it is ready for shipment!

Enjoy!

FrontDesk Master Team

How does it work?

Simply place a passport, visa, or other ID onto the scanner, and it will automatically extract guest details and verify authenticity. This scanner outperforms mobile apps and manual data entry, with high-resolution & glare-free imaging, auto-rotation & cropping, and an ergonomic design. The process is quick, easy and accurate. The hardware is compact, with no moving parts and no external power supply, just a single USB. 

What are the advantages?

Save time: Speed up your check-in process. No need to spend time typing in guest details!

Prevent fraud: Enjoy the peace of mind that comes with automatic authentication.

Improve accuracy: Reduce human error and avoid working with labour-intensive mobile apps.

What types of IDs can it scan? 

The scanner will read all ICAO-compliant machine-readable documents, worldwide, including passports, IDs, driver’s licenses, and visas with a Machine-Readable Zone (MRZ). Good news! Most of the documents you use now have a MRZ. See below.

Which details does it extract?

The scanner makes it easy to extract these details:

  • Guest name,
  • ID number,
  • Date of birth
  • All data that is located  in the Machine-Readable Zone (MRZ)*

*Contact us if you need to scan information from other parts of the document. It is also possible!

Choose between two models

Combo Scan (click to see details)

You can extract all data located in the MRZ of a passport, visa,  driver’s license or other form of ID. You cannot capture or store an image of a full passport page. However, you can capture and store a complete image of any ID-1 sized document (such as a driver’s license).

Combo Smart (click to see details)

You can extract all data located in the MRZ of a passport, visa, driver’s license or other form of ID. You can also capture and store an image of a full passport page, as well as any smaller form of ID.

Discounted prices for spring!

Purchase price (Scanner + setup)

Includes standard software package with two years of update service & technical support, SDK and hardware accessories.

  • Combo Scan:  599 Euro    Spring promotion: 499 EUR + shipping
  • Combo Smart:  799 Euro  Spring promotion: 699 EUR + shipping

Maintenance Fee  (from 2nd year only)

Includes yearly updates for optimizations and new releases to comply with new standards: 7 GBP / 9 USD / 9 EUR / reader / monthly

How to order?

If you’re ready to order, please contact us at florencia@frontdeskmaster.com. We will be happy to expedite your order!

Still have questions?

We are always happy to chat. If you have any questions about this offer, you can reach out to Florencia on Skype or by email at florencia@frontdeskmaster.com!

For questions about anything else, please check out our new contact page.

6th Feb – Release notes

Hello everyone,

We are happy to inform you that we have just released another update with several improvements. Please see below for details about what has been included in two last updates.

Thank you for your business!

FrontDesk Master Team

City Tax invoice can be separated on invoices

Have a look in Property Settings / Tax settings – City tax, there are several options which allow you to determine how city tax should be presented on invoices. For instance, you can exclude it if you generate an invoice for a Non-Refundable booking before a guest’s arrival.

Set cancellations on Hostelworld

If you are using our channel manager, then whenever a booking is marked cancelled in FrontDesk Master, we will instantly send this information to Hostelworld.

Housekeeping improvements

Based on your feedback, we introduced many important changes in the Housekeeping module. Please read more in our solutions:

Using the Housekeeping module

Selling extra services in the Booking Engine

If you want to upsell services on your booking engine, you can now determine how the service should be added to the booking. For instance, items can be added to bookings PER PERSON PER NIGHT (e.g. breakfast) or PER PERSON (e.g. towel).

Contact us if you need any help setting up your booking engine!

Send emails to “temporary” bookings

You can now send emails to bookings marked “temporary.” A small but frequently-requested feature!

Additional columns in Reservation View

Note that there are a few new, hidden columns in Reservation View. They allow you to generate mailing lists based on bookings or run reports on reservations.

Remember you have to unhide them!

You can filter bookings by:

  • Check-in date
  • Booking date
  • Modification date
  • Stay date

Stay date allows you to view bookings that stay in your hostel on a certain date, regardless of when the booking checked-in.

City Tax Report now shows the number of guests and bed nights 

Based on your request, we added these columns to the City Tax Report.

Create Dynamic Price Strategies for child rates

FrontDesk Master allows you to create the following strategies:

Change price:

20 – 30 days before the arrival to $30
11 – 19 days before the arrival to $32
1 – 10 days before the arrival to $35
​
Change price based on availability:

20 – 30 days before the arrival to $30 if availability more than 10 
20 – 30 days before the arrival to $35 if availability more than 5, less than 10 
20 – 30 days before the arrival to$40 if availability less than 5 

Strategies can be created for different room types and rates. Now, you can also create strategies for child rates.

A child rate is a rate which is linked to another rate (parent rate). Whenever the parent price changes, the child rate price will change, too. For instance, you can decide that your Non-Refundable Rate (child rate) should be always -10% of your Standard Rate (parent rate).

Guest Demographics Report improved

Have a look at the updated demographics report.

Hey there,

Thanks to all of you for an exciting year. It has been a pleasure working together. You gave us helpful feedback and we did our best to turn it into action. We made improvements that we hope will make your life easier. Check out the tabs below for highlights from 2018.

This year, we want to do more. More improvements and more new features. Stay tuned next week for a new release and more information about what to expect in 2019! 

Cheers,

FrontDesk Master Team 

We finalized our Channel Manager integration with AirBnB, giving you a direct connection to an increasingly important online channel.  

We made it easier to manage bookings from Bed View: Right click to switch beds, cancel selected nights or easily move a reservation. Left click to block or unblock beds.

Plus, we updated Guest View to show you complete guest details (name, email, nationality, etc.) and added a convenient option to export your guest list to Excel.

Reminder: If your property has 100+ beds, enable BedView buffering to keep your calendar opening quickly. (Go to: Preferences > Bed View buffered.)

You can now set multiple Pricing Strategies for the same period of time, and add restrictions for child rates. (Child rates = rates for which prices are automatically derived from other rates.)

You can also Enable/Disable Occupancy Pricing in the Booking Engine. (Occupancy pricing = Selling private rooms for different prices to different numbers of guests.)

We added the Referral Summary Report, to help you keep track of where your guests come from, and the Coupon Usage Report, to show you how your Booking Engine coupons are performing. (Go to: Reports and scroll to find each title.) 

A new permission allows you to choose whether or not your staff can access the system outside of their shift.

(Go to: Property Management > Staff > Edit Roles & Permissions.)

Properties in Portugal can now open the FACT dashboard and create an invoice, all from directly within FrontDesk Master.

For properties in Spain, we’ve improved the DGP Report (DIRECCIÓN GENERAL DE LA POLICÍA) and per-person printouts, which are required in some cities.

If you’re in Chile and using LibreDTE, you’ll see that Point of Sale transactions now generate the respective BOLETA. Plus, we improved the logic for IVA / VAT Automations. FrontDesk Master can now automatically calculate the respective tax, when certain conditions are met (such as a currency or nationality being marked in the booking).

Finally, we now integrate with Tasmal, an invoicing software in Israel.