CSS: Opening Windows^® with Inntegrity™, Part 2
Share Reservations

The CSS Windows^® Property Management System is Inntegrity™.  Our clients of 10 and 15 years think it’s an appropriate name.  Consultants that have seen it demonstrated have said there is functionality in Inntegrity™, necessary for full service hotel operations, that isn’t available in Windows^® Property Management Systems that have been selling for 3 years.

As mentioned in our last Pipeline article, Part 1 on Yield Management, we will continue to spotlight the functionality of Inntegrity™.  In this article we will be detailing Share Reservations.  To clarify and make a distinction between a Share Reservations and multiple guests in a room – a family can share a room, Mr. Mrs. and a child, but there is typically one folio for all charges and one name at the front desk for guest messaging.  A Share will have one or more folios for each guest in the room and each charge needs to route to the proper folio. Each guest would also prefer to check in under his/her own name, not a lead name holding the room, as well as have their name available for guest messages.  Even in the family scenario each guest can be listed for guest messaging.

Of course,  Inntegrity™ has these basic Share functions, plus a few more.  A room has no limit to the number of guests nor is there a limit to the number of folios attached to a room.  Sounds unnecessary but we work with Condominiums with 3 and 4 bedroom suites; and each guest can have multiple folios.

Here is where it gets interesting.  Bill Johnson checks in to a 2 bedroom suite on July 10^th at a single rate, he is staying 3 nights.  On July 11^th Lou Morris checks into the same suite, under his own name, with his 18 year old son; they are staying 4 nights.  Inntegrity™ will automatically split the rate for July 11^th and 12^th and apply two thirds of the triple rate to Morris’ folio and one third to Johnson’s folio.  As of the nights of the 13^th and 14^th, the System will apply the double rate to Morris.  In fact, as long as one night overlaps between guests in a room, Inntegrity™ will handle it as a share.  If you recall the last Pipeline article on the Inntegrity™ Yield Management,  the calculation of Yield Management and the Share split rates is a uniquely powerful feature.

There are several Share Reservations options: New, Remove, Move and Exist.  New allows the Reservationist to create a new share, Remove is to cancel a share guest, Move allows the Reservationist to move a share guest into a different room and yes, the rates are automatically adjusted for the original room when performing either option.  The last option, Exist, is unique in that it assists the Reservationist in matching share guests. 

There are going to be those situations when a corporate group is booked with single and double rooms and guests are going to call in their reservations individually.   It often becomes the hotels’ responsibility to assign roommates for the shared doubles.  Click the Exist button and it brings up a list of guests that fit the share criteria.  Not only the obvious: Group Code, Dates and Room Type; Inntegrity™ will only list same Gender, Guest Type, Company  and if you choose match Special Requests. As long as the proper information is collected by the Reservationist like the Gender and Guest Type, which can be used to clarify additional detail like a company division or title, finding a good match is simple. 

Good things come to those who wait; better things are available to those who didn’t.