Preparations in Front Offices

 

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Introduction

Before the interface can be put into operation, some preparations will need to be made in Front Office. Because of the adjustments made to room types and rates, reservations which have already been entered will need to be manually adjusted, for example. Read more about how to optimally prepare the Front Office before putting the interface into operation.

Important: The tasks described here will need to be finished one week before going live, at the latest!

HINT

The tasks mentioned here can be done by a hotel employee after having received the respective instruction. Determine in due time who can take on this task in the hotel and the maximum amount of time it will take to do it. A well-prepared Front Office can save tons of time during the installation of the interface!

You can distribute the following PDFs to assist the hotel:

 Pre-Implementation Guide (PDF) - please refer to pages 34 and the following.

 

 

 

Double confirmation numbers (PL)

Confirmation numbers can only be allotted once.

Manually adjust reservations with double confirmation numbers beforehand.

The check can be done additionally by means of a SQL Query.

 

 

Rate availability

[Front Office > Reservation > Rate availability]

Please note!

  1. The hotel is responsible for correctly setting up the rates and rate availabilities!

  2. The interface exports rates and availabilities to Best Western International up to 36 months in advance. Therefore you should make sure that the rates in protel have been created at least for this time period. Actually, a longer time period is recommended because the 36 months continue with each end of day.

Please care for the rate availability based on the guidelines from the BWI Member Web in the pre-implementation package under the ("Close Date Form" tab).

Additional information about rate availability can be found in the section on Availability.

 

 

Moves

[Front Office > Navigator > Reservation dialog box]

Make sure that there aren't any "planned" moves in the data stock. This means all of the moves during a stay (the guest changes his room during his stay, e.g., during the second night).

The check can be done additionally by means of a SQL Query.

Additional information can be found in the section Front Office > Reservation > Moves.

 

 

BWI confirmation and cancellation number

[Front Office > Navigator]

Before putting the interface into operation, all existing reservations already in the system will need a BWI confirmation number (CRS-Number) provided by Best Western so that they will not have to be re-entered when synchronizing the data.

 A CRS number needs to have been entered for all of the existing reservations.

How to proceed

An arrival list for an entire year will need to be created in the Best Western Member Web. The starting date ought to be the installation date of the interface; the end date is 365 days later. Afterwards, generate the respective list in protel.

Match the list generated in the Member Web with the reservations in protel:

  • If the reservation exists in protel and does not have a CRS number, enter the CRS number as described below.

  • Has the reservation already been cancelled in protel, it will also need to be cancelled in the Member Web.

  • If the reservation does not exist in protel (not even as a void), you are dealing with a new reservation which will be imported when going live.

BWI confirmation number entry

The CRS number can be entered into the navigator:

Illustration: Navigator > BWI confirmation number in tree-view

The format of the digit sequence will be checked in order to prevent faulty entry. Should the digit sequence not adhere to the given format, the [OK] button will remain grayed out and the entry will not be able to be saved.

Illustration: Navigator > Entry of the BWI confirmation number

The number should adhere to the following format:

9-10 numerical spaces, followed by a Hyphen, followed by a two digit figure of 01 to 99.

For example, 0123456789-78

Note: In the Member Web, the CRS number will be displayed with the single-digit Leg-Number. In protel, however, this number must always be entered as a two-digit number!

Please note!

The BWI confirmation number can only be edited during the introductory phase of the Best Western International interface; during live-operation, the field will be switched to “read only”!

Also check to see if the correct rate code has been saved for the reservation!

 

BWI Cancellation Number

Should reservations with CRS numbers be cancelled online, the cancellation number will need to be additionally added here. Otherwise the system will not recognize this reservation as having been cancelled!

 

 

RBD | Allocate BWI Rate Codes

All CRS reservations must have the correct rate codes entered; this is referring to one of the Best Western rate codes which have been entered in the previous step (see section "B Setup > 04 System data > Rates > Rate Codes). A complete and up to date arrival list taken from the Member Web will assist you.

PLEASE NOTE

For group reservations and reservations originating from the Best Western CRS/Member Web, only one single rate code is allowed (see point 2).

The check for differing rate codes can be done by means of a SQL Query.

 

1. First change the rate codes in the RBD (by varying rates with "special rates").

2. IMPORTANT: If you are dealing with a Best Western CRS/Member Web reservation (i.e., the reservation is on the Member Web Arrival List), you will need to additionally make sure that only one single rate code has been saved - for varying rates, please tick the "special rate" checkbox.

2. Afterwards, the rate code will again need to be selected in the Navigator (“Change rate to”).

Illustration: Change rate code

Please also check to see if the arrival and departure dates, as well as the room type are all correct.

Please note!

Any deviations amongst room types or Arrivals/Departures, resulting from guests having been allotted to a different room type, or the guest having extended his reservation via telephone, will all have to be noted on the print of the Member Web Arrival List because these reservations will need to be corrected after having gone live.

 

 

BWR Membership numbers

[Front Office > Profiles > Guest profile > Pers. Data]

If you know your guest's BWR membership number, enter them into the Pers. Data” tab in the guest profile.

Note: The BWR number always begins with 600663!

Illustration: Guest profile > Entry of the BWR membership numbers

 

 

Split block reservations

All block reservations will need to be split into single reservations.

Beforehand, the following XSetups will need to be set:

  • reservation, reservationdialogdonotcopyconfno , 1

  • roomallocation, generatenewconfnumber ,1

This is how to check it:

1. Sort your reservations based on a "room number".

2. As can be seen in the screen shot, block reservations will be displayed with a "?" and the number of rooms.

3. In the Navigator, you will then be able to split the number of rooms by means of the room allocation (RA Button) to the number of rooms (in our example 4, see figure on the following page):