Best B&B Inn Reservation Systems, B&B For Vets

Reservation Systems to Love and Hate

What Reservation System Contributed to $6,500 loss in one month? Yesterdays question of the week brought many and surprising experiences from innkeepers around the United States – some included here:

Clock PMS Works for Our 17 Inns  -At the last-minute, back in December 2018, we realized Eviivo did not have what it takes to be a fully functioning system in the US, particularly with taxes and other accounting issues. We ended up going with Clock PMS and moved 17 of our inns on to Clock within 6 weeks. Their team was great! With the exception of lacking full credit card integration with a lower cost processor (which they assure us will be resolved by year end), we are very pleased with the system and highly recommend it. Tamera, foursisters.com

Lost Money Because RezNexus’ Airbnb connection doesn’t work – Reservation Nexus new Direct Connect works fine for me for Expedia and Booking.com and is an absolute nightmare for Airbnb. I engaged them for Airbnb when they first offered Direct Connect and when I used them as my Channel Manager for Expedia and Booking.com. Nothing about the Airbnb connection worked. A very new, very inexperienced “Red Carpet Specialist” admitted that the Airbnb portion was still in beta format and not completely ready for prime time … so why wasn’t I told???

I disconnected Airbnb and it took up to 25-30 hours to place all six cottages (text & photos) back on Airbnb and re-do all six calendars. Everything was lost in the transfer. Several months later our Airbnb reservations hit $6500+ in July and it became difficult to keep all six cottages current on the individual Airbnb calendars so I contacted Reservation Nexus again and they said Direct Connect for Airbub was fully functional and working like all the others. I believed them and switched over. Our Airbnb reservations plummeted to $700 in August. Our listings kept going down on Airbnb and every time I would pop up as a new listing losing my premier placement. No one at Reservation Nexus has been willing or able to determine what the problem is or if there is a way to fix it. Of course, Airbnb isn’t must more help so I have just lost thousands of dollars in bookings.

Switching to RezNexus’ Direct Connect for Airbnb is probably one of the worst business decisions I’ve made in the 20 years that I’ve owned and operated this property. Beware!

I have been a client of Reservation Nexus almost from the day they started. So, you can imagine how abandoned I feel and I think people need to know. I don’t want this to happen to another small-smaller property. The loss of income is so dramatic plus the premier placement on Airbnb that I earned over a period of six years as a Super Host. That placement is lost and Airbnb doesn’t seem to have any process in place for reinstating the status. It’s a mess! Susan Maddox Rosemont B&B Cottages 7 rooms

Switched to Resnexus when Webervations was no longer available – I’ve been very impressed with the customer service. Laura has helped me whenever I’ve asked for help, even though I do not have the highest level of their service. She’s even checked in on her own just to be sure everything was working properly. Setting up the system was cumbersome, as most new things are, but, in the long run, Resnexus does so much more than Webervations did. I’ve very happy with it!!!

Setting up the system was cumbersome, as most new things are, but, in the long run, Resnexus does so much more than Webervations did. I’ve very happy with it!! Caroline Murphy, Brookfield Farm B&B, New York

I have been using ReservationKey for quite a while now and love it. It has a tiered fee structure (Not paying the same for my 3 rooms as someone with 10) and no contract. 3-day free trial. All sorts of reports and “bells & whistles”. Affordable. I discovered there was a “waiting list” offered when I woke up to an r-mail asking for a waiting list inclusion-I set it to not take same day reservation.

 

Sign Up for B&B For Vets – Especially If You Are a California Inn

Kathleen Gillum, originator, mover and shaker for B&B for Vets let me know yesterday that there were no California inns listed this year for the program.

B & Bs For Vets was taken nationwide 9 years ago. B&Bs around the United States make a minimum of one room avail for one night (Nov 10 or 11, innkeeper’s choice) to anyone with a Military or Veterans Administration ID. We always need more innkeepers to participate. Unfortunately, there are very few west of the Mississippi.

The reservation is taken like any other – WITH credit card to guarantee the reservation (this has almost eliminated no-shows and late cancels – and on arrival, the charge disappears when ID is shown. Cancellations in the cancel policy of the inn or no-shows WILL BE CHARGED as they kept another from getting the room (innkeeper discretion actually but state this when taking the reservation and in confirmations).

Requirements of the B & B: Provide a minimum of 1 room for 1 night (Nov 10 or 11) with NO STRINGS (Buy one-one for example) with breakfast. Go to www.bandbsforvets.org and click on Innkeeper Information for a total explanation. The left column gives the listing information required and the e-mail to send it to. IF you offer a discount for Military throughout the year, the listing with this info will be live all year