Today we couldn’t be more excited to announce we’re starting a series of important refactoring updates which will bring new usability improvements and make your booking experience easy, fast, and enjoyable. Today’s update is about one of the most frequently used parts of our platform – Booking Management, which includes several pages, such as Booking Overview, Participant List, Import Bookings, and Booking Detail Page.

The new Regiondo experience is simpler, more modern, responsive and intuitive. We have been focusing on making the platform more user-centric and improving navigation, so that all important information is clearly visible and can be instantly accessed. A new, streamlined search experience will make it much easier to look for bookings and reservations, while quick actions and customizable columns allow you to view and manage your bookings more efficiently. Let’s delve a little deeper into all the new features and improvements and see what it means for your personal booking experience.

All Bookings in One Place 

When managing bookings, speed and efficiency is above all. Previously, important booking-related information could be found on separate pages. With this update, you can view your bookings, find all important details and perform typical actions from a single Booking page. Here you can switch easily between your booking and participant list, redeem product vouchers directly, add or import new bookings, and much more.

You can also notice this change in the menu navigation: “New Booking”, “Attendee list” and “Redeem product voucher” are now a part of a larger “Bookings” section, making it easy and intuitive for you to navigate through your bookings.

This update improves navigation and allows you to focus on the most important information at a glance.

If you don’t have any bookings yet, it is now easier to start importing or adding your bookings from scratch.

Booking List Improvements

More customization & flexibility

In this release, we made booking and participant lists more customizable to match unique needs of our diverse customers. From now on, you can sort the columns in the list simply by drag-and-dropping them in your preferred order. It is up to you to prioritize the most important information!

Apart from that, you can select the columns to display in the Booking list to create your unique personalized view and hide any information you do not use.

New columns: Booking number, Check-in status and Notes

We have introduced new columns to the Booking List for you to have a clear look at all the important information on one screen:

• Booking number. Previously the booking number could only be seen on the booking page.
• Notes. The notes in the list are marked with a special icon. If you’d like to read the note, just point your mouse cursor to it. Alternatively, you could also read the note by opening the booking page.
• Check-in status. Check-in is a useful feature that helps you register guests upon their arrival, create reports and collect valuable insights. With check-in status, you can quickly see the booking progress and take quick actions if needed.

Quick filters

In tour operator business, it is important to be able to act fast, especially when you are on site. Whether you are a guide organizing a city tour or a winery, you need to be able to access and perform typical actions quickly and efficiently. This is why we have introduced “quick filters”, which are designed to help you run your business smoothly.

Quick filters are displayed right above your booking and participant list and help you filter your reservations based on the most frequent case scenarios. By using quick filters, you can save your valuable time and access the information easier. However, if your search is more specific, you can still use the “All filters” button to access advanced parameters.

Quick filters for Booking list:

• Bookings for today
• Bookings for tomorrow
• Unpaid bookings
• Action is required.

Quick actions for Participant list:

• Participants for today
• Participants for tomorrow

Save filters

Often using filters to find a specific booking or participant? You can now save filters and sorting combinations for future use! If you have filters you use frequently, filter saving will be a handy, time saving shortcut.

Note:

Filter saving is a cookie-based setting, which can only be saved on the device you are currently using. Make sure you accept the cookies before saving the filter.

Easy booking search

With improved booking search, you can find your reservations faster. Start typing your search query to look for a specific customer or booking: no need to enter the complete name!

Check-In All

To save your valuable time, we’ve added a quick way to check-in all registered participants from a specific booking directly from the booking list! Just click “Check-in all” button next to the specific booking to approve all participants.

UI Improvements

Smooth scrolling experience

In the Booking and Participant lists, there is lots of information and columns to display. Previously it was easy to get lost among multiple bookings when scrolling the table horizontally. With the new release, our tables always stick to the first columns with important booking information such as order or name, so that this information is always visible when scrolling.

Accordion structure

In this update we’ve introduced accordion structure to highlight more important information of each section and reveal more details with a click. Thanks to this structure, it’s easy for you to navigate fast to the relevant information and choose to display more if needed.

Better visibility for manual confirmation pending

When managing bookings with manual confirmation, you have multiple days to confirm or decline them. In the updated booking page, we have decided to encourage you to take this action by highlighting this action and de-cluttering the view, so that it is difficult to miss.

Booking statuses

Booking statuses (e.g., confirmed, cancelled, reservation, etc.) displayed in the Booking list now have different colors. This update will let you differentiate between statuses easier and take corresponding actions faster.

Other improvements

Imported Bookings

From now on, it is easier to use imported bookings in Regiondo. The bookings you have imported have the same properties and features as normal bookings, they can also be filtered or modified. Upon the import, the bookings trigger typical customer reminders, tax invoices and sales receipts.

Display redeemed vouchers

With this update, it’s easier to view the number of redeemed vouchers. Just open the voucher booking page to see how many tickets have already been redeemed.

Edit customer data before booking confirmation

Previously you could only change the customer data after you confirmed the booking request, which may have led to certain issues (e.g., the customers who provided incorrect contact details may not have received email notifications about the booking). With this update, you can modify the customer data manually before accepting the booking.

Discontinued (End of Life) Features

Propose Alternative Appointment

Previously you could use “Alter booking” feature to change the product or propose an alternative to this appointment to your customers.

In the new version, you can still change the time and date of your booking and send an automated email to your guest right on the booking detail page. However, at the moment it is not possible to change your product or suggest another alternative appointment from this section. We are planning to support this feature in the future, stay tuned!

Calendar view

Previously you could access a calendar view on the Bookings page. With this release, we are discontinuing this feature and encourage you to use our powerful dashboard calendar instead of maintaining multiple ones.

Overbookings

Overbookings are not displayed in the booking grid and booking detail page anymore. We are planning to improve the overbooking display in the dashboard calendar in our next releases.

If you’d like to learn more about our End of Support and End of Life Schedule, please visit our knowledge base

Webinar: New Booking Management

Would you like to see the new Booking Management system in action? Watch our on-demand webinar! In this video, our expert guides you through main improvements and showcases new features.

More updates to come!

As mentioned before, this is just the first episode of the series of important refactoring updates designed to revolutionize your booking experience. However, none of this would be possible without your continued feedback and support. We would like to thank our loyal partners and customers for being the heart of Regiondo community and inspiring us to be the best booking platform in Europe!

The post Regiondo Major Update: Re-Imagined Booking Management appeared first on Regiondo.

So what next for you? Do you already have online booking software? Are you looking for one? If you are, you’re in the right place. In this article, we are going to share the top 10 online booking system requirements that will help you choose the best tool for your business.

We have to admit, it is difficult for us to give unbiased tips on choosing an online booking system since we run one and love ours. That aside, we would direct customers to other booking systems if we think that our software won’t be a good fit for them. At the end of the day, our key focus is on building good relationships with our customers, so we will provide you with unbiased advice on the most important booking system requirements.

1. Talk to Your Team

Before you start researching which online system to work with, interview your team about their needs. You should brainstorm every key area of your business; from admin to finance, marketing, operations, and sales. Ask them what their key requirements for the online booking system are and which of them aren’t being met at the moment.

Align that list with your company’s overall goals so that you have a comprehensive understanding of what your company needs and wants from tour and activity operation software. This first step helps to give you a foundation for your research.

2. Figure Out What You Need and Want

Compile a list of all the things you need, and then sort the list into two columns: must-haves and nice-to-haves. This will help you understand the difference between what your business needs and wants. And that will ultimately impact your purchasing decision.

Your team should be around when you do this so that you don’t miss any key need or want.

Here are some of the differences between basic and complex booking software systems. Align your wants and needs list with this one to figure out which type of booking system you need.

Basic online booking system requirements:

• Cloud-based
• Payment options (Credit card, bank transfer, PayPal, deferred payment processing, cash)
• Inventory system
• Real-time booking
• User-friendly interface
• Customer support
• Integrations with an email marketing software

Complex online booking system requirements:

• SMS and email automation
• Language and currency settings
• Email customization
• Integration with third-party software (e.g. POS Systems, Rating Portals, etc.)
• Detailed sales reports
• Voucher and promo code management
• Distribution channel management (e.g. the Regiondo Channel Manager)
• Resource management

3. Align Booking System Requirements with Your Company’s Goals

Your team has provided their input and you have your list of must-haves and nice-to-haves. You need to add your company’s goals to this list to draw a clean line between those two columns. Sure, having a particular feature is nice, but if it does not align with your goals, you shouldn’t really be making that extra investment. The key is to focus on what is important for your business.

4. Consider Your Budget

In an ideal world, you shouldn’t base your decision on the cost of the software. However, in the real world of business, you need to figure how much you are willing to pay for an online booking system. If you go with a standard option, you will need to factor in the cost of commissions and fees as that would affect your bottom line and profit margins.

5. Is it Simple and Easy to Use?

One of the first things you need to think about while looking for the right online booking system is simplicity. How easy is it to use? Will your customers find it user-friendly and easy to book their tour? Is it easy to integrate with the other systems you are using? Think about your CMS system!

Time is essential in your business and one of the main booking system requirements is simplicity and ease of use.

6. Can You Configure Your Travel Policy?

An online booking system needs to enable you to set an advanced policy configuration. Without that feature in place, and without compliance, your business is exposed to a lot of unnecessary fees and fines.

A good online booking system will allow you to define your service, the value of transactions, departure and destination cities/countries, tour buses, meeting points, additional information, etc.

7. Reporting

Reporting is a key part of any business and is an important feature to look for in an online booking system. An in-depth report will enable you to have a better view of your reservations and increase your level of control in tweaking and adjusting policies and other features.

A reporting tool would easily enable you to download customer details, itineraries, and other important analytics data. One of the important online booking system requirements is also to give a clear view of your financial data, payout reports, and tax information.

8. How Will Your Internal Processes Change?

You need to think about how your internal processes will change and prepare for what you may need, like additional staff training. Some of the changes that are likely to take place are as follows:

• Your daily processes will most likely become automated or be significantly reduced. For example, you probably won’t be spending as much time communicating with customers via email or phone since everything will be handled via the online booking system.
• Your staff can easily and readily view and share information among the company more efficiently.
• Your mobility will increase as bookings can be managed anywhere and anytime, on a mobile or tablet. Your staff will know the status of your business and can better and more flexibly manage schedules.

9. Is the Software Easy to Integrate into Your Site?

Cloud-based online booking systems usually have widgets that can be easily added to your site. Keep in mind that although they are very easy to integrate, you won’t have much control over the booking flow. Users are often redirected to the booking platform to complete their booking, which means that the user leaves your site during the process.

You can have more control over the process if you go with a custom solution. That way, you’ll be able to better analyze how users are behaving during the booking process and can thus optimize conversions.

10. What about the Quality of Customer Support?

This point is very important for consideration. Getting support when you need it is vital to your business. Yes, self-service support systems are great, but you need to get answers in a timely manner when you’re having technical issues. It could have a huge impact on all your business.

So you need to ask the following questions: What’s the turnaround for support? Do we need to pay extra to get our questions answered on time? Is customer support available in our time zone? Do the technical support team speak my language?

Wrapping Up

Going through booking system requirements and choosing the best tool takes time. You need to think about costs, which features you need and want; and a lot of other questions highlighted above. Go with the option that best suits your needs and gives you and your customers the best user experience.

You might also like:

• SaaS vs On-Premise: Which Solution is Cheaper in the Long Run?
• 12 Free Marketing Tools To Boost Your Online Sales
• SaaS Booking System vs In-House Development: Which is Right for You?

The post Online Booking System Requirements: 10 Things to Consider appeared first on Regiondo.