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1. a A a a a R 4 Knowledge is Power They say knowledge is power and I absolutely agree The better you know your business and the more knowledge you have about your industry and the tools that can help you the more likely you are making good business decisions Accordingly we believe in educating and sharing our knowledge with you We do that through this newsletter from our website via our email blasts when we talk to you on the phone through our webinars and with tradeshow presentations and booths At the PAII show in January Liz Day spoke on the state of online marketing and Kevin Guill presented on the latest in website strategies At the CABBI show in February Kevin hosted seven different roundtables and engagedin Internet marketing conversations with 50 innkeepers The following day he gave a formal presentation on the latest advancements in Internet marketing Later this year we expect to attend CH amp LA in California with a focus on digital services With our new Cloud PMS arriving soon see inside for more details we are also planning for some regional shows in the fall ee Cpe Sessions ream A recent push in the area of education has been the expansion of our webinar series this winter We run both service related webinars that are open to the public and exclusive marketing webinars just for our Internet marketing clients In the past few months we have covered topics on content marketing Cont2. The ability to access the Cloud PMS from any device and on any modern Internet browser is D rya a big plus The application adapts very well to small screens thanks to its responsive design element Moreover the application runs natively on the web so that it does not require any other software or plug in on the user s device like Java Silverlight Flash etc Property Setup Data Migration The Configuration menu has made these steps easy and customers who migrate from RezStream Professional will be able to upload their entire data base including all configuration and reservation history over to the Cloud PMS Our skilled technical support team will assist Version 1 1 1003 0 Last Deployed on 2 10 2014 12 52 33 PM customers with data upload and training when the time comes Security The Cloud PMS has great security features for both data security and user access security With the data base residing in multiple locations in the cloud there is no need for backups by the property However we will still provide a mechanism that allows users to download a current copy of all their data at any time User administrators can easily add new users and control user levels through the Configuration settings Finally we have built in an audit functionality in the system whereby all changes to a data base are recorded so there is always an opportunity to investigate which users have made what changes after the fact T Speed 1 Over
3. deliver on this trend in 2014 as noted above it is fresh sometimes by several weeks or even months In 2014 we will move the analysis and reporting to the end of the year and start executing revised annual strategies immediately in January Googlelaunched many new updates Penguin Panda Enhanced Campaignsand Hummingbird tonamea few and there was a big focus on developing and promoting high quality content pieces through branded websites otherwise known as content marketing We addressed both developments by welcoming Stephanie Johnson to our team to serve asa full time social mediaand content specialist When you read her article in this newsletter I think you will appreciate the importance of social media as all online marketing channels continue to converge e Mobile users are more important than ever and tablet mobile bookings continue to grow Guests are becoming more comfortable searching and reserving lodging through smartphones and tablets We see increased traffic and online reservations compared to previous years for almost CONTINUED Knowledge is Power all properties Therefore its very important that hotels have responsive websites that offer multi device users a positive experience As quality content continues to be a key factor in search engine exposure it s critical to offer all pages on your website to these various types of device users These two must haves for 201
4. equates to a dollar amount Unfortunately the nature of social media is not sales focused People engage with brands on social networks to learn feel a connection with the identity of the brand Social users know where to go to be entertained or buy from you they want something of value showing up in their news feed Sales are valuable to you but not so much for your social followers Some common goals for social media marketing include e Establish relationships Create brand ambassadors and re engage with fans that take the time to comment on your posts e Generate conversations The more you can get your fans involved in a post by asking them to comment like share the more exposure your post and your page will get e Provide value This relates to not being a promotional tool An industry best practice is to follow the 80 20 rule which states that 80 of your posts should be informative or entertaining while the other 20 can be promotional or specifically about your property What networks should you focus on It seems there s a new social network emerging every single day While it s easy to get wrapped up in wanting to be part of the latest and greatest we need to focus on what networks your guests are on and creating a strategy to use that network well You wouldnt pay for an advertisement that simply says coming soon So why would you join a network without knowing what to do on it For a well rou
5. the years we have heard concerns about the pmlc T performance speed of RezStream Professional desktop software in particular from those clients amp Line Items t amp Michael Harrison ae with large databases Our engineers have gone to Pre Tax Fees Tax Home me a sa Pansy Lee Dr great lengths to ensure our new cloud platform will 40 00 14 10 54 10 Richmond KY 40475 ezon sed toom be very fast and all the trials so far have demonstrated 40 00 4 10 44 10 Notes amp Details win aiis CED tox Bere rapid response times This is a function of a solid 40 00 4 10 44 10 Da a a m database structure combined with an application Click Tap Focus to Change that is native to the web Payments Next Page gt Continue Reading Version 1 1 1003 0 Last Deployed on 2 10 2014 12 52 33 PM Rate Management New ae BMGs cca Dashboard as lt Create Rate Season PEN f Copy Season Delete Season people as it is at the heart of any reservation o 0 O KAE i e People Set All Days Set Per Da system We kicked around many different ideas I Reservations This topic is naturally of great interest to many Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday on how to best structure rate management e v Rate 149 aQ a 49 49 49 49 m Reports based on units seasonality overrides volume Base Capacity 45 Configuration discounts long term stays minimum
6. 4 align with Googles goals of 1 offering a positive user experience and 2 rendering quality results to their searchers Mobile use is not a fad but the present and the future of hotel room purchases In the end there is no such thing as flawless execution but we should all strive to get better We rely on you in helping us get better and we thank you for your participation insight and feedback as we serve you In the same manner we want to be integral to your pursuit of perfection in hotel software internet marketing and website design We are now 18 months into the development of our cloud based property management system Cloud PMS It has been fascinating and a lot of work but we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel We think you will be very pleased with this revolutionary new and redesigned reservation software from RezStream We previously expressed hope to see a launch in the March April timeframe However with our current alpha testing underway and our commitment to provide a quality product summer seems realistic August is our current best guess but again software development can be unpredictable when testing in the real world On the positive side we have made huge strides and our accomplishments during the past six months are incredibly encouraging A fast secure sleek and easy to use property management system is coming to life Most importantly for the long term the Cloud PMS has a v
7. d be 1 Content is King Social networks are placing higher value on quality content and consistent quality content 2 It s all about the visuals Photos on Facebook receive 39 more interaction than text updates and with networks like Pinterest on the rise its becoming crucial to utilize visuals in social media marketing 3 Social is not a sales tool The end all goal of all marketing is of course creating sales but to do social media marketing successfully the goal should be to create relationships with your guests If youre unsure of where to start when it comes to social media marketing please feel free to reach out to me with your questions at stephanie johnson rezstream com Thanks for taking the time to read Stephanie Johnson Social Media Specialist More Bookings with the Global Distribution System Are travel websites for you Are you looking for ways to find new guests Fill midweek bookings Grow your online presence outside Google and Bing search results The Global Distribution System GDS might be just what you re looking for The GDS lists your property s inventory on hundreds of travel sites like Expedia and Hotels com and shares your information with more than 600 000 travel agents The GDS automatically integrates with your RezStream Professional reservation software and online booking engine leaving you time to focus on your guests What s in it for you e Increases your online exposure which drives traffic t
8. diting GSS practices of our hosting aa vendor We also created a formal policy for better communication to clients during downtimes including regular updates and statuses All scheduled maintenance will be announced in advance but a successful completion update is also warranted when the system is back live Finally more detailed server performance data has been added to our Key Performance Indicator KPI topics for our monthly management debrief Another example of the debrief practice extends to our Internet marketing clients We spent a lot of time in the first quarter capturing and analyzing clients results from 2013 We then debriefed on those results internally in order to design your 2014 marketing strategies Thereafter we shared those reports with you and in many cases had conference calls to review them in detail to debrief and discuss our takeaways with you Finally we reviewed our proposed 2014 strategies with you for final agreement Next Page gt Continue Reading Ais Kou DW toga Christian Holmsen CEO While each client is unique here are some key debrief takeaways to share with everyone e Discussing annual strategies in the lst quarter is not optimal We 2 O understand clients are busy and find it difficult to allocate time F D U C AT O N The result is a delay in imparting the important knowledge while e An expansion to include more educational information was valued by many and we will
9. ent Management System CMS website solutions booking engines and the Global Distribution System GDS If you have not yet attended one of our webinars I would encourage you to do so On April 24th Josh Wise will host a preview of our upcoming Cloud PMS reservation software On May 15th Joe Jenkin will speak to the power of images for websites Visit www RezStream com webinars for a complete schedule of future webinars and links to past presentations Knowledge is power indeed and who does not want to be powerful rezSt But knowledge alone is not enough We also need to act on our knowledge During my service in the Navy we had a process of planning briefing executing and debriefing for every mission This process should apply to businesses as well But too often we forget that last step the debrief because we are in such a hurry to move on to our next task Unfortunately when we rush on we often miss the education and improvement opportunity that comes from a good debrief co ot aal lt D lt Jo At RezStream we try to walk gt oo Sian N a a the talk and learn from our own mistakes So when we recently experienced two unrelated downtimes on client facing servers in two seperate M locations website hosting and booking engine in the course 2 of a few days we debriefed internally to prevent or at least minimize future impact on our clients As a result we instituted stricter au
10. ery powerful backend platform that will allow us to expand functionality in a lot of different directions as well as create integration points to meaningful third party connections Our agile development process will serve clients well as we will add on regular and frequent product updates with the push of a button With a decade of industry experience behind us we have a solid understanding for what hotels need and want in their future PMS Every day we talk to dozens of clients and track your likes dislikes and feature requests To complement that experience we have also engaged with 20 properties for an advisory group and exchanged ideas through structured conference calls informal phone conversation and email exchanges Additionally we conducted a large survey of our client base and the results further supported our experience and the advisory groups input Consequently the Cloud PMS is based on YOUR feedback not what we think you need We have focused on building the right system flow user configuration rate management structure occupancy maps credit card processing and other core product features We have also developed contact management tagging searching reporting auto email and other necessary features In the first quarter of 2014 we rolled out an alpha testing program with a small number of clients that have varying business practices and needs Alpha testing is running smoothly with our developers working o
11. nded social media presence I recommend hotels focus on the two big players to start Facebook and Google Facebook recently celebrated its 10th birthday and by its continual improvements to the site theres no sign that this network is going away anytime soon There have been recent reports citing a lack of younger users but for most property owners your key demographic is still using Facebook most likely on a daily basis via their desktop or mobile phone Facebook best practices e Test different types of content Find out what content your guests want to see from you some want infographics some want news articles some want top ten tips for visiting your city some want ideas of where to go for dinner some want inspirational quotes to motivate them to travel more and the list just goes on The only way you can provide value to your guests is figuring out what they deem valuable e Post a variety of content They say variety is the spice of life and that s true online as well Share photos links to your website or local news stations event information etc e Keep posts short and concise think of the 140 character limit on Twitter e Establish your property s voice Id recommend using the collective we instead of the first person point of view Unless your fans know specifically who the T is the we is industry standard Google is a young social network compared to Facebook having opened the platform to every
12. ntent needs This can range from creating and curating content for their social networks to managing their accounts for consistency and use of best practices to writing content for email newsletters and blogs What is it about writing authoring content that is so appealing to you Writing is so appealing to me because it s turning my imagination into something tangible The ability to accurately and creatively convey information is a rewarding challenge Why should hotels pay attention to Social Media I truly believe that social media marketing can be summed up as a hybrid of marketing and customer service its an opportunity to influence and engage A trend in social media marketing is called humanizing the brand making a company relatable and personable People love being connected and sharing things they re passionate about Luckily for hotels there are a lot of people that are passionate about travel and are looking for content they want to share How would you describe RezStream s office vibe RezStreams culture is great because everyone is passionate about what they do They re wicked smart and know how to have fun If you could spend an afternoon with any person dead or alive who would you choose and why Michael J Fox Not only does he make me laugh and laughing is probably my favorite thing to do he is also an inspiration that life is unpredictable and that happiness is a decision He s an eternal o
13. o social media before making a purchase Social Media Today Marketing efforts are no longer geared toward one way communication your guests want to be invited to the conversation and they expect you to be an active participant i y W oo S Why is social media so important to your business e Consumers expect to find your brand online If you have no social media presence they Il find a business that does It s the new way of establishing credibility with your guests Guests want to know they can reach you through a variety of online sources as well as learn more about your brand at their leisure e You may not be online but people talking about your business are By being a part of the conversation you can influence how your guests present your property to others as well as address any concerns before they become viral issues e Its a hybrid and extension of marketing and customer service Not only can you share information about your property you can make sure your guests questions are responded to in a timely manner Stay Socially Savvy with Your Guests Continued Social media basically allows you to have some control over the conversation and tone around your brand It also creates an opportunity to build a relationship with your guests and turn them into repeat visitors as well as brand ambassadors What s the goal of social media marketing In business we focus on the Return on Investment ROI and that generally
14. o your website e Potential for revenue increase e You can take advantage of online travel agents marketing efforts e Help fill midweek vacancies Why not just sign up directly with a travel website like Expedia Signing a direct merchant agreement with a website can be a good fit for some properties But using a GDS service allows you to sign one agreement and be listed on hundreds of travel websites instead of having separate agreements for each site A direct merchant agreement will cost between 15 25 per booking and it has no direct connection to your reservation software The GDS service on the other hand is only 10 plus a flat fee of 17 50 per booking and it includes a direct two way connection to your RezStream Professional software Pm interested but need to know what the investment is Normally the one time setup fee is 750 including a year of support service However through the month of May we have a special offer at only 50 for the setup fee and a year of support We want to help make your property s online marketing as successful as it can be with this instant savings of 700 GDS setup fee is only 50 Until May 31 2014 Still have a few questions or want to get started Contact us at sales rezstream com or 866 360 8210 Bs b EMPLOYEE a SPOTLIGHT Stephanie Johnson What do you do at RezStream I m a Social Media Specialist My role is to assist clients with their social media and co
15. one in September 2011 Google does seem to push content from plus accounts into organic search results making your content easier to find and branded with your name Google best practices e Like Facebook post a variety of content from photos to links to motivational quotes e Google is also very visually dominant but they take it a step beyond Facebook and allow users to use Graphics Interchange Format GIFS those soundless images that continually loop e Hashtags are used by users and aid in the search function of Google so find appropriate hashtags relevant to your property DoNotHashtagEveryWordIn YourPost Isn t social media just a fad As social media continues to evolve together with the overall state of the Internet it s important to continue to focus on quality content and visuals The average social media user can be summed up as an adult with ADD With so many things competing for our attention brands have to offer something unique and timely Networks will continue to evolve to adapt to users demands and changing online habits One thing s for sure social media is the state of the Internet It s not going away Its only going to become more refined with more savvy users that are adept at spotting sales pitches Social is not sales Social is listening and conversing with your guests Stay Socially Savvy with Your Guests Continued If there are three key takeaways from this article they shoul
16. ptimist and has an enthusiasm for life that s infectious If he could put me in touch with Doc Brown that would just be icing on the cake How do you feel about Dalmatians Really If I could live in Disney s 101 Dalmatians I would in a heartbeat There is at least one Dalmatian themed item in every room of my apartment 866 360 8210 www rezstream com 3801 E Florida Ave Ste 800 Denver Colorado 80210 Internet Marketing Website Design Reservation Software Booking Engine
17. so we will contain our temptation to make the Cloud PMS available prematurely In addition to managing and addressing beta user responses our focus for the next few months will be on completing and perfecting the features identified for launch Some of the more significant ones include reporting dashboards booking engine integration GDS integration and data exports Our goal is to have all these sections completed before launch We will simultaneously conduct a formal quality assurance test cycle prepare product documentation build an online knowledgebase user manual and prepare our technical support staff to onboard clients On April 24th Josh Wise will host our first webinar introducing the Cloud PMS We hope you will attend this exciting introduction Look for email invitations on how to sign up or visit our webinar signup page at www RezStream com webinars Stay tuned Stay Socially Savvy with Your Guests They subscribed to my blog liked my post on Facebook and have been retweeting and re pinning my content I know they plus oned me on Google so you could say theyre pretty engaged with my brand Wait what The new generation of consumers and hotel guests are actively engaged in social networks and expect a company they re going to spend money with to be online In fact 73 percent of online adults use a social network and 42 percent use multiple social networking sites Pew Research Center while 46 percent of web users turn t
18. stays last I minute changes etc We think we have found a A eraciren good balance between these options Properties Mei Minimum Stay with a lot of rates and seasons expressed a desire Maximum Stay for more automation to mitigate manual rate n changes We are working on various rules to Coed Trl ap Closed To Departure CD address those requests JE show Advanced Rate Options Reservations The Cloud PMS has a very dynamic occupancy map that combines all reservation critical information right there on one screen quoting history room descriptions and more Advisory participants and alpha testers seemed to like the click and drag functionality that they are used to in RezStream Professional as well as being able to see complete quotes built on the fly Contacts amp Search This section has been renamed People in the Cloud PMS Users can create and update records and we have built in a powerful tagging 30 00 0 00 30 00 feature The tagging function in particular received some great s 5055 a 180 00 0 00 180 00 attention from the advisory group and testers and can best be described i c ts De man a aans 1 260 00 0 00 1 260 00 423 Rex Abke as very streamlined We are excited to have this functionality in the bs i i initial release The system will also include a powerful search feature o i cmon one 166 Rex Abke 170 00 0 00 170 00
19. think Google search engine style which will certainly make contact 1 995 00 T i 0 00 1 995 00 data very accessible and beneficial to any user Reporting Clients have varying needs for different reports Some rely heavily on housekeeping reports and some more on financial data Although we did not demonstrate reporting in our advisory group sessions or during alpha testing we will have standard reporting functionality in the initial release The PMS will also include a Dashboard that renders a handful of up to the minute reports on key business performance measures In the long term our plan is to offer a report writer function so users can build their own reports with whatever data they want However this is a very technically challenging feature so its unlikely we ll see this feature right away What s next In May we will phase into beta testing At this stage less complex properties with basic system needs will be able to test their businesses on the system parallel to operating their current PMS We will advance this test period from a handful of properties initially to several dozen properties later on based on the feedback and experience By controlling the pace and size of our beta population we will better accommodate and respond to the feedback we receive Depending on our experience in beta this period will last for a few months It is important that we bring a clean product and a great user experience to market
20. ut minor bugs and improving the system architecture flow and features The last few months have really validated our technology choices and the system s stability The Cloud PMS is still in development but now contains all the functionality required to upload a property data base from RezStream Professional manage units rates taxes make reservations by unit and by type check guests in out take payments manage contacts and search for just about anything We continue to improve user flexibility relating to shortcuts group reservations split billings quick navigation quote overrides etc Finding a stable secure and efficient hosting platform for the Cloud PMS BE is an important part of this process and we chose Microsoft Azure after successful testing of the application Another huge win for properties is the auto email feature including a template builder for a custom look Next Page gt Continue Reading Below is a summary of various key aspects of the new Cloud PMS and its current status Navigation Look amp Feel User Flow We have received very positive comments across the board for the general layout of the system People like what they see find the new tabs easy to understand and comment that work flow is much better than in RezStream Professional We have heard comments like simple clean and intuitive Left side navigation menu and other access points also seem to enhance the user experience System Access
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