Question 1

AfriStay Connection

Accepted Answer

How to make an Afristay connection live?

Select settings tab on your RoomRaccoon account.

Settings

Select the connectivity tab on the top of your screen.

Connectivity

Scroll down to "Available Connections" and then select OTA.

OTA

Select the plus next to Afristay and it will send us a email notification that you would like to make this connection live.
We will then request your login details for Afristay (Username & Password).
We will map your connection on the RoomRaccoon platform (Please specify which rates need to be pushed to Afristay).
We will then send your details to Afristay to activate this connection.
Once the connection has been activated we will inform you.

Question 2

Advantages of Stripe:

Accepted Answer

Advantages of Stripe:

Save money on annual basis. Do you know how much you spend on credit card charges? Many hoteliers do not have insights in these expenses, because they are written off in one monthly batch. With Stripe in RoomRaccoon, you might save half of the credit card transaction costs!
Prepayments can be collected automatically. You could have sold the room to someone else when a guest didn't show up. A small loss, but there are ways to prevent this! You can reduce ‘No-Shows’ by use of a mandatory prepayment – from 10 to 100 % – when they make a reservation via the Booking Engine on your website.
Keep the credit card data of your guests safe. Your guest's privacy is guaranteed because the credit card details are not visible in RoomRaccoon. The credit card details are entered by Stripe and you (or your staff) only need to press the 'charge credit card' button to collect the amount. So, it's not only safe, but also fast & easy!

How to install Stripe in RoomRaccoon?

Navigate to Account settings and login as administrator. Go to the Booking Engine-settings and you'll see Payments. Select 'Online payments via Stripe' and click on 'Connect with Stripe' . The website of Stripe will automatically open. Here you'll create your Stripe account.

Navigate to Payments.

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Question 3

Group reservations with different dates

Accepted Answer

Group Reservations with different dates

Do you have a group reservation where one or more guests stay longer or depart? Make this a linked reservation in order to keep everything on one invoice:

Open the group reservation or create it if it is not already been done.
Click on the icon of the group reservation to make a linked reservation

You will now see that the reservations are displayed differently, this will allow you to give the reservation that is now linked to another date by clicking on it.

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Question 4

How do I use a discount code wisely?

Accepted Answer

Everyone loves an offer. A smart booker will go through all the channels to scout for the best offer. Reward guests who book directly through your booking engine.

Our tips on how to handle discount codes smartly:

Tip: Implement a pop-up on your website where the code is shown directly with a link to the booking engine. Add the discount to your booking engine link and let people book on this link to directly get the discount.

Tip: Send the post-departure mail to thank your guests for their stay. In this mail you can enclose the code so that they get a discount on their next stay.

Tip: Is the low season coming? Send a discount code in a mass mailing to all your contacts (you can export this info in your booker overview). In a mass mailing, you can use a bulk action to send an e-mail to all your contacts. There are several companies that can take care of this for you. Make sure that the offer only applies in low season.

Tip: If you want to give a one-time discount to a guest (for example, to accommodate the guest in case of a complaint), you can also set the code for one-time use.

You can easily create your own discount code in RoomRaccoon

Go to your booking engine settings
Scroll down to the bottom of the page where you will see the following:

Give your discount code a name
Choose the discount total in Rand or percent

Question 5

Let guests upgrade their stay with RaccoonUpsell!

Accepted Answer

Let guests upgrade their stay via the online check-in!

Would you like to generate more turnover? With the use of the up sell feature in the online check-in, you can offer extra services or products!

Offer an upgrade to a more luxurious room type.
Offer breakfast again for guests who have booked their stay excluding breakfast.
Offer any optional add-ons, such as bikes parking space or a late check-out

Upgrade room type:

Select the room key icon at the top left of your screen and click on 'edit room type' for the room type you would like to offer as an upgrade.
Check the boxes of the room type/s where the upgrade may be offered.
Add the amount for which you want to sell the upgrade, this amount will be added extra.
Add an appealing description

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When you have created this option and the online check-in is sent, RoomRaccoon will check for availability in the system. If it is still possible to upgrade the room, the information will be displayed automatically for the guest.

Offer an add-on in the online check-in:

Select the room key icon at the top left of your screen and select the add-ons tab.
Click on the add-on you would like to offer at the online check-in.
Add a nice description that will entice your guests to book

Question 6

What is Derived Pricing and what is the advantage of it?

Accepted Answer

Are you already partner with booking channels such as Booking and Expedia? Then you might have come across the term derived pricing. Derived prices are rates that are dependent on other rates. The idea behind derived prices is that you, as a hotelier, need to manage less individual rates. A good example for commonly used derived prices are non-refundable rates or rates based on occupancies.

Let's say you have a double room that you offer for €100,- a night. You might want to give a 5% discount for corporate guests who stay alone. Instead of having to manage both rates independently, derived pricing enables you to make the single use rate dependent on the standard rate. If you decide to increase your standard rate due to an event in your city, the single use rate will adjust itself accordingly.

RoomRaccoon & Derived Pricing

Set up derived prices in RoomRaccoon and we will make sure to connect the correct price types to your booking channels. Here are the steps:

Go to your room types in your property settings (key-icon)
Here you will find an add button that will make sure the newly created rate is added to the belonging room type automatically
Give your rate a recognisable name such as '2 guests - non refundable'. The name will show on the booking confirmation to your guests as well as on your agenda.
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