IOS Reservation Feature Questions

[de-active]

A screen shot from the front-end area of the new review/comments system of IOS Reservations 3.0.
Notice that this page is under construction and some features are still missing.

Excellent stuff ! BUT I really believe this is a bad idea: "The reviews are submitted by this site registered users. Some of them may have stayed at HotelX, some others not"

This was a major problem in the previous version, to allow any registered user to the site, who MAY NOT have stayed in the hotel to make a judgement, criticism, comment and a verdict on the hotel? How can that be?

It's like asking me to make a comment or give my verdict on IOS R, without having used it (actually that's an ironical example, I haven't used IOS R as such by the definition of use oops  )

So I would like to ask, is this still the case, where any registered users can make a comment on a hotel, even if they have not stayed in it. 

I just can't understand the logic of allowing, people who have not stayed at a hotel to give their verdict on the staff, service, quality etc?!

[de-active]

I managed to read your whole post... 
IOS Reservations built after many people requests as a booking tool. After versions 1.0, 1.1 and 2.0 I released that there are 2 kind of people using the software. a) Those that own a hotel (single hotel), b) Those want to make business with IOS R. (multiple hotel). The most successful usage till now is from the first category as the success of the multiple hotels model is mostly based on the IOS R. administrator (as a business man) and less on the software it self. I also released that most people in the 2nd category try to create a tourist portal, so they need their site to provide more services than a reservation. IOS Reservations v3.0 with the add-on services and with much more informational fields is on that direction.

The venue provider/travel agent model requires a big part of the component (almost a second component) to act as a logistics software. IOS R. will never do that in full scale. It will provide much more information on the reservations, statistics, and options to filter reservations by date and/or by hotel but nothing more. The contact and the payments between the venue provider and the hotel owners is something outside the scope of the component.

Sorry Datahell, to bring this point up again, I don't mean to be forceful in any manner or form and if I sound so, please accept my apologies in advance, but this point is related to the travel-portal request (not the payment or logistics module). I mention it to highlight the problems of anyone using the tertiary model, the travel portal model.

So lets say, the hotel portal buys a room for $50 and sells it for $60, profit of $10, the portal may not want to show the hotel how much it is making profit because this may put the hotel off from using the hotel portal but this information (how much the reservation is in total) is recorded in the hotel reservation section, which means the hotel has access to it.

What I am saying is, it can be viewed from another angle, it's about access control at the least. The hotels should not be able to see, the total price of the booking (otherwise they see the portal's profit), but only the total price, minus any profit by the portal. So when the reservation detail is emailed, faxed or SMSed to the hotel, they only get reservation detail along with the total to be paid by the portal. 

The most successful usage till now is from the first category as the success of the multiple hotels model is mostly based on the IOS R. administrator (as a business man) and less on the software it self. I also released that most people in the 2nd category try to create a tourist portal, so they need their site to provide more services than a reservation. IOS Reservations v3.0 with the add-on services and with much more informational fields is on that direction.

Yes, it is dependant on the person or his business acumen but the software is an enabler, a supporter, a tool to help him in his business. And thus, why the software should be able to support his operations. Could you shed more light on these add-on services or do you merely mean breakfast, pick-up service etc?

With these new glimpses you keep us on the tip of our toes, keep them coming 

[datahell]

Don't rush. In the screen shot's sample hotel I have set that registered customers can post comments for testing purposes. You can change that for each hotel separately and set that only customers can post comments. Not-logged in users are not allowed any more to post comments. Also some important parts are missing from the screen shot, it is not finished.

As for the prices: you can not hide something that it is visible even by the non-registered users. Hotel owners can make a similar reservation, just to see the final reservation cost. The model you talk about can not work unless you have hidden fees, which is, I believe, not nice at all.

[de-active]

that makes more sense, thanks for the clarification.

As for the prices: you can not hide something that it is visible even by the non-registered users. Hotel owners can make a similar reservation, just to see the final reservation cost. The model you talk about can not work unless you have hidden fees, which is, I believe, not nice at all.

No, I'm not saying you hide anything, you are not deceiving anyone or cheating anyone, it's called business secret. You buy for $X amount, you sell it for $Y price and your profit is $Z amount - it's just you are not showing how much your profit is. If I buy for $X amount and show the total reservation cost to the hotel, when sending the reservation details (including customer details and total cost of reservation), the hotel will be able to see $Z amount of profit for me. The $Z amount of profit, is the resell or the costs of hosting the hotel on the website. So what you need to show the hotel is $X amount * number of nights reserved and not $Y * number of nights reserved. But the guest needs to be shown $Y * number of nights booked.

Anyway, it's OK, this might not apply to others, or even those running a travel portal mode.

[de-active]

Hi, me again 

I'm going through the wiki notes of IOS R and have some questions, if you don't mind 

1. How many pictures can we have of each room? I know there is unlimited number of pictures of the hotel, but is it only one picture of each room? If so, maybe it should be a minimum of 3 pictures at least for each room - so that you get different views of the room.

2. Caption: Maybe each hotel/room picture, can have a caption i.e. a few words describing the picture, like the main reception, room view of the garden etc

Neat?


=================================   
new reply:

This quick question is related to the use of google maps and IOS Reservation's new feature of google maps. Since I last checked out google maps, I think it has given more flexibility to users/developers. If you look at an example of how booking.com uses google maps it's quiet useful, especially if the user can add their own locations, annotation and legends to the map. Can they? Also how is google map or maps generally used for IOS R. Is it one map for the location or a map each can be placed for the hotels?

========================
another idea related to comments, maybe you can users of site, not add comments but add comments to comments: let me explain, they just read a comment and can vote whether they found the comment useful or not.

[de-active]

in the rush of excitement, I'd like to ask what is the IOSR Tripadvisor review? I know what tripadvisor is but how or why would IOSR be related? Doesn't IOSR have it's own review system, similar to booking.com?

Excuse me for jumping the guns.

[datahell]

Yes, IOS Reservations has its own review system but if you wish you can display in the same page guest reviews from tripadvisor.com. These reviews as they are from a third  party site they considered closer to reality by the site visitors. IOSR gets XML feeds from tripadvisor that are loaded using AJAX.

[de-active]

Here is a good short read as to why tripadvisor on your hotel website is not a good idea.

Tripadvisor has had a lot of problems recently with fake reviews and reviews by competition etc

You can read the rest of it here: http://www.hotelmarketing.com/index.php/content/article/tripadvisor_on_your_hotel_website_good_or_bad/

But I suppose it can be optional for those who want it.

[datahell]

I personally might not displayed these reviews on my site not for their accuracy but because my visitors might leave the site to visit tripadvisor. But as I have been asked for this feature by many people I added it as optional. If you wish you enable the feature, it is optional. I think this is the best solution for those want to use tripadvisor and for others that they don't.

An other feature that I work on lately is the option people to be able to change currency to what ever they like. IOS Reservations will automatically show prices in their desired currency.

[bianco2k]

hi, i have add some field... you can add this field in new relase?

the field are:

• typology:
  • B&B
  • Hotel
  • Appartament
  • Camping
  • etc

And some question for my client

• Your property is near to the sea? (Y/N)
• Your property is in or near the mountains? (Y/N)
• Your property is near the lake?(Y/N)
• Your property is in the countryside?(Y/N)
• Your property is near museums and areas of historical interest?(Y/N)

If the answers are yes, in the description of the property there is an icon whit alt description (The icon are under the name)...

the site is www.progettandovacanze.com

[de-active]

I personally might not displayed these reviews on my site not for their accuracy but because my visitors might leave the site to visit tripadvisor. But as I have been asked for this feature by many people I added it as optional. If you wish you enable the feature, it is optional. I think this is the best solution for those want to use tripadvisor and for others that they don't.

An other feature that I work on lately is the option people to be able to change currency to what ever they like. IOS Reservations will automatically show prices in their desired currency.

I think you have a very valid point on the tripadvior feature - most people may end up going to tripadvisor site instead.

The new currency feature is also good....but can we add other currencies that may not be listed in 34 default currencies?

........and I'm dying here waiting......all these features are brilliant but the golden question is how many more features are left or more blatantly what % of the software is complete or left? You do not have to answer this question but no harm in me asking ( & I know it's always me asking!)

[datahell]

IOS Reservations supports unlimited number of currencies but only the 34 of them support automatic exchange rates conversion. The exchange rates are taken from the European Central Bank daily (ECB supports 34 currencies). If you pick a currency out of these 34 then you wont be able to use the currency conversion feature.

Current v3.0 development status
- Back-end area: 85% complete.
- Front-end public area: 95% complete.
- Front-end hotelier administration area: 0% complete
- Front-end guest private area: 0% complete
- Payment methods completed: 2 (5-6 more will be added)
- Front-end templates completed: 1
- Sub-systems managers: 90% complete
- Front-end modules: 0% complete
- Installer built: No
- System check/clean up: No
- Demo installation: No
- Languages: English/Greek

Some of the IOS Reservations v3.0 integrated sub-systems
- UPL (User preferable language)
- ECB (European Central Bank automatic exchange rates conversion)
- SMS manager
- FAX manager
- Advanced mailer system
- Tabs system (uses yetii tabs)
- Flickr API
- Image handler (crop + resize, perfect quality)
- Google maps generator
- Custom XML handler
- SEO PRO
- Custom AJAX handler (mootools is also used for some features in front-page)
- Modular payment system
- System Update/Activate manager
- Automatic SSL mode switch
- Dialects system to provide multilingualism (IOS^R technology)
- Templates system
- Elxis wiki integration
- Credit Card handler
- Encryption
- Static cache
- Hotel's user rating/reviews system
- Tripadvisor API (requires Elxis 2009.0 or newer)
- Image gallery
- User login and registration managers (to book a room on IOSRES v3.0 you have to be a registered member)
- Custom user access system
and more....

In the next days I will work on the front-end private areas for the hoteliers and guests. IOS Reservations v3.0 is a huge and complex system. It has many features that you will find in numerous other extensions, bind under one interface. Each feature has to be developed and tested separately. All of them must work smoothly, silent and automatically. The administration of the component is extremely easy but the inner code is too complex. This is why it takes so long for this version to be completed.

[de-active]

Current v3.0 development status

.....
- Front-end hotelier administration area: 0% complete
What's this? I thought you in the new version, hoteliers will no longer be able to administer from the front end because of the complexity of the new version ?

- Front-end guest private area: 0% complete
What's this? Is this each registered users booking details?

- Payment methods completed: 2 (5-6 more will be added)
Are you talking about PayPal, WorldPay etc?
...


Some of the IOS Reservations v3.0 integrated sub-systems
- UPL (User preferable language)
is this based upon geo-IP i.e to automatically select the users language based upon location and browser settings?

- Modular payment system
?
- Credit Card handler
very interesting, are you talking about a payment gateway that will handle credit card payments? Isn't PayPal suppose to do that or other inetegrated payment systems?

The administration of the component is extremely easy but the inner code is too complex. This is why it takes so long for this version to be completed.

Understood and appreciated as to the complexity of the code and ease of use.

[datahell]

- Front-end hotelier administration area: Add/edit hotels/rooms and manage reservations from front-end.
- Front-end guest private area: Track/cancel/list reservations for hotel guests.
- IOS Reservations v2.0 supported only Paypal (and offline credit card). Version 3.0 supports unlimited number of payment methods as the system become modular.
- Front-end modules. Modules for IOS Reservations front-end area (elxis modules).
- Credit Card handler: This is included in payment methods. More on this when the component is complete.
- UPL: One of Elxis' unique features is that it can change language on-the-fly unlimited number of times. I guess that it is the only cms that can do that.

Real example:
A Russian speaking user makes a reservation at your site, but you (the administrator) speak only Greek and the hotelier's native language is Spanish. IOS Reservations will send the same notification to each one of them but in their own languages. IOS Reservations takes the preferable user language as set on their Elxis profile. Elxis does this since version 2008.0. All others CMSs/systems will send the message in Russian to all the above users.

Take a look at the existing joomla's reservations systems and make a price and features comparisson with the IOS Reservations. It is interesting I think...

I will use your e-mail in my DEV system to make a sample reservation. You will receive an e-mail (as hotel guest) soon to see how IOS Reservations 3.0 formats the e-mails.

[de-active]

brilliant! I got the email and booking confirmation. Amazing! Just one minor question/suggestion - is the user able to modify the "look & feel" or formatting of that email, such as adding a logo or picture?

The automatic language is brilliant but do errors not occur when you leave translations to a BOT? I guess it's simple translation.

Excellent stuff! Just waiting for it to be released....