INTERESTS AND ACTIVITIES Do you offer special activities like fishing, hiking, biking or bird watching? Perhaps there is a local event that your guests return for each year. You can enter this into the 'Interests' field on the guest record to easily find all the guests with the same interests for marketing blasts. For example, find all the guests who love hiking and send an email about a 'Spring hike in the mountains' event.
OCCASIONS VALUE LIST In the Settings area of the program are several 'Value Lists', and 'Occasions' is attached to a field on the Reservation records to indicate the purpose of the guests’ visit.
Birthdays, anniversaries, vacations, family reunions and business are all common reasons for visiting your property. Other ideas for this field would be to track guests coming for local events, outdoor sporting or just traveling through. The number of values you can add to the list are limitless, and provide a way to find and market to very specific guest interests.
RECONNECTING WITH GUESTS 1) Utilize the referral list on Guest records (setup in the Settings/Value Lists area) to track where people heard about your business. 'Find' records by the referral type to see how many responded to your marketing efforts.
2) Use the Birthday List to find birthdays for each month and send email greetings inviting guests to return for a special gift or discount.
3) Find repeat guests and offer an email special for their loyalty. A free night for every 10 spent with you, or a free night when they book two during a slow season.
STAYING PERSONAL WITH YOUR GUESTS The 'Notes' panel on the Guest Info screen is an ideal place to keep personal notes about your guests. For example, "John is an architect and his wife works at a floral shop. They have 3 kids and two German Shepard dogs."
Next time they call to make a reservation you'll have the notes handy to be reminded about the guests' family and can ask, "How're your kids doing, John?"
WAITING LIST Are you booked for the next few months but still getting calls for reservations? Add these guests to the waiting list just in case there is an opening. • Click on the 'Add to Waiting List' button in the Guest area or the Single Reservations area. • Enter the dates desired and staff initials. • Check who is on the Waiting List by: (1) Clicking on the 'Reports' navigation button and (2) Clicking on the 'Waiting List' link under the Reservations group of reports.
Reservations Pearl 8.0 is published by Compu-Books, Glendale, Arizona, USA
