Core Features

An Overview

The online booking engine Hotel Proxy provides centralized management for individual hotels or hotel chains.

Each accommodation unit of the hospitality sector (e.g. hotels, villas, apartments) has the ability to manage its guest capacity (stay and availability). Hotel Proxy offers full customization for each property in a multilingual environment.

In particular through the administration tools, the hotelier can set:

  • Users that access the system
  • General contact information
  • Characteristics of the accommodation unit:
    • Stars
    • Type of accommodation
    • Photographs
    • Presentation and content management using a WYSIWYG editor
    • Additional services (such as spa, Wi-Fi, car park etc.)
    • Location and area information
    • GIS coordinates to view on a map
  • Specific fields for search engine optimization (SEO)
  • Personalized billing and cancellation policies, modeled to support automated billing
  • Commissions and optional additional commission fees for affiliated companies (affiliate commissions)
  • Room Types
  • Types of visitors
  • Availability
    • Restrictions on the reservation
      • Stop Sales
      • Min Stay
      • Max Stay
      • Composite restrictions
  • Price Lists
    • Special Offers with complex rules
      • Early Booking
      • Last Minute
      • 6 / 7, 10/12
      • Weekdays
      • Number of guests
      • Number of rooms
      • Number of room nights
      • Complex offers by date of request, arrival, departure
  • Additional services (supplements, special treatments)
  • Board Types (RR, BB, HB, FB, AI)
  • Distribution (sale) Channels

Depending on the distribution channel, the price list, the availability and Payment & cancellation policy can be differentiated.

 

Requests Support

Hotel Proxy supports online reservations and requests from customers when there is no availability of the desired services.

The management of the requests is carried out by automated messages via email or fax (optional) to the hotel and to the guest. It also provides alternative options for the customer in order to meet the requirements of the stay.

For example, the visitor could ask for Double Room Sea View, which is not available for online booking. The reservations administrator of the hotel will be informed for the specific request of the customer and would be able to offer an alternative Double Room Mountain View or Suite for the same or different value.

With Hotel Proxy’s request support solution, absolutely not even one potential client is missed.

 

Multiple Pricelists

Hotel Proxy Booking Engine provides the ability of setting multiple pricelists. Hoteliers can set the pricelists based either on rates or on scenarios or even both. Different charges per week day are supported and can be applied (e.g. set a different pricelist on the weekends or Christmas holidays).

The supported option for multiple pricelists could be used in conjunction with other applications such as B2B Agent (myAgent) that manages the reservations of the partner travel agencies (hoteliers can set up a different pricelist for partners, different availability and different ways of payment).

For user friendliness and convenience, Hotel Proxy offers two ways of setting the prices. It could either be based on the season or the introduction of “special day rates", a very useful tool for the city hotels.

 

Special Offers

Through Hotel Proxy’s offer setting up system, hoteliers can easily introduce special offers. The offer setting function is very flexible. Special offers can be based on a number of factors like the dates of the reservation, the date of the request and the total number of nights spent in the hotel. Thus, you can manage Early booking offers, Last Minute Deals, etc. efficiently and gain the most out of your marketing strategies. 

 

Availability Restrictions

The availability restrictions function apart from enabling the availability setting of each room type can also impose constraints on the reservation. For example main stay, max stay, week days, release period, etc.

 

Total control over the charging policies

Hotel Proxy manages automatically and gradually the charging and the deposit payment of the customers, depending on the room’s request date and the date of arrival.

For example you can set a rule for the bookings made3 days prior to arrival according to which the full amount will be charged and another rule for reservations made 21 days prior to arrival for which there will be a deposit of 30%.

The cancellations made by the customers and the non – shows are managed in a similar way. For example you can set a rule according to which in case of a non-show, there will be a charge equal to 30% of the total reservation amount or a day charge.

 

Fully customized guest types and room occupancies

Hotel Proxy’s room features, include multilingual descriptions and photographs, billing options per room or per person.

The types of visitors supported are Adult, Children and Infant, and you can set up multiple types of children e.g. Child1 (2-6), Child2 (7-12), etc.

 

Two different room charging options

Per room

The charge is based on the total combination of guests regardless of their type. The charge per guests in the room is supported.

E.g. up to 4 people or 6 people 

Per guest

The charge is based on the room type (adult, children) and the number of visitors. The cost of accommodation is calculated based on charging scenarios. 

 

Customizable board types & supplements

Hotel Proxy supports the following boards:

  • Room Rate 
  • Bed & Breakfast 
  • Half Board 
  • Full Board 
  • All Inclusive

 

Flexible cancellation and payment policies based on seasons

It is possible to imply different cancellation policies per time period / season of the accommodation’s operation. Every cancellation policy has a unique serial number and name. Cancellation policies can be edited, modified or deleted and you can introduce as many as wish. The creation and modification details of every cancellation policy are registered on the system. At any time you can add a new policy or delete an existing one by choosing it from the list. 

Important factors when setting a cancellation policy are the effective dates, the binding terms (e.g. the days before check in), penalties in case of no show or early departure, the form of the penalty e.g. a fixed amount or to a percentage of the total reservation amount. It is possible to set up 4 rules in each cancellations policy. 

Hotel Proxy gives you the option to copy a common cancellations policy. This option appears only if a cancellation policy is defined in the portal. With this option, the portal’s cancellation policy is applied to the accommodation unit.

 

Integrated CMS (Content Management System)

Hotel Proxy has an integrated web – based content management system. CMS is an extremely useful tool that enables the user to publish and control web content efficiently and cost effectively.

Hotel Proxy’s integrated Content Management System is ideal for hotels that are constantly in need of updating their web content. Regardless of the hotel size, maintaining current information on your site is vital. 

Hotel Proxy’s Integated CMS interface is simple and user friendly thus making it easy for anyone to proceed with instant updates without the need of IT training. Editing the content of your hotel’s website through Hotel Proxy’s integrated CMS is as simple as working on a word processor. Enjoy the freedom of making changes and updates to your website 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year without the worry of changing its format.

 

Discount Coupons

Hotel Proxy’s Discount Coupons offer the opportunity to the hoteliers you to use them in order to make special offers to their guests. Also, they could be an extremely useful tool that allows the measurement of the performance of an advertising campaign that is running or will be introduced.

For example, if you wish to advertise your accommodation online or in a magazine, you give a unique coupon code in this campaign. This way you can measure the bookings made with this unique code. Similarly, the same feedback tactic can be used in email campaigns, newsletters, reports, etc.

Discount Coupons can either be individual (numbered) or common for all customers (Unique) and they activate a special offer that you have set regarding the stay or the offered board in your hotel.

The discount coupon administration is carried out from the Pricelists menu. You are able to create a new group of coupons with activation and end dates and select the type of coupon (Unique or List). The difference is:

  • The Unique Coupon has only a one number e.g. AV8892 and can used by numerous clients.
  • The Multiple Coupon actually allows the creation of a list of unique coupon numbers (e.g. AV0098, AV8823, CE3332, etc.) from which each customer receives one or more depending on the policy of each campaign.

The system allows you to either create new coupons through the "coupons generator," or enter (a simple copy & paste) your own coupons in the Hotel Proxy. If there are active coupons, then the Hotel Proxy displays an additional field "Coupon Code" in booking form.

Once you have created the coupons group and the field "Coupon" has been added to the special offers form, you can link it to a special offer.

 

B2B – “myAgent” Application

Hotel Proxy’s myAgent B2B solution enables the reservation management of the cooperating travel agencies.

myAgent is specialized application that facilitates the easy cooperation of the partner travel agencies and it is based on the B2B (Business to Business) model. The hoteliers provide a password to their partners in order to enable them to manage their own reservations in Travel Proxy without the hotel’s staff interference. Agents have also the ability to issue vouchers with their logo and contact details, to be informed for their credit balance and of course to create new reservations or requests. 

The charge of the associated travel agents can be carried out either through an agreed credit limit or online via credit card. Hoteliers can set up a different pricelist for partners, different availability and different ways of payment. 

Also hotel proxy provides the option for an automated identification of travel and tourist agencies through HATA.

 

Joomla! Plug in

If your hotel’s website is built on Joomla!, the most famous open source content management system (CMS), you have the opportunity to embed Hotel Proxy and experience a unprecedented rise in the number of bookings. The customization takes only a few minutes and your hotel is ready to accept online bookings. 

Example: http://jdemo.hotelproxy.net

 

Payments & Secure Online Transactions

Customer’s payment for the services provided can be carried out either by online charge of the credit card (known as “ePOS”) or by charging the credit card through a bank’s P.O.S. device. 

  • P.O.S. is a bank device with which the credit cards are charged. It gives the possibility to debit the customer’s credit card by entering its number. 
  • Online payment is done through the Internet with a direct connection to the bank. Often referred to as ePOS.  

The payment type is determined according to the payment and cancellation policy of each hotel and could be: 

  • Credit card (online payment or payment through POS) 
  • Cash Payment upon arrival (check in) or departure (check out) of the guest

In all cases, guest’s credit card information is stored as a security for non-show and cancellation fee cases. 

All transactions are encrypted using SSL 128bit security certificate as a minimum prerequisite, ensuring the secure transmission of the data. Through SSL Certificate the lawful operation of the website is simultaneously certified by identifying its owner (company or a person).

The client's credit card stored in the system and deleted within 4 days from departure (check out) for security reasons. The credit card details are encrypted successively three times with different keys and only users who administrate the charging / invoicing procedures have access to them.

When the guest enters the credit card details, Hotel Proxy automatically checks the validity of the data (credit card number, expiration date, cvv) by using specialized algorithms. In the case of an online bank payment, the guest’s credit card details are simultaneously verified through the bank that makes the charge also.

 

Hotel Proxy: An online impregnable fortress

Hotel Proxy is located in the best data centre facilities available. These state of the art facilities offer premier rack space storage, supported by best-practice air conditioning, fire suppression, security facilities with biometric scanning, 24/7/365 monitoring and are Tier 2 classified. In other words, they abide to extremely strict performance and reliability standards.

At Hotel Proxy we are very serious with security and we make sure that your company's data is and will remain safe and sound.

 

System Administration & Role based Security

Hotel Proxy supports role-based access control (RBAC) in order to restrict system access to authorized users. The system is accessed by using a username and a password. The access can be role based with access control according to the occupation of each user. The rights classification of each user is based on security standards and it is configurable in the Hotel Proxy environment.

The administration tools of the system include the system configuration, user and associates management and full reporting mechanism.

Through the administration tools, hoteliers can manage the following: 

  • The content of the hotel’s website (services, descriptions, photographs) 
  • The availability of services 
  • The payment terms and cancellation 
  • Bookings 
  • Requests made by customers 
  • The hotel’s pricing policy 
  • Reports and statistics of the Hotel Proxy performance 
  • Financial data (payments and receipts, credit limits) 

The basic security standards of the system are:

Host Admin | main system administrator

Main system administrator, with unlimited access to the application

Personnel | Employees and executives

Employees and executives of the company, with limited access to the application depending on the position held in the company.

Supplier | Services Suppliers

Service provider in the system. A supplier could be companies or business chains or even travel agencies. The suppliers can manage their services in real-time without the hoteliers interference.

Agent | Partners

Associate travel agency or affiliate travel website that generates bookings into the system.

 

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Next Step Ltd
107 Kissamou Str.
73 135
Chania, Crete
Greece

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