Home RMS Blog

Resort Management System Blog



Resort Management System Blog → RMS v5.0.08.10.12 Update Released

A new RMS update is here! This update, Version 5.0.08.12.2012 contains program changes addressing issues that you have reported and features that you have suggested. AdvancedCare members using both Hosted and PC-Based RMS systems will receive this update automatically. For information regarding what this update contains log in to the RMS Support Center and use your registered e-mail and password to view a Knowledgebase article, RMS Update History. Please contact us if you have any questions or need assistance. We are committed to your success!

Untagged 
0
23 August 2012, 14:32
top ↑
 

Resort Management System Blog → RMS Newsletter Summer 2012

Other Charges

 

 Adding charges to a reservation can be a great way to make more money and promote your properties with more options.  Charges to a reservation can be automatic, such as a cleaning charge or reservation fee or they can be added to the reservation at any time.

 

 Get creative and make more money for you and your owners with other charges by partnering with local enterprises and offering your guests more options.  In addition to quality housekeeping and extra linens,  consider cooks, masseurs, spa packages, babysitting, dog walking or dare to offer something completely different.  Once you have come up with some new money making charges, you will need to enter them in your RMS before you can add them to a reservation.

 

All Charges must exist in the Charges File.  Go to Files>Charges>New.  Give the charge a brief ID and Description.  When creating a charge in the Charges file you may set up the cost of the charge to be per person or per reservation.  Is the charge per night?  Is the charge taxed?  Would you like to assign a seasonal rate to this charge?

 

When setting up the accounting portion of the charge you will need to choose a GL income account and and Accounts Payable account.  Choose an Income account that best suits the type of charge for use in the GL income field and use the Accounts Payable Escrow for the AP.  If you have already entered a Vendor who would be associated with the charge, assign the vendor to the charge.  It is not required that you assign a vendor.  If you use RMS Advanced Accounting Payable system then you assign a vendor to the charge.  This allows you to pay the income earned from this charge to the vendor during the month end process.

 

Owners may participate in the revenue from a charge.  This is available with new html owner statements.  If you are sharing charge income with an owner you designate how much as a flat amount, a percent or use the units commission percent.

 

Other Charges Reporting

 

The best way to track charges added to reservations is by using the Other Charges/Amenities/Equipment Report.  This report allows you to report on just charges or also the amenities and equipment that was sold during a period of dates.

 

You will find this report on the Main Reports menu>Management reports>Other Charges/Amenities/Equipment Report.  There are several options to choose from on the report which will change the way it looks such as sorting by type of charge or the GL associated with the charge.  You can include the unit sub total of charges and even the  reservation names.

 

Cleaning charges will also print on the cleaning cost report.  If you have the cost of cleaning and labor cost entered in the unit inventory file for each unit cleaned, you can compare the cleaning income to the cost on the cleaning cost report.  Who paid for the cleaning, such as the reservation paid or the owner paid is also on the report as well as the sub total and totals.

 

Changing Owners

 

When a property in your program changes ownership, the transition is easy in RMS.  First you will want to settle all business with the old owner.  Report all reservations, post any owner miscellaneous charges, workorders or credits to the unit.  Print and finalize the owner statement for the unit entering the last day of ownership for the cutoff dates. 

 

You may want to print some other reports for your files such as the Unit Nights Gross report or anything else the owner may request.

 

Enter the new owner in the Owner File.  This owner should have a unique new owner ID.   Assign the new owner to the unit in the Unit File.  Do not delete the old owner.  You will leave the old owner on file until you run 1099's at the end of the year

Newsletter
0
17 July 2012, 18:31
top ↑
 

Resort Management System Blog → RMS Newsletter Spring 2012

Gifts and RMS

Who doesn't love a good gift?  Whether its a gift basket, a hidden gift, surprise gift, big gift or little, isn't it great hitting someone's "sweet spot" and really giving a good gift?  "What sort of gifts do you "What sort of gifts do you leave for your guests and what do they leave you?"  was a recent discussion of Vacation Rental Professionals on Linkedin. 

The ideas discussed were good, such as a bottle of wine or shampoos and soaps.  I was surprised to read that fresh baked breads and farm fresh eggs were also mentioned as items left on purpose for guests!  Some companies stressed "green gifts" to go with there "go green" style. What you provide your guest  in their accommodations may reflect on the personality of the home, the owner, the management, the resort or even who the guest is.  A family may prefer a hospitality fruit basket to a bottle of wine for example.  Simple touches can make a strong impression on your guest and keep them coming back.  RMS can help you manage the details of your vacation rental.

In RMS you may consider listing your gifts as amenities.  The amenities charges are embedded with the rent.   It is never revealed to the guest as a charge so it is considered included. The gift amenities you want to add to RMS should be created in the Amenities File, found under Files on the main menu. Then they can be assigned to units on a per unit basis, as needed. The amenities you add can be valued per person or per reservation or they could be zero cost to the reservation.  Since their price is hidden in the rent the published rent price would be the amount that includes the amenities.  They can be assigned to a unit or they can be bundled in a package or promotion.  The only amenity that does not work this way is the reservation fee amenity that is added in the rate file.  Amenities can be tracked by running the Other Charges/Amenities/Equipment Report under Management Reports of the Main Reports menu.  

One of the most common gifts the guest may leave you is feedback.  Most homes will have a guestbook and our online partners FlipKey and TripAdvisor, HomeAway and VRBO all have ways for guests to give you the gift of a review, an online guestbook of sorts to assist those searching for somewhere to stay during their vacation and to help vacation rental managers know what works, that valuable information of what really "hits the spot".  Contact us for more information on how to automate your guest reviews and even link them into your unit's web pages.

 

 

Unconfirmed Reservations

 

The Unconfirmed Reservation Listing report in RMS helps you find out WHO is near arrival and has a balance due  or did not send in their GLA (guest license agreement). Two reports can print from this screen which is found as an option in the long list of Reservation Reports off the Reports Main menu.  Choose just the Summary report or the Summary and letters (Both).  The summary report lists out every guest arriving within your entered date range that has a balance due and if needed, those that have not returned their Guest License Agreement (GLA).  Now don't forget, RMS only knows they have returned the GLA if you tell RMS you have received it.  This may be done on the Reservation view screen or in the Reservation Maintenance menu option Reconcile Guest Agreement.  If you do not use this option in RMS then click "No" for the "Require GLA received" setting on the report. 

 

The Unconfirmed Reservation Listing also can print or email individual letters to the guests who owe a balance or have not returned their GLA.  Design this letter and assign it in User Designed Letters of the Utilities menu.  All systems should have a stock letter in place that you can use as a template, or create and upload your own html letter.   These letters will email or print, depending on preference, when you run the report and choose the option "Both".   RMS gives you a count of how many will email and how many will print, as well as an option to remove a recipient from the list before sending.

 

Newsletter
0
23 March 2012, 17:57
top ↑
 

Resort Management System Blog → RMS Holiday Newsletter 2011

Getting a Headstart on 2012  Have you put together your year-end checklist?

RMS books reservations 3 years in advance, so getting ready for your new year may mean you want to be sure your 2013 calendars are ready and published for booking.  When you run the utility to change your calendars in RMS, the booking calendar for the oldest year tracked drops off and the new year is added.  If you want to book reservations for 2013, you may be tracking 2011, 2012 and 2013.  Be careful when running this utility.  Give Support a call if you have any questions or if you need extra assistance with your OLB calendars.

 Another item on your list should be checking your rates.  You can list your rates by running the Unit Rates listing report.  You may also be interested in the Unit Nights Booked report to assist you in evaluating the rental success of a unit.  This report prints a summary of the number of nights booked for each rental unit and reports by reservation type.  Both of these reports may be found under Unit Reports on the Main Reports Menu.  While rates are not the only factor as to why certain units booked more than others, you may find this report beneficial.  Remember to change rates in the Rates File.  If you are changing the dates that the rates will use you need to do that in the Seasons File.

The Advertising Report may also be of interest to you during your year end evaluation.  This report may influence your ad budget for next year.

 
Another end of year procedure, which comes around all too soon each year, is running the Owner and Vendor 1099's.  These are found on the Reports Menu, Owner reports.  Forms for 1099s become available in January.  More and more vacation property managers file electronically.  An electronic filing method is available in RMS.


RMS also has a tax report under Management reports of the Main Reports menu.

 

 
FAQs:  Frequently Asked Questions About HTML Owner Statements
 
We have had a lot of people asking questions about some new Owner features in RMS.  Here are some of the FAQs:


Can I email my owner statements?  RMS can email a link to owners so that they may view their html owner statement online using the new Owner Login.  Owners will click on the link and then access their html owner statement with a user login and password so that their financial information is secure!


Can an owner print the Online Owner Statement that they view?  Yes.  They can also print their rental calendar.


Does my company have to use RMS Online Booking to use the new Owner Login and allow owners to see html owner statements online? No.  The new Owner Login module in RMS is separate from RMS Online Booking.  The new html owner statements do take some additional set up before you start using them and the owner form letter that contains the link.  When using the new Owner Login module with html owner statements, owner statements are published to the secure website and the owner email notifications can be automatically sent out.


Does my company have to use the new Owner Login module to use the new  owner statements?  No.  The html owner statements can be printed just like old owner statements and sent via U.S. post office.


Is there a charge to use the new Owner Login feature? Yes.  There is a one time set up and installation fee and a monthly service fee.  There are many other features that owners can use such as viewing current and past statements, viewing their calendars and booking their own reservations. 
 
When can I start?  Right away!  Just give us a call so that we can schedule your set up and installation.  We recommend you begin the month following your set up date.  For example, if you want the owners to have their January statements available to view online, call us in December!
Newsletter
0
23 December 2011, 18:48
top ↑
 

Resort Management System Blog → RMS Newsletter Fall 2011

Greetings!

 

Hospitality is a key ingredient to the Vacation Rental Industry! We know this isn't easy and that you spend your day making sure your guests are comfortable and get what they came for, while also fulfilling your homeowners expectations.  Everyday RMS helps you accomplish these goals.  We recently conducted a survey to see if RMS and your AdvancedCare are meeting your expectations.    

We have spent the last month surveying you to see how we're doing and find out what areas we need to improve. We don't get to offer you pie and coffee and find out how we can better serve you but we do listen intently to your suggestions and comments.  We may follow up with another phone call, an email or a support ticket in response.  Thanks to all who participated in our recent customer satisfaction survey!  

 

Online Owner Statements

 

New HTML owner statements in RMS allow Online Booking clients to offer their Owners the latest OwnersNet feature.  RMS can automatically send an email to the owners letting them know that their new statement is online and ready for viewing.  Owners may log into their owner portal and see that a new Tab called "Statements" is available.

 

After owner statements are finalized an email notification goes out to all the owners.  This email should tell the owner the statement is ready and available for viewing.  This email to the owner is actually an Owner Form Letter in RMS that can say whatever you would like.  An Owner Form Letter is a feature in RMS where you can create unlimited custom letters to send out via email or print.

If you are interested in HTML Owner Statements, Online Booking or OwnersNet, please let us know.  Some setting changes and your preferences are required.  OwnersNet is only available with the Online Booking module, at this time. 

 

 

Sales Tax Report

 

The Tax Report is a great little reporting tool in RMS.  It will always report the taxes as you have them set in RMS. 

 

The Sales Tax Report is found on the Reports menu under Management reports.  Choose the Sales Tax option.  You may choose to include the taxes from reservations and charges based on either Arrival, Departure or just from your last Owner Statements.

 

When you use the Arrival or Departure dates you may then narrow your query to a beginning and end date.  You also decide if you want to include the amounts from the Current Reservation file, the Archive or Both.  Do you want to include the Gross Amount column?  And, if you have your units in different designated tax jurisdictions (These are created in the Control File and assigned in the Unit File) you may report on one or all of the pre-determined tax jurisdictions in your RMS.

 

Newsletter
0
17 November 2011, 18:37
top ↑
 

Resort Management System Blog → RMS 5.0.11.07.2011 Update

Greetings!

 A new RMS update is here! This update, Version 5.0.11.07.2011 contains program changes addressing issues that you have reported and features that you have suggested.  AdvancedCare members using both Hosted and PC-Based RMS systems will receive this update automatically.  For information regarding what this update contains log in to the RMS Support Center and use your registered e-mail and password to view a Knowledgebase article, RMS Update History.  Please contact us if you have any questions or need assistance.  We are committed to your success!

Untagged 
0
07 November 2011, 20:18
top ↑
 

Resort Management System Blog → RMS Newsletter October 2011

Monthly Procedures

 

Each month you should be following a series of steps
to accomplish specific tasks in RMS.  RMS Support recommends you do the following on a monthly basis:

Print Owner Statements.  You may print owner statements as many times as you like but the important thing here is to review each one to make sure they are correct.  Watch your cut off dates.  If you need assistance in correcting an issue with an owner statement you can give us a call.  Don't Finalize if something is amiss.  You have options if you can't clear up the issue.  You may leave out a reservation in dispute by using the Change Reservation Print Status found on the Reservation Maintenance Menu.  You may leave out a Unit from a batch of owner statements by using the Units to Exclude option on the Print Owner Statements screen. 

Finalize Owner Statements and Print Checks.  This step is so important, yet so often a client calls us up and asks why are last months reservations on this months owner statements?  Printing owner statements is not Finalizing.  The Finalize Process is connected with the print process in RMS.  Whatever is printed is what will be Finalized and RMS confirms this to you on the Finalize screen.  You will see what you last printed at the top of the screen.  

The Owner Statement Finalize process disburses the money to the General Ledger income and payable accounts.  RMS also prints the checks, adds to the unit's year to date totals information and archives the reservations and owner transactions.

Print Tax Report.  This report can be printed at any time.

Process Payables.  Re-distributing funds should be done first if needed in Maintain Pending Payables.  Examples of this would be holding back security deposit or pet deposit instead of refunding it.  A "Ready to Print" status report may be printed of all payables set on "Ready".  Then process any checks or payments using the Process Payables option under Payables on the Accounting menu.

 

 

RMS Offers Key Advantage with VRP

 

RMS is now offering another option for credit card processing within your system.  Credit card processing can be done at the time of booking and at any time of payment entry.  RMS recommends Advanced Accounting when using integrated credit card processing.  VacationRentPayment (VRP) is an innovative and integrated online payment solution for the Vacation Rental industry. VRP provides a combination of total cost savings, easy accounting, and superior technology to RMS customers. 

 

 RMS customers should take note of the key advantage of using VRP for payment processing, PCI compliance.  The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a set of requirements designed to ensure that ALL companies that process, store or transmit credit card information maintain a secure environment.  Essentially that means any merchant that has a Merchant ID (MID).  In the constantly evolving world of merchant processing, PCI compliance is the standard for merchants that process credit cards.  VRP helps mitigate this risk by achieving "Verified by Visa" status and by being part of the MasterCard SecureCode program.  Furthermore, VRP also provides Tokenization as part of being a PCI compliant solution which allows for card numbers to be used again without storing the card number.

 

Along with PCI compliance and Tokenization VRP offers you flat rate merchant processing accounts for VISA, MasterCard and Discover that can save you significant amounts of money; dedicated chargeback account management and technical support departments to assist you.


We are excited to partner with VRP for this payment solution that will save you time, offer a superior online transaction reporting interface, and help you save on processing fees!


Newsletter
0
17 October 2011, 17:22
top ↑
 

Resort Management System Blog → RMS Newsletter August 2011

Greetings!

Seedless watermelons didn't happen overnight.  It took years and years to produce a seedless variety!  RMS has been in development for over 25 years and we are continually updating and improving your RMS!
  
RMS may be the most important tool you have in your office.  Everyone here at RMS wants to make sure you are using your RMS to its full potential for your business needs.  Through updates, our support website, this newsletter and all means of communication with our RMS clients we endeavor to support, educate and grow with our RMS clients.
 

RMS, RDP, IPAD and APPS?

 

Yes, you can access your Hosted RMS from your IPAD!  Here's how it works:

Hosted RMS runs within a program called Remote Desktop.  Remote Desktop allows you to access your RMS from anywhere as long as you have an internet connection on your PC and a Remote Desktop Connection.  (Your RDC) 

Since RDC is a Windows program and IPAD is an APPLE product you will have to download an app (short for application software) to perform the task of running Remote Desktop on your IPAD device.

Here are some links to apps:

(Android) http://www.xtralogic.com/rdpclient.shtml
(IPAD) http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/irdesktop/id311467740?mt=8
(IPAD) http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/itap-rdp-remote-desktop-for/id317062064?mt=8

A small fee may be charged to download these apps.

 

Correspondence in RMS

 

Letters in RMS are found in the Utilities menu, User Designed Letters. RMS comes with stock letters that can be used as templates for you to edit or modify as needed.  These letters may be created by you  in html and then uploaded to your RMS.  You can upload your logo to your RMS so that it may be in your letter as well.  Your letters should reflect the character and personality of your resort or property management business. 

Letters in RMS are assigned a specific job or task.  Confirmations provide a  way for you to offer a prompt response to your guest validating their booking and reassuring them with documentation of their transaction with you.  Likewise, the Guest License Agreement further establishes the promise of their visit and not just what to expect from you but what you expect from them.  Some companies only use these two letters, but RMS has more!

RMS has a Deposit Confirmation letter and if the guest fails to send the required deposit or final balance in time, you can send the UnConfirmed Reservation letter.  There are three Prior Reservation Letters as well as a Final Instructions Letter that may be used to correspond with the guest before they arrive.

In addition to all these RMS has a Reservation Form Letter that you can create in Custom Letters that can be for any task you want.  It can be available to you from the Reservation View, Print/Email Option so that it can be sent when it's needed.  The Reservation Form letter is for whatever task you designate and is available to go to any guest easily.  Any number of these type of letters can be created in RMS!

To write your own Reservation Form letter go to the User Designed Letters Screen. Click on 'Custom letters' and then click 'New' to start a new letter.  RMS will assign the letter a number and then you select the type "Reservation Form Letter".  We recently had an RMS user copy and paste the 'A' confirmation letter into this form and modify it slightly to send to only reservations that were last minute bookings.

If you have a handy tip or way you are using RMS that you would like to share.  Drop us an email:  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.    This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .  We would love to hear from you!

 

 

Webinar Followup

Thanks to all of you who attended the VRP and RMS seminars.  We hope you learned some ways to simplify and save with credit card processing in RMS!

  
Newsletter
0
17 August 2011, 17:31
top ↑
 

Resort Management System Blog → RMS Newsletter May 2011

RMS Notes
RMS keeps your reservation information organized with a powerful database software that allows integration of your owners, units, guests, reservations and accounting....just to scratch the surface.  What about all those "minor" details that are of major importance to your guests and could make or break vacation? Do you need to attach a message or a note to a reservation that is critical to your guest and the possibility of their return next season?  RMS can assist you in tracking those unique details that may be required to keep a guest happy.  RMS Notes can also be used for in-house information you want to share only with staff such as a Do Not Rent note or a Waiting List Note.

You can create, print, change or delete notes in RMS for Reservations, Units, Mail list entries, Owners and Work Orders in RMS.   To add a note to a reservation, add it straight from the Reservation view screen, or go to the Notes File and select Reservation Notes, then enter the reservation number you want to add the note to.  The category you choose can assist you in where the note will display or print. 

The critical status determines if the note will appear every time you retrieve the record.  For example, you create a critical note for reservation 10101.  Every time you view that reservation the subject line of the note will display.  Reconcile or change the status of the note and it will no longer display when 10101 is retrieved.  It can be helpful,for example, to attach a Critical status note to the Mail entry of a guest you've had issues with in the past - when picking that guest for a future booking, the note will pop up for you to view.

Notes can also be set to expire, so that they can be self-maintained.  You can search for notes by category, such as all reservations with a security deposit note.  To do a search from the View Reservation screen choose notes and  then choose the note category.

Reporting Notes

 

All notes can be printed individually and also some reports can include notes.  Notes can be printed on the Arrival List report, the Departure Listing and in your User Designed Letters.  Confirmations to guests can also print notes of certain categories.

The Arrival List can include the special description note, the one line of text that may be entered in the reservation view screen.  It can also include reservation notes, including all notes, certain categories or just critical notes.  History notes, created by your RMS automatically documenting date booked, operator information and any changes made can also be printed on the arrival listing.  Check-in information including transportation mode can also be included.

The Departure Listing can also include similar note information including reservation notes by specific categories, history notes and check-in/check out information entered via Reservation Maintenance.

Notes can be quite lengthy and printed if needed.  But notes don't have to be printed.  Most notes and reports can be printed to screen and viewed. Viewing critical notes that pop on their respective screens can be a very useful tool without having to print it to paper.  Consider it an effort to "Go Green" and try critical notes to alert you staff of special needs.  However you choose to use notes, whether printing or viewing them, begin utilizing the power of Notes in RMS today!

Newsletter
0
17 May 2011, 17:12
top ↑
 

Resort Management System Blog → RMS Newsletter March 2011

Greetings!

March is here and change is in the wind!  CHANGE is our theme for this newsletter.  We are going to focus on changing and cancelling reservations.  When it comes to reservations it's inevitable.  It is also quite EASY in RMS.

While we are talking about change, what sort of changes have you experienced in the vacation rental industry?  With over 25 years of experience we have seen quite a few and we will be sharing some of those in our next series...  Do  you have any interesting stories or an RMS tip or a trick you would like to share?
 

Quick Change, Cancel, Refund, Reapply

 

There are many options available during the reservation Change or Cancel process.  Which option you take depends on what you want to do.  Are you moving the guests to a new unit?  Are you changing the dates of the stay?  Are  you changing the rate or charges?  How do  you track all your changes?  What happens if I cancel a reservation with money on it?
A reservation can be changed in RMS using the Change/Cancel option available on the Reservation View screen when a reservation is retrieved.  The Change or Cancel option is also available from the Reservation drop-down menu. 
Once you are in the Change or Cancel screen, you will see that RMS wants to know if you want to change the unit for this reservation.  When you enter a new unit, you are given the option to process a quick change.  A quick change means you want to move the guest and keep the rates and charges the same even if the new unit uses another rate.
If you do not already have a unit that you know is available to enter into the unit text box, you can click the search button and allow RMS to look for a unit using the reservation by search screen.
If you are not moving the guests to a new unit, choose the "same unit" button. You can then change anything about the reservation such as the dates, the number of guests, the rates and charges, even the taxes and commission.
If you want to Cancel the reservation, choose the "Cancel" button.  If money has been paid to the reservation, RMS will set up a payable for you to do with as your policy dictates. You can redistribute, refund or perhaps reapply the payment to another reservation. 
If you want to add or remove charges or equipment on a reservation it is easiest to use the Charges and Equipment buttons on the View Reservation screen .  It's easier and quicker to use View Reservations than to go through the Change/Cancel process for these simple charges and equipment adjustments.
Now all you need is a report to track  your changes.  Check out the Daily Reservation Report.  Read on for more tips on making the most of your RMS.

The Daily Reservation Report

 

 

The Daily Reservation Report is an excellent way for you to track all reservations booked, changed or cancelled on one day or over a period of time.   It is easily found under Reservations Reports on the Main Reports menu.  But did you know you could also track which operators are booking the most reservations and what packages, equipment or charges they are booking? 

Let's say Sally Sue is booking a  mountainous amount of ski-lift tickets, or Betsy Lynn is booking a boat load of charter fishing trips and you want to know about it!  You can designate a reservation note category for the event of these items being booked. This category is assigned in the Equipment or Charge file. Then in the Control File, Notes Information screen 4, enter the category in the Reservation categories for  Daily Reservation Report text box.
The only tricky part may be if you want to create a new reservation note category code.  This is done in the Notes Information Screen 1.  You do not want to accidently delete a category code.  You may want to give us a call and the RMS Support team would be happy to assist you!

Newsletter
0
17 March 2011, 17:02
top ↑