Guestline
Guestline are experts in cloud-hosted property management, distribution and digital marketing technologies for the hospitality industry. The solutions enable independent hotels, groups, pub companies and serviced apartments to achieve maximum occupancy at the most profitable rate.
Rezlynx Property Management System
Guestline’s Rezlynx PMS is a fully configurable, PCI compliant property management system to enable any sized hotel or group to manage their bookings and operations efficiently and profitably. It is updated in real-time, and incorporates a comprehensive rate and availability management tool to ensure that revenue is maximised at every opportunity.
Secure Payment Solutions
Our secure payment gateway enables hoteliers to process card payments in a PCI compliant way. Our clients benefit from a safe and secure method of storing and processing credit card details which can form part of the hotel’s overall PCI compliancy policy.
Guestline Support
Offering ongoing UK support 365 days a year, our service commitment goes far beyond just our technologically superior software solutions to deliver outstanding quality and reliability.
Channel and Distribution Manager
Guestline’s Channel Manager distributes your live inventory to a wide range of Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) and the Global Distribution System (GDS), with minimum effort and cost. It can be seamlessly integrated with Rezlynx PMS so that bookings, regardless of their source, flow directly into the PMS without the need for time consuming manual data entry and allocation.
Friday, 30 November 2018
Join Guestline in 25 days of Christmas giving!
Monday, 5 November 2018
Win Gifted, the smart hoteliers gift voucher solution
Request a quick and easy online demonstration of Gifted before Nov 30th 2018 for your chance to win the solution, free of charge for one year!*
“Not only are the sales figures fantastic and the platform easy to manage, our staff now spend less time answering the phone and handling enquiries. The Gifted support team are always on hand and we can’t believe the results we’ve had since we’ve launched.” Susan Moiser, Owner of South Causey Inn.
The 4 star, 28-bedroom hotel were looking for a complete solution for their gift vouchers as they only offered a small selection over the phone and could see the potential revenue gift vouchers could deliver on a daily basis.
Guestline created an online offering that reflected their brand and provided a seamless order process for their customers, allowing guests to buy gift vouchers in as few clicks as possible.
1 entry per property permitted and must be submitted here https://www.guestline.com/guestline-demonstration-gifted-giveaway.html
1 random winner will be chosen to receive 1 x Gifted solution for 12 months.
The solution will be issued within 28 days.
This competition is open to entrants aged 18 and over only.
Guestline’s decision is final and we reserve the right to change or remove competition at any time.
No cash alternative.
Closing date 30.11.2018
Arrange a demonstration of Gifted here
Monday, 1 October 2018
Guestline's Connect event in Dublin an epic success
Thursday, 20 September 2018
Auf den Leim gegangen
Ein Gastkommentar von Kristof Roemer, Geschäftsführer des Hospitality-Software-Unternehmens Guestline für den DACH-Raum. Er spricht von zunehmenden Fake-Buchungen in der Hotellerie, und wie man denen entgegen wirken kann.
Fake-Gäste geben meist falsche Daten an, etwa eine falsche Adresse oder Kreditkartennummer. Die wahre Identität ist so kaum nachweisbar. Betrug verhindern Auf Unterstützung von Booking.com können Hoteliers kaum hoffen. Das Portal ermutigt dazu, selbst aktiv zu werden. Zurecht, denn Hoteliers müssten dem Thema mitnichten hilflos gegenüberstehen. Mit der richtigen Technologie lassen sich Fake-Bookings im Vorfeld erkennen und Betrug somit verhindern. Dazu ist es keineswegs notwendig, jede einzelne Buchung manuell auf Richtigkeit zu überprüfen. Der Aufwand ist wesentlich geringer: Sie brauchen lediglich ein sicheres Bezahlsystem, das „PCI-compliant“ ist, also den Regeln der Payment Card Industry entspricht. Dieses System verarbeitet und prüft die Kreditkartendaten im Sinne der EU-DSGVO. Die Kreditkartendaten, die von den OTAs kommen, werden dabei automatisch von einem Payment-Provider – einer Art Schutzschild – auf Richtigkeit und Gültigkeit überprüft.
Halten die Daten der Prüfung stand, kann die Buchung erfolgen. In diesem Fall werden die korrekten Daten in einen verschlüsselten Token umgewandelt und in das PMS des Hotels eingespeist. Wird ein Fehler erkannt, oder die Kreditkarte nicht gefunden, kommt keine Reservierung zustande. PCI-Konformität kann Betrug also ganz einfach vorbeugen. Leider ist dieses Stichwort für viele Hoteliers noch ein Fremdwort. Mit diesem Unwissen machen sie sich mitschuldig an der Betrugsmasche. Denn nur ein technisch sicheres Bezahlsystem kann verhindern, dass es zu Fake-Buchungen kommt.
Kristof Roemer (Guestline)
Wednesday, 5 September 2018
Guestline and Brookson Enterprise join forces to give hoteliers intuitive powerful reporting
We caught up with Christian Matthews, head of hospitality at Brookson Enterprise to find out more about the latest partnership.
Hi Christian, what is your role, Describe your job in a nutshell? I’m Head of Hospitality at Brookson Enterprise, which means I’m lucky enough to be involved with a variety of exciting areas of the business including product development, partner relationship, marketing strategy and sales management. I try to attend as many Hospitality expo’s as I can in the UK and lead the team when we exhibit ourselves. I also make a mean cup of tea!
Guestline is an industry leader and is experiencing strong growth in the UK market with some great strategic partnerships, we love what they’re doing and wanted to get on board. The team at Guestline are incredibly positive and knowledgeable and we have been working closely with them to develop our unique Business Intelligence reporting suite over the last 18 months with a number of pilot hotel groups, which has been an exciting and insightful journey.
How will this new partnership benefit mutual clients?
Independent research shows that on average hotel managers are spending up to 4 hours a day producing reports. Turnkey integration of Guestline’s PMS with Brookson Enterprise allows customers to unify all of their data sources for faster, automated reporting. This can help transform hotel managers from report producers to revenue generators.
How long have you been in the industry?
I’ve been involved in the industry since 2015, it’s been an incredible journey so far and what strikes me the most, is how friendly people are in the industry, everyone at Guestline has made us feel part of their team and we look forward to the future.
What sets Brookson Enterprise apart from the rest?
The superior commercial advantage we provide customers over their competition is the number one USP that our clients tell us they enjoy. Plus, we have a world class development and customer relationship team that are constantly innovating and improving our product and service.
What challenges/ common issues does your software resolve for hoteliers?
We hear on a daily basis that hoteliers are frustrated with multiple data sources making it impossible to produce joined up business insight. Most hotels now rely on software to help run a hotel: PMS, EPOS, Procurement, Staff Rota, Social Media, Marketing, OTA’s, Payroll, Finance… the list goes on. Our software automates all these data sources and through the power of unified data, hotels are able to monitor every aspect of business performance from expectation to outcome. This unrivalled management information is able to revolutionise the customer journey, in turn increasing turnover and profitability.
What should hoteliers be focussing on for the next 12 months?
Whilst OTA’s are an important booking stream and are here to stay, I have seen first-hand the massive impact on the bottom line when a hotel focusses on direct bookings. There are first class website professionals, such as Journey, that can integrate online booking systems and improve direct bookings. The insights we can then deliver, will reduce commission cost & improve margin.
Other than Brookson Enterprise, what is the most exciting technology within the industry at the moment?
AI Chatbots. I recently stayed at an Accor Hotel and they have a Google Assistant app that a guest can interact with 24/7. Programmed to deal with routine customer service questions, this could free up significant manpower and give guests easy access to the answers they want at that time. One bit of tech to keep an eye on as AI will only keep improving.
Any future tech trend predictions?
When attending seminars, expo’s, annual conferences and webinars there is one topic that I constantly hear: smarter smart tech. I believe we’ll be seeing more ‘Internet-of-Things’ inspired hotel rooms in 2018, with guests checking in, unlocking their rooms, booking a reservation, adjusting the lighting & temperature and streaming their Netflix favourites on the TV through their smartphones.
One piece of advice for newcomers to the hospitality industry?
Learn from your peers and keep informed of the latest hotel tech and trends that can help improve the customer experience.
Thursday, 30 August 2018
Simple Strategies to improve your Online Distribution
The distribution landscape changes on a daily basis and it is even more important to ensure you are always in the forefront of your customer’s mind – and preferred platform. Here are a few simple strategies, which could boost your performance and even open you up to new markets. Before we delve into new channels, let us look at the facts, which means a review of your current channel and business mix, as this the foundation on which to build your strategy to support your core objectives.
There are a plethora of examples and you all have different business models, however, some key questions are applicable no matter what your mix is: When did you last make a booking through a channel for a cheeky mini break? How was your booking experience? Here is the other million £ question: When did you last make a booking on your website? Hold that thought, as we will come back to it later.
Are you getting the most from your connected channels?
When I talk about channels, I mean both direct (your website’s booking engine) and other connected online channels. Let’s be honest – how often do you review the production statistics available to you either through Guestline’s tools for a consolidated view, or for a deeper analysis via the relevant Extranet? I’m sure this is always one of those tasks on a mental “To Do” list however it may always be moved to “tomorrow, first thing!” or “Next week I’ll have a clear schedule”. I fully understand, albeit the task should not actually take more than 15 minutes. Key indicators to look for are whether the channel is connected and whether you are receiving bookings, if you are getting business - what has been produced and what is the cancellation ratio? We see cancelation statistics by some channels of over 30%! Definitely, time to review your business if that is the case as even 20+% is high.
How can you improve those metrics?
Review your channel content as content really is King:
Rates, cancelation policies, room types. Could it be that you are too flexible?
Globally, hotels are increasing their restrictions in terms of cancelation deadlines of 24 hours prior to arrival policy for some rates, therefore offering a semi-flexible policy. Many properties have been offering a wider selection of non-refundable rates to attract bookers sooner and cutting their attrition factors too.
For Online channels – what page are you listed on and why?
Did you know you can improve your visibility by updating content and images? It also helps if your guests leave positive feedback. Your OTA’s always seek better tools and ways to improve the guests booking experience, which may also require an update of your content sometimes like adding new images, or tagging images. You can even setup automatic replies to everyday questions such as parking and bed configurations. These tools are designed to support you and save valuable time. Whether you want to drive additional OTA business or not, it’s still good practise to ensure your property is showcased to it’s very best as you want to convert lookers to bookers.
Now that you have looked into who is producing what business with you – have a look at where your guests come from and when they typically book. You may wish to start attracting business from different markets as you know they book earlier, they stay longer, spend more and are less likely to cancel. Trust me, you can look at this level of data as it is available – I’d encourage you to speak to your market managers. Of course you can run reports from your PMS to review this as you have a legal requirement to obtain the nationality of your guests too – if you’ve not ordered a copy of the Pink Book via VisitBritain, it’s full of great information on legislation to our industry. https://www.visitbritain.org/pink-book/registration-and-data-protection
There are different tools available to drive business from different markets, Booking.com offer their China Point of Sale programme for instance, if that is a market you’re looking to attract. You have a number of tools available to attract business from other markets in exchange for increased commission via the extranets.
We’ve also added a number of new channels to help you increase your visibility and expand your client reach – please drop me a line if you’d like to talk in more detail but we can now offer connections to channels that you may have had to handle manually, some that are just emerging on the market. I’d be more than happy to share details with you – so yes, I am luring you to talk to me.
Maybe further down the line you’d like to foray into adding Meta-Search your channel mix therefore driving the cost of guest acquisition down. Trust me, we can introduce you to the “New Kid on the Block” and dispel some of the mystery. Albeit meta has been around for a while, it is constantly evolving and improving in my opinion. The benefit being that business is driven to your own website booking engine – hence my question earlier about the last time you booked on your own site. Now might be the time to review it, as we all know “Direct is always best”. And on that note, you should see what our new Direct Booking Module can do for you.
We are always eager to share best practise and useful hints & tips with you, and will continue to do so through a series of blogs and emails, as well as our Newsletter. Please always feel free to send me a message directly too, I would love to have a chat about your online distribution strategy and objectives to see what we can do together.
Wishing you continued success until the next time.
Alex
Monday, 20 August 2018
Guestline signs partner agreement with Stardekk
The Guestline Connect Partner programme highlights the extensive range of integrated partner software solutions available to hospitality customers.
Robert Vogt, Guestline’s Director of Business Development for Benelux met up with Michael Wiesebron, Director of Sales and Business Development at Stardekk to find out more about the partnership.
No more over bookings, automated price an availabilities updates, maximizes room revenue via yielding solutions, runs more than only rates and availability but content as well.
Being a top performer technically and revenue alike by all major OTAs, we make sure the hotel can optimize their strategy to their best capabilities. Besides our channel manager do we offer the hotels a full suite of tools from award winning rate box, websites, booking engine, restaurant software and yielding solutions to enhance their direct booking channels.
Delivering on brand promise for accommodation providers begins well before check in and lasts way beyond check out. The Connect Partner programme is both customer and guest driven; by seeking partners who share an appetite for constant change and improvement, Guestline are offering hospitality customers an ever changing menu of options with Guestline’s Rezlynx PMS at the core.
Become an integration partner here