I think we can all agree that finding small ways to ease time intensive tasks at your hotel will not only contribute to the overall efficiency throughout the day, but also increase employee satisfaction. Who doesn’t want that? 

There’s nothing more frustrating than helping customers through an old system that takes way more time than necessary. When you invest in improving technology and systems, everyone benefits. If your hotel doesn’t have a system for managing gift cards or vouchers, this is an easy fix! Even if you have a system for a coupon code, your hotel staff still needs to manually enter the reservation into your channel manager. 

Reserva connects to your channel manager or PMS and provides live inventory for your guests to book their stay without needing to contact the hotel. Everything is taken care of. There’s even an upsell feature for guests to upgrade their room for a little extra, purchase a spa treatment, or dine-in at your hotel restaurant. People are more inclined to have a greater experience when they have full control and it starts with a seamless, professional booking experience. 

Let’s explore some more reasons it’s helpful to automate gift cards:

1. Convenience: Automated gift cards streamline the process of purchasing and redeeming hotel stays or services. Guests can easily purchase gift cards online through your website using the Reserva platform without needing to visit the hotel physically or call the reception.The convenience enhances the customer experience and encourages more people to consider gifting hotel stays. 

2. Flexibility: Gift cards provide recipients with flexibility in terms of when and how they use them. They can choose the dates of their stay, the room type, and any additional services they wish to enjoy, such as dining or spa treatments. This flexibility adds value to the gift card and increases its appeal.

3. Boost in Revenue: Hotel gift cards can generate additional revenue for hoteliers, especially during slow periods or off-seasons. Even if guests don’t use the full value of the gift card, the hotel still benefits financially from the initial purchase. Guests often spend more than the value of the gift card during their stay, further boosting revenue. It’s a beneficial way of boosting your up-sell items and encouraging the best stay for your guests.

4. Marketing and Brand Exposure: Automated gift card platforms, such as Reserva can provide hotels with opportunities for marketing and brand exposure. Gift cards can be promoted through various channels, such as social media, email marketing, and partnerships with other businesses. This exposure not only increases awareness of the hotel but also encourages new bookings and repeat business. 

5. Customer Loyalty and Retention: Offering gift cards can help hotels build customer loyalty and encourage repeat visits. When guests receive a gift card, they feel appreciated and valued, strengthening their connection with the hotel brand. Additionally, if they have a positive experience during their stay, they are more likely to return in the future and recommend the hotel to others.

6. Reduced Administrative Tasks: Automating the process of purchasing and redeeming gift cards reduces the administrative burden on hotel staff. With an automated system in place, there is less manual work involved in processing transactions and tracking gift card usage. This efficiency allows staff to focus on providing excellent service to guests rather than managing paperwork and coordinating with guests. 

If this isn’t enough to convince you to make the switch to automated gift cards, then shoot us an email at reserva@reserva.is – we would love to answer any and all questions. We offer a pay as you go pricing model with no setup or monthly fee, simply a 5% commission on issued gift cards. That’s easy! 

The possibilities are endless when it comes to thinking of fun gift cards to offer your guests.

You can now think outside of the box on how to offer the ultimate experience for your guests with upgraded rooms connected to your availability or add-on amenities at the spa or restaurant.

Offering gift cards is a great way to encourage guests to treat their loved ones to a memorable experience. Reserva offers several benefits:

1. Integrated booking engine connected to live availability in hotel PMS
2. Gift card or voucher options for creating on the spot
3. Offer upsells for increased revenue

Simple but powerful ways you can ease customer service with gift cards

• Capture your customer’s contact information online without needing to coordinate over email or phone.
• Take payment and offer an upsell increasing your average order value

Let’s take a detailed look at how you can create your first gift card today.

Step 1 – Top Menu

• Go to “Products” on the top menu bar
• Click “Create New Product”

Step 2 – Select Product Type

• Single Property
• Multi Property
• Non-Property

Depending on how many locations your property operates you can now create single or multi-property gift cards. If your hotel operated multiple locations guests have the option of choosing from several locations.

The non-property gift card allows you to create specialty offers. You can brainstorm ways to highlight the spa, restaurant or in-room services such as wine bottle in room or bed-in-breakfast for example.

Step 3 – Decide on Title

The title of the gift card or product will be displayed in your online store

Step 4 – Price

Decide on the price you want to offer the gift card value

Step 5 – Discounted Price

This is a feature where you can create an incentive for customers to purchase a gift card at a discounted rate to encourage purchase

Step 6 – Rooms in Gift Card

These rooms will be available in the booking engine

Step 7 – Upsell Options

Easily one of the best features in the Reserva gift card platform is the upsell option. This allows your guest to customize their experience with a bed and breakfast or upgrade their room when the receiver of the gift card checks out.

Step 8 – Store

This is a great feature if you have multiple stores online such as the spa or restaurant pages on your website

Step 9 – Reservation Value

This feature controls which price will be on the booking when the gift card flows into the PMS. Either 0 or the value of the gift card when it was sold/issued

Step 10 – Length of Stay

This will dictate how many nights the booking engine will allow your guests to book

Step 11 – Inventory

Controls how many gift cards can be issued or sold.

Step 12 – Expiration Date Logic

Choose between a period of months the receiver can use the gift card or a set date in the future.

• Period
• Date

Step 13 – Validity

Expiration Date of a gift card is valid over selected period from date of sale/issue

Step 14 – Available For Postal Service

Allows the buyer of the gift card to have the gift card delivered to their address

Step 15 – Available For Pick Up At Hotel

Allows the buyer of the gift card to pick it up at the hotel

Step 16 – Description

Here is where you can get creative and highlight the amazing features of the gift card.

Step 17 – Publish When Created

Here you can choose if you want the gift card to be displayed right away or to have it available for publish after approval or later in the year

Step 18 – Photos

Step 19 – Create

And boom! You’ve created your first gift card for purchase. You can store a few in the system and have them ready to go throughout the year.

Not too long ago, travel planning was a vastly different process. Before the widespread availability of the internet, travel agents played an essential role booking flights, hotels, car rentals, and other travel-related services for their clients. Along came the internet and people noticed the flexibility of planning and booking trips from the comfort of their home. A revolutionary concept emerged – online travel booking and reservations.

Websites like Expedia, Booking.com, Travelocity, and Orbitz emerged in the mid-90s as online travel agency pioneers. They offered a revolutionary platform where travelers could browse flights, hotels, and rental cars with a few clicks of a button. At first, these websites were rudimentary, with limited functionality and clunky interfaces. However, they represented a significant shift in how people approached travel planning. 

But What About Gift Cards or Travel Vouchers?

There are several ways hotels have tried to navigate this process. Most hotels still operate on the old system similar to how travel agents navigated booking hotel rooms for customers. It’s a manual process for the hotel to coordinate directly with the guest by entering the dates on the back end through emails, online forms and phone calls.

The best way is to integrate gift cards directly into the hotels PMS booking system for a streamlined approach. With Reserva, hotels integrate gift cards directly into their existing PMS and Channel Manager without needing to switch systems. This allows the guest to redeem, connect, view upgrades and book directly through the hotel website without coordinating with the hotel. There’s no need for backend accounting or manual entry from hotel staff – the customer takes care of it for you. 

Reserva is also integrated with an upsell feature that displays live availability through the hotel PMS through a customized Reserva booking engine. A one-stop-shop to allow guests the opportunity to upgrade to a higher price category with a gift card, without needing to coordinate with the hotel. Reserva works as an integrated OTA for your customers to book directly through your PMS and Channel Manager. Reserva takes the leg work out for hotels to coordinate gift cards, allowing the guest a contactless way to book and upgrade their accommodation. 

Say hello to integrated gift cards with Reserva, serving as your personal OTA engine for customers to book your hotel with ease.

Creating repeat guests is crucial for the success of your business, not only in steady revenue, but they also serve as brand ambassadors and boost your reputation. 

Encouraging your guests to become loyal returning customers starts with creating a positive connection. But there are several important steps before you can successfully accomplish creating a repeat guest. The goal is to keep your establishment top of mind in the future and have them share their experience with their friends and family. A great place to start is by understanding your target customer/guest and identifying the following traits about them. 

Consider the following:

• Demographics such as age, gender, education level, and income
• Beliefs, values, and lifestyle
• Pain points or stressors they might be experiencing
• Motivations, goals, desires, and aspirations
• Communication preferences such as phone, email, or website 

Once you identified these attributes, you have created a target customer or guest persona that will serve as your fictional representation of your ideal customer. You will start to understand the behaviors, preferences, and motivations of the individual you want to convert to a repeat customer. 

Create a Loyalty Program

One of the best strategies to reward and retain your devoted guests is through implementing a loyalty program. It’s not only about giving rewards but personalizing them to show your guests that you value their business. Consider their preferences and tailor the rewards accordingly. To ensure that your occupancy rates remain high even during off-peak seasons, consider enhancing these rewards and incentives. By offering perks and benefits, such as lower room rates or free upgrades during off-seasons, you can motivate guests to book a stay during quieter periods.

Whether your hotel already has a customer loyalty program or is thinking about creating one, offering gift cards for purchase is a great way to incentivise your guests to repeat their stay. Reserva offers a simple process for hotels to create and customize the type of gift card product your hotel wants to offer. The integrated e-commerce platform allows for easy payment, delivery and management of new orders. It’s also possible to manually issue a gift card or create multiple gift cards for special product offerings. The Reserva Gift Card system creates a personalized PDF with the recipient’s details for your hotel to keep track of new guest reservations and allows your guest to save the gift card with the necessary information. 

Encouraging your guests to provide their email for access to promotional offers and discounted gift cards is a great way to retain customers and create repeat guests. This will boost revenue and maintain a consistent flow of business throughout the year. 

Integrating hotel systems, such as something as simple as gift cards, with the channel manager or Property Management System (PMS) improves overall operational efficiency and enhances your guest experience. Reserva works with all PMS systems to integrate smoothly into your operation. There’s something quite satisfying about upgrading a clunky process without needing to change systems. 

Efficiency

Integration of hotel systems streamlines everything, especially for your reception staff. Finding efficient ways to keep track of customer data throughout the entire guest experience is key to operating a quality establishment. By centralizing information between available bookings and gift cards with Reserva, staff can manage bookings, room assignments, check-ins, and check-outs all in one place. This process with Reserva allows managers to see an overview of how many gift cards are currently in the system and when they’ve been purchased. This information also helps keep track of revenue and provides knowledge on what can be advertised on your website or social media. The ability to keep track of room types and hotel amenities, keeps your hotel management and staff in the loop on revenue and what to prepare when the guest arrives. Everything is connected to each other without needing to call or write down which gift cards need preparation. 

Real-Time Updates

Integration ensures that all systems have access to up-to-date information. This means that changes made in one system, such as reservations or room availability immediately update across all connected platforms, preventing double bookings or overbookings. Reserva makes it easy to see which rooms are available and which days you want to offer the gift card. For example, there’s an option when creating the gift card in Reserva to choose Monday-Wednesday if you want to push those days. Most importantly, the guest is also able to see these dates without needing to call and find a date and time that works with reception. 

Enhanced Guest Experience

Offering Reserva gift cards through a connected PMS allows your hotel to provide a much smoother booking experience for guests. Staff has all the access to reservation details instantly and can respond promptly to requests or preferences, leading to a higher satisfaction level. When all the systems work together throughout the entire purchasing process your guest knows exactly the information they need to book a trip at your hotel. How many times have you received a call from reception panicking about overbooked rooms? The Reserva system allows gift card recipients to choose accommodation on their terms without needing to call and navigate a time that works. 

Accurate Reporting, Analytics and Inventory Management

A centralized PMS collects data from various hotel systems allowing for comprehensive reporting and analysis. Hotel managers can gain insights into occupancy rates, revenue streams, guest demographics, and other key metrics to make informed decisions and optimize operations. Integration helps manage inventory across different distribution channels and ensures room availability is accurately reflected across all platforms, reducing the risk of overbooking and maximizing revenue opportunities. When everything works together, your hotel enables dynamic pricing strategies based on real-time demand and inventory data. Revenue managers can adjust room rates dynamically to optimize profitability and implement strategies to allow your hotel to run a little smoother and boost profits throughout the year. 

Navigating the evolving landscape of today’s hospitality business poses challenges in brainstorming creative strategies to increase your hotel’s financial stability and expansion. One frequently overlooked tool, which holds potential to enhance business performance and streamline customer transactions, is the gift card.

Why Gift Cards?

Gift cards represent an important revenue stream due to their guarantee of upfront sales. Each purchase of a gift card provides your business with immediate cash flow. When thinking about expanding your customer base, a gift card can offer an easy way to reach new guests. The beauty of providing this service is gift cards are frequently given to individuals who might not have visited your establishment otherwise. They frequently result in increased spending beyond their initial value, boosting your average transaction size. It’s easy to say that exceptional hotel accommodation starts with ease of purchase and booking, there’s no better way than a gift card that does the work for you. 

Benefit for the Hotel

Establishing a gift card program for a hotel involves various logistics, but it doesn’t have to be complicated. Reserva simplifies the process, alleviating the pressure on your employees to coordinate available dates for the gift card recipient. Everything is seamlessly managed by the customer, from purchasing on your hotel website to sending the gift card via email. There’s also the option for customers to purchase a physical gift card at the hotel with a unique QR code added for future use. Most importantly, recipients can easily view availability, redeem and book within your hotel system with just a few clicks.

By embracing gift cards, you’re investing in enhancing your brand’s versatility. Whether it’s the holiday season, a birthday, or special occasion, each Reserva Gift Card signifies your customers’ trust. This recurring exposure fosters customer loyalty and strengthens your brand recognition over time. 

Benefit to the Customer

What better way to encourage your guests to share their experience at your hotel than to offer a simple and easy way to purchase a gift card for a loved one? The receiver can decide when to book given the expiration date and room availability. There’s no hassle dealing with calling the hotel or looking for dates that might work within the hotel’s booking system. Everything is simply in front of the customers’ eyes to book without ever picking up the phone. Not only does this create a seamless booking process for everyone involved but it keeps the customer happy by inviting them to decide when and what to book. 

Additionally, there’s the option to add additional experiences when the customer books the accommodation. This way they can decide to incorporate additional special experiences for their stay. Whether they want to add additional nights, room service, or book a trip through the hotel, it’s easy to see everything available at once. 

Win-Win 

Incorporating a streamlined process for gift card purchases offers a significant benefit: a fully automated process for all parties involved. Hotels can accommodate customers without the need for coordinating bookings, while customers gain access to all the necessary information without the need to contact the hotel directly. This strategy is low-risk, high-reward, making it effective for hotels of all sizes to help customers enjoy their stay. 

The need for staying up-to-date with digital transformations and leveraging new technology plays an important role in today’s hospitality industry. Facing the challenges of labor shortage, the rising cost of operation, and the changes in consumer needs and behaviors, hospitality businesses need to pivot their services and products with the latest technology to keep their competitive edge. 

Staying organized with integrated technology enhances the overall guest experience from booking a reservation, checking-in, upgrading room amenities, and keeping track of personalized services. A great place to start is with the customer’s booking experience. Make it as simple as possible for your guests to book a special occasion by innovating your business practices with easy booking solutions without your guests needing to call and coordinate with a receptionist.

1. New technology streamlines business operations and increases efficiency. Improved efficiency not only reduces costs but also allows staff to focus more on delivering exceptional guest experiences. Coordinating booking dates and voucher prices over the phone with the hotel reception is not only a pain for your customer, but takes vital time away from your employees. On busy days, finding available dates and entering credit card numbers into your system for a voucher is not the best use of your employees’ time. 
   
2. Missed opportunity to offer potential amenity upgrades. If your guests are celebrating a special occasion, which is quite likely, they’re probably willing to splurge on their guest experience. Offering your upgrades over the phone is a difficult sell for your employees and a time consuming process. The customer is not able to see the information in front of them to make a contemplative decision on which amenities make sense to include for their special trip. When your system is connected with Reserva, it’s easy to showcase your unique amenities and update when you have new ones. As guest preferences and expectations evolve, hotels must adapt to meet these changing needs. By regularly updating and enhancing amenity offerings, your hotel can stay relevant and meet your modern travelers who seek convenience, comfort, and personalized experiences. 
   
3. Contactless payment options for the modern traveler. In today’s anxiety driven world, the consumer is looking for contactless payment options for everything. Customers can simply coordinate their entire guest experience from the convenience of their home, saving them time and effort compared to traditional payment and booking methods over the phone. This type of coordination is one of the past and customers expect quick and easy solutions for booking their stay at your establishment. 

Whether you’re running a small, medium or large hotel, staying informed of the industry trends and innovating with the help of technology is necessary to thrive in today’s hospitality world. When you upgrade hotel systems with the goal of solving business problems for organization, there is no limit to the capabilities of your operation. Mobile booking can increase efficiency, lower staff worldload and minimize costs.