See, Sample, Sow – How you can benefit from ResRequest on-site

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We turned off the tar road from Karen and went through a security gate which allowed us passage into the Nairobi National Park. Our bumpy progress was soon brought to a halt as a uniformed orphan keeper crossed the road with a four month old giraffe in tow. A short distance further we passed Max, a blind but content Black rhino and after parking we were introduced to two tiny orphan elephants – newcomers from the previous day. Welcome to The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust! It set the tone for our time at the David Sheldrick offices and interaction with the team – a small group of wonderful people passionate about their work with wildlife and striving to keep the organisation running smoothly. Every organisation, although essentially the same, has it’s quirks making it unique and this is when onsite training makes customising the fit for both the property / res office and ResRequest easier.

Basic training like How to make a reservation or How to add an extra is just the start, but integrating that knowledge with your business processes is the real challenge. Jill headed up the three full days of training which is standard for our onsite training programme. It was intense but certainly worthwhile as we had ascertained a number of suitable reports that were relevant to the organisation and smoothed out a number of business processes that could now be handled by ResRequest.

“Basically I am absolutely loving ResRequest and how much easier it has made my life and streamlined all the bookings. The training was great and it was so nice to meet Jill and Jen and put names to the people who helped set it all up as well as faces and so far have so enjoyed working with you all. Having Jill and Jen come here for the training was the best option as it is so much more personalised that way.” Lina – Reservations Management, The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.

Sine we were already in Kenya, we had the opportunity to visit Angama in the Mara. Apart from the thrill of soaring over the expansive Mara in a light aircraft and enjoying the breathtaking view from Angama’s deck, the two days we spent with the team was extremely valuable. Having already worked with the system for several months, the res team wanted to hone certain processes to ensure clean data and effective reporting.

“Their visit was a huge success – Thanks to the ResRequest team for taking the time to travel to the Maasai Mara – always more fruitful for discussions to take place at the source as new issues are unearthed no matter how much advanced planning has happened, and face-to-face communication offers a much more efficient way to solve complex issues.” Steve – Director, Angama.

“I agree with Steve – it is beyond beneficial – sitting with Jill and Jen was fantastic, I learnt so much and great tips on how to do things smarter and faster. I recommend this to any client. No matter how good you think you are in the system… you will learn sooo much from having a ResRequest team member sit with you for a full day.” Kristen – Reservations, Angama.

We visited a number of clients during our Kenya trip – both new and advanced users – and were encouraged by the system-strong and enthusiastic people using ResRequest. Our primary goal with initial and ongoing training is not just to teach the ‘how to’ but to empower our users to utilise ResRequest to it’s fullest, because even with software the clichéd adage holds true: “You get out what you put in.”

On safari in the Congo

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https://www.safaritart.com/on-safari-in-congo/Written by: Carrie Hampton alias the SAFARI TART!

Seasoned travellers will be interested in the Odzala Discovery Camps in the Odzala-Kokoua National Park of the remote north of the Republic of Congo’s river basin. It’s the world’s second largest tropical rainforest after the Amazon, and one of the earth’s largest lungs, playing an essential role in global climate control. The region has been a National Park since 1935 – making it one of the oldest on the African continent.

Odzala has other faces than the rainforest with vast savannah in the south and wide, meandering rivers crossing the region. A distinctive feature of Odzala are marshy clearings in the middle of an ocean of trees called bais. Even the shiest inhabitants of Odzala like forest elephants and gorillas come here to drink and take in precious minerals and salts contained in the bai soils.

Birds, Mammals and Primates
Over 400 bird species and 100 different mammal species are found here, including western lowland gorillas, chimpanzees and red-tailed monkeys along with forest buffalo, sitatunga (a rare sight anywhere on safari) and duikers antelopes not much larger than rabbits. Herds of shy forest elephant move along ancient pathways, avoiding the 70 villages, some with just a handful of inhabitants. The local people are primarily Bantu and forest dwellers (pygmies).

There are three camps; Ngaga, Mboko and Lango. 

Ngaga Camp in primary forest just outside the park boundary, overlooks a beautiful open glade and is within overlapping ranges of several groups of western lowland gorillas. Two of the gorilla groups are becoming habituated to being watched. It’s a focal point for world-class research and gives unforgettable primate encounters. Ngaga Camp’s unique design evokes the fun of childhood tree houses, with six canopy rooms with wraparound walkways.

Mboko Camp has 12 guest rooms extending along the banks of a tributary watering a lush meadow-like savannah. It’s the interface between tropical rainforest and grasslands, with hundreds of towering termite mounds creating an other-worldly panorama. Watch out for the forest buffalo, forest elephant and spotted hyena.

Lango Camp with it’s six bedrooms has one of the most arresting views of any camp in Africa! Raised high the camp spans the forest gallery and beyond to the marshy bai, which holds a magnetic attraction to huge flocks of green pigeons and grey parrots, as well as herds of forest buffalo by day and forest elephants by night. In the south-central part of Odzala with its variety of converging habitats and rivers, the highlight is travelling on the waters in by motorboat, traditional mokoro or kayak and exploring the streams and marshes on foot in safety – a truly immersive experience!

One thing’s for sure – you will be one of very few who have visited this remote area and if you get there before me, I’ll be very jealous.

 

Working with specials

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Applying-specials

Written by Paula Chaplin

Offering discounts is a practise many of our customers use to ramp up sales. When you implement a discount strategy, it’s important to ask yourself strategic questions like:

  1. How will this affect my profit margins?
  2. What are my competitors doing?
  3. Are there options for promoting sales before we reduce price?

It’s also important to find out how your discount strategy can be automatically applied by the system.

To help you plan your strategies, here’s a list of what’s available in our Specials module:

Stay, Pay Specials: e.g. if you Stay for 4 nights, you only Pay for 3 (or you get 1 night at 50% off)
Honeymoon Specials: e.g. 50% off the Bride’s stay
Length of Stay Discounts: e.g. if you stay more than 5 nights, get a 5% discount on your stay.
Booking Period Special: e.g. 10% of all bookings made in November
Booking Period Special: e.g. if you book in April – children stay free
Travel Period Special: e.g. 10% of all bookings travelling in February
Travel Period Special: e.g. if you travel in May – children pay half price
Circuit Discounts: e.g. if you stay at 3 properties, you get a 15% discount on the last one
Circuit Discounts: e.g. if you stay at 4 properties, you get a free night

Setting up specials
Specials are linked to our Rates module and are applied to Rate Types, Rate Periods and Room Types. This means you no longer need to create new rates to apply your discount strategy.

Applying specials
Specials can be applied manually or automatically depending on the user’s access permissions.

If you need any assistance or guidance with specials, please contact [email protected].

ZRA certifies another ResRequest customer

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The Zambian Revenue Authority put us through our paces and another ResRequest customer is certified.

The Zambian tax authorities require that any business producing Tax Invoices from a computer system, has to have their specific use of the system certified. This certification means that VAT registered customers are able to claim input VAT supported by such invoices. The certification process entails a session with ZRA representatives for them to satisfy themselves with the controls and security features applied. ResRequest meets the requirements and we are familiar with the certification process. We recently assisted another customer in achieving this certification.

Project Luangwa

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South Luangwa in Zambia is a magical destination for a safari holiday and its beauty and wildlife leave a lasting impression long after you’ve returned home. But it can be harsh and unforgiving too, especially for the local people. Most are subsistence farmers who live side by side with Luangwa’s wildlife but whilst wild animals the attract visitors they also raid crops; an entire year’s supply of maize can disappear overnight with the visit of a few elephants.

Project Luangwa is a charitable organisation which aims to help the local community in South Luangwa benefit from visitors and improve their economic prospects.  We believe that the future of the area lies in the hands of the younger members of the community and that these kids should have access to a good education.  But all too often we find a sad scenario – too few classrooms coupled with an inadequate number of teachers means that it is not unusual to see up to 100 kids in a class and many will be sitting on the floor due to a lack of desks and chairs.  Teachers struggle with few resources and often there is just one textbook for the whole class. But these are the lucky ones; primary schooling is free but at secondary level it is not and many parents cannot afford school fees, uniform or even exercise books.

Girls have an even harder time. Early marriages are not unusual, families often favour a boy when it comes to education, abuse is all too common, a girl’s workload is higher than her brother’s, and once she reaches puberty, she may attend school for just 3 weeks out of every four.

Project Luangwa looks for long term sustainable solutions that give a hand-up rather than a hand-out. We raise funds to build more classrooms, buy text books, build and put books into libraries. We run girls’ clubs to encourage more girls to go to school, to support each other and find solutions to their difficulties. One example of this is helping them make reusable, washable sanitary pads.

Due to HIV/Aids and other diseases many children have lost parents – at one small community school 210 of the 318 pupils are double orphans.  We arrange pupil sponsorship on a one to one basis enabling many kids to receive an education which they would not get without support.

The charity was formed in 2009 and is supported by five of the safari operators in the Luangwa Valley as part of their commitment to helping the local communities. At these lodges a small percentage of guest’s payment is passed on to us. This covers much of our administration costs and so we are very proud to say that 100% of donations directly support the community, education and children.

There’s a huge amount of information on our website with pages for sponsorship, volunteers, what to bring, suitable books to bring and even bras.

Website: www.projectluangwa.org
Call at the office: Chinzombo (ZAWA offices), Mfuwe
Post: PO Box 27, Mfuwe
Email: Directors – [email protected], / [email protected]
Telephone: 00260 (0) 216 246 265 / 00260 (0) 974250152 /3

Pack for a Purpose initiative

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Providing positive presence on the internet

Written by Rebecca Rothney

Pack for a Purpose (PfaP) is a great way to achieve additional exposure, at no cost, for the community projects supported by your lodge on the Internet.

Our NGO is based in Raleigh, NC, in the United States. Our mission is to positively impact communities around the world by assisting travellers who want to bring meaningful contributions to the destinations they visit. We assist “PfaP travellers” by providing online lists of requested items for over 300 community projects, making it simple for travellers to make a big impact on every trip.

Travellers simply follow these five easy steps:  

1. Select destination.

2. Find a lodging and a project it supports.

3. Choose the supplies you wish to bring from the specific items requested.

4. Drop off the supplies at the lodging.

5. They will be delivered for you; it’s that easy!

Since Pack for a Purpose’s inception in December 2009, the global travel community has brought more than 9,400 kilos of supplies to schools, clinics and orphanages worldwide that are in need of assistance. By simply adding medical, school supplies, sport equipment and other requested supplies in their luggage, these travellers have made a big impact.

Among the many lodging locations that participate with Pack for a Purpose many of lodgings are current ResRequest clients. These lodgings support community projects in Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zanzibar, Tanzania, South Africa, Namibia and Mozambique.You can take a look at all of Pack for a Purpose’s current destinations.
Submitting your lodging to Pack for a Purpose is simple and can be done directly at this link on our website. Once we receive your information and you have complied with the three easy steps on the form, we will have your lodging published on our website within 7 business days. Once published, we will spread the word about your lodge through our social media outlets: Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.

Pack for a Purpose has received a large amount of international media coverage. This all translates into additional exposure for the lodgings and tour companies listed on our website. To view the coverage, click here. We have received the 2012 Travel+Leisure Global Vision Award Editors’ Pick for Digital Iniative and are finalists for the 2013 Guardian’s Observer Ethical Awards in the Travel Category.