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ResRequest is an accommodation reservation system that provides comprehensive reservation management to resorts and offers the option of extending controlled viewing and booking capabilities to agents, tour operators and public users on the web.

In addition, ResRequest offers extensive capabilities to assist in managing day-to-day operations at your resort including: room allocations, guest details (including preferred services) and invoicing.

ResRequest gives the business owner the ability to review his business positioning for a selected period including detailed financial reports such as: revenue reports, commissions, payments due and VAT analysis.

Using data synchronisation, ResRequest is designed for multi-property establishments who want all their camps to work with consolidated information and agents/public users to access the same information on the Internet, but do not want to rely on costly and unreliable permanent connectivity for this.

ResRequest provides a detailed rates module that enables rates to be setup at component level. This accommodates for commission and VAT differentials on part or all of the accommodation costs and optional services.

ResRequest provides detailed reservation management and property management functions that include:

Create and track multi-itinerary and multi-property quotations and reservations offline or on the Internet
Check availability and confirm or waitlist reservations
Manage incoming reservations
Flag overbooking requests
Track and manage provisional reservations
Capture and manage user and guest details
Check-in guests and manage their special requests and extra services
Produce guest lists with special requests for easy lodge management
Manage guest travel details
Produce CRM and other statistical reports
Generate multiple invoices for reservations
Record and track guest payment
Email quotations and track emails for reservations from within ResRequest

ResRequest is a reservation application designed to create, edit and manage reservations online and/or offline. ResRequest can process reservations in different environments, including: within a central reservations office, on the Internet and at remote locations (such as camps or resorts). ResRequest can operate while permanently connected, and it can operate offline. Operating offline, ResRequest easily transfers information across all environments ensuring that users see and work with the most up-to-date information. With ResRequest reservations can be made and changed 24 hours a day from any location with Internet access.

	ResRequest Benefits
	ResRequest has several features that make it able to meet the unique needs of our niche clients. Being based on cutting edge Open Source technology means ResRequest is very competitively priced and the technology used is continually evolving and advancing. Hospitality industry leaders from our niche market segment have been involved in the design process from the outset, ensuring ResRequest meets the specialised needs of our clients. ResRequest is completely web-based and requires no third party software on the client or server. Internet Explorer browser is the only client requirement (new development is standards compliant and future releases plan to be browser independent and operate on other browser technologies including Mozilla, and WAP technologies). Server technology is completely open source, therefore no additional license fees are applicable. Internal users (reservations office staff) and external users (agents and tour operators) use the same system, with customised views. This eliminates problems with system interfaces, duplicated data capture, etc. The system can be run offline and online simultaneously, thus eliminating the constraints that can be contingent on permanent Internet access. The ResRequest engine is designed to manage multi-property, multi-itinerary global-currency reservations, which means ResRequest can easily service browser-based portals and travel gateways.
	Additional Benefits
	Not dependent on Internet access The reservations office can work offline and synchronise with the web when the Internet connection is available. Flexible and detailed access control ResRequest offers separate control of function and data access. Thus users accessing the same functions can be presented with customised views, or segments, of data. For example if an internal user asks for a list of reservations the system will show all reservations in the system. If an agent performs the same function the list will include only those reservations attributable to the agent. Not constrained by the slow response times inherent in working on the Internet The high volume work performed by the reservations office can be carried out offline - on a LAN or even on a standalone machine. No need to install any software on client machines (no Java applets) To access the system any user requires only a PC loaded with a recent version of Internet Explorer and a network connection. When the system software is upgraded there is no need to make any changes on client machines. The upgrades are applied to the principal's offline server and to the web servers and the effects are inherently applied to all clients. ResRequest is written using standard web-browser development languages including: JavaScript, HTML, XML, DHTML and PHP. PHP was recognised as the Internet's best server-side scripting technology when Yahoo! announced its conversion of 4500 servers to php (visit http://public.yahoo.com/~radwin/talks/yahoo-phpcon2002.htm for more information). No license fees for third party software The software loaded on the principal's server (operating system, database management system, etc.) are all open source products and exempt from license fees. There is no ResRequest-specific software required on client machines. Thus the only license cost incurred is the ResRequest rental. Maximum backup security In addition to the system database on the principal's server, there are copies of the database on the ResRequest web servers in SA and in the USA. All of the data on both web servers is itself systematically backed up. The chances of data loss are thus miniscule. No transaction fees ResRequest is designed to provide a reservation management solution to accommodation providers (game lodges, hotels, resorts) and provides web hosting with high profile service providers (Internet Solutions in SA and Rackspace in USA) for availability to be accessible to Internet users. The software and optional hosting is charged for on a monthly basis and there are no additional transaction fees for business generated from the client website. Minimal training requirements ResRequest uses industry-standard Windows and Internet tools, techniques and presentation methods. In addition each screen contains info tags to provide user guidance. Thus the average user functions can be performed by a computer-literate user with little or no personal tuition. All modules in one application ResRequest incorporates reservation, property and financial management together with contact maintenance all in one product. This means that detailed reservation audit trails, guest histories, customer relationship statistics and lodge management reports can be produced from one system. User-controlled web editing ResRequest includes facilities for the principal to display customised pictures and information such as booking information, accommodation descriptions, etc. The system includes functions for editing these details. These functions do not require any specialised technical expertise and can be performed by any authorised user as often as is necessary. Availability viewed on a calendar Multi-property availability information is displayed on a calendar, ensuring that users can see (at a glance) how and when to plan their trip. This technology prevents the user from having the tedious, time-consuming (and costly) task of first entering their arrival and departure date and then asking the system to check if there is availability. Easy Windows design and functionality Users can create a multi-property itinerary by clicking and dragging over cells on the availability calendar. A reservation wizard assists users in capturing details for the reservation. Once the reservation is created users can track and edit all reservation-related information from a central screen that uses pop-up windows. Integration to ResRequest-powered travel portals ResRequest enables access to a public calendar which can further integrate to ResRequest-powered travel portals - allowing users to access multi-resort information and create multi-resort itineraries from one calendar. Tracking of reservation requests The occupancy calendar allows internal and external users to manage and track their reservations. Users can filter the calendar to show reservations for a selected date range with a filtered status (for example, provisional status). This information can be shown as an on-screen report from where users can e-mail a customisable summary of the reservation to the reservation contact to follow-up on potential business. Invoice generation at central reservation and camps Invoices can be generated offline at a central reservations office (in a selected currency) and (offline) at remote locations such as camps or remote properties. Invoices are linked to the reservation for tracking. Sophisticated contact management ResRequest contains contact linking and forwarding facilities as well as the ability to define multiple roles for a contact. This means it is never necessary to duplicate the record of an address. Mail Server Integration E-mails submitted via ResRequest are submitted via the ResRequest mail-server. By not using the client e-mail application, ResRequest ensures that all communications are sent and received. E-mails submitted via ResRequest can be tracked and managed from a mail-tool within ResRequest. Audit Trail An audit trail can be produced indicating how many public and registered users have accessed ResRequest, together with an audit trail per reservation - showing changes made and the details of the user, date and time.

ResRequest Modules

ResRequest integrates all facets of reservation management, from creating a quotation to confirming a reservation, managing guest reception and payment for reservations. ResRequest consists of the following primary modules:

Business Structure & Rates Management

Setup and maintain property, accommodation types, components, rates and rate variances for view on the calendar, production of detailed invoices and room allocation.

Calendars: Availability & Occupancy

The availability calendar displays availability information and enables quotations and reservations to be created quickly and easily. The occupancy calendar shows a summary of reservations made that can be filtered by date, status and agent.

Reservation Management

Create multi-itinerary reservations in a selected rate from the availability calendar and edit reservations from a central reservation view. Track reservations from calendars and reports.

Extras Services and Travel/Transfer

Add extras to a reservation including travel and transfer extras. Extra's details include units, cost, exchange rate, public and internal notes.

Invoicing and Payment

Create multiple invoicing folios for a reservation, generate proforma invoices, capture and track payment for a reservation or agency.

Contact Maintenance

Capture contact and correspondence details for system users, agents and guests including commissions, personal details and system information.

Guest relationship management

Allocate guests to reservations: create new guests (with special notes) or import repeat guests with their history and preferences.

Guest Reception

Produce daily reports of guest arrivals, guest departures, travel details, guest names, extras and special requests. Pre-allocate rooms to guests or allocate rooms to guests on check-in.

Data Synchronisation

Synchronise data between the central reservations office, internet and hotels or remote locations.

Access Control

Setup user privileges to all information and modules within ResRequest.

Reservation Reporting

Produce general reports, client and agent history reports and other statistical information.

Financial Reporting

Generate financial reports including: nett/gross revenue forecasts, revenue received for confirmed reservations (revenue from cancelled reservations), commission reports, VAT analysis reports, amounts owed to service providers and use the payments due report for collections.

	How ResRequest Works
	ResRequest can work with an organisation permanently connected to the Internet, it has also been developed to be installed on offline environments with each system synchronising data via a high-speed synchronisation tool, when necessary. This ensures that Internet costs are minimal (i.e. the principal does not need to be permanently connected to the Internet) and that the system can still operate locally if the Internet is not accessible. One system is setup as the 'Master' and other systems are referred to as 'Slaves'. The Master is the system all environments synchronise to during data synchronisation, this is usually the environment where the bulk of reservations are processed. The standard ResRequest model caters for use in the following environments: Central reservations office (LAN) - for internal reservation staff Remote LAN (Local Area Network) or standalone systems - for remote camps/resorts Internet - for public and travel trade access ResRequest is developed so reservations, guest reception and various other services provided by the principal can be carried out from any of these environments. Data captured at each environment is synchronised with the client server and web hosting servers throughout the day, ensuring that up-to-date reservations can be created, confirmed and tracked 24 hours a day.


	ResRequest's unique ability to operate online and offline and synchronise to keep all environments updated makes it ideal for the game reserve/lodge industry, where Internet access is often costly and unreliable.