A new breaking version with lots of improvements

We have developed a new version of our app which brings a lot of changes but, more importantly, sets the foundation for a number of new products and services that we will roll out in the coming months.
This version will take the number 1.1.0 for the web and iOS and 1.3.0 for Android.

The new  version is a breaking one, meaning that, once rolled out publicly, all users will be forced to migrate to it, as the new data structure is incompatible with the previous one and the two versions cannot co-exist.

Here is a quick list of the most important changes.

Moving from seasons to rate plans

In the app you are using, pricing is driven by the so-called “seasons“, which we had defined to be only three: high, medium and low.  Many of our users thought this as either limiting or confusing, so we changed the structure of the app to give you more choices.  Now you start by setting a  base rate for a room type and, then, as many rate plans for the same room type.
A rate plan is a room rate, different than the base, for a specific date range. To set a rate plan, two pieces of information are required: the  date range and an uplift factor.
For example, if a room has a base rate of 100€/night and you define a rate plan for February 2015 with an uplift factor of 10%, then the room rate for February will actually be 110€ (= 100$ + 10% * 100€).
This way, you can fine-tune your pricing to a very detailed level.
If the rate resulting from the uplift factors  need to rounding, no worries: with the advanced options you can do just that.
As a matter of fact, you can completely  override the pricing derived by the uplift factor and set the rate for the said period to whatever you desire.

Channels

A lot of you co-operate with travel agents (offline or online) and had a need to track down how much your partners cost and where the bulk of the reservations is coming from. With Channels, you can define who your partners are and what commissions do they charge you, and mark your reservations accordingly.
Once a reservation is marked as belonging to a certain channel, a colored circle is added to the left of the reservation on the calendar, to indicate that this reservation has a channel origin.
Channel reservation linking works manually for the time being (i.e. you have to pick the relevant partner upon entering a reservation), but once we roll out our Web bookings and Channel management products, this will be automated to a great extent.

Room calendars

Many of you have expressed the need to view the availability of a single room in a traditional calendar look. We have added exactly this in the reservation calendar: when you click on the room name, a calendar for the specific room pops up.  In this calendar, you can view the reserved and free dates and add a new reservation or edit an existing one, as with the general calendar.

Autocomplete

A couple of areas where data entry was manual, were error prone, so we though to assist you with data autocomplete: upon entering your lodging address, we will suggest you some possible addresses, and, once you pick one of the suggestions, we will complete all address fields and auto place a pin of your location on the map screen.
More importantly, all reservations now will suggest to you client names from your existing clientele, after typing the first three letters. This way you will be able to enter client data quickly and reliably.

New design

We have changed the overall app design for the better. We have given more space in the forms, something that will enhance the legibility, especially in the mobile devices.

Screenshot 2015-01-08 16.16.29

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the calendar area, we have added  an indicator of the month(s) the current view falls in. This indicator changes dynamically as the calendar scrolls back or forth.

Screenshot 2015-01-08 16.43.23

https/ssl

To improve the security of the app, we have moved all the app environment under https/ssl, which means that all your data traffic will be encrypted and no one will be able to read it, even if he gains unauthorized access to the traffic data stream.

Language and Currency

So far, our app was for the owner’s use only, so there was no need to define content language or currency. But in the coming months we will be rolling out features where language and currency should be explicitly defined (as in the web bookings case, for instance).
For this reason,  we have changed the app infrastructure to support user defined languages and currencies.

 

Our development queue contains a lot more features (many of them asked by you) but these will have to wait for a future release.

2 comments

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  • Barry Sherman

    January 20, 2015, 4:03 am

    When is this expected? The two features I would suggest is rate plans for long term stay. I might have clients that rent by the week or month and charge them a weekly or monthly rate. The update sounds like this may be accommodated. I also wouldn’t mind seeing the ability of changing the color of rooms, or types for organized viewing. I also use the app weirdly, because I have rooms like quad rooms, where a bed is rented, so you might gain some business adding a feature where this is functional. That makes three suggestions…. my bad! Keep up the great work!

    • Nikos Anagnostou

      January 20, 2015, 8:30 am

      Barry, thanks for the comment. The version will hopefully be rolled out beginning of next week.
      We have some good news for you: long term rate plans will be supported. We have actually built it already. With this version, we will not roll out an interface to use it though, because we thought it is too much of a change in one shot and a lot of people would get confused.
      But we will roll it out shortly. Just after this version settles and everyone feels comfortable with it.

      Regarding colors, although others have asked for them too, I am not sure it would be a good idea. You see, we use colours a lot: to denote reservation stages and, in the this release, channels. Adding even more colours would make the interface bloated and deprive it of the simplicity we so much cherish.

      Regarding your third suggestion, I can see the issue. We have thought of abstracting the descriptions and adding lodging types to match them. So, if for instance you have lodging of type “vacation rental”, you wouldn’t see Room types or Rooms because it doesn’t make much sense, but you would see only properties instead, where the functionality of Room types and Rooms would be merged.
      Likewise if the type is hostel, you would see beds instead of rooms etc.
      This is a little bit further down the road.