StaySys / Reservation Management

The beautiful city of Cape Town has been voted as the top tourist destination in the world in the 2011 Travelers’ Choice Destinations awards.

With attractions like beautiful white beaches, Table Mountain, Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens, and Cape Point, there is no doubt as to why it won the award.

Cape Town was originally developed by the Dutch East India Company as a victualling (supply) station for Dutch ships sailing to Eastern Africa, India, and the Far East. Jan van Riebeeck’s arrival on 6 April 1652 established the first permanent European settlement in South Africa. Cape Town quickly outgrew its original purpose as the first European outpost at the Castle of Good Hope, becoming the economic and cultural hub of the Cape Colony. Today it is one of the most multicultural cities in the world, reflecting its role as a major destination for immigrants and expatriates to South Africa. As of 2007 the city had an estimated population of 3.5 million.

Approximately 1.5 million tourists visited in Cape Town during 2004, bringing in a total of R10 billion in revenue. The forecasts for 2006 anticipate 1.6 million tourists spending a total of R12 billion. The most popular areas for visitors to stay include Camps Bay, Sea Point, the V&A Waterfront, the City Bowl, Hout Bay, Constantia, Rondebosch, Newlands, Somerset West, Hermanus and Stellenbosch, as well.

via TripAdvisor and Wikipedia

Des Werner, from Cradle Cove, an establishment located in Gauteng has very kindly put together another YouTube.com video that shows the steps in making a booking from within the StaySYS software. This is not the interface a client would see when making a booking online, this is what you as an establishment would see when you are making a booking for a client who has called, emailed or walked in.

Again, thank you very much to Des.

Here is the video:

A question you might ask yourself is “Why would I need a Real Time Booking System like StaySYS?”

I’ll start by saying that it is a means for your establishment to receive more bookings. How you ask? If you are looking at a website that advertises accommodation in a certain area, in order to check an establishments availability, you have to email or phone them. If they are not able to answer your email or call, you end up waiting and eventually moving on to the next establishment. Again you make another call or type out another email and then wait for a response. When a listing has StaySYS integrated into it, it is as simple as clicking on a button, choosing your arrival date, departure date, number of adults and children and then checking their availability and rates. If you are happy, you can go ahead and make a booking and even pay for your booking by credit card or EFT.

Many establishments in South Africa do not have a credit card machine. South Africa attracts millions of tourists every year and they all need somewhere to sleep. For them, paying by credit card is the easiest solution. If an establishment does not have a credit card machine, the tourist will need to seek alternate accommodation. StaySYS offers credit card facilities which means that an establishment does not need a credit card machine. They simply pay for their booking with their credit card through the StaySYS software. The payment goes though the credit card gateway and is then transferred into the establishments bank account. StaySYS is able to accept Visa, MasterCard, Diners Club and American Express.

StaySYS also provides various features that allow you to add, remove and change bookings as you need to. Here are some of the built in features:

• Availability Calendar where you can manage your rooms, rates and availability.
• Allows you to find a booking through various search options.
• Setup seasonal rates and create custom long stay discounts, Stay for X pay for Y and so much more – create multiple custom rate packages.
• Various reports:, e.g. check in report, check out report, outstanding payments report, bookings report and guest list to name a few.
• Add products and services such as morning newspapers, transport, internet access.
  

There are many accommodation websites which allow establishments the opportunity of using a booking system. Two prime examples are SA-Venues.com and WhereToStay.co.za. If you have a listing on their websites, you could use StaySYS on one or both as well as your website for as little as R100 monthly.

Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us. You can click here to get hold of us. If you would like to have this functionality for your establishment, please click here.

One of the StaySYS users who has been running StaySYS for a number of weeks now sent us a surprise in the mailbox last week in the form of a YouTube.com video.

Des Werner, from Cradle Cove, an establishment located in Gauteng has very kindly put together a YouTube.com video that provides a more detailed help solution and idea on how the application works. In addition, Des has added step by step instructions on where to find things and the order one should capture your information.

A very big thank you to Des for this great tool which we are sure will come in very handy!

The Youtube.com video can be seen below: