• BookingCenter Pro desktop has some powerful Guest Marketing capabilities already built into the software. Marketing to repeat guests is smart and easy way to bring back repeat business.

• The guest database can be sorted by a variety of parameters, including contact's details and address data such as area code, state, city, zip code.

• You can also chose to sort by history, and by searching the notes fields. This resulting list can then be filtered, for example to remove any contacts with no email address.

For complete details on running your own Guest Marketing Campaign, see the BookingCenter Reference Manual in Chapter 3. Here you will find out how to use various options for sending, including printing out paper letters and address labels, or sending as email.

Print or export (.csv file) Guest List

BookingCenter works well for emailing smaller lists or a large guest database. However, some ISPs will block multiple (100's or more) email messages with the same subject line, as it could be interpreted as SPAM. In this case you can easily export the guest database as a CSV file (or saved as an Excel file). The CSV file can then be imported into the email tool of your choice for greater flexibility.

To Print or export guest information:

• Go to Guest Marketing and do a quick search but don't select any info, just search all and the results will be all guests.
• Once the list is on the screen click on the print button.
• Print a detail report to file and click "OK".
• Now you should get a save print file dialog screen to choose where you want to save the file. If not, the file will be saved to the default folder on your computer when saving documents.
• The file saved is called "Print File" by default. It is a .prn file (a printer file). Find the file and change the extension to CSV and it will open with Excel correctly.

How to Set up Direct Bills in BookingCenter Pro Desktop

Company Account allows one to use the Guest record to be a 'Company Account' record and then bill for those bookinsg associated to that Copany. When this is chosen, the Guest is used to track Direct Bill or Debtor Accounts. A Guest set as a Company Account is used in a similar way as a normal guest, but the actual name that is placed on the Booking screen can be overwritten on the Booking screen so that the person from the Company is identified. By identifying the Company Account, BookingCenter allows you to send invoices and statements.

See "Managing Company Accounts (also known as Direct Bills or Debtor Accounts) in the Desktop Reference Manual at:https://docs.bookingcenter.com/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=3642451 for more information and step-by-step instructions for using this part of the Desktop PMS system.

Networking BookingCenter on Multiple Machines (for Version 6 and later)

BookingCenter works in a networked architecture so that there can be 'clients' and a 'server'. This allows for multiple people to work BookingCenter concurrently and for the server to utilize the network efficiently to process credit cards and communicate with the Central Reservation Server. Only ONE PC can connect to the BookingCenter Service to poll rates and availability - this computer is called the 'Network Manager'. This one PC becomes the Management Computer that will be synchronizing rate, inventory, and content with the BookingCenter Central Reservation Service.

If you are running any Windows network OR Macintosh OSX from 10.5 OR later (OS names of Tiger or Leopard) OR Mac OS7, 8, or 9 then networking is fast and easy. Instructions for simple networking are found at: http://www.BookingCenter.com/help/network_bc.html.

If you are running OS X 10.1 through 10.4 for Mac OS, then it is REQUIRED to use a networking technique called ODB (Omnis DataBridge). Because earlier versions of Mac OS X need assistance with networking, if you are using these versions of OS X then your networking needs are explained at: http://www.BookingCenter.com/help/network_odb.html.

Windows or Macintosh OSX users from 10.5 or later (OS names of Tiger or Leopard) can OPTIONALLY choose to use ODB or not. The decision will rest on the confidence and integrity of your Client <--> Server network. If your network is using wired Ethernet (as opposed to wireless); the PCs all have good network cards; the Server is a good PC with good hard drives, then the Windows OS will provide a stable read/write support for the file server and no ODB is required. Instructions for networking Windows PCs without ODB are found at: http://www.BookingCenter.com/help/network_bc.html.

If you choose to install ODB, we recommend working with a network administrator to establish your network, as sharing and assigning IP addresses on a network requires more skill than many hospitality people possess. If any of the above conditions are NOT present on your Windows network (such as PCs connecting to each other via wireless), then BookingCenter highly recommends installing the ODB for Windows on the Server. However, BookingCenter will not setup your ODB network for you. This work must be done by a qualified network administrator. Even if you have a current Support Contract, it is outside the expertise of BookingCenter Support staff to configure an ODB network unless an on-site training and installation contract is purchased. Don't worry, though! We have provided clear and complete instructions and an average user with PC networking skills should be able to accomplish the ODB setup in about 30 minutes. Instructions for networking your Windows Desktop using ODB clients are at: http://www.BookingCenter.com/help/network_odb.html.

The ODB Instructions are attached to this KnowledgeBase article and can be downloaded by clicking below. The file is a .PDF type called 'ODB.pdf".

Learn more details about Networking BookingCenter Software for Macintosh and PC networks by visiting: http://www.bookingcenter.com/help/network_bc.html

To run a Items report do the following:

• Choose the Report menu and select “Items”
• Choose what date range you would like:
  • Groups —> All Inventory Groups
  • Items Only —> Inventory Items will be returned.
  • Analysis —> Financial summaries of Items sold
  • Requirements —> Total quantity summaries of Items sold

Reports can be run for multiple days or a single day only. It will likely be desired to run one Group report for all meals at the beginning of day to get an estimate for the day’s meal needs, and then an Item Requirements report closer to the time of the meal to see if the total number has changed.

Tip! By using the Destination: Screen, you can play around with the options and date ranges without wasting paper from your printer. Also, be using the DATE intelligently when applying an Item onto a Sales Invoice (or Booking or Group Booking Account), one can report for either 'accrual' or 'cash based' method of accounting for the Item. For example, one can sell an Item today, January 12, 2011 and have the date listed as March 23, 2011 on the Account so that that particular Item will appear on that report for when it's actually 'required' to be used -March 23, 2011. Thus, if an Item is future-dated, that item is considered a 'current liability' to be sold/fulfilled at a future date and is not reported on the date for today, January 12, 2011. If the Item has 'today's date' when it's applied to a Sales Invoice (or Booking or Group Booking Account), then this is a 'cash' type of transaction and will be reported for 'today's date'.