Hi - thank you to everyone over the last couple of days.

Although the transfer to the new server was relatively smooth, there were some issues relating to new, increased security guidelines.  It's now best practice to include at least one alpha-numeric characters (such as !<#) in passwords, to make them far more difficult to guess - for obvious reasons these days unfortunately.

Anyway, it's all done now - and I hope you find the new hardware helps to increase the speed of you and your customers experience of Easy Bookings.

I've added some other updates which I'll write about soon, such as adding VAT options, amongst other suggestions from the last survey and emails from some of you.  For now though, good night.

Updates to Easy Bookings

Hi.

Last night, I moved the databases Easy Bookings uses to their new home - a new, updated server, with loads more memory and power.

Tonight (into tomorrow), I'm uploading the files for Easy Bookings to the new server.  Following that, some testing will be done, and then on Sunday night/Monday morning, I'll be pointing the Easy Bookings system to the new server.

There are some updates, fixes, and most importantly, improved speed and page loads - so hopefully everyone using Easy Bookings, and your customers, will have an enhanced service very soon.

Kind regards,

Mark 

Easy Bookings Blog Relaunch

Hi.

Today we're starting fresh - with a new blog, new videos on YouTube.com and updates available through Facebook and Twitter.

We'll be using these to let you know about all of the new features and improvements made to Easy Bookings, so please subscribe to whichever social network you use, and let us know what you think.

Thanks,

Mark

Priorities for rules

Hi.

You can now prioritise your rules. As with occupancy rates (see below), the lower the number, the higher priority it will have over any other rules which may cover the same date span/days.

So a rule with a priority 1 will take precedence over a rule with priority 5.

Could you please check your rules, to ensure they still operate as you expect them to. As a default, they all now have a priority of 10 - so if you need one to operate above another, then please change its priority to a lower numer (higher priority).

As always, if you are unsure, please log a ticket from the control panel.

Priorities for rates

Hi.

You can now prioritise your rates: Rooms/Rates -> Occpuancy Rates. The lower the number, the higher priority it will have over any other rates which may cover the same date span/days.

So for example, rather than have to setup multiple start/end dates, just to accommodate a higher rate for the May holiday weekend, you can simply enter:

Rooms/Rates -> Check rates for errors - will not show a duplicate rate, as ID56541 has a higher priority than the default ID49693.

Please let me know if this isn't clear.

Amending for VAT reduction

Hi.

If you need to make a change to your rates, then you can go to Rooms/Rates -> Change Multiple Rates - where you can amend your rates by a fixed amount, or a percentage.

I'm sure you already know the percentage, but if you enter a percentage change of -97.8723404255319 - that will reduce the VAT from 17.5% to 15% overall:

You may be better amending manually however, as doing it as above, would result in your rates being amended to include pennies - where you would, I suspect, many of you would like them rounded to a whole number.

As always, if you have any suggestions for improving Easy Bookings, please let us know.

New Discounts Section

Hi.

We've added a new way of giving discounts.

It's based on either a percentage discount, or a fixed discount (per night) for guests who stay for a certain number of nights or more.

You can access it from the menu: Rooms/Rates/Vouchers -> New Discounts (or https://www.easy-bookings-ssl.co.uk/cp/admin/nightsdiscfixed.aspx)

To add a new discount, click the Add button, or click New on any line.

Enter the discount type:

• Fixed: for a fixed discount 'per night' - if you enter 20 and 3 nights, the discount will be 20 x 3 = 60
  
• Percentage: for a percentage discount

Enter the number of nights the customer has to book to qualify for the discount - the discount will apply, per night, for the number of nights entered, or more - so id you enter a discount for 3 nights, and a discount for 6 nights, the 3 night discount will apply for 3, 4 and 5 night bookings - and the 6 night discount, will apply for 6, 7, 8, 9 and more, nights bookings

You can add multiple discounts, for any date period, any days, and for any number of nights.

Please let us know if you have any problems.