01-07-2021, 10:53 PM
Hi everyone,
here’s another Zak’s release oriented to the new PSD2 European directive.
The release date is scheduled for Monday 11, January 2021.
In order to better manage the issue related to PSD2, we got caught up in some ambitions. We raised the bar and tried to create an innovative solution and, we hope, with many implications from here to come.
What is it about?
Well, the basic consideration is simple: up to now, on WooDoo or Zak, we've always talked about payments or credit cards to confirm reservations.
We tried to imagine a development that reflects their nature: our customers want more security and
to be protected against late cancellations or Noshows.
For this reason, we have sublimated this concept, creating a new management tool: the Reservation Guarantees.
What is a Reservation Guarantee?
Simple, it's a set of rules to set on ZAK that allow you to establish the guarantees required for a reservation to be accepted.
Currently, the rule set has four possibilities, which can be enabled individually or even simultaneously:
1. Credit card number, as it is already working. We have several extra-Europeans customers for which this method will presumably continue for years to be the preferred one.
2. "Bill Later": when inserting the credit card, we will ask the customer the explicit permission for
subsequent charges.
3. Pre-authorization: or temporary freezing (limited to 7/15 days, from what it seems) of an amount. Immediately collectable on demand.
4. Real time Payment
It will then be possible to define different Reservation Guarantees, as it happens with the
cancellation policies, that will enable different security policies depending on the
context (date, origin of the reservations and so on).
Since a reservation is linked to a specific Reservation Guarantee, it will be possible
invite your customers to the Online Check in page, where they will be asked for the requested
guarantees.
In addition to this, it will be possible to send fully customized communications through templating
systems.
The objective of this development is clear: we want that, once you have defined your booking protection policies, Zak takes care of everything else:
1. Automatically associate, as you wish, a Reservation guarantee to each reservation
2. Invite your customers to provide guarantees with customizable and, once again, automatic communications
3. Automatically report those reservations under date that have not yet been guaranteed
At the moment, these three steps, these automatisms, are still missing, but it will be possible to temporarily manage things manually. We would like to come full circle with your feedbacks, which are more valuable than any study.
For example: how would you prefer to assign the Guarantees to reservations? According to the date? According to the OTA? To the Online Checkin? To the customer?
As we proceed with our studies, we have hope on your feedbacks, as usual: open and openly discussed on platforms development.
But the release isn't just about this development. There is in particular another development that you have been waiting for long time: we have redefined the page for managing images and texts.
It will now be possible, for those who use the ZAK Online Reception:
1. To sort the images
2. To describe the super products
3. To associate particular images with super products
In addition, we have also structurally improved the vouchers, which now report the "Flying Meals" and also the discounts you offer to customers.
Other points worthy to mention, included in the release:
1. Ukrainian language on the Online Reception
2. The FastBook feature (the one that enables the creation of quick bookings from the planner) now offers the possibility to specify an option to send vouchers.
3. A complete graphic restyle of the Booking.com channel.
4. The possibility, while defining a room category, to automatically insert physical rooms and products.
5. In the list of invoices, the sending date to the SDI (Italy only) will appear.
6. We are also coming to simplify and enhance all PII. So far, you will see a little hint of a graphic restyle.
7. Ergonomics: If you deselect a room during billing, all related extras are automatically deselected.
8. We are also announcing a new collaboration with Trentino Marketing: Zak fully supports the issue of the Trentino Guest Card (Italy only).
9. We have equipped Zak with a - definitely - better ability to guess the right language from the country of customers. The templating system has been much improved: the emails will be sent in the right language with an important accuracy.
10. On Tabla, it finally appeared the Filter: Super Products.
11. And Sytar reflects the order of Tabla's rooms.
I would very much like to ask you the courtesy to intervene with your feedbacks on the subject of Reservation Guarantees. We are convinced that with an open collaboration, we will turn this small step forward towards an extremely valuable implementation.
We are available for any branch discussion related to this release.
Thanks everyone for your attention.
here’s another Zak’s release oriented to the new PSD2 European directive.
The release date is scheduled for Monday 11, January 2021.
In order to better manage the issue related to PSD2, we got caught up in some ambitions. We raised the bar and tried to create an innovative solution and, we hope, with many implications from here to come.
What is it about?
Well, the basic consideration is simple: up to now, on WooDoo or Zak, we've always talked about payments or credit cards to confirm reservations.
We tried to imagine a development that reflects their nature: our customers want more security and
to be protected against late cancellations or Noshows.
For this reason, we have sublimated this concept, creating a new management tool: the Reservation Guarantees.
What is a Reservation Guarantee?
Simple, it's a set of rules to set on ZAK that allow you to establish the guarantees required for a reservation to be accepted.
Currently, the rule set has four possibilities, which can be enabled individually or even simultaneously:
1. Credit card number, as it is already working. We have several extra-Europeans customers for which this method will presumably continue for years to be the preferred one.
2. "Bill Later": when inserting the credit card, we will ask the customer the explicit permission for
subsequent charges.
3. Pre-authorization: or temporary freezing (limited to 7/15 days, from what it seems) of an amount. Immediately collectable on demand.
4. Real time Payment
It will then be possible to define different Reservation Guarantees, as it happens with the
cancellation policies, that will enable different security policies depending on the
context (date, origin of the reservations and so on).
Since a reservation is linked to a specific Reservation Guarantee, it will be possible
invite your customers to the Online Check in page, where they will be asked for the requested
guarantees.
In addition to this, it will be possible to send fully customized communications through templating
systems.
The objective of this development is clear: we want that, once you have defined your booking protection policies, Zak takes care of everything else:
1. Automatically associate, as you wish, a Reservation guarantee to each reservation
2. Invite your customers to provide guarantees with customizable and, once again, automatic communications
3. Automatically report those reservations under date that have not yet been guaranteed
At the moment, these three steps, these automatisms, are still missing, but it will be possible to temporarily manage things manually. We would like to come full circle with your feedbacks, which are more valuable than any study.
For example: how would you prefer to assign the Guarantees to reservations? According to the date? According to the OTA? To the Online Checkin? To the customer?
As we proceed with our studies, we have hope on your feedbacks, as usual: open and openly discussed on platforms development.
But the release isn't just about this development. There is in particular another development that you have been waiting for long time: we have redefined the page for managing images and texts.
It will now be possible, for those who use the ZAK Online Reception:
1. To sort the images
2. To describe the super products
3. To associate particular images with super products
In addition, we have also structurally improved the vouchers, which now report the "Flying Meals" and also the discounts you offer to customers.
Other points worthy to mention, included in the release:
1. Ukrainian language on the Online Reception
2. The FastBook feature (the one that enables the creation of quick bookings from the planner) now offers the possibility to specify an option to send vouchers.
3. A complete graphic restyle of the Booking.com channel.
4. The possibility, while defining a room category, to automatically insert physical rooms and products.
5. In the list of invoices, the sending date to the SDI (Italy only) will appear.
6. We are also coming to simplify and enhance all PII. So far, you will see a little hint of a graphic restyle.
7. Ergonomics: If you deselect a room during billing, all related extras are automatically deselected.
8. We are also announcing a new collaboration with Trentino Marketing: Zak fully supports the issue of the Trentino Guest Card (Italy only).
9. We have equipped Zak with a - definitely - better ability to guess the right language from the country of customers. The templating system has been much improved: the emails will be sent in the right language with an important accuracy.
10. On Tabla, it finally appeared the Filter: Super Products.
11. And Sytar reflects the order of Tabla's rooms.
I would very much like to ask you the courtesy to intervene with your feedbacks on the subject of Reservation Guarantees. We are convinced that with an open collaboration, we will turn this small step forward towards an extremely valuable implementation.
We are available for any branch discussion related to this release.
Thanks everyone for your attention.