Discount When Converting from First Resort Software to RDP

Resort Data Processing is offering a discount to all First Resort (FRS) customers who convert to the RDP software. Advantages of the RDP system when compared to First Resort are listed below. Also please see RDP Vacation Rental System Overview.

Reasons to Convert from First Resort to RDP
The following topics are covered in this document. See RDP Vacation Rental Overview. Same ownership at RDP for 24 years Fully integrated Internet reservations with unit pictures and virtual tours Your existing hardware should work with RDP Extensive custom reporting with Crystal Reports, plus 100's of standard reports E-mail integration for guests, owners, travel agents, etc. Yield Management integrated with New Reservations Share-with folios and multiple folios per guest Powerful housekeeping capabilities - Forecasting, Scheduling, & History Work orders & asset management completely integrated to owner accounting Powerful general ledger with full integration to various back office systems Track guest credit card numbers indefinitely with easy inquiry Integration to GDS, POS, credit cards, door locks, phone mail, call accounting, etc. Sophisticated group blocking and group reservations Customer Relationship Management (CRM) with frequent guest program and e-mail marketing Reservation quotes, wait list, and denial tracking capabilities Booking Pace and Occupancy Forecasting Additional features related to condo and home owner accounting The topics above are covered in this document. For additional features related to condo and home owner accounting, please see RDP Owner Accounting Overview.

Reasons to Convert from First Resort to RDP

The following topics are covered in this document. See RDP Vacation Rental Overview.

Same ownership at RDP for 24 years
Fully integrated Internet reservations with unit pictures and virtual tours
Your existing hardware should work with RDP
Extensive custom reporting with Crystal Reports, plus 100's of standard reports
E-mail integration for guests, owners, travel agents, etc.
Yield Management integrated with New Reservations
Share-with folios and multiple folios per guest
Powerful housekeeping capabilities - Forecasting, Scheduling, & History
Work orders & asset management completely integrated to owner accounting
Powerful general ledger with full integration to various back office systems
Track guest credit card numbers indefinitely with easy inquiry
Integration to GDS, POS, credit cards, door locks, phone mail, call accounting, etc.
Sophisticated group blocking and group reservations
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) with frequent guest program and e-mail marketing
Reservation quotes, wait list, and denial tracking capabilities
Booking Pace and Occupancy Forecasting
Additional features related to condo and home owner accounting

The topics above are covered in this document. For additional features related to condo and home owner accounting, please see RDP Owner Accounting Overview.

Same Ownership at RDP for 24 years

Why Buy From RDP?
A Message from Barry Biegler
President and Founder of Resort Data Processing, Inc.

I founded RDP in 1981. For the last 24 years, we have sold over 1000 systems for vacation rentals, condominium management, and hotels. Bill Csete has been my partner for over 20 years and is currently in charge of product development. We still run the company day-to-day and continue to drive RDP's success, which includes 24 consecutive profitable years. While we have had many offers to sell RDP, we decided long ago to keep the company private and drive decisions based on the long run and future generations.

The founders of First Resort have all left. FRS has been sold several times: first to Resort Quest, and then again to Gaylord Hospitality and now to another company. The brains behind FRS are gone, whereas the founders of RDP are still here to help, which is critical to the success of any small company.

Please give me a call on my personal line, 970-845-1157 and I will be glad to discuss any area of the vacation rental business with you. I have always answered my own phone directly and frequently talk to our customers to make sure the RDP software is helping them make more money.

Barry Biegler, President, RDP
Direct Phone: 970-845-1157

Barry Biegler, President and Founder, Resort Data Processing, Inc.

See RDP Owner Accounting Overview.

Fully Integrated Internet Reservations with Unit Pictures and Virtual Tours

RDP's Internet Reservation Module (IRM) allows millions of potential guests, groups, travel agents, and owners to check availability and make commission-free reservations 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The IRM is designed to work in conjunction with your existing marketing website. Reservations are stored immediately in the same database as normal "phone-in" reservations with just one database for true "last room" availability. Multiple pictures of each rental unit can be displayed, along with full descriptions and a "virtual tour" of each property.

Six years ago RDP had a conference with over 200 of our customers. We asked, "How can RDP use the Internet to make life easier and more profitable for our customers dealing with individual owners?". We spent three days answering this question, and have now implemented the suggestions, which include:

How the Internet Can Help Vacation Rental Managers
Owners can make reservations via the Internet Owners can make reservations for their own guests Owners can display and print their owner calendar (see sample below) Owners can view their newsletters online Collect owner payments over the Internet Send mass e-mails with "one click" Guests can view individual pictures and descriptions of every room A few sample screens from the Internet Reservation Module appear below. For additional information, please use the following links: Internet Reservation Module sample IRM screens e-mail marketing RDP Owner Accounting Overview More sample screens

How the Internet Can Help Vacation Rental Managers

Owners can make reservations via the Internet
Owners can make reservations for their own guests
Owners can display and print their owner calendar (see sample below)
Owners can view their newsletters online
Collect owner payments over the Internet
Send mass e-mails with "one click"
Guests can view individual pictures and descriptions of every room

A few sample screens from the Internet Reservation Module appear below. For additional information, please use the following links:

Internet Reservation Module - Sample Owner Calendar

Internet Reservation Module - Show Available Rooms

Your Existing Hardware Should Work with RDP

RDP software is designed to run on Windows 2003 and 2008 servers or using "peer-to-peer" networks. Workstations run on Windows 2000/XP Professional. Most FRS customers should be able to use all their existing hardware for the RDP software.

Extensive Custom Reporting with Crystal Reports

RDP software includes much more report writing capability than FRS. RDP uses Crystal Reports as the basis for over 275 standard reports. During installation, RDP modifies those reports and creates new ones to meet the unique requirements of each customer. After installation, customers can create their own reports or modify existing reports using Crystal Reports 2008. Crystal Reports is a full windows product and allows the use of graphics, color, charts, and fonts, which improve the look of all guest correspondence. Please use the following links for more information:

Email Integration for Guests, Owners, Travel Agents, etc.

E-mail is one of the most powerful and least expensive marketing tools currently available and has been fully incorporated into the core RDP system at no additional charge. E-mail features included in the system:

E-Mail databases are created for guests, travel agents, groups, wholesalers, and condo/timeshare owners.
Reservationists can click one button to send a confirmation to the guest, complete with maps and other attachments.
Mass e-mails can be sent directly from the RDP System - with no third party software required.
RDP abides by all current regulations for anti-SPAM by allowing guests to "opt out" of mass e-mails.
Guest confirmations can be sent via e-mail, fax, or printed and sent by mail.
Crystal Reports can be created and distributed by e-mail.
Reservations made by the Internet Reservation Module (IRM) can send e-mail confirmations automatically
Owner newsletter can be automatically sent via e-mail

Yield Management Integrated with New Reservations

RDP has integrated yield management with the reservation system. When combined with a careful study of the property's history and employee training, yield management can significantly increase occupancy and the average daily rate (ADR). Small increases in ADR can drastically increase property profit.

Yield Management Overview

Share-with Folios and One Guest with Multiple Folios

RDP supports both share-with folios and a single guest with multiple folios. A share-with occurs when more than one guest is in the room and wishes to split the bill. For example, four guests could stay in a two-bedroom unit, with four different folios. Up to 99 share-withs can split the charges for one room. A single guest can have multiple folios. For example, the room charges can go to the Folio A and incidentals to Folio B; or room charges can be billed to the group master and incidentals for the guest. Please use the following links for more information:

Powerful Housekeeping Capabilities - Forecast, Schedule, & History

The RDP system includes a very powerful housekeeping system which is designed to forecast housekeeping requirements, provide a daily cleaning schedule, and complete history by housekeeper and room. An overview is provided below. For more details please see Housekeeping Forecast, Scheduling, and History.

Forecasted Housekeeping Requirements	The housekeeping module is designed to forecast the total number of housekeepers needed each day in the future based on current guests in-house and expected arrivals/departures. For example the forecast report may indicate that a total of 124 rooms will be dirty tomorrow for a total cleaning time of 101 hours. The following day shows 214 dirty rooms with a total cleaning time of 194 hours. Use this information to plan the work schedules for housekeepers to make sure there are not too few or too many housekeepers each day. Features include: Forecast cleans up to 365 days in advance. Store individual estimated clean times in user-defined tables based on room type and clean type (daily clean, checkout clean, "midweek tidy", etc. Various Crystal Reports are available which can be modified as needed. Assign different "clean patterns" for each guest. For example, in a condominium rental application, one guest can have "checkout only" cleaning while another can purchase "full daily cleaning."
Daily Housekeeping Schedule	The housekeeping module can automatically create a cleaning schedule each day for each housekeeper based on the number of dirty rooms, estimated clean time per room, and number of housekeepers. A "housekeeping status screen" is the core element which tracks each housekeeper and auto-refreshes as rooms are cleaned, inspected, and other tasks are performed. Features include: Automatically assign dirty rooms to housekeepers based on total cleaning time; Print daily cleaning schedule for each housekeeper; Track status from dirty to "ready for inspection" to "clean and ready for guest"; Rooms can be marked clean automatically using the in-room phone or handheld wireless personal digital assistant (PDA). Guest requests can be scheduled. For example, if a guest calls the front desk and requests "extra towels," the front desk can input this request, which then appears on the Housekeeping Monitor screen. The head housekeeper can then schedule someone to complete this request. The notification to the housekeeper can be automatically sent to a handheld wireless PDA or cell phone with text E-mail.
Housekeeping History Housekeeper Performance Reports	The third major element of the housekeeping module is historical reporting. It is possible to measure the performance of each housekeeper by tracking the estimated clean time and actual clean time, as well as variance. You can also track each time a room was cleaned and by whom. For example, if a guest checks in to a dirty room, you can determine which housekeeper erroneously marked the room as clean. Features include: Various Crystal Reports available that you can modify; Enter actual cleaning time and compare to forecasting time using the phone in the room. For example, the housekeeper can press "1" when they enter the room, which stores the "Start clean time" in housekeeping history. When done they type "2" to mark the room as "ready for inspection", which also stamps the "end clean time". The system reports the actual clean time per room, forecasted time, and variance to track housekeeper performance. Inspectors can enter comments on each clean. Inspectors can use the phone in the room to mark the room as "ready for guest", which also stored the time the inspector finished. Reports are available showing how much time elapsed between the housekeeper marking the room as "ready for inspector" and the the time the Inspector completed the inspection. Track all cleans per housekeeper; and Track all cleans per room.

Forecasted
Housekeeping
Requirements

The housekeeping module is designed to forecast the total number of housekeepers needed each day in the future based on current guests in-house and expected arrivals/departures. For example the forecast report may indicate that a total of 124 rooms will be dirty tomorrow for a total cleaning time of 101 hours. The following day shows 214 dirty rooms with a total cleaning time of 194 hours. Use this information to plan the work schedules for housekeepers to make sure there are not too few or too many housekeepers each day. Features include:

Forecast cleans up to 365 days in advance.
Store individual estimated clean times in user-defined tables based on room type and clean type (daily clean, checkout clean, "midweek tidy", etc.
Various Crystal Reports are available which can be modified as needed.
Assign different "clean patterns" for each guest. For example, in a condominium rental application, one guest can have "checkout only" cleaning while another can purchase "full daily cleaning."

Daily
Housekeeping
Schedule

The housekeeping module can automatically create a cleaning schedule each day for each housekeeper based on the number of dirty rooms, estimated clean time per room, and number of housekeepers. A "housekeeping status screen" is the core element which tracks each housekeeper and auto-refreshes as rooms are cleaned, inspected, and other tasks are performed. Features include:

Automatically assign dirty rooms to housekeepers based on total cleaning time;
Print daily cleaning schedule for each housekeeper;
Track status from dirty to "ready for inspection" to "clean and ready for guest";
Rooms can be marked clean automatically using the in-room phone or handheld wireless personal digital assistant (PDA).
Guest requests can be scheduled. For example, if a guest calls the front desk and requests "extra towels," the front desk can input this request, which then appears on the Housekeeping Monitor screen. The head housekeeper can then schedule someone to complete this request. The notification to the housekeeper can be automatically sent to a handheld wireless PDA or cell phone with text E-mail.

Housekeeping
History

Housekeeper
Performance
Reports

The third major element of the housekeeping module is historical reporting. It is possible to measure the performance of each housekeeper by tracking the estimated clean time and actual clean time, as well as variance. You can also track each time a room was cleaned and by whom. For example, if a guest checks in to a dirty room, you can determine which housekeeper erroneously marked the room as clean. Features include:

Various Crystal Reports available that you can modify;
Enter actual cleaning time and compare to forecasting time using the phone in the room. For example, the housekeeper can press "*1" when they enter the room, which stores the "Start clean time" in housekeeping history. When done they type "*2" to mark the room as "ready for inspection", which also stamps the "end clean time". The system reports the actual clean time per room, forecasted time, and variance to track housekeeper performance.
Inspectors can enter comments on each clean.
Inspectors can use the phone in the room to mark the room as "ready for guest", which also stored the time the inspector finished. Reports are available showing how much time elapsed between the housekeeper marking the room as "ready for inspector" and the the time the Inspector completed the inspection.
Track all cleans per housekeeper; and
Track all cleans per room.

Work Orders & Asset Management Completely Integrated with Owner Accounting

RDP provides a complete "Work Order and Asset Management" capabilities, fully integrated with owner accounting. A brief overview of this module is below. For more information:

The flow of events for a work order is as follows:

When the guest calls the front desk to report the broken toilet, the front desk clerk enters the work order on their workstation using the Windows based "Add Work Order" screen (see example below). The front desk clerk can assign a priority to the work order; in this case, "high."
This new work order immediately appears on the Monitor Work Orders screen as a "high-priority" work order request to "Fix the toilet in Room 101." The Maintenance Department can now assign this work order to a third party vendor (for example, Bob's Plumbing) or to an internal maintenance employee. Alternatively the front desk clerk or front desk supervisor could assign a person to the work order when it was first added to the system to eliminate this step.
Assume the work order was assigned to an internal maintenance employee Tom. The work order system can automatically notify Tom about the new work order in one of the following methods:
1. A notification can be sent to a wireless PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) carried by Tom. Tom can view the complete detail of the work order on the PDA.
2. A text-only e-mail can be sent to Tom's cell phone or to Tom's PDA.
The work order monitor screen tracks the "open, assigned" work order. Any workstation can access the Monitor Work Orders screen to track the progress of all work orders.
Since this example work order was marked with a high priority, the system can automatically send a warning notification to one or more other employees if the work order is not completed by the assigned completion time. For example, the general manager and manager on duty could both receive a notification that the "toilet in Room 101 has not been fixed yet and over 3 hours have elapsed." This notification can be sent to the workstation that the manager is currently logged into, a cell phone, or wireless PDA.
When the assigned Contact (Tom) completes the work order, he marks it as "closed" and can enter comments. This can be done using a wireless PDA or any workstation. The work order is then closed, and no longer appears as a high priority open work order on the monitor screen.
Work order history is maintained. For example, you can view all closed work orders for the day or any range of past days. A wide variety of reports are available (i.e. Work Sheet report displays Open work orders sorted by Vendor, as well as Contacts within the Vendor.)
The cost of a work order can be charged to a guest, group, or condominium owner. Assume the $75 cost of repairing the toilet should be charged to the guest in Room 101. These charges can be applied from the work order directly to the Guest Folio, along with a "markup" (i.e., you may charge the guest $95 for the $75 repair.). If using RDP's Condominium Owner Module, these charges can be applied to the owner statement.
A complete history of all repairs for each "fixed asset" is available. For example, you could enter the pool heater as an asset, along with the serial number, description, what vendor to call for repair, and other asset-specific information. Each time a work order is generated for the pool heater, the vendor can be automatically notified by e-mail. The history of all repairs to the pool heater is available. The system allows up to 999,999 different assets to be tracked.

Powerful General Ledger Offers Full Integration with Various Standard Back-Office Accounting Systems

The RDP system includes a powerful general ledger which tracks all activity for guests, owners, travel agents groups, wholesalers, credit cards, and other RDP entities. The system uses your chart of accounts and produces a wide variety of financial reports with daily, month-to-date, and year-to-date totals. The RDP general ledger is fully integrated with a variety of third-party back-office systems. The flow of data is as follows: (See Overview - RDP General Ledger for details).

During installation, assign account numbers from your chart of accounts to every RDP transaction code.
Within the RDP system, transaction codes are posted to Owners, reservations, folios, groups, companies, travel agents, wholesalers, etc.
During the Day End procedures, the system moves transactions into the general ledger components producing a balanced daily G/L entry.
The balanced daily journal entry is exported to a network "transfer file."
Your back-office system imports the transfer file as a daily journal entry.
The daily totals are transferred to your back-office system, but the detail behind the total is in RDP. For example, if there were 300 local guest phone calls made at $.50 each, the $150 total appears in the back-office system. The detail of each of the 300 calls is in the RDP system in the transaction detail report.
General Ledger history is stored forever in the RDP system; limited only by available disk space. You have the ability to inquire on any G/L account for any past date and display all transactions.
Advance deposit ledger, guest ledger, and city ledger reports are available from RDP.
Monthly income statements, balance sheets, cash flow reports, etc., are printed from your back-office system.

Track Guest Credit Card Numbers Indefinitely for Easy Tracking and Reference

RDP offers the tracking of credit card numbers, deposits, refunds, authorizations, etc. A wide variety of credit card processors can be used. High speed authorization (usually less than 2 seconds) is available using an Internet connection. Credit cards can be scanned directly into the RDP System.

Integration to GDS, POS, Credit Cards, Door Locks, Phone Mail, etc.

RDP interfaces with a wide variety of third-party devices. Please use the links below for details.

Interfaces
Overview of all interfaces Global Distribution System (GDS) Central Reservations SDC Credit Card Interface High Speed Credit Card Authorization In-Room Video Checkout Call Accounting Phone Actuator (On/Off) Point Of Sale Voicemail Maid-Phone (Housekeeping) Environmental Back-Office Accounting Nomadix Wireless Internet Billing Room Key (Ving Card, etc.) RDP Partners and Alliances

Sophisticated Group Blocking & Group Reservations

The RDP system contains extensive capabilities for handling group reservations, companies, wholesalers, conferences, families, and city ledger billing. For example, the following flow of events is possible:

The group sales department establishes a group block.
Configure the block to use one rate plan before the arrival date, another rate plan during the block, and a third rate plan after the departure date.
Establish a cut-off date to release the block (see above)
Group members can reserve a room from the block by either calling the property or using RDP's Internet Reservation Module (IRM) to make their own reservation directly on the Internet.
Create group itineraries. For example, if you schedule a meeting at 9:00 p.m. on the day of arrival, this information can be displayed during check-in to inform the group members.
Billing can be split between the individual and the group. If the guest decides to arrive early or stay later, the billing can be appropriately distributed.
Sub-groups can be created for billing. For example, there can be a block of 300 rooms for a group. Any given person could reserve eight of these rooms and pay for those room charges, while the incidentals are paid by the individual guests in each room.
Registration cards, group itineraries, and room keys can be created and printed prior to check-in, so a check-in packet can be handed to each group member without delay.
When rooms are pre-assigned, groups can be checked-in all together to minimize check-in time or separately as the individual members arrive.
RDP maintains a complete city ledger billing system for groups.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) with Frequent Guest Program

The Customer Relationship Management (CRM) module is designed to track all relationships with guests to improve guest service and marketing. All guest visits are tracked from one or more RDP systems. Points can be awarded for each reservation. The number of points can be different for different seasons, room types, total dollars spent, and other variables. Guests can make reservations by redeeming points. Restrictions can be applied to control when "point reservations" are allowed. A complete history is kept of all point reservations. Mass e-mails can be sent with attachments.

Reservation Quotes, Wait List, and Denial Tracking

When a guest calls the reservation department at the property or your central reservations office, the reservationist has four choices:

File the reservation normally as a "real" reservation;
If the room is not available, the guest can be automatically added to the wait list for the dates and room type requested;
If the guest elects to not make the reservation, a "denied reservation" record is created to indicate why the guest did not complete the reservation; or
The reservation can be saved as a "quote". For example, a guest may call and request prices on a room, along with scheduling three rounds of golf and a dinner (see RDP's Itinerary module). The guest may promise to "call back in a few minutes and book it". This reservation can be saved as a "quote". If the guest calls back, the reservationist can retrieve the "quoted reservation" and change it to a "real" reservation.

Booking Pace and Occupancy Forecasting

RDP offers "Booking Pace and Occupancy Forecasting" reports to analyze forecasted revenue and occupancy and compare the forecasts to the same time last year. Over 40 reports are included, all of which can be modified with Crystal Reports. A wide variety of additional reports can easily be created to analyze data. For example, on 2/1/2004, you could run a report that showed the total number of rooms booked, and revenue for the period 3/1/2004 to 6/30/2004. The report includes totals for the same time frame last year (i.e., on 2/1/2003, what was booked for 3/1/2003 to 6/30/2003). This allows management to analyze if the booking pace is ahead or behind the previous year. Any date ranges are possible.

Each night the system takes a "snapshot" of all reservations and stores this data in a forecast file. This data is stored forever; limited only by available disk space. The data includes a wide variety of sorting capabilities

Additional Features Related to Condo/Home Owner Accounting

Some additional features in the RDP Owner Accounting system are listed below. For a complete description of each feature, please see RDP Owner Accounting Overview.

Vacation Rental and Condo-Hotel Features & Links
Powerful Reservation Board (Tape Chart)	Housekeeping Forecast, Schedule, & History	Internet Reservations with Unit Pictures and Virtual Tours	Work Orders & Asset Management
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)	Data Flow From Reservation to Owner Statement	IRS 1099 Year-End Reports	Month-to-Date & Year-to-Date Totals Per Owner
E-mail Integration for Guests, Owners, etc.	Sharewith Folios or One Guest With Multiple Folios	Reservation Quotes, Wait List, and Denial Tracking	Fast Production of Owner Statements
Integration to GDS, POS, Credit Cards, etc.	Manage Units Not in the Rental Pool	Automatic Interface to General Ledger (Back Office)	Trust Accounting and Owner History

Lock-Off Units Allowed		Short Term and/or Long Term Rental
Owner Recurring Charges		Print or E-mail Overdue Notices Automatically
Extensive Custom Reporting with Crystal Reports		Accounts Receivable With Aging
Timeshare and Interval Ownership Allowed		Unlimited Charges Per Owner
Split Revenue Across Billing Period		Mix of Rental Types - Condos, Houses, Hotels, Timeshare
Various Billing Cycles - Monthly, Quarterly, etc.		Room Moves Pay Correct Owner
Travel Agent Commissions Deducted		Taxes Adjusted for Length of Stay and Location
Statements Can Be Reprinted Forever		Print Checks to Owners
Yield Management Integrated		Live Demonstration of Internet Reservations

Hotel and Resort Overview Vacation Rentals and Condo-Hotel Overview Timeshare / Interval Ownership Overview Discount Available when converting to RDP From First Resort Software