Within the past 6 months, I have moved two small Inns over to InnRoad from RezOvation. The Sales Team offered me a discount if I started the migration right away and although I was hesitant I agreed - No time like the present right. Unfortunately, it was the beginning of the busy season and I couldn't do it and I asked if we could postpone the migration until the end of the season and they were more than happy to comply. The move is relatively seamless but it is tedious work if you want to bring everything with you, that being said I wish some more of the functionality had been explained prior to the migration because I would have been able to make better decisions on how we specifically were going to handle different situations and I would have done things much simpler. An Inn starting from scratch would be super simple. Our Inns have unique rooms so we had to make a room type for almost every room which requires a little more time for everything that follows, but the end result is worth it. I work hard on yield management and InnRoads has many capabilities that RezOvations did not offer that I now take full advantage of. This also translates into their Booking Engine capabilities. First, you set up your seasons, then your rates, then minimum stays (discuss this with your Implementation person first as there are several ways you can set this up). It seems like a lot of steps, but once it is all in there it is super easy to work with. Adding a short term special is very easy, especially if it is a discount off of your Rack rate. You can automate some, all or none of your emails - so handy. The reports are well put together and easy to use. The search capabilities are wonderful - you can find a booking by the last four digits of their Credit card. I mainly moved over because of the cost. With RezOvations and using Bed & Breakfast.com to link to the OTA's for two properties. We have easily cut the cost in half. I thought I would be giving up a lot of functionality with the reduced cost, but I have actually gained much more control of my rates. Just do it...it's worth it. The Support team is very responsive. I have had a few little bugs, which I may have caused myself, but they have cleared them all up relatively quickly.
Pros
Very easy to use, very easy to set up.
Credit card set up is a breeze, we did switch credit card processors.
Booking Engine came together beautifully, we put both Inns together.
The link to the OTA's - three for each property (Expedia, Booking & Trip Advisor) and we only had brief troubles with one of them - was easy.
If you are having reservations about moving just take it slow and steady one piece at a time and you will get there unscathed.
Cons
My main complaint and I think this is only because I was moving over from another system, is that the functionality of things were not explained.
The Sales Department gives its pitch and then you are turned over to an Implementation Team which I think should ask a lot more questions about how you run your business than they did. We would have saved a lot of time, effort and frustration.
A simple example is in some of their List Items, you enter all your Market Segment options in setup for a drop down menu that appears on the Reservation screen. Had they told me that the drop-down list shows up in the order that you enter them I would have entered them in a much different order. Simple stuff like that would have been very handy to know in advance.
The housekeeping functionality is seriously lacking, but I haven't really seen a system that has a good one.
Rating breakdown
Likelihood to recommend: 10/10
Inn Road Software is simple to navigate and to learn. Although I did not start with Inn Road software integration from the beginning, it has proved to be useful in operations for the small 39 room hotel I operate. To make a long story short, I started as the GM last year in 2015; without training from my predecessor. I've not experienced such a cloud based software before, rather my strong suite was with another brand in a POS/Hospitality software. Being tossed into a new software, well. . . I only had my knowledge of computers and my wit to figure out applications being hindered and harbored in the technological era. After a month and a half, I've caught onto how the system operates. It wasn't too difficult to adapt to the generalities of how Inn Road Operates. In most areas I prefer the ease of Inn Road. Not only because I caught on fast in the areas needed to manage the hotel and all the reservation types that come wit it, but it allowed for me and others to correct ourselves prior to saving our mistakes. To explain, required information needs to be filled out prior to advancing and saving anything. It may seem archaic in regards to applications or forms have always required fields to be filled in before proceeding, but I've never had this luxury with the original operating system I've used. This has been beneficial and is a great regarding the software because it no longer requires many reports to be printed and trying to find the origin of the mistake to make corrections from the beginning. Overall, Inn Road has and continues to save time, which in return saves money, and sanity. I've always appreciated the cliché phrase "Work smarter, not harder." In my opinion, Inn Road's software allows me to accomplish this objective.
Pros
Employee Mistakes are easy to find and correct. Simple enough to remember the corrective action once experienced. For example, how to change a room using parking lot.
It has a question mark in the upper right that allows you to search for tips and read up on the features.
The customer service has never let me down. If I have a question I either call in or email, depending on my time constraints. They've been great with their help and responses to my staff and myself. If it is something that they are unable to manage or correct from their stand point, then it is passed to the IT department to investigate.
Inn Road takes care of Credit Card processing during the Audit process. We just have to run the reports and post everything from the day officially. Other than that, it is a simple print of the reports.
Cons
There are features I miss that an older software I used had; like having a DO NOT RENT LIST for trouble guests.
The software is still learning and I consider it a Beta Phase until they've incorporated many features that people are requesting to see with the software.
Lock night audit periods!! The system allows you to proceed without completing this feature, which is a blessing and a curse; not sure if it is a pro or a con at this point.
Rating breakdown
Likelihood to recommend: 9/10
We decided to switch to InnRoad last winter and it was the best decision we made! One of my biggest fears was our initial integration, but with the help of Jeff our property setup and integration were really easy and a lot faster than I anticipated. InnRoad is extremely user friendly when it comes to the day to day operation of the system. We have had a couple glitches with the interfacing of InnRoad and Booking.com which lead to a handful of over-bookings but InnRoad seems to have fixed whatever the problem was. The one thing I think they can work on or change protocol is following up with clients who contact the 24-7 Client Services department. Once you call or contact the Client Services Department and a ticket or work order is created that is the last you hear from them until you receive an email asking to fill out a short survey referencing the closed ticket item. The survey asks you how their customer service was and if you have any comments or feedback as to what they can do better. I am the type of person who would like a phone call or short email back from tech support saying "hey, we fixed the problem - this is what went wrong, this is what we did to fix it." That way I know the issue was resolved. Otherwise I just assume the ticket is still outstanding. Once you receive the email with the survey it means everything is resolved but I just like to be in the know so next time something happens I have knowledge as to what the problem could be. That is the one and only thing I think they could improve. Oh and maybe they could design an app for my phone/tablet so I can work on the go - other than that LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! Highly recommend the change if you are on the fence. It has made my life a thousands times easier.
Pros
How user friendly it is. How it has streamlined our two properties. Ability to run reports and track where guests are booking from and traveling from.
Cons
How I can't use on my iPhone or tablet. So if I'm not at my desk I can't take a reservation.
Rating breakdown
Likelihood to recommend: 10/10
Pros
After looking at several other systems, including a couple of the ones aimed at large, chain hotels, innRoad seemed to be the best designed for the small, single location business. We are very new to this business, so anything that could clearly improve our operations and sales is a bonus. A few things we do that are somewhat unique require creating workarounds that aren't as precise as would be ideal, but the customization available is great. Customer support and training has been really good, as well, leaving me in no doubt that the vendor actually does care about their customers. Even on a holiday, you can get live help on the phone quickly. The channel management features got us quickly online with major OTAs so we could get loads more exposure than traditional advertising would for the same cost. Already we are up 73% in sales over the same time period in the previous year! Of course, your mileage may vary. The pricing is also very competitive. I would not say it is the lowest I found, but based on every point I compared among systems, the system returns good value for the cost.
Cons
We have a vacation rental component to the way we do business that doesn't really fit the traditional inn model. This software is clearly aimed those businesses that hew closely to the inn model. I agree that their focus is entirely appropriate, but managing the kind of group bookings we do is a little harder than it would be using a system designed for vacation rentals. That said, vacation rental-based systems are far more limited in their overall scope. My only other nit to pick is that a few of the functions scattered throughout the system don't always respond reliably, but this may be more a function of the system being web-based, rather than run from a local server.
James, thank you so much for the kind words! We’re so happy to hear innRoad is working so well for you and you’re up in sales after listing on OTAs. Keep up the amazing work!
Rating breakdown
Likelihood to recommend: 8/10
The reason I did not rate the price / value was I'm a Reservation Agent and unaware of the rate paid, definitely not because I think it unfair. I do however feel like with the customer support they offer 24/7 being superior than any I've dealt with I wouldn't even enter price in to my decision equation. It's like having great car insurance, price is irrelevant if excellent support is available when you need it.
Pros
Ease of use, tutorials available, articles/how to guides just by searching a related term/word even if generalized. Hands down best customer support agents who don't stop if they aren't able to answer a question, instead they take it to a specialized team who proceeds with the inquiry/issue. They've followed up via email and phone every time I brought things to them. (I'm the squeaky wheel & utilize customer support a lot!) When responding to a feature availability inquiry the response has always been thorough and/or if feature was not currently an option they've taken it to a design team who has implemented it when possible. Their customer support has made reservation life so much more efficient.
Cons
A few quirky things about the program are puzzling, but not deal breakers. I was an opera user before and miss the feature of having everything about a person and all charges and history be available on one screen in pop ups ~ it was like all my sticky notes right where I could see them with the guest in front of me.
Rating breakdown
Likelihood to recommend: 10/10
Pricing starts from $200 per month, contact for a personalized quote.
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