Frontdesk Anywhere

Great Software

Pros:

I only trial this software when I was looking for a PMS. I really enjoyed it's features and easy of use. Very complete. Unfortunately it didn't fullfill all my business needs

Cons:

It wasn't flexible enough to my needs since I manage a Guesthouse and apartments

FDA Hospitality Booking Engine and More

Comments: FDA has been a great system for us to grow. Other than the Cons mentioned, we really have no complaints. It is a difficult system to learn (onboarding/set-up was more difficult than our previous platform; 3-6 months to become comfortable), but once mastered, it is easy to navigate and customize. In hindsight, the difficulties we had were mostly due to the robust functionality, which we use every bit of. If I could make any single change, it would be to streamline the communication with customers by making email templates easily editable/more user friendly, and allowing emails/SMS text alerts to be sent to ALL guests at one time, without the need for a timed template. 3rd party software integration will allow this to be done, but including it in the package would make the system even stronger. Overall, we decided to go with FDA after demoing 3 other systems (the functionality was superior and it checked all of our requirements at the time). Automatic itemized invoicing and auto-emails were our most basic requirements, and FDA goes far beyond. My hope is that money continues to be invested into further developing the system; if so, FDA is going to be hard to beat.

Pros:

- internet based system, can be accessed from numerous devices - itemized nightly invoices - unlimited auto emails (pre/post dated from check-in/check-out date) which integrate with external email system - IBE integrates with Wix created websites - rate manager is extremely easy to use - create trouble tickets online, response time is satisfactory - integrates with channel managers and 3rd party software

Cons:

- no mobile app, only mobile website (can be a pain to login/logout on phone) - 24/7 support exists, but difficult to get ahold of tech support by phone at any given time (typically will get a call back within 24 hrs.) - cannot highlight rooms to create blocks/reservations (must open new reservation tab in either case) - customized emails require coding experience (not user friendly) - inability to email ALL guests with custom email (for alerts, temporary hazards, etc.)

failed attempt

Pros:

Visually, look and layout are very simple and chic. It's eye-catching. It is fairly easy to use and intuitive. Whoever made the product does have an understanding of user interface. My staff, of varying computer knowledge, was able to pick it up very easily.

Cons:

There are many things wrong with this system and company that I have experienced in the last 3-4 months. First I will tell you that they are poorly staffed. In all my experience with them, I only dealt with 4 staff members. There was never a time that someone different, outside of these 4 people, answered the phone. Tech support is staffed by 3 of these 4 people, all very nice and accommodating to their best ability, but they cannot keep up with demand. It's not their fault, but a fault of company planning. Beyond this, I have had many glitches with the system itself. Failed credit card transactions for no reason and then I went to our back up manual credit card machine and it went through (both dependent on same ethernet connection). The major issue I have with this program is faulty reporting and functionality. Nothing comes across as you want it to. The housekeeping report, in print mode, has a horrible inefficient layout that takes up the whole page and more. Finally, after many complaints, I started talking to management and they attempted software updates to "fix the bugs", however, I'm still unhappy. I have had several bugs even after the update. Most recently, bookings were coming from channel management either in duplicates or not in exact quantity. We had to relocate a guest Memorial Day Weekend because they were supposed to have 5 bookings but came across as 3. Housekeeping status was showing a room that had been checked in as "clean". Many glitches that still continue, very disappointed. I believe this company has a true lack of real hotel industry advisors. It is more of an IT company that attempted to go into hospitality and are not hitting the mark. They are very much in the "start up" "tweaking" phase and using their current customer base as guinea pigs in hopes to finally get to the product they wanted. But if you are like me, you need a product that works now, not in trial mode. Unfortunately I would recommend another company and save your time, even if you are a small 10 room Inn, keep looking elsewhere.

Efficient support team! Great software for hotel operation, services, and time management

Pros:

I've been using Frontdesk Anywhere as our PMS software for 3 years now. As a Sales and Marketing manager of an independent hotel, this cloud based software is a gem. Their support team gives us a comfort with 24 hours support service, and immediate hands on to resolve the glitch that we encountered. With this software, our team can review the occupancy forecast, plan our promotions, as well as monitor and manage our rate via the rate manager or booking suite tab to keep an eye on our competitors price. This allows us to adjust the our rate within a few second. The software is upgraded regularly which, often times, added a new and exciting features on to their software. Recently, we are thrilled with reputation tab which allows us to track all online reviews and see our current rating. It's great for us to quickly respond to reviews from OTAs and Tripadvisor, as well as to recover the hotel reputation through Frontdesk Anywhere software. In short, we're incredibly happy with the report analytics, reservation system, and online reputation channels which save us a heap amount of time on complicated stuff and spare us more time to focus on the real hospitality service with our hotel guests.

Cons:

We are looking forward to be using their full function of POS software. At the moment, we use the lite version that comes with the package but the result is great anyway.

User friendly.

Comments: Easy to use

Pros:

Easy to set up, quick to learn. Visually very clear and pleasant. Easy to run different reports. Use of different colors for different status of the bookings.

Cons:

Not able to scroll horizontally so it is hard to see bookings more than a month. No CVV pre-authorisation (CVV can be hidden after pre-authorisation but the system should allow pre-authorisation with CVV checked). Payment between group folio and individual folios should be transferable. Report involving group accounts not always accurate. All emails sent to guest include price information and cannot be omitted - very often guest would think we are sending the same email though the information underneath the price information are different. We are not able to change the subject (Guest Confirmation xxxxx) when sending manual email through the system. No line break or font changes (bold, underline) for additional message under option. More flexible and customized user levels - we try to put add on rate changes and changes in check-in messages at the basic level but not possible.