Web-based Property Management System

On the menu bar, click the tab called CloudView.

This opens a CloudView Masters page, which shows a list of all CloudViews that have already been created, either automatically or manually. A CloudView can contain all or a selection of your properties and room types. It can be used to create bookings quickly and easily, using the Quick Reservation. CloudView can also be used to filter searches, wherever there is a CloudView dropdown option, such as on the dashboard. For more information about making bookings in CloudView, please watch the video How to Make a Reservation using CloudView, or see our User Guide, section 3.1c.

To create a new CloudView, click on Add New Record on the top left corner of the grid. This opens an Add / Edit CloudView Master page. Here, you can type the name of the CloudView and the default dates you want it to display. Press Save to continue.

This adds a CloudView Master Details section to the bottom of the page. Here, you can select the property and room types you want to add to your CloudView. Sort Order defines the sequence that the room types appear in CloudView. Click Save to confirm and add more properties and room types. This room type will then appear in a list at the bottom of the page. If you do not want to add any more room types to the CloudView, press Save and Close.

To edit an existing CloudView, click on the pencil-edit icon on the left of the CloudView title. This opens an Add / Edit CloudView Master page. Here, you can edit the CloudView title and default dates by clicking on the edit button. You can add more properties and room types to the CloudView in the CloudView Master Details section.

To edit room types that have already been added to a CloudView, click on the pencil-edit icon on the left of the property and room type that you want to edit in the list at the bottom of the Add / Edit CloudView Master page. The details of this room type will appear above, in the CloudView Master Details section. Here, you can change the property, room type and sort order.

Press Save to continue editing the CloudView or press Save and Close if you have finished editing the CloudView.

If the CloudView Master you are editing is not automatically generated by the system. You will be able to delete room types from it. Click on the red-cross icon on the right of the room type you want to remove and confirm by pressing OK in the pop up window that appears. You will only be able to delete a CloudView once you have deleted the rooms that have been added to it.

You have now successfully created or amended your CloudView.

On the menu bar, click the tab called CloudView. This opens a CloudView Masters page. Click on the name of the CloudView that contains the room that you want to make the reservation in. For more information on CloudView Masters, please watch the video How to Create Your Own CloudView or see our User Guide, section 3.1b.

This opens the graphical format of the CloudView. There are Search/Filter options at the top. Here, you navigate between different CloudViews, Properties and Dates. Below the Search/Filter, there is the legend for the graphical format of the CloudView. For instructions on how to change these colours, please watch the video How to Change Colour Schemes or refer to our User Guide, section 1.1a. To the right of the legend is an Attention section. This shows a list of any important guests, such as VIP or blacklisted customers that are booked. For more information on VIP or blacklisted guests, please watch our video How to Add or Edit Customer Information or see our User Guide, section 4.1.

Below this is the graphical format of CloudView. The dates are listed along the top, with today’s date highlighted in blue. The rooms are listed down the left-hand-side, organised by the Sort Order chosen when configuring the Rooms and the CloudView Master. For more information on this CloudView Sort Order, please watch the video How to Add or Edit Rooms or How to Create Your Own CloudView, or refer to our User Guide, section 1.3d or 3.1b.

At the bottom of the page, is a list of any bookings that have been cancelled.

To make a reservation, click and drag your mouse over the room and dates that you require. This will open a Quick Reservation window. On the header, it displays the dates of the stay. At the top it displays the Room Type you have selected and the Comfort and Max number of people for the room. It also shows how many rooms of this type are available. If the Maximum Number of Rooms Available is greater than zero, this message will show up in green. If Overbooking is allowed then you will be able to make more bookings than there are rooms available. If this is the case then the Maximum Number of Rooms Available will be zero or less and the message will show up in red. For more information on allocating the Comfort and Max levels for a room, please see the video How to Add or Edit Rooms or refer to our User Guide, section 1.3c. To change the setting for Overbooking, please watch the video How to Add or Edit Properties or see our User Guide, section 1.3b.

The first section to complete is Personal Information. Here, you can type the customer’s details. If they have stayed before, their details will appear on a dropdown, click on their name to select. If the customer has not stayed with you before you can carry on completing this section without selecting anything from the dropdown.

The next section is the Extra Charges. Here, you can enter additional information about Extra Persons staying in the room. Extra person charges will only be incurred after the Comfort level has been reached.

Below this is the Rates section. Here, you can enter the number of Rooms required and the rate. Alternative Rate Types are set up in the Room Rates section and, once the rate has been selected, the Per Day rate and the Tax amount will automatically update. For more information about Room Rates, please watch the video How to Manage Room Rates and Offers or see our User Guide, section 6. You can change the rate manually by ticking the Fixed Price box and changing the Per Day rate. This rate is the net charge; the Tax Calculator in the bottom right corner can be used to calculate the correct amount to enter here if you require a specific total to be reached.

On the right-hand-side of the Quick Reservation window there is a Summary of charges incurred. Below this is a For Display Purposes Only section. This is not used for calculations, but this rate can be set and sent to the customer in correspondence formats if required when the Use these details box is ticked. For more information on Display Only prices, please see our User Guide, section 3.2 or 6.

If this booking is temporary, tick the Temp Reserve box at the bottom of the screen. You can also select a Hold Until date and time. The booking will remain on CloudView until this date and time.

Press OK to confirm the reservation.

The booking will now appear on the graphical format of CloudView in the relevant colour.

You have now successfully made a reservation.

If you require further assistance, please refer to our user guide, call our support team on +44 (0) 20 3086 8182 or chat to us online via our website alavex.com

There are two easy ways to check-in or check-out your guests. The first way is via CloudView.

On the menu bar, click on the tab called CloudView. This opens a CloudView Masters page. Click on the name of the CloudView that contains the relevant property and room that is required to check-in or check-out. This opens the graphical format of the CloudView.

Here, you can click on the relevant reservation that needs to be checked-in or checked-out. Guests due to arrive will be coloured in the arrival colour shown on the key. Guests due to depart will appear in the occupied colour shown on the key, and the booking will be until today’s date, which is highlighted in blue.

When you click on a reservation, it will open a page with detailed information about the booking. Below the Billing details and the Booking details section there are the Check In and Check Out sections. Click on the pencil-edit icon next to either check-in or check-out. This opens a date and time selector. It automatically selects the current date and time, but if you need to change these details, you can select the date or time by clicking on the calendar icon or the clock icon on the right. The date selected must be between the Arrival and Departure date as shown in the booking details. Click on the tick icon to confirm. To cancel the changes, click on the cross icon.

You have now successfully checked-in or checked-out a guest.

If you want to print a prepopulated Check In form or print or send an Invoice, scroll to the bottom of the Booking page. Here, there are options that will print or email correspondences. For more information on correspondence formats, please watch the video How to Amend Email and Print Templates or How to Send or Print Correspondences or see our User Guide, section 1.5 or 3.2i.

The second way to check-in or check-out a guest is by using the quick booking reports. These can be found by clicking on the View more… for Arrivals and Departures on the Dashboard. Alternatively, you can click on the tab called Bookings on the menu bar. This opens a drop down menu. Click on either Today’s Check In or Today’s Check Out.

This opens a report that lists all the guests due to check-in or check-out today, organised by the date they were due to arrive. From this page, you can directly Print Check In forms and Invoices by clicking on Print Check-In or Print Invoice.

To check-in or check-out the guest, you can either click on the pencil-edit icon on the left of the guest details. This opens the page with detailed information about the booking and you can check-in and check-out the booking as described earlier. Alternatively, you can tick the bookings that you would like to check-in or check out, then select the date at the bottom of the grid and click on Update Check-in or Update Check-out. This automatically checks-in or checks-out the selected guests.

You have now successfully checked-in or checked-out a guest. For more information about reports, please watch the video How to View and Utilise Reports or refer to our User Guide, section 5.

Open a booking by navigating to the graphical CloudView by clicking on the tab called CloudView on the menu bar. Click on the guest name on the CloudView to open the booking in full.

There are other ways to open a booking, for more details on the two main ways to view a booking, please see the video How to Check-in and Check-out Guests or refer to our User Guide, section 3.

Here, you can see the Billing Details, Booking Details, Check In and Check Out, Notes fields, Parameters and Booking Status, the booked Property and the Guest Details. The later sections will be discussed in the proceeding videos, How to Apply Discounts to a Booking, How to Add a Commission to a Booking, How to Split a Folio, How to Receive or Refund Payments for a Booking and How to Send or Print Correspondences.

If you need to change any of the billing details, click on the pencil-edit icon on the left of the Billing Details section. This enables you to edit the name and contact details of your customer. If you would like to send email correspondence to your guest, please ensure that the email field is completed. Press the tick-icon on the left to confirm your changes.

If you want to change any of the booking details, click on the pencil-edit icon on the left of the Booking Details section. Here, you can change the Arrival and Departure Date by clicking on the calendar icon on the right of the date. You can change the number of Extra Beds by typing the required number into the Extra Bed field. You can cancel the booking make it provisional by ticking the Is Cancelled or Is Provisional boxes. If a guest requires a specific room, it can be “Locked” by ticking the Lock Rooms box. When Lock Rooms is checked, the booking will show a padlock on CloudView, to alert you that the guest wants that specific room. The room can still be changed if required. Display prices can also be edited here. These are the prices you can use in correspondences rather than the per night rate calculated by the system. Please note that these Display prices are manual and have no association to the actual price used when calculating the price of the room. For more information on display prices and room rates, please watch the video How to Manage Room Rates and Offers, or see our user guide, section 6. Press the tick-icon on the left to confirm your changes.

If you want to change the room and the rates of the stay, click on Change Rooms / Rates in the Booking Details section. This opens an Edit Room No window. Here, you can select for which dates you want to change the room, using the date selectors at the top of the window. Then you can select which room number you wish to move the guest into using the dropdown for Change Room No. This automatically displays only the available rooms for the property; to see all the rooms, click on Show All Rooms. You will only be able to shift the guest into an already booked room if the property is configured to allow overbookings. For more information on overbooking, please watch the video, How to Add or Edit Properties or see our User Guide, section 1.3a. You can change the rate of the room by selecting a new rate type or ticking Fixed Price and manually changing the rate. For more information on rates, please watch the video How to Manage Room Rates and Offers, or see our User Guide, section 6.  Press Update to confirm, or Close to cancel.

If you want to add notes to a booking, click on the pencil-edit icon on the left of the Notes section. Here, you can add any notes you wish to. The difference between Notes and Admin Notes is that the notes field can be added to correspondences if you wish it to. For more information about setting up correspondences, please see the video How to Amend Email and Print Templates or refer to our User Guide, section 1.5. Once you have typed the relevant information, press the tick-icon on the left to confirm your changes.

If you would like to assign parameters, for your bespoke reporting facility, or add a booking status to the reservation, click on the pencil-edit icon on the left of Parameters. Here, you can select options for the parameter dropdowns and choose a booking status. For more information on how to configure these dropdowns please watch the video, How to Set up Your Own Analytic Reports or How to Configure the Manual Booking Status or refer to our User Guide, section 1.7 or 1.8. Press the tick-icon on the left to confirm your changes.

If you want to add the details of other guests staying in the room, click on Add New Adult Guest or Add New Child Guest above the Guest Details section. This creates a new, blank entry in the Guest Details section. To add the relevant details, click on the pencil-edit icon on the left of the new entry. This will open a Guest window. Here, you can type the guest’s name and contact details. If the guest has stayed previously, their details will appear automatically in a dropdown list. You can then select the appropriate name and press Select to confirm the guest. If the guest is not already on the database, type in their details and click Create New Guest. This will add their details both to the booking and to the customer database, so their details will remain for future visits. Press Cancel if you do not want to add the guest to the booking. Please note, you will not be able to check-out the booking unless all guests have been named.

To remove a guest from the booking, click the red-cross icon on the right of the guest entry. You will have to confirm that you want to delete the record by pressing OK on the window that pops up.

Once the comfort number of people for a room is reached, you will receive a warning “Comfort level has been reached” This comfort level is chosen when setting up a Room Type in configuration. The maximum number of people set for the room type defines the total number of guests that can be added to a booking. Once this number is reached, you will not be able to add more guests to the booking. For more information on comfortable and maximum occupancy, please watch the video How to Add or Edit Rooms, or take a look at our User Guide, section 1.3c.

You have now successfully edited a guest’s booking details.

Open a booking by navigating to the graphical CloudView by clicking on the tab called CloudView on the menu bar. Click on the guest name on the CloudView to open the booking in full.

There are other ways to open a booking. For more details on the two main ways to view a booking, please see the video How to Check-in and Check-out Guests or refer to our User Guide, section 3.

To apply a discount, navigate to the section called Folio Summary, which is about halfway down the page. The earlier sections are explained in the video How to Edit Booking Details or in our User Guide, section 3.2.

If no discount has been applied, the discount charge column in the Folio Summary section will be 0.00. To apply a discount on this Folio, click on the pencil-edit icon on the left of the Folio ID. This opens an Edit Folio window. Here, you can edit the Arrival Date and the Guest Name for the invoice. Below this, you can allocate a Discount Percentage by typing in the appropriate number; the amount will be calculated automatically and displayed in the Discount Amount field. If you want to apply a flat discount, tick the Flat Amount box. Then you can enter the amount in the Discount Amount field. You can also change the Tax Percentage that is applied to the folio by selecting the appropriate percentage from the dropdown. Press Update to confirm the changes or Cancel to reject. The discount will then be added to the folio.

For more information on setting up Tax Percentages or setting the default Tax Percentage for a property or rate, please watch the videos How to Add or Edit Tax Percentages, How to Add or Edit Properties or How to Manage Room Rates and Offers or refer to our User Guide, section 1.2d, 1.3a and 6.

If there are multiple folios in a booking, then you will need to apply the discount to each one individually, if appropriate. For more information on split folios, please see the video, How to Split a Folio or refer to our User Guide, section 3.2g.

You have now successfully applied a discount to a booking.

Open a booking by navigating to the graphical CloudView by clicking on the tab called CloudView on the menu bar. Click on the guest name on the CloudView to open the booking in full.

There are other ways to open a booking. For more details on the two main ways to view a booking, please see the video How to Check-in and Check-out Guests or refer to our User Guide, section 3.

To add a commission to a booking, navigate to the Commission section, which is at the bottom of the page. The earlier sections are explained in the video How to Edit Booking Details or in our User Guide, section 3.2.

This section displays any commissions already allocated to a booking. To create a new commission, click on Add New Commission on the top left of this section. This will open a Booking Commissions window. Here, you can select the type of commission, Gross, Net or Flat and you can select the commission amount, either by typing your desired percentage into the Commission percentage field, and pressing Recalculate or if a flat amount is chosen, you can type the amount directly into the Commission Amount field. Press Save to confirm, or Cancel to reject the changes. The commission amount will appear in the commission section of the booking.

You have now successfully added a commission to a booking.

For more information on setting up agent accounts, please watch the video How to Add or Edit Accounts or see our User Guide, section 1.2c.

Open a booking by navigating to the graphical CloudView by clicking on the tab called CloudView on the menu bar. Click on the guest name on the CloudView to open the booking in full.

There are other ways to open a booking. For more details on the two main ways to view a booking, please see the video How to Check-in and Check-out Guests or refer to our User Guide, section 3.

To split an invoice or folio, navigate to the section called Folio Details, which is about halfway down the page. The earlier sections are explained is the video How to Edit Booking Details or in our User Guide, section 3.2.

This section shows the Folio ID and the number of nights that the booking is for. Click on the arrow to expand the folio. This shows details of the stay, the offer name, the room, the rate and the tax. Here, you can add additional booking services, such as breakfast by clicking on Add New Booking Service.

This opens an Add / Edit Booking Service window. Here you can choose the Date of the service, the Service Item, the Quantity and the Rate. For more information about creating booking services, please watch the video How to Add or Edit Room Services or refer to our User Guide, section 1.6a.

Click Save to confirm.

This adds the service to the Folio Details. If the tax selected is different to the tax of the booking, then the booking service will automatically be created in a new folio.

To edit this service, click on Edit Service, on the right of the service. This opens an Add / Edit Booking Service window. Amend any details and click Save to confirm or Delete to remove.

To move an item to a new folio, click on the tick box on the left of the items you want to move. Click on Move to New Folio. This will create a new folio containing the items you have selected.

To move an item to an existing folio, click on the tick box on the left of the items you want to move. Click on Move to other Folio. A Folio Number dropdown will appear, select the folio number that you want to move the items into. Click Move to confirm. The items you have selected will then move into the folio you have selected.

You have successfully split an invoice.

To send an invoice, scroll to the bottom of the bookings page. Click on either Print Invoice, or Send Invoice.

This will open an Invoice Options window. Here you can select whether you want the invoice to show the Folio Summary or the Folio Details, whether you want the invoice to be proforma or not and if you want to send an invoice for all folios by clicking on Combined Folio or for single folios by clicking on Individual Folio. If you have selected Individual Folio, you will be given the option of choosing which Folio you want to send. Deselect the folios by clicking on the tick box. Click Next to continue.

This will prepopulate your invoice. For more information on how to format your invoice, please watch the video How to Amend Email & Print Templates. Or refer to our User Guide, section 1.5.

Click Send Mail or Print to confirm.

You have successfully sent or printed an invoice.

Open a booking by navigating to the graphical CloudView by clicking on the tab called CloudView on the menu bar. Click on the guest name on the CloudView to open the booking in full.

There are other ways to open a booking. For more details on the two main ways to view a booking, please see the video How to Check-in and Check-out Guests or refer to our User Guide, section 3.

To receive a payment for a booking, navigate to the Receive Payment section, which is near the bottom of the page. The earlier sections are explained in the video How to Edit Booking Details or in our User Guide, section 3.2.

This section displays any payments already received or refunded. To receive or refund a new payment, click on Receive Payment on the top left of this section. This opens a Receive Payment window. Here, you can choose whether the transaction is money received from a customer, a debit, or a refund, a credit, by clicking on the relevant Transaction Type. You can also select how the guest paid, using the Cash / Bank dropdown, the date that you made the transaction using the calendar icon, and the name of the guest. You can edit the amount they paid in the payment grid, if required. Press Save to confirm or Cancel to reject the changes.

You have now successfully received a payment.

For more information about reports that show payments due and overdue, please watch our video How to View and Utilise Reports or see our User Guide, section 5.

Open a booking by navigating to the graphical CloudView by clicking on the tab called CloudView on the menu bar. Click on the guest name on the CloudView to open the booking in full.

There are other ways to open a booking. For more details on the two main ways to view a booking, please see the video How to Check-in and Check-out Guests or refer to our User Guide, section 3.

To send correspondences from a booking, navigate to the buttons at the bottom of the bookings page. The earlier sections are explained in the video How to Edit Booking Details or in our User Guide, section 3.2.

If you want to email an invoice to your guest, click on Send Invoice. This opens a new window with the options of sending a summary invoice or detailed statement invoice, a proforma invoice or an individual or combined invoice, if you have multiple folios.

Click Next once you have made your selection. This pre-populates the template invoice created in set up. To email the invoice to your guest, click on Send Email at the bottom of the invoice. For more information on setting up email and print templates, please watch How to Amend Email and Print Templates or see our User Guide, section 1.5. If you want to know how to set up headers and footers for email and print correspondence, please watch How to Add or Edit Properties, or refer to our User Guide, section 1.3b.

You have now successfully emailed an invoice to your guest.

Please note, if you have not specified a correct email address for your guest, then the email will not send. For more information on how to edit customer information, please watch How to Edit a Booking or How to Add or Edit Customer Information or refer to our User Guide, sections 3.2b or 4.1

The other email and print correspondences work in the same way. Click on the relevant button and a new window will open, either with the pre-populated correspondence, or with options to generate the correspondences.

To send a New User or Forgot Password email to a guest, click on Corporates / Customers. This opens a dropdown menu. Click on View Customers. Open a customer’s details by clicking on the pencil-edit icon on the left of the customer’s name. This opens an Add / Edit Customer page.  Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Submit & Send Email.

You have now successfully sent a reminder email.