Innovation and Adding Value

by Mike Pnematicatos, CEO and Chief Architect

Here at Merlin Software, we hold the view that constant innovation and adding value for our clients are part of our mission. It is what we do, and if we stop, we become irrelevant.

With this in mind, we have a vision for the future. In this Spotlight feature, we will be shining the light on some of the new features and innovations that we are working on over recent months.  

Merlin has come a long way from the “tour, contract, commission, levy billing and booking” system it was when we first launched in 2006. 

In the intervening years, we have expanded the functionality within the Classic Enterprise version of Merlin and added new features using the latest technologies. We have highlighted some of these new features in previous Spotlight articles. 

Today we are going to give you an insight into two new features that will undoubtedly add value for our clients and assist them in generating additional revenue.

Merlin Rental WebApp

The Rental WebApp lets you display unused inventory for rental on your resort web site. Members of the public can find, book and pay for accommodation online. Once they have made a rental booking, they can manage their reservation in the Rental WebApp.

The benefits of this to your resort business are clear. Your resort generates revenue from unused, unsold, defaulted and delinquent weeks. And you bypass the OTAs, saving on commissions.

The Rental WebApp is already available, and the Merlin team is ready to deploy this for you right now.

Channel Manager Integration 

We have successfully integrated with the TravelTripper/Pegasus Channel manager. One client is already using this channel with another about to connect. We are also integrating with SiteMinder, and a third client will be linking to this in the coming weeks.

Channel Managers allows you to feed your availability and rates to Online Travel Agents (OTAs) and traditional travel agents. This makes your property visible on many widely used online booking platforms like Expedia and Booking.com. 

Bookings come back into Merlin directly from these channels without you having to recapture them in Merlin. All availability and your booking rules are managed from within Merlin. Then, availability and rates are sent to the channel manager that you choose to connect with. 

Again, the benefits are evident, as are the revenue-generating and occupancy maximising opportunities. 

Connecting to a channel manager is a no-brainer, and the Merlin team is ready to assist you in taking this step.

More to Come

Future Spotlight articles will shed light on the new features and services we are adding. Look out for them in our next newsletters or here in our news section.