Riding the March Wave: Fresh Updates Boosting Your Merlin Experience!
We’re constantly working behind the scenes to make your lives easier, your operations smoother, and your guests happier. This March 2025, we rolled out another wave of enhancements designed to do just that! Whether you’re a long-time Merlin user or just exploring what our software can do, these updates bring even more power and precision to your fingertips.
Let’s dive into what’s new!
Streamlined Workflows & Financial Clarity
We’ve made some smart tweaks to help your day-to-day run even better:
- Journal Pinning: Ever wish you could quickly access certain transaction types? Now, a Default Pin has been added to the Transaction Type field on the Journal page, saving you clicks and speeding up data entry.
- Flexible Product Pool Expiry Dates: For those with annually changing Product Pool expiry dates, we’ve introduced an enhancement that allows you to bulk update PP Expiry dates across ALL current owners or developer/PP ownerships. This means less manual work and more accurate tracking!
- Enhanced Foreclosure Management: We know foreclosures can be complex. You can now perform a Bulk update of GL Account Flags on the Back Office Reports > GL Accounts page, giving you more control and efficiency in managing these sensitive processes.
- Clearer Past Due Statuses: To give you a quick glance at financial health, Past Due Status will now appear next to the GL Account on the Name Home Page (NHP), based on your setup criteria. No more digging around for overdue accounts!
- Easier Contract Status Updates: A new wizard makes updating Contract Status and Contract Status Date a breeze under Sales > Wizards > Upload Ownership > Contract Status. It’s all about saving you time.
- More Ways to Pay by Credit Card: We’ve expanded the “Pay by Credit Card” options on the NHP > Accounts section. A new button will directly take you to the Credit Card Soft Terminal page, making payments smoother for your team and your clients (setup dependent).
- At-a-Glance Membership Details: For quick reference, Membership Levy Flag 2 will now display on the NHP Heads Up Display, providing instant access to important member information.
Supercharge Your Bookings & Guest Experience
We’ve focused on making reservations and guest interactions even more seamless:
- Enhanced Rate Plan Reporting: Need more detail on your pricing strategies? Rate Plan Code V2 and Rate Plan Code V3 have been added to the Reservations Report (FO > Reports > Reservations > Report), giving you richer insights.
- Refined Revenue Management: We’ve added additional options to the ‘PRIOR’ filter on the RevMax3 report, allowing for more granular analysis of your revenue performance.
- Intuitive Reservation Display: The column orders for the Reservation section on the Name Home Page have been rearranged, placing the most important information first for quicker understanding.
- Smarter Rental App Availability: In the Rental App’s Calendar Widget, the Rate Amount will now also display for better visibility. Plus, for those with pet-friendly units, a new “Pet friendly” button on Guest Selection in the Rental App identifies suitable units when the number of pets is specified.
- Seamless Special Offer Linking: The Rental App now allows linking special offers on your website with specific Rate Plan Codes in Merlin. So, if a guest picks a 4-night package, Merlin will check availability for that exact period based on the selected Rate Plan Code.
- Valid Rates Only: When making new bookings on the stock.asp page, the Booking section’s Rate Plan V3 dropdown will now only show valid rates, reducing errors and improving efficiency.
- Required Passenger Names: To ensure complete booking data, if the number of passengers is entered, the Passenger Names are now a required input.
- Flexible Hold Extensions: Users with appropriate rights can now Edit the ‘HOLD UNTIL’ date on the stock.asp page for held stock, giving you more control over inventory.
- Enhanced Arrivals & Departures Filtering: A “Prev Visit Resort” filter has been added to the Arrivals and Departures page (FO > Reports > Housekeeping), allowing you to limit the report to a specific resort or all resorts for better insights.
- Advanced Rental Analysis: A new option has been added to the “SEARCH BY” filter on the Rentals Analysis report (FO/PropertyMS > Reports > Rentals > Analysis > Reservations to Invoice) to filter for bookings with arrivals or departures within a specific date range.
- Smarter Travel Details: Entering travel details is now more efficient. You’re now only required to enter the Departure Date and Time if configured, and there is validation on the number of passengers allowed for travel based on the Unit Type Code, preventing errors.
- Dynamic Property Matrix View: The Property Matrix now includes an additional filter under Additional Settings > Matrix Colour. Depending on your setups, you can view the matrix by Product Pool colour, Reservation Reference, or BOTH, offering incredible visual flexibility.
- Clearer Continuous Holds: If continuous stock in the same unit is put on hold, the From/To Hold dates will now display for the entire date range, rather than just the individual stock’s dates, making long-term holds easier to track. Similarly, Booking Start/End Dates will reflect the full hold range.
- Filter for Outstanding Balances: A new filter option has been added to the Reservations to Invoice page (FO/PropertyMS > Reports > Rentals > Analysis) called “BALANCE>0”, making it simple to quickly identify bookings with outstanding balances.
- Flexible Transaction Transfers: We’ve enhanced the “Transfer Some” functionality. You can now transfer balances from a booking in one property to another property (setup dependent), and even transfer transactions for the same guest in a different booking within the same property (provided the booking isn’t checked out and the end date is valid).
These enhancements are designed to give you greater power, clarity, and control over your operations. We’re dedicated to ensuring Merlin Software remains the most intuitive and comprehensive solution in the vacation ownership industry.
Ready to explore these new features?
Contact Mike Ashton today to learn more about how Merlin Software can revolutionise your resort operations and arrange a personalised demo!
