Go-Live Checklist

Overview

Once your system has been set up and you have been given access to it, there are a few tasks for you to work through in order to get elina "ready for selling". 

Completing these tasks is necessary so that we can start connecting you to the channel manager/channels and so that your elina booking engine can go live on your website. 

1
User profiles

As part of your system set-up, the elina team will have created your super users already. These are those team members who are on point for getting elina ready for selling.

Any additional user profiles should be created by you.

Creating User Profiles

2
Property Setup

Check your property set up to ensure that all of your accommodation areas, types and units are present and correct. For any "structural" changes i.e adding/removing/moving of records please reach out to your elina on-boarding contact. 

Tip: reviewing this information in the Availability Calendar is helpful as it is a visual representation of your properties and allows you to easily spot any missing properties etc. Alternatively, go to Marketing -> Property Content -> View Accommodations.

3
Property content

Property content & adding additional languages to the booking engine (if applicable)

4
Setup owners (if applicable)

Owners may be given access to a login where they can view and manage their available properties, which is permissions dependant. They can also view their current account balance and an overview of reservations on their property.  

Setup owners Step by Step Guide

5
Rates setup

Enter your "best available" rate for each property type.

Entering Rates & Restrictions

Remember:

  • Without rates, you will not be able to make reservations
  • elina pricing is inclusive of VAT 
  • Decide how many sleepers your base rate includes and then manage pricing increases/decreases using dynamic rules
  • If you would like to enter past reservations into elina you must back-date your rates as far back as the oldest reservation you would like to enter. Please also inform your elina on-boarding contact so they can make your properties available for the past.
6
Setup dynamic rules (if applicable)

Dynamic rates are a dynamic method of adjusting daily rates and the price of add-ons according to guest behaviour and history.

Dynamic Rates Rules (Promotional rates) 

7
Create fees (IF APPLICABLE)

elina pricing is generally inclusive of VAT (sales tax). If you charge additional fees on reservations e.g. a tourist or city tax, final cleaning, sales tax (USA) etc. please set up fee rule(s) for these.

Create fees

8
Accounting department (invoice dept)

Invoice departments are "buckets" under which revenue is reported in elina.

Create an Invoice Department

9
Add ons categories ( product & services)

Product & Services categories are useful for operational reporting and to do lists as well as representation of add-ons in your booking engine. 

Create Add ons categories

10
Add ons (Product & Services)

Products and Services are an opportunity to increase incremental revenues by selling more than just accommodations.

Create Add ons

11
Company / Agents

Company reservations are those for which the reservation holder a company or travel agent i.e. where a company or travel agent profile is linked to the reservation.

Learn more about company profiles 

12
Guest communications

The Marketing and Communication tool puts you in contact with your guests and the public. The tool allows you to send e-mails or generate contact lists based on guest information, activity or demographic profile.

Create a guest communication

13
SSL certificate & SPF record (reduce likelihood of spam)

You must have an SSL certificate to ensure that visitors' data is kept secure while communicating with your hospitality services.

In order to allow your elina system to send out emails for you, you must update SPF record to reduce your messages from getting flagged as spam before they reach your recipients. . 

14
Public Site Permissions

The public site permissions determine what guests, owners and company managers can see and do in their guest, owner and company manager lounge.

15
Guest, Owner and Company Lounge

elina's booking engine includes a guest, owner and company manager lounge. Guests obtain access to this lounge via a link in the account activation and password reset email templates.

16
Enter reservations / data import (if applicable)

Providing that you have taken care of steps 1, 2 and 3 you can go ahead and enter your future (and if desired past) reservations now. Optionally, it may make sense for you to complete steps 7 and 9 also before you go ahead with this.

Create guest and company/agent reservations 

Rememberthis task is only relevant if the elina team is not already scheduled to import your data for you through a script i.e. only if you have decided to enter your reservations and profiles manually. 

When you have populated your future reservations please let your elina on-boarding manager know who will:

  1. Inform the concierge team so they can guide you through connecting your OTAs
  2. Enable your account activation (guest and owners lounge) and email confirmation templates
17
Schedule a call for the booking engine integration on your website

Please contact the elina concierge team (elina do > booking engine customisation) to book a call to discuss your booking engine customisation. 

19
Connect elina to Payment Gateway

A payment gateway is an e-commerce application service provider service that authorizes credit card payments for your business. It is the equivalent of a physical point of sale terminal located in your office or at your reception.

18
Update market Status

Please update the status of any properties that are not sellable for specific date ranges due to maintenance being carried out or other reasons e.g. being off the market due to operational reasons or on request of an owner.

Update market Status

19
Connect elina to Revenue Management software (if applicable)

elina can also connect to revenue management software such as Pricelabs

20
Connect elina to Channel manager
We connect to different channel managers such as STAAH, Cubilis, Siteminder and Rentals United
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