Letter Scheduler

The Letter Scheduler allows you to automatically send email letters to your guests prior to and also after their stay. Use these letters to promote events and outlets at your property prior to your guests arrival and get feed back or offer discounts for future stays after they have left. Letters can be sent manually at any time or automatically after the Dayend Close completes.

SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) must be configured and be used as the workstation setting to send email letters with the Letter Scheduler. Internet Settings are configured in Setup > Configuration > System > Internet Settings.

There are four types of letters:

1. Arrival Letters - These letters are one for every reservation with an active status. (One letter per reservation - duplicated for each same day stay)

2. Departure Letters - These letters are one for every guest who is checking out each day. (One letter per guest - not duplicated per same day stay)

3. Profile Export - This is an CSV (export file) created from ISQL (Interactive SQL) that has a list of Guest Profile numbers to send emails to. The first column of the extract must be a guest profile number such as VIPFILE.NUMBER or HISTHD.VIPNUMBER or RESERVE.VIPNUMBER -- all additional columns can exist, but they are ignored. This is useful if you want to write your own extract (from your own tables and sql statement), export a list of Guest Profile Numbers, and send a mass marketing email to all these guests. Click here for step by step instructions.

4. Profile - SQL Statement - Similar to the profile export option, this allows you to use SQL to select the Guest Profile numbers to send emails to. The first column of the extract must be a guest profile number such as VIPFILE.NUMBER or HISTHD.VIPNUMBER or RESERVE.VIPNUMBER -- all additional columns can exist, but they are ignored. This is useful if you want to write your own extract (from your own tables and sql statement) but skips the step of having to export the file and select it and runs the SQL statement every time the report is scheduled to run.

To select the letters to be sent and schedule when to send them, go to Back Office > Letter Scheduler.

Creating Scheduled Jobs

To create a Scheduled Job, press Insert.

General

Letter Information

Reservation (Arrival Letters) - Use this option to email pre arrival letters set up in the Letter Editor to guests prior to their arrival. Offer your guests an opportunity to make dinner reservations, book a tour, or advise them of any other special events that are going on at your property.

Profile (Departure Letters and All Guests) - Use this option to send Guest Profile Letters from the Letter Editor to guests after their stay. This is a great way to have guests complete a survey or offer discounts for future stays. Email addresses entered on the guest profile are used, so make sure the options to capture guest profiles are turned on in History.

Profile Export - Use this option to send letters to an exported list of Guest Profile numbers.

Choose Scheduled Letter - Press this option to choose the letter to be sent. Only the letters for the selected type, Reservation or Guest Profile, are displayed, but any letter created in the respective section can be used.

Description - The name of the letter is entered by default, but another description can be entered to be displayed in the Scheduled Jobs window.

Other Information

Schedule Type - Select Schedule This Job to Run After Night Audit to have the letter emailed when the Dayend Close is completed. These jobs are designated by a green check mark on the clipboard icon. Select Manually Run This Job to require a user to run the job manually.

Days Prior/After - Enter the number of days prior to or after the current audit date the email letter should be sent. Letters jobs are completed after the audit has changed so the number of days would be from the new audit date. For example, with the Days Prior set to 6, upon completion of the Dayend Close for June 10, email letters would be sent for reservations arriving June 17, six days from the new audit date June 11.

important

Setting the Days Prior/After to 0(zero) without entering a filter would send the email letter to all arriving reservations or all guest profiles, respectively. This could have serious consequences for sending emails through your ISP server. See Letter Scheduler Setup for more information on controlling how emails are sent.

Email Settings

Email Address - Enter the return email address for this scheduled job. This will also appear in the "From" field in the receivers email message. For example, reservations@myhotel.com. The email address can be a maximum of 35 characters.

Name (optional) - Enter a name to display in the receiver's From field. For example, enter the name of your hotel or Hotel Name Reservations.

How to use the return Email Address

A different return email address can be configured for each Scheduled Job to get replies to staff members responsible for taking action. For example, for a pre arrival letter that gives options to book tee times or make dinner reservations by simply replying to the email, make sure the reply goes to a valid, monitored email address like reservations@myhotel.com.

For post stay letters, the email address should also be valid and monitored regularly, but it can go to a different email address, for example manager@myhotel.com or guests@myhotel.com. This way all returned emails are not lumped together. Post stay emails should be monitored by some one that can take proper action for guest issues.

There may also be Scheduled Jobs for letters that do not need reply, such as informational letters. For these use an email address like noreply@myhotel.com.

Filter

IF Statement

Manually enter a query using Clarion syntax or press Build to use the Query Wizard to select specific groups of guests to receive the email letter. For example, send letters to guests from certain states, guests that have a certain rate code, or guests from a certain group.

tip

When writing queries manually, make sure to pull the correct fields for the correct letter types, i.e. use the RES: record buffer for reservation letters and the VIP: for Guest Profile letters.

Click here for more information on using the Query Wizard.

SQL Statement

Use SQL Statements to further filter the group of guests to receive letters. The SQL Statement can return one value which must be numeric. A returned value greater than zero will include the letter in the job and values less than zero will exclude the letter. Case statements can be used to return any numeric value greater than zero.

Special Field Notes:

• {ID} is CONFNUM on Reservations (Arrival Letters) and VIPNUMBER on Guest Profiles (Departure Letters).
• {AUDITDATE} is the current audit date when the job is running
• {YAUDITDATE} is yesterday's current audit date when the job is running.
• {BATCHDATE} is the date setup for the batch run (Current Audit Date +/- Days After/Days Prior set for the job)

Single-Quotes are not used as the system inserts them. ie: HISTHD.CHECKIN = {BATCHDATE}

The example below (using both the IF statement and SQL statement) could be used to send Thank You letters to guests with the EXP rate code and have stayed less than four times.

IF Statement: VIP:RATE_REQ = 'EXP'

SQL Statement: SELECT CASE WHEN COUNT(*) >= 4 THEN 0 ELSE 1 END FROM HISTHD WHERE VIPNUMBER = {ID}

The example below could be used to send a pre-arrival letter to guests who have a room assigned to the reservation.

SQL Statement: SELECT COUNT(*) FROM ROOMBOOK WHERE CONFNUM = {ID} AND CHECKIN = {AUDITDATE}

Confirmation

Enter the email address to receive the Job Status response. This is an email containing details about the completed job including the date and time along with the total number of emails to be sent. The number of successes and the number of failures is also given. If Include listing of all errors is selected, a list with the guest name, email address and the error message is included.

Preview

Once the Scheduled Job is created, the Preview screen displays the reservations or guest profiles to receive the email letter from this job. For Reservation letters, only reservations that are in Reserve Status are included. Reservations designated as Wait List or In House are skipped will not receive an email.

For Guest Profile and Other Letters, guest profiles with the Opt Out options set to Do not Email or Do not Mail or Email will not be included. Profiles with the Place guest on unwelcomed list are also skipped.

If a filter was applied to the scheduled job, (Filtered) will appear next to Total Records at the bottom of the screen.

Letter Scheduler Setup

SMTP must be used in roomMaster to send Scheduled Jobs, but the type of SMTP server your property uses needs to be considered before completing the setup.

How does an SMTP Server work?

An SMTP server collects outgoing emails and reads the email address, including the username and domain name. It then searches for the Domain Name Server for the recipients email address (@hotmail.com, @gmail.com, @microsoft.com, etc.). Once communication is established, and the username verified, the email is distributed to the recipients mailbox.

Sample: To send an email from your property to jsmith@hotmail.com, the following steps are followed:

1. A new email is created on a computer at your property and the Send button pressed.
2. The email goes to your SMTP server.
3. Your SMTP server confirms it has received the email. If it does not, an error message is returned almost immediately to your inbox.
4. Your SMTP server locates and opens communication with the Domain Name Server(DNS) for Hotmail.
   Note: If the DNS cannot be located, your SMTP server will keep attempting to make contact. This could last hours or even days. If it still cannot connect, you will receive notice that the email is undeliverable.
5. The email address username, jsmith, is verified by the Hotmail DNS.
6. The email is placed in jsmith's inbox.

This is a simplified example, but the basic steps are included. Notice in step 3 it is your SMTP server that confirms the email was received, not the recipients Domain Name Server, Hotmail in this example.

SMTP vs. Direct Mail

The Letter Scheduler uses SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) to send email letters, as described above. There are other programs and services available to send pre and post stay letters that use the Direct Mail method. With Direct Mail, the service or program bypasses the senders server and opens communication directly with the recipients Domain Name Server. Once the username is verified, the email is delivered. If the username is not verified, an undeliverable message is received almost immediately.

Direct Mail Example: To send a mass email including jsmith@hotmail.com with a program using the Direct Mail method:

1. The mass email program is opened, an email is generated to be sent to multiple email addresses and Send is pressed.
2. The program locates and attempts to open communication with the Domain Name Server(DNS) for Hotmail. If it does not, an error message will be received almost immediately in the senders inbox.
3. The email address username, jsmith, is verified by the Hotmail DNS.
4. The email is placed in jsmith's inbox.

The senders SMTP server is bypassed in this process.

It is important to understand when using an SMTP server, the confirmation that the email sent was received comes from YOUR SERVER, meaning YOUR SERVER received the email. It does not mean the intended recipient received the email. An undeliverable message may not come back for days. If you have been using a service or program in the past that uses the Direct Mail method, you may be used to receiving immediate feedback that the email address was undeliverable.

Internal Mail Server or Email Provider?

Most properties using SMTP will use either an Internal Mail Server (Exchange) or an Email Provider (ISP email, GMail, Hotmail, etc.) to send their emails. Using an Exchange server means the property has configured a specific server to control outgoing and incoming emails to their domain.

Using an Email Provider means an external provider, for example Google (Gmail), MSN (Hotmail) or GoDaddy, is used to send emails. Most configurations for sending and receiving emails are controlled by the provider, including the anti spam settings. Spam messages are usually sent in bulk, trying to reach as many email addresses as possible at the same time. To combat this, ISP providers configure their servers to look for certain parameters in the number of emails sent from a specific location over a certain period of time, usually in seconds.

Understanding the information above, use Setup to configure the Letter Scheduler to work most efficiently.

Always prompt before sending each letter - When selected, a prompt box will appear before the scheduled job is run that the user must agree to before the email letters will be sent. This is applied to jobs that are run manually and at the end of the night audit. If multiple jobs are scheduled after the Dayend Close, the user will have to confirm the prompt for each job.

Sleep after sending the following number of emails - Enter the number of emails to be sent as a portion of a batch. Once this number is reached, roomMaster will sleep for a specific amount of time before continuing to send more emails.

Sleep for these amount of seconds - Enter the number of seconds the scheduled job should pause for in between sending email letters within the job.

Never send more than this many emails - Enter the maximum number of email letters that can be sent in one scheduled job. Once this amount is reached, roomMaster will automatically stop the job and no more emails will be sent for this job.

Recommended Settings - This option allows you to load default settings for many popular Email Providers. Select the Email Provider you use, the same as your SMTP settings in Internet Settings.

Note: The default settings entered can be changed by the Email Provider. If concerns arise, verify the settings with your provider, i.e.Google(GMail), MSN(Hotmail), GoDaddy, etc., to confirm their settings have not changed.

If you have an Internal Mail Server (Exchange), you can set all options to 0(zero). However, default settings are included in the recommended settings to have your exchange server work most efficiently.

Disable all scheduled jobs during night audit - When this options is selected, no scheduled jobs set to be sent after the Dayend Close will be processed.

Sending Email Letters Manually

Scheduled Jobs can be configured to be run after the Night Audit completes or be run manually. Highlight the email letter to be sent and press Start New Job to run a scheduled job. A prompt box will appear with two options:

Run Interactively - When this option is selected, no other features in roomMaster can be accessed on the workstation running the job until it completes. This allows the job to process as quickly as possible since it is the only roomMaster process running.

Run in Background - Selecting this option allows the user to access and use other features in roomMaster on the workstation while the scheduled job is processed. This may make the job process a little slower than if it is run interactively.

A prompt box will appear confirming to start the selected job. If the Always prompt before sending each letter option is selected, a second prompt box will appear to confirm the letter being emailed by the job.

Reviewing Processed Jobs

Once a scheduled job has completed, the details appear in Job History. If there were problems with some or all of the email addresses, a yellow light or red light, respectively, will appear. To correct email addresses, highlight the completed job and press Expand Job. The guest name and email address will appear, along with an error message for email addresses that were not sent successfully.

Note: It is recommended to have the Resolve Domain Names (DNS lookup)... option selected in Internet Settings to catch any incorrect domain names and include them in the failure list.

Correct an email address by highlighting the entry and pressing Fix Email. If the scheduled job was for Profile letters, enter the correct email address. The guest profile is automatically updated with the new address.

For Reservation letters, entering a new email address will update the guest reservation. Checking Also Update Guest Profile updates the guest profile as well. Enter any notes regarding the reservation in the free form field.

Pressing Erase Email and Delete removes the email address from the guest reservation and the guest profile. It also removes the guest from the list of reservations to receive an email later if Resume Job is selected for this job.

Blank Email Addresses

Reservations and Guest Profiles that do not have an email address entered are skipped in Scheduled Jobs and do not appear as errors. Reservation Rules can be used to help insure a valid email address is entered.

Once all errors have been corrected, press Resume Job to resend the email letters to the corrected email addresses. An updated Job Status Response email will also be sent.

Letter Scheduler Example

To send a thank you email letter to each guest that made a reservation with you today, use the following steps:

1. Create a Thank You letter in the Letter Editor.

2. Open the Letter Scheduler, Back Office > Letter Scheduler

3. Press Insert

4. On the General tab:

• Select Reservation (Arrival Letters)

• Select the Thank You letter created previously and enter a Description for the Scheduled Job.

• Use the drop down box to select Schedule this Job to run after Night Audit and set the Days Prior to 0(zero). A filter will be added to only send the letter to guests who made reservations today.

• Enter a return email address.

5. On the Filter tab, enter:

RES:ENTRYDATE = CON:CURDATE – 1

This filter will locate all reservations where the entry date (RES:ENTRYDATE) is equal to the current audit date (CON:CURDATE) minus one day. Since the Scheduled Job is set to run after the Dayend Close is complete, the audit date has already changed. So if the Dayend Close for June 11 has just completed, the audit date is now be June 12. Subtract 1(one) day to determine the previous audit date and find all reservations that were entered on June 11.

6. On the Confirmation tab enter an email address to receive the Job Status email.

7. The reservations displayed on the Preview tab will be from the previous day because of the filter.

Why use CON:CURDATE?

When writing filters, it always best to use current audit date (CON:CURDATE) as your base. The system date of the computer can be changed or if you have more than one computer, there could be different dates on different computers.