Happy New Year!

Monday, January 23rd, 2012

The end of 2011 was an exciting time for us. We were busy launching ReServe Q™ online dining reservation software and gearing up for a busy New Year. We have quite a bit planned for 2012.

We will be expanding our technology platform through new and enhanced catering, event management, dining reservation and table management products, new systems and new platforms. We have hired new employees and built new partnerships. We are focused on enhancing the user experience with increasing product and support performance. And that’s just the beginning!

We have so much to do in 2012 and we look forward to sharing it all with you. Keep an eye out for upcoming posts, announcements and news throughout the year.

The Best of the Best

Wednesday, May 18th, 2011

We’ve always prided ourselves on our ability to offer superior technical and product support to our customers. Our employees have proven over and over again that they are among the best of the best, and our customers say the same. From training to product support, development to sales, absolutely everyone in our organization is critical to our overall success and each and every person has gone above and beyond to make a difference.

“Lynn is very knowledgeable and understanding of the experiences we face with customers.  Once I started working with her I was completely put at ease about having made the right choice with the ReServe’s software.  She is an asset to your company!  Thank you Lynn!”

“Joe and Keith are 1st class employees. You should feel blessed to have them on your team. It is because of the type of service I receive from them that we continue using ReServe and recommending it to people. Another job well done!”

“Beth was very helpful. One question required some more info on her part, so she opted to call me back rather than have me hold. Very prompt in her return call. Super great customer service! Thanks!!!!”

“Leslie is the epitome of both great service and professionalism and I wanted to let you know that as long as she is representing your company I have no doubts that your business will continue to grow and grow.”

“Melanie is a rock star! She is incredibly responsive and an expert at her job. We can’t thank you enough for the great support!”

“Our trainer was very knowledgeable and really took the time to make sure we understood each step in the event life cycle. All our employees have given me positive feedback about their training session and about the capabilities of the ReServe software.”

“The representative I worked with was so helpful and kind. I so appreciated his ability to quickly resolve the issue so that I could get back to my work. I was working for a few hours at home on some things that HAD to be done right away. Thanks again!”

Intuitive revisited

Thursday, May 12th, 2011

I was watching TV the other night and heard the word ‘intuitive’ used in reference to a computer, a car and a healthcare system, all within a matter of 15 minutes. It’s a word that bubbles up more and more frequently. The companies in these commercials can more than likely back up their claims – their reputations are built on them. However, there are some companies that make the claim, but fall very short.

For example, other hospitality management software products on the market today offer to collect tons of information, as well as interfaces that look like other well-known software products, and tout their ease of use. Many of our customers have used these products in the past and have willingly shared their experiences with us. After listening to their evaluations, intuitive wasn’t a word they used to describe the products. Functional? Yes. Easy-to-use? Sometimes. But just because a product looks like Outlook, doesn’t necessarily make it easy to use.  More importantly, it doesn’t make it intuitive.

At ReServe Interactive, intuitive means that we understand our customers’ businesses inside and out, top to bottom, and with that knowledge we’ve created a smart software system that is designed to become an integral part of a company’s day-to-day processes. It means we’ve built our software on a proprietary platform that was developed by professionals with years of experience in the design and development of effective user interfaces for high-tech products in a variety of industries. These individuals have an instinctive knowledge of user-centered design processes and, partnered with people that have extensive hospitality experience, were able to design a product that incorporates human interface technologies with the specific, real world needs of the hospitality industry. Our software was created by people who have stood in the customer’s shoes. We know what our customers need because we know what we needed when we were standing at the hostess desk or taking calls in the sales office. Our software speaks their language, understands what they need moment by moment, and anticipates what they will need down the road.

We know that when we say intuitive, we mean it, and we can prove it.

The Gateway

Wednesday, April 13th, 2011

Check out our latest press release:

ReServe Interactive Launches ReServe Gateway - Web Services Enabling Third-Party System Integration and Aggregated Data Analysis

ReServe Interactive, an industry leader in hospitality management solutions, has launched  ReServe Gateway™, a robust web services platform enabling enterprise customers to integrate and share operational and financial data stored in their ReServe Interactive software with third-party software applications to streamline operations, improve productivity and enhance guest services.

“Many of our customers require our software to share information with other systems that help them manage their business such as POS systems, CRM programs and financial applications,” explains Mike Edmeyer, Vice President of Sales for ReServe Interactive. “ReServe Gateway is a reliable, responsive and cost-effective engine that enables on-demand communication with any of these services and is seamless in even the most PCI compliant environments.”

ReServe Gateway supports ReServe’s entire software suite including Reservation Management functions such as the facilitation of checking dining availability, making and cancelling reservations, and reporting reservation activity; Table Management services including the checking of wait times, changing table status, recording dining preferences, and reporting turn rates; Event Management services that facilitate the reporting of event scheduling activity and financial details, and checking availability and booking events, as well as Contact Management services that facilitate account and contact detail management.

“Web services is a standard communication protocol used across a variety of industries which means it’s proven, efficient and effective. And it’s easy to integrate with any desktop or hosted application,” explains Lynn Carter, Chief Technology Officer. “It enables us to focus on our core competency, which is designing productivity software for restaurants and catering operations, and efficiently sharing important data that our systems accumulate with other business functions. ReServe Gateway transforms how our software is used within an organization, and we expect the resulting links between ReServe and other systems to expand rapidly, providing great value to our customers.”

On my honor…

Thursday, March 31st, 2011

When you make a commitment, you stick to it, right? We’d like to think that everyone follows that mantra, but the truth is, life gets in the way sometimes. Or, sometimes it’s as simple as completely forgetting about something you’ve committed to.

Take restaurant reservations, for example. I’m sure there are plenty of people out there that have made a reservation at a restaurant and then completely forgotten about it. Some people are even known to book a reservation at a couple of restaurants to ensure themselves a table, but then forget or decide not to call and cancel one of the reservations.  Sometimes it’s as simple as an inconsideration and the guest doesn’t think about the impact their no show will have on the restaurant.

To guarantee the maximum level of business in a given night, it’s important to take steps to make sure your guests honor their reservations.

Start with a “call-ahead” or “wait-list” system in addition to or instead of taking reservations. Guests can call twenty to thirty minutes ahead of their desired wait time and leave their name. Your reservationist can let the guest know the anticipated wait time.

If no shows are a recurring and troublesome problem, consider asking guests for a credit-card when making a reservation. Establish a deposit policy that lets guests know they will forfeit their deposit or be charged a fixed amount if they do not show up for their reservation. If you are not comfortable asking for a deposit on a regular basis, consider implementing the policy on holidays or other high-volume occasions. Remember, if you request a deposit on a reservation, make sure you seat guests as soon as they arrive so you honor the guest relationship and avoid losing future business.  Consider holding a table for 10 to fifteen minutes before declaring a guest a no-show. If a guest shows you the courtesy of calling to let you know they will be late, hold the table for 30 minutes to acknowledge their consideration.

If you are dealing with a VIP guests, waive their deposit fee or credit card charge to show them you appreciate their loyalty. Consider developing a frequent diner program to help you keep track of your VIP guests.

In addition, follow up with guests who lost their deposit or were charged on their credit card with a phone call or email restating the no show policy and informing them that they were charged because they violated the agreement.

Taking some of these steps can drastically reduce the number of no-shows that occur on any given night and guarantee that you maximize your entire table inventory.

Will you Q?

Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011

Part of my job is educating customers about ways to improve operations so that they can see an immediate impact on their bottom line. Our customers need to run leaner, manage operations successfully and build business consistently. Without the right tools, these tasks are challenging to say the least.

Take, for example, dining reservations for restaurants. Restaurant staff needs a way to manage reservations so that they can take advantage of their entire table inventory. They need the assurance that when their guests go online to make a reservation, they find accurate information and can book a reservation easily. They also need a way to keep guests in their restaurant when they find their requested dining time to be unavailable.

When I’m speaking to prospective customers about reservation management, I ask the following: “Can you rely on the reservation software you are currently using?” The answer is usually “That depends.” For a variety of reasons, customers are unsure. They are spending quite a bit of money on some of the systems out there. There is some benefit to the marketing tools these systems provide, but it’s hard to gauge how much business is lost because guests have been redirected to other area restaurants that may have availability. In some case, there is no benefit at all; rather the restaurant feels it’s something that they need to do because they’ve been told it is good business sense to have some sort of system in place.

We end up discussing things like functionality, integration, marketing, and estimated ROI. Ultimately, I end up walking through the features of our software. What’s exciting is that we’ll soon be able to offer more dining reservation tools for restaurateurs. We will launch ReServe Q, a platform that will allow restaurant guests to make dining reservations or add themselves to a wait list using a restaurant’s website or a mobile device such as an iPhone, Android or Blackberry. As part of the ReServe Q offering, we’re forging strategic partnerships with mobile application aggregators and online dining guides to expand marketing reach for restaurants.

Most importantly, we’ve created a tool that will benefit our customers to the fullest with increased business and a better bottom line.

Will you Q?

What’s News?

Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011

Have you seen our latest press release? Take a read…

ReServe Interactive Celebrates Continued Growth and New Product Initiatives in 2011

ReServe Interactive, an industry leader in dynamic hospitality management software, including dining reservation, table management, catering and event management systems, has achieved 14 consecutive years of growth with significant increases in key business areas including the acquisition of enterprise accounts with multiple installations.

In 2011, ReServe Interactive will introduce several new products that greatly expand the benefits of their software throughout an organization and provide cost-effective, targeted marketing to drive additional business. First to be released is ReServe Gateway, a robust web services platform that enables enterprise customers to integrate and share ReServe data intelligence with other systems, streamline operations, improve productivity and enhance guest services. 

Second, ReServe will launch ReServeQ, a platform enabling guests to make dining reservations or add themselves to a wait list using a mobile device such as an iPhone, Android or Blackberry. As part of the ReServeQ offering, ReServe is forging strategic partnerships with mobile application aggregators and online dining guides to greatly expand marketing reach for restaurants.

“2011 development plans bring functionality that offers an integrated enterprise view of financial and operational data in ReServe that can be easily extracted and used to improve operations and provide convenient guest services,” says Lynn Carter, Chief Technology Officer. “We are committed to incorporating leading-edge technology for the direct benefit of our users, ensuring that ReServe continues to remain an invaluable resource. Leveraging the fastest growing technology sector today, mobile applications and social networking, is a perfect example. Our offerings in this arena are seamlessly integrated with ReServe and provide great value to our customers by driving more business to their restaurants in a targeted and cost-effective manner.”

Carter also explains that development of these new web services is driven by the needs and requests of some of their larger enterprise customers, but the benefits of these enhancements positively impact all of their customers, as well as the restaurant industry as a whole.

“This past year exceeded our expectations. We maintained a strong presence with the small and mid-range markets while experiencing significant growth with our larger, multi-unit enterprise customers,” explains Mike Edmeyer, Vice President of Sales. “The fact that ReServe is the only tool on the market to adequately manage both events and dining reservations in one system has been a large reason for our success.”

About ReServe Interactive

ReServe Interactive specializes in Catering, Event Management, Dining Reservation and Table Managementsoftware applications for the hospitality industry. Established in 1996, ReServe Interactive software is used by more than 8,000 industry professionals across more than 1,000 hospitality venues nationwide including hotels, restaurants, sports and entertainment facilities, golf and private clubs, cultural institutions and wineries. The company has offices in Livermore, California and Delafield, Wisconsin.

The 2011 Comeback

Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011

So, what are your thoughts on 2011 so far? Have you seen an increase in business yet?

Industry experts are predicting growth across the board this year. In its “2011 Restaurant Industry Forecast,” the NRA said the nation’s 960,000 restaurants will see aggregate sales increases of 3.6 percent in 2011, or 1.1 percent in real, or inflation-adjusted, terms. The association also said that operators focused on growth will explore area like mobile applications and social media to expand their reach and grow business.

From customer incentives to online reservation applications to mobile marketing, restaurateurs will be relying more and more on technology to reach a larger audience. Mobile applications and social marketing tools are also changing the way restaurants market to their customers, as well as the way consumers view dining out. According to the NRA, 51 percent of social-media-savvy individuals say restaurants are an essential part of their lifestyle, while 43 percent of all consumers say that.

At ReServe Interactive, we are fully aware of the opportunity presenting itself to our customers and the industry as a whole. Not only are we aware, we are acting on that knowledge to bring the industry new tools to help them reach more customers while preserving their bottom line.

It won’t be long now until we roll-out our latest technology, but in the meantime, we’d like to know…Do you Q?

To read more from the National Restaurant Association, click http://bit.ly/gdwybZ.

Our 15th Year

Thursday, January 27th, 2011

It’s almost hard to believe that we are in our 15^th year of business. So much has changed since we introduced ourselves to the industry in 1996.  What started as an idea to help ourselves has become a force within the hospitality industry. We are literally changing the way our customers are doing business.

Since 1996, our catering, event management, dining reservation and table management product offering has grown to include a web-based solution; we interface with more than 10 industry-leading applications; and we service more than 8,000 users.

And now, in our 15^th year of business, we’re going to take our offering even further by introducing several new features and products including easily implemented web services designed for sharing data between different applications. We are also developing a system designed for publishing restaurant wait times on reader boards throughout a hotel property, as well as features for sharing customer data with a centralized CRM database. Most importantly, we will soon launch a dining reservation focused mobile platform to support iPhone, Android and Blackberry devices.

As time has gone on, we’ve continued to progress and remain a valuable tool for our customers. We’ve helped our customers increase efficiency, enhance productivity and boost revenue. Our platform remains current, ensuring users are able to use the most updated technology solutions to manage their businesses.

This year is a milestone in many respects and we are so grateful for the many customers, industry partners and loyal employees that have brought us to this day. We look forward to making 2011 an unforgettable year.

What’s ahead for 2011?

Wednesday, January 19th, 2011

Here at ReServe Interactive, we’re very excited about the year ahead.  We’re directing our efforts toward the ever changing needs of our customers and the hospitality industry as a whole.  We’re focusing on web services, data integration and state-of-the-art technology advancements that not only benefit our customers’ productivity, but increase their profitability.

Keep your eye on our blog and watch for industry buzz on our latest catering, event management, dining reservation and table management product enhancements and offerings. In addition, you’ll learn more about some of our customers and the ways we’re making a difference in the way they do business, as well as select industry partnerships.

At ReServe Interactive, we embrace change and live for technological advancements. Especially when they enhance the way we serve our customers and the way our customers do business.

By the way, the first half of 2011 will bring the much anticipated launch of a new product designed for the restaurant industry. We’ll be sharing some more information soon, so keep tuning in.   

Here’s to a new year!