Frontdesk Anywhere

Great Software

Pros:

I only trial this software when I was looking for a PMS. I really enjoyed it's features and easy of use. Very complete. Unfortunately it didn't fullfill all my business needs

Cons:

It wasn't flexible enough to my needs since I manage a Guesthouse and apartments

FDA Hospitality Booking Engine and More

Comments: FDA has been a great system for us to grow. Other than the Cons mentioned, we really have no complaints. It is a difficult system to learn (onboarding/set-up was more difficult than our previous platform; 3-6 months to become comfortable), but once mastered, it is easy to navigate and customize. In hindsight, the difficulties we had were mostly due to the robust functionality, which we use every bit of. If I could make any single change, it would be to streamline the communication with customers by making email templates easily editable/more user friendly, and allowing emails/SMS text alerts to be sent to ALL guests at one time, without the need for a timed template. 3rd party software integration will allow this to be done, but including it in the package would make the system even stronger. Overall, we decided to go with FDA after demoing 3 other systems (the functionality was superior and it checked all of our requirements at the time). Automatic itemized invoicing and auto-emails were our most basic requirements, and FDA goes far beyond. My hope is that money continues to be invested into further developing the system; if so, FDA is going to be hard to beat.

Pros:

- internet based system, can be accessed from numerous devices - itemized nightly invoices - unlimited auto emails (pre/post dated from check-in/check-out date) which integrate with external email system - IBE integrates with Wix created websites - rate manager is extremely easy to use - create trouble tickets online, response time is satisfactory - integrates with channel managers and 3rd party software

Cons:

- no mobile app, only mobile website (can be a pain to login/logout on phone) - 24/7 support exists, but difficult to get ahold of tech support by phone at any given time (typically will get a call back within 24 hrs.) - cannot highlight rooms to create blocks/reservations (must open new reservation tab in either case) - customized emails require coding experience (not user friendly) - inability to email ALL guests with custom email (for alerts, temporary hazards, etc.)

failed attempt

Pros:

Visually, look and layout are very simple and chic. It's eye-catching. It is fairly easy to use and intuitive. Whoever made the product does have an understanding of user interface. My staff, of varying computer knowledge, was able to pick it up very easily.

Cons:

There are many things wrong with this system and company that I have experienced in the last 3-4 months. First I will tell you that they are poorly staffed. In all my experience with them, I only dealt with 4 staff members. There was never a time that someone different, outside of these 4 people, answered the phone. Tech support is staffed by 3 of these 4 people, all very nice and accommodating to their best ability, but they cannot keep up with demand. It's not their fault, but a fault of company planning. Beyond this, I have had many glitches with the system itself. Failed credit card transactions for no reason and then I went to our back up manual credit card machine and it went through (both dependent on same ethernet connection). The major issue I have with this program is faulty reporting and functionality. Nothing comes across as you want it to. The housekeeping report, in print mode, has a horrible inefficient layout that takes up the whole page and more. Finally, after many complaints, I started talking to management and they attempted software updates to "fix the bugs", however, I'm still unhappy. I have had several bugs even after the update. Most recently, bookings were coming from channel management either in duplicates or not in exact quantity. We had to relocate a guest Memorial Day Weekend because they were supposed to have 5 bookings but came across as 3. Housekeeping status was showing a room that had been checked in as "clean". Many glitches that still continue, very disappointed. I believe this company has a true lack of real hotel industry advisors. It is more of an IT company that attempted to go into hospitality and are not hitting the mark. They are very much in the "start up" "tweaking" phase and using their current customer base as guinea pigs in hopes to finally get to the product they wanted. But if you are like me, you need a product that works now, not in trial mode. Unfortunately I would recommend another company and save your time, even if you are a small 10 room Inn, keep looking elsewhere.

Efficient support team! Great software for hotel operation, services, and time management

Pros:

I've been using Frontdesk Anywhere as our PMS software for 3 years now. As a Sales and Marketing manager of an independent hotel, this cloud based software is a gem. Their support team gives us a comfort with 24 hours support service, and immediate hands on to resolve the glitch that we encountered. With this software, our team can review the occupancy forecast, plan our promotions, as well as monitor and manage our rate via the rate manager or booking suite tab to keep an eye on our competitors price. This allows us to adjust the our rate within a few second. The software is upgraded regularly which, often times, added a new and exciting features on to their software. Recently, we are thrilled with reputation tab which allows us to track all online reviews and see our current rating. It's great for us to quickly respond to reviews from OTAs and Tripadvisor, as well as to recover the hotel reputation through Frontdesk Anywhere software. In short, we're incredibly happy with the report analytics, reservation system, and online reputation channels which save us a heap amount of time on complicated stuff and spare us more time to focus on the real hospitality service with our hotel guests.

Cons:

We are looking forward to be using their full function of POS software. At the moment, we use the lite version that comes with the package but the result is great anyway.

User friendly.

Comments: Easy to use

Pros:

Easy to set up, quick to learn. Visually very clear and pleasant. Easy to run different reports. Use of different colors for different status of the bookings.

Cons:

Not able to scroll horizontally so it is hard to see bookings more than a month. No CVV pre-authorisation (CVV can be hidden after pre-authorisation but the system should allow pre-authorisation with CVV checked). Payment between group folio and individual folios should be transferable. Report involving group accounts not always accurate. All emails sent to guest include price information and cannot be omitted - very often guest would think we are sending the same email though the information underneath the price information are different. We are not able to change the subject (Guest Confirmation xxxxx) when sending manual email through the system. No line break or font changes (bold, underline) for additional message under option. More flexible and customized user levels - we try to put add on rate changes and changes in check-in messages at the basic level but not possible.

Tons of Potential

Comments: Pro's - Fairly user friendly. Like the ease of integrating website and online booking agents so I only have to manage availability and rates through the FDA system. Like that it is web based and information can never be lost. Simple to train staff of basic functions of the system. Lots of great reporting for future projections and marketing.
Con's - Reporting for month end reconciliation purposes needs improving. We had been reconciling to the Trial Balances Report but there is definitely a glitch somewhere. We are not sure why our balances outstanding totals for previous months, that had already past, would change. It should not be changing historical data. This is the main reason for the 3 star rating. T
Do not like that you cannot see your check outs from the reservation screen. I know you can select "check outs" from the list on the left and get all of your check out for the day but I think it would make more sense to put a line through the middle of each day so you have a clear visual of which units are leaving and arriving rather than having to flip flop between the check out/in lists.
It would be nice if you could drag reservations to different units instead of having to go into the folio and transferring that way. Sometimes I can see that there is availability in another unit and it still won't let me transfer guest. I double check dates, refresh screen and still cannot make that unit available although I can clearly see it is.
Last time I checked the "work order" option was not functioning properly. I could create them but could never delete them as finished. Same with the housekeeping options.
Your system should also be able to integrate with the telephone system. We have an NEC and I cannot link my cash calling account software to it. So I have to have a separate program on my hard drive that I have to refer and add the telephone calls to the invoices separately.
If all of the functions and reporting worked properly this system would be amazing but unless you can get the reporting rectified or someone can give me a straight answer as to why its changing historical data we will be forced to look at another reservation program...which I don't want to do.

Nunnally House at Southeast Georgia Health System

Comments: Very good overall experience. In six years I've had maybe three issues with the program where I had to contact Support via email. Their response time was always fast, once within the hour and recently within 4 hours but they called with a report and asked for additional information on the problem..

Pros:

It's very simple and intuitive to use. The reservation layout is easy to read and I like the ability to quickly look at reservations for a few days ahead or up to a month in advance. We serve cancer patients undergoing treatment, family members of critical care patients, medical students and medical staff. The program gives us the ability to distinguish different types of rooms for our various guests and quickly change schedules as needed.

Cons:

There are so many options for generating reports that I sometimes have trouble deciphering the titles and finding what I need. Once I figure out what it is it's simple....

Not User Friendly

Comments: It is the least intuitive PMS I have ever used in my 15 years of industry experience. I do not believe the software was ever tested in a live hotel.

Pros:

It has a friendly support team. Night Audit functionality is a breeze.

Cons:

It lacks even the most basic functions of a PMS: Early check out is not possible. You can't check out a room the same day it has been checked in. This forces you to "hold" until it can be checked out. It has almost no options for reports that a front desk agent can print unless they have management access. Housekeeping room status is on a separate tab. This makes it difficult to quickly change a room status and often confuses the housekeeping department. Changing a room number is nearly impossible if the hotel is sold out. The system forces you to slot rooms like a puzzle. If no slots are open it is extremely difficult to change the assigned room number. You can make them unassigned but will receive a "sold out warning" and will still not be able to change the assigned number. The billing and creation of invoices is overly complicated and not intuitive. There is also no way to refund a charge processed via the POS. The software also contains many glitches-housekeeping room status seems to change for no apparent reason despite the set rules. Invoices sent as an email fail to be delivered.

Great Software

Comments: Good system overall with different work areas and features. The system is very intuitive and staff learned how to use it quickly which was a big plus. We have been customers of FDA since their latest version and they have performed great updates on the system, especially around reports, rate management and group reservations. We like the chat box where you can reach support and speak to them. We use the program 24/7 and are quite happy about it.

Pros:

The software is easy to use. The team members learn how to use it quickly thus it saves time. Screen set up clear and it has all the features we need.

Cons:

These are some reports I miss like lead time of bookings. Over all it does have be basics needed.

Easy to use, web based hotel operating system

Comments: We use FDA to operate four very busy hotels in the Los Angeles area. The system allows us to make reservations, check guests in & out of the system, track deposits, run a multitude of reports including sales and future revenue on the books.

Pros:

As a web based system, I have access to all of my hotel properties from anywhere in the world, including my smart phone. The grid view of our hotel rooms is a great visualization of hotel occupancy and available rooms. The system is very easy to use and makes training new employees very simple and cost effective.

Cons:

All software programs can have glitches and FDA is no exception. The customer service & support team has always been responsive to challenges.

Seasonal mom & pops property find Frontdesk Anywhere invaluable.

Comments: We are a small, seasonal mom & pops motel in northern Michigan. Frontdesk Anywhere meets all of the needs of our seasonal business; finding a good seasonal program had been a challenge. The agents from Frontdesk are always very responsive and our reservations have increased more than significantly since our partnering with them. The program is very user friendly and meets all of our needs!!

Pros:

Ease of use Agents very responsive and knowledgeable Good reporting system

Cons:

Does not yet integrate/require all information from guests or online travel agencies

Great Software very reliable, and user friendly. Must needed resource for every small or big Hotel operation.

Pros:

The software has a very small learning curve, so you'll have your team up and running in a breeze. Great adaptation to channel manager witch facilitates any hotel operations job. There customer service is awesome every one in the department (India, Mary Anne , etc) have been there to help on every opportunity that we have required there service. In conclusion, we at Oasis Hotel are very happy with software and customer service.

Cons:

Minor glitches with communication with channel manager that can cause every once an a while discrepancy on a reservation, I'm sure it's something that can be easily addressed by the FDA technical team. But like I said very minor, nothing to loose sleep over.

good software app

Comments: it works and serves the purpose we need. would like features for analytics to be expanded but understand that is costly too. the savings we get versus other software is enough to offset that inconvenience.

Pros:

FDA is good for a property of our size. Cost is reasonable and serves its purpose.

Cons:

revenue tools are limited and require a lot of manual data entry versus be able upload large batches of data or rate adjustments. can be glitchy at times. would really like to have adhoc reporting functions.

The experience has actually all been rather easy ! I-phone style easy

Comments: uptodate, realtime knowledge specified for our hotel in our country with the items that I need to run our little hotel

Pros:

I adore the fact that it can be adapted to our specific regional needs. Even in a developing country like the Kingdom of Cambodia it felt like all the time in the world would be dedicated to us

Cons:

The fact thats its technology: I am not very tech-savvy. Add to this that Cambodia is developing and perhaps less trained staff could have made all rather difficult

Easy to use.

Pros:

Easy to use and Cloud based PMS. Good customer service.

Cons:

Integrating with credit card processing costly.

Function of product

Comments: good. I'm satisfied with your product.

Pros:

easy to use . Not complicated and easy to contact support team

Cons:

sometime there is no instruction or video to teach some function. At least FAQs to instruct user basic information.

The Best PMS for Small to Mid-size property!

Pros:

The program is very user-friendly, and easy to use. The analytic part is all you need. The details in reports are adjustable, which is quite rare among some could based PMS. Customer service is very good.

Cons:

Training in Bangkok office is a bit difficult for new staff who work in countryside, may be an online tutorial would help. In the future, if FDA develops their own Channel Manager system, would be easy for user to finish everything just one site.

Very Pleased

Pros:

The best part is the online booking/reservations that provide flawless organization of occupancy, checkouts, holds, etc. Though we are a small establishment, we never feel small regarding FDA customer service; from the beginning (over 2 years ago) our representative(s) have been supportive. As of late, we have had numerous necessary changes to our website which have been handled in a timely manner. It is nice to be able to edit the rate if necessary and have the ability to print out a "real" receipt which is needed by our many business travelers.

Cons:

Would like to have one hour of face to face to ask questions about all the wonderful things this software can do!

Easy to use

Pros:

FrontDesk Anywhere is completely customizable based on your property and needs. It is VERY user friendly. You can also have the option to view other properties that you manage which comes very handy when managing or overseeing multiple properties. Ties into GDS as well. Would highly recommend and a great value for the price.

Cons:

There is nothing that I do not like about this software.

Frontdesk Anywhere- Literally anywhere!

Pros:

The hotel software Frontdesk Anywhere definitely has more pros than cons. You can access and check statuses using this this software via desktop, tablet, or smartphone!

Cons:

The only con about this software is that it's main focus group is for the use of independent hotels or resorts, and not any that is a part of a chain.

Excel your work

Pros:

Cloudbase, can export to excel and import Journal to my QUICK BOOK

Cons:

Important Journal to my Quick Book, can access from anywhere, can see report everywhere by using telephone.

Frontdesk - Okay, but not enough

Pros:

Frontdesk Anywhere is a decent Property Management System that also helps you manage your relationship with OTAs. It has great reporting features, a nice back end user interface, decent front end user interface, and automated emails.

Cons:

Frontdesk Anywhere lacks an availability calendar for its front end users, which is something that should be standard with any booking engine. It doesn't offer promo or group code features, the support features are minimal, and the price is not competitive.

Great Team, Great Product, Great PMS!

Comments: I personally met with awesome crew behind the company. They are creative, smart and fun loving people who are pleasure to work with. Just like any software, the product can be updated with patches, fixes and it will continuously improve. But it's more difficult to change the people and culture. Good people at FDA can be trusted and I know they will come through if we ever have any problems. And that confidence in a company is not something easy to find. FDA system is a turn key operations with minimal investment to start. The key selling point is that whole system is on the cloud. This means you can manage the hotel from anywhere, even from your cellphone. (Which is what I use most of the time.) Their reporting system is great with many options to dissect the data. Overall I highly recommend it!

Poor customer support, but the platform is decent.

Pros:

Looks more modern than other software and has many reports for you to choose from. The sales team was nice.

Cons:

Customer support is very poor. When my staffs call or email for questions, they feel that they are mistreated by the support team.

Best Overall Value

Comments: After conducting a thorough review (including demostration periods) of more than a dozen hospitality management solutions, both web based as well as physically installed software, our organization concluded that Frontdesk Anywhere was, without a doubt, the best overall combination of useful feature richness, ease of set up & implementation and price. With a responsive and professional support staff, Frontdesk Anywhere is, in our opinion, one of the industry's best values.

Pros:

Ease of staff monitoring Ease of data entry Real time room status updates between departments Ease of rate change and promotional integration

Cons:

The only suggestion we would offer for future versions would be the integration of a seperate maintenance department module that would work side-by-side with the front desk and housekeeping portions of the platform.