Point of Sale system setup

The benefits of using a Point of Sale (POS) system are that it integrates sales and inventory control. When a sale is made the products are priced automatically, the sale is posted to the guest account in real time and the stock issue is simultaneously deducted from the inventory. Product cost prices, selling prices, supplier details, recommended reorder levels and stock movements can all be maintained in the POS system. The purpose of a ResRequest – POS interface is to have POS sales automatically posted to a guest in ResRequest at the same time that the stock issue is deducted from inventory.

Managing areas like your front-of-house: bar, curio shops and back-of-house: kitchen, housekeeping, becomes automated as you can use the POS system to charge transactions to guest accounts, prepare order notifications, post to accounting systems and produce business reports showing sales trends, price discrepancies and profits.

When working with ResRequest and a POS system together, there are a few procedural things to consider:

• Charges can only be posted to the accounts of guests who are currently checked in as the charge is linked to the room number.
• Use ResRequest for all invoicing.
• Use ResRequest for all debtor management.
• Sale of stock, e.g. drinks and curios.
  • Use POS for all stock management functions and ResRequest for all invoicing.
• Sale of services, e.g. village tours, fishing trips.
  • These may be pre-booked, which can only be done through ResRequest.
  • The same services may also be booked by guests once they are at the property. It may be more practical for lodge staff to use a single system for the booking of all onsite sales (both products and services), in which case these services should be booked via PowerPOS. This may not be viable because a till can only be linked to one ResRequest extra.
  • If services are sold through both systems, then service prices need to be maintained in each system.
  • The alternative is that all services get booked from ResRequest.

Get set up

Step one

• Firstly, you need to sign up with a POS system that ResRequest has an interface to. The installation of the system and training is managed directly between you and the vendor.

Step two

• Once the POS system is installed. Contact our Technical team who will map the POS revenue centre to the relevant Extra in ResRequest. This is done on the POS Code table screen (Admin > Setup > Code Tables > Integration > POS). An Extra, e.g. Bar, is created under which all POS charges are recorded.
• The transmission of data from the POS system to ResRequest is automated through the interface.

Step three

• Now that the setup is done, read the tutorials in this module to understand how to use the POS interface in ResRequest and get started.

Cost

POS system

• The cost of using a POS system is subject to the vendor you chose and the contract you negotiate with them. This is managed directly between you and the vendor.

ResRequest

• Use of the ResRequest and POS interface is totally free!
• For onsite implementations of the interface, the setup can take up to 5 days. If you request for a staffer onsite their transport and accommodation is payable by you.
• Any technical support outside of the implementation setup will be charged at our standard hourly support rate.