The Maestro loyalty program will be developed as a loyalty tracking system whereby credits are allotted to a guest or corporate account based on user defined rules. The credits may represent a dollar figure or a points system that can be redeemed for services that will deduct from the number of credits on the guest account. The points will also be defined based on user defined rules so that elements such as number of stays, number of nights, dollars spent may be used to assign points, and also a straight purchase (for gift card) can be made.

This feature will also support a gift card so that credits are tracked in Maestro and can be used for any amenities the hotel would like to provide through the program (e.g. parking, room charges, meals, etc.). The design will accommodate the single and multiple property databases models (whether single database or multiple databases sharing a common guest profile).

The gift card system will not require an encoder. Pre-encoded cards each with a unique id (like Home Depot / Starbucks uses) will be used. The data will solely reside centrally on the Maestro server so that redemption could be tracked, as well as adding and subtracting balances from the card. This would allow the data to tie into the G/L and would handle issues with damaged cards being reissued and canceling lost cards. The cards could be tracked to a specific guest or as a standalone gift card not connected to an individual. This would tie into retail pos, front desk, sales and catering, spa management – anywhere where payments are accepted within Maestro.

The swipe on the keyboard could be used to swipe the card or the card number could be entered manually, and by doing it this way, there are no hardware issues. The only ongoing hard costs would be the purchase by the hotel of the preencoded cards with the hotels logo/colors etc. Northwind will recommend a supplier for these or the client may choose their own supplier. The magnetic stripe on these cards will contain a unique reference number.

For Gift Card purposes, at the point of sale, the clerk opens the Gift Card module, which creates an Accounts Receivable Gift record for the Gift Card identified by the reference number on the card. The clerk captures the buyer’s name and contact information and collects payment or otherwise establishes a credit balance on the account (gift certificates may be used in trade out agreements). Optionally collecting the recipient’s name and contact information is also valuable. As the card is used at Front Desks or outlets (via POS terminals), the credit balance is decremented. When the credit balance hits zero, normal credit policy takes over.

Relevant Point of Sales interface(s) will be modified to handle using the gift card as a payment method.

For loyalty program purposes, the only difference to the above method of tracking is that the Accounts Receivable account will be attributed to that guests current account info. This will provide a link between the guests loyalty information and their front desk history.

Standard Features:

• Magnetic stripe card based loyalty program with unique id number per guest.
• Credit based system with ability to have 1 credit = n$ for gift card use.
• Configurable assignment of points based on number of stays, nights or rate. • Manual provision to assign credits (with security logging).
• Ability to redeem points at point of purchase.
• Magnetic stripe cards with the property identity on it (although valid at all properties in a multi-property environment).
• Ability to track buyer and recipient for Gift Card purchases

Other Features:

• Reservations should be able to accept the gift card number as a room prepayment.
• If a gift card is presented at check-in, it should be used to transfer the credit balance on the Accounts Receivable to the guest folio, in a simple transaction for the agent.
• POS and Front Desk users should be able to use gift cards for split settlements on transactions exceeding the available balance.
• The ability to charge annual maintenance fees on unused balances.
• The ability to expire the entire unused balance after a designated number of years. Expiration will take the form of a transfer to a designated house account.
• Cards may be “reloaded” by adding to the credit balance in the Loyalty Program system

Reporting capabilities will include:

• Reporting on outstanding gift card liabilities, (which can be sorted by various fields, including age of the card or balance).
• Report of top buyers.
• Inquiry of buyers and recipients by name or by card number.