Checkfront review by Cairns Holiday Homes

Overall, it's a terrific system. Discovering how good it is takes time and frustration. Going from manual pricing to online quoting taught me that the human brain can do things so much more easily than an automated system which has its limits. It took me a while to figure out what I could do and could not do in the pricing possibilities that I could offer. Having said that, the Checkfront system is pretty damn impressive in what it can do but a slog to find out the limitations.

Pros

The invoicing and notification system is excellent. It allows for a sequence of events - the initial request and removal of item from inventory, the paying of a deposit and the sending out of a reminder for the balance. It has also allowed us to record bookings that come from another listing site. The notification system is good but , as with with all automatic sequences, you need to think carefully before setting a sequence in train because the same message notification might not be right for everyone. It takes a lot of thought to set up the generic sequence that will most often be used. However, it is very easy to make adjustments to the message before it goes out.

Cons

Checkfront may be used more for booking tours rather than holiday homes but it's flexibility allows for many different set-ups. Therein lies the problem with regard to the help pages. They are quite helpful with regard to what any particular feature is but most examples tend to be about booking tours rather than accommodation. I spent a lot of time working out what I could do and how I should do it, more or less by trial and error. In some ways that is a good thing because I learnt so much more about the system by the sheer repetition of trying so many ways to do something. However, it would have saved me a lot of time to have some real examples of how to set up and overcome particular problems. So far, I have only two irritations with the software. One is the mobile phone app which could be much improved but is not actually a bother because I really do not need to carry my office in my pocket. The other is the Inventory calendar. I wish I could highlight the row that I am working on because it is very easy to start making alterations to the wrong row. I also wish that I could highlight a period of time to add or remove a property from inventory. You can only do that one day at a time which is tedious and non-intuitive. There are other ways round this and perhaps there is a good programming reason for the limitation.

Great Booking Software

We run a glamping business and have been using Checkfront for 3 years and it works great. The initial set up was a bit of a slog as we have an complex booking system, but it all works well. The team at CheckFront is always very responsive and helpful - with written suggestions and video walk-throughs for set up issues.

Pros

There is a lot of flexibility in the this product, with many features. Developed by a small Canadian company, that is very responsive to questions and feature requests. Very supportive with assistance for technical issues in my set up.

Cons

With all the features and parameters to set up, there is lots of things that can get out of lineament. Sometimes I will spend hours trying to puzzle out why something that I have set up does not work as it should. The team at CheckFront is always great is helping me get it fixed.

Overall Poor, but with Some Plus Points

Pros

Checkfront is fairly easy to use and offers you the possibility to set it up for a multitude of product types, such as transportation, restaurant reservations and experiences. The ability for customers to pay directly on an invoice with various payment methods is neat. For a small business, Checkfront does the job.

Cons

Reporting is poor and does not offer many customisation options. Not being able to assign a guide for an experience shows that this software lacks basic functionality. Employee scheduling in such an app is a must. It doesn't have to replace an employee scheduling software, but one should be able to directly assign an employee to an item on the schedule. The widgets on the dashboard didn't really provide relevant information for day-to-day operations. The daily summary list does not offer a great overview on the day's happenings and looks rather messy. Customer support was very average, more often than not. I never really felt that Checkfront took an interest in our business. We were planning on adding more than 10 users and were asked to pay a large sum, yearly and in advance. At this point, we decided it was time to move on.

Best small-medium hotel booking system I've come across...

Bookings for different room types, transport and activities is made easy through using Checkfront. I dont have to worry about double bookings and I know exactly who's coming in and out of my resort, even when I'm not there. My staff find it easy to use and we are able to amend things quickly and easily. For the customer it's also very clear to book what they are looking for.

Pros

Ease of navigation and clear information layout especially on a laptop.

Cons

Sometimes find a few features a little tricky to get my head around on my own but that doesnt matter because the customer support is amazing and they always find a solution.

Accommodation Management Software

Make no mistake, Checkfront is a cleverly designed system with great features and is very reliable. I don't think we have experienced any down time. Our membership has been quick to embrace the new software and bookings are now very efficient, particularly through integration with STRIPE. Checkfront easily integrated into our Membership Management software. From an administrator's perspective, once you have configured the system to your needs, it is easy to manage updates and amendments.

Pros

Flexibility and features: We have fairly specific requirements and a complex process for booking accommodation. I must say that Checkfront has been able to handle all of the complexities we have thrown at it. I do like the notifications feature. As much as we like the software itself the support staff in my opinion are second to none. as well. I have been in the IT industry for more than 40 years and have experienced the lot, from dreadful support to the best. I would rank the support at Checkfront up there with the best. They are helpful, courteous and prompt to respond. I especially like the chat capabilities that give you extended time outside business hours, given that we are in Australia and in an awkward timezone to Checkfront.

Cons

As with most SaaS web based software, the reporting could be a little more extensive (from our perspective). It is adequate but there is not much control over the standard reports, particularly around guest lists over a selected time period. However, it does provide enough basic information around bookings, sales and a decent dashboard for "at a glance" information about bookings. Along with flexibility comes complexity. For us Checkfront was the outstanding candidate, given our very specific requirements but it did take a bit of time to become familiar with it and configure it to our needs. Once set up though it is easy to move from one season to another (we are a ski Club). It was cheaper for us to go down the track of separate software for Membership Management and Accommodation Booking, given the complexities of our booking process. As a result we do not have integration of membership across both systems. That being said, we have not found this to be a show stopper.