From development request to update. Product manager Tom on the new assurance policy.

Collecting deposits from your guests has always been possible through Booking Experts. Thanks to our latest update, this process is now even faster, more efficient and more user-friendly. The world of software and recreation is constantly changing and it is essential to move with it and keep innovating. At Booking Experts, our programmers work daily to improve our software. But how do we decide what to prioritize, what is important and how to approach development? Tom, product manager of BEX PMS, gives us a glimpse into the creation of this borg update and the trade-offs involved.

How do we choose what to improve?

"BEX PMS is connected to many different processes, and that means there are countless desires to optimize," Tom explains. "We always want more and better. To determine which developments to prioritize, we use the RICE model. We test each development request against four questions:

1. How many users do we hit with this feature(Reach)?
2. How big is the impact of this feature(Impact)?
3. How confident are we that this feature solves the problem?(Confidence)
4. How much time will this feature take to develop (Effort)?

Improving the assurance process scored high on both Reach and Impact. As a result, we decided to develop this feature further. But before we can begin development, we need to get clear on what the current pain points are, what the ideal situation is, and what the technical solution will look like. To do that, we always start with the Discovery phase."

What we learned during the Discovery phase

"The Discovery phase is all about fully understanding the user's desire. That's why user research is necessary." says Tom. "For the assurance module, we asked our customers about their needs and pain points. This included questions such as:

• What do you want to charge a deposit for?
• How much deposit do you want to ask?
• How do you want the deposit to be paid?"

Three clear requirements emerged from the survey:

1. The deposit must be able to be paid online.
2. The deposit must be paid before check-in.
3. The process must require minimal manual work.

Based on these requirements, issues were written detailing the technical implementation, bringing the Discovery phase to an end. Time for the Delivery phase (i.e. writing the code).

How the new assurance module works

"Deposit is not a product or service you provide and therefore does not need to be billed. However, it is part of the guest's payment obligation. Therefore, security deposit is decoupled from the order and the invoice.''

Full automation of the deposit process

The deposit process is fully automated*; from collecting the deposit to automatically releasing and refunding the deposit.

Even damage is easily processed, after which automatic release and refund is blocked. Damage is processed on the order and offset against the security deposit amount.

This saves time and ensures a smooth process.

*Automatic refund requires BEX Payments.

Would you also like to take advantage of these improvements?

To take advantage of the automatic refund of the deposit, BEX Payments is required. In this article you can read how to set this up easily.

Want to know more about setting up your deposit policy? Then read this support article.

With this update, you'll make the security deposit process easier than ever for yourself and your guests!