B4Checkin Builds Custom Booking Engine to Handle 32 Room Types at Edmonton’s Fantasyland Hotel

For a themed property like Fantasyland Hotel in Edmonton, it is crucial that potential guests be able to search for and book the exact room type they want. One of Canada's busiest hotels, guests travel from all over the world to stay in guestrooms styled like an igloo, a Polynesian paradise, an African safari and many more. In fact, Fantasyland boasts 11 different themes with a whopping 32 different room types at the 355-room property. Combined with the myriad package deals and promotions they offer, Fantasyland needed a booking engine capable of displaying and processing real-time availability for more options than most off-the-shelf products could manage.

Unable to find a booking engine that could meet its needs and also integrate with its existing property management system—Infor's SoftBrands Epitome PMS—Fantasyland turned to B4Checkin, developer of the hotel industry's premier fully-customizable reservations system and guest satisfaction feedback tool, to build a bespoke system.

"We've been extremely impressed with how responsive B4Checkin has been to every request we've made, even after the booking engine went live. They've really taken ownership of the project and faced head-on the massive technical and logistical challenge that we gave them," says Joseph Schuldhaus, vice president of information technology for Fantasyland's owner, Triple Five Group of Companies. "The system B4Checkin built for us makes it simple for guests to customize their stay with our special themed rooms, and to book groups, packages and add-ons—even on mobile devices—all of which have given our hotel a tremendous revenue boost. Plus, we can make changes to promotions on the fly, a feature not offered by other systems we considered."

Triple Five Group's other hotel property, West Edmonton Mall Inn, has likewise implemented the B4Checkin booking engine and B4Feedback, the complementary state-of-the-art guest satisfaction tracking and management tool.

Hotels running Epitome and Infor's other PMS, Medallion, already benefit from a two-way interface with B4Checkin. In addition to Medallion and Epitome, B4Checkin has achieved two-way certification with Micros Opera, Agylisys Visual One and Datamagine, as well as InnQuest roomMaster. Crucial information such as room rates, inventory availability and guest profile data are automatically exchanged in real time between the PMS and the B4Checkin online booking engine, ensuring that customers have an accurate view of booking options and increasing the speed of confirmation times. The interface delivers the benefits of the B4Checkin booking engine without staff having to manage an extranet of rates and availability, nor must they manually enter bookings as they are confirmed.

But the sheer number of room types at Fantasyland—not to mention the necessity of having all of the room types be searchable and bookable from mobile devices, as well—required significant customization by B4Checkin.

"At B4Checkin, we take great pride in meeting our clients' goals and objectives," says Saar Fabrikant, president and CEO of B4Checkin. "Fantasyland asked us to develop a wide range of difficult customizations in a very tight timeframe—less than a month—but we pulled it off. We're excited to have one of Canada's most famous hotels online with us, and we're proud that they've opted to implement nearly the entire suite of B4Checkin's products."

"Besides the functionality advantages offered by B4Checkin and the firm's willingness to do significant customizations to the booking engine, there were some financial benefits to selecting B4Checkin as well," Schuldhaus says. "Unlike most booking engine providers, which typically charge a per-reservation commission, B4Checkin allows hotels to pay an affordable monthly fee, regardless of the number of bookings we receive."

For more information about B4Checkin and its integrated suite of cloud-based online booking and guest feedback software solutions, contact Saar Fabrikant at 902-423-3001, or visit www.b4checkin.com.

About Fantasyland Hotel | Located in the heart of North America's largest shopping and entertainment complex, West Edmonton Mall, this one-of-a-kind luxury hotel features 235 classically decorated guestrooms and 120 fantasy-themed rooms designed to recreate a specific place or era. Choice abounds when it comes to dining, with L2 Grill providing culinary creations that feature the freshest ingredients found across Canada, while L1 Lounge provides a relaxing environment to sit back and enjoy. For more information, please visit www.fantasylandhotel.com.

About B4checkin

b4checkin™ supplies an innovative suite of cloud-based software solutions for the hospitality industry. Designed to help hotels better manage business and operations online, b4easypost replaces traditional credit card authorization forms with a secure payment solution that is both staff & consumer friendly and reduces fraud and chargebacks. For hotels that require flexibility in displaying lodging options, chameleon, the industry's first truly pliable online booking engine. b4checkin is headquartered in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, with installations serving customers all over the world. For more information or to schedule a demo, please call 902-423-3001 or visit www.b4checkin.com.

Conner Erwin
VP of Sales
512-790-0762