Here’s what’s new in Bed & Breakfast Tracker Plus

* Asset Tracker keeps track of any appliances, furniture, etc. that is rented with the unit.

* Work Order Tracker keeps track of any repairs or maintenance schedules.

* In Reservation Tracker, PayPal is now a payment method.

* To have all charges due by the Deposit date use the Prepay Charges option in the Deposit section of Reservation Tracker.

* You can now add Service Fee charges as a percentage of rent in Reservation Tracker.

* To switch from security deposits to prepayment deposits select the I accept prepayment deposits instead of security deposits option on the Reservation Tracker Prefs screen. To access this screen, click Prefs and then Reservation Tracker Prefs.

* In Reservation Tracker, if you have filled in the 1st Due Date and the Amount Due fields then Unpaid will change to 1st Due when the deposit has been paid or partially paid, so you can access these fields.

* There is now an option for a second payment due date on the Reservation Tracker Prefs screen. If you require two payments before arrival (plus a deposit) select the I require a second prepayment in the amount of option. You will be asked if this amount is a Percent, a Multiple of one nights rate, a Variable amount, or a Set Amount, and for the number of days prior to arrival that this second payment is due. If the Prepay Charges option is enabled, the remainder of charges will be computed if you choose Variable. The 1st Due Date and Amount Due must be filled in for the second due date to be activated.

* You can now process Online Credit Card Payments. When the Enable Online Payments option in the Reservation Tracker Preferences is selected, and you choose the payment type of Credit Card or Debit Card in Reservation Tracker, you will have the option of using this new feature. Go to http://www.productivity-software.com/online_payments.html for more information.

* When a Reservation Payment is made with the new Online Credit Card Payment feature, the confirmation number and process id # are both added to the Notes field.

* Added 1099-MISC Printing feature to Expense Tracker’s Reports – this works similarly to the check printing feature.

* Added Owner accounting reports. After creating a Property Management Invoice there is a new Reconcile Owner’s Account button in the top right corner of the Invoice screen.

* New option in Expense Tracker’s New record dialog creates a Combined record or check for the current Payee with the current Date.

* Added new Find feature for Expense and Other Income Trackers. Great for creating duplicate expense records for recurring expenses.

* New Address Format menu allows you to print addresses in many common international formats.

* Added a Category menu to Task Tracker so you can easily create several different to do lists.

* New Frequently Called Contacts feature in Contact Tracker lists people you want to call often, when they were last contacted, a special notes field, their phone number and email address.

* Improved Email features. Users now have the choice of using the email program on their computer or an online email program.

* Many other improvements. Go to this page to see a complete list of changes to this software.

Organizing and managing your bed and breakfast will be a breeze with the proper software for reservations designed for B&Bs. So how do you choose what bed and breakfast management software would best suit your needs. Here are some ideas that could help you in choosing the best reservation software.

First and foremost, you must determine what are the things that you are looking for in a bed and breakfast reservation booking software? What are the functions, abilities or features that you are looking for? Second, do you need a desktop application or a web-based program? Third, is the software user-friendly? Fourth, how affordable is the booking software?

The common features of a bed and breakfast reservations software are:
* Check for availability and make reservations including the arrival date, departure date and manage multiple rental rates.
* Generates confirmations, receipts and statements.
* Record all your expense payments and travel deductions. View deposits and debits for any number of expense reporting accounts.
* An easy-to-use database that tracks all the information about your guests especially payments.
* Process Online payments.
* A way to add misc. charges and record full and partial rent payments and print rent receipts.
* Keep track of deposits, payments to accounts, and other income sources. Generate registers for your income reporting accounts.
* Record important information on all of your rental units.
* Track of all your income and tax deductible expenses and generate tax form reports.

Some room reservation software will also keep track of schedules, generate form letters to be mailed or emailed, and provide other tools to help you streamline your business. Consider these additional features:
* Send promotional materials or other form letters to all of your guests, vendors, family, friends or any other contacts.
* Keep track of all the appliances, furniture, etc. that are included with your rental units.
* Display your appointments, deadlines and other important events in Daily, Weekly or Monthly Calendar formats in scheduling software.
* Create Work Orders for any repairs or maintenance, track vendors, schedules, work completed and amounts paid.
* Create To Do Lists with room for notes, deadlines, priorities, etc. with project management software.

The best lodging software also include tools which allow you to look up where area codes are, calculate time zone differences, and has a universal calculator that adds or subtracts numbers, dates and times, converts length, volume and weight measurements, computes discounts, sales tax, foreign money exchanges and loan payment amounts.

One major thing to consider is, should it be a desktop application or a web-based application? Here are some differences between the two:
* A desktop application is an application that runs without the need of an internet connection. A web-based application, which includes any software you log on to a web site to access, requires a fast, reliable internet connection.
* Desktop software is generally much faster and easier to use than web-based software. If you do not have a very fast internet connection, it could take you several times longer to get the same amount of work done.
* If your web connection goes down, or the company’s website were to go down, or the company went out of business, you will no longer have access to your data if using web-based applications. A desktop application, if backed-up regularly, is more secure and reliable than a web-based application.
* With web-based applications you rent the software, paying monthly fees and often get only email support. With desktop applications, you generally pay just once, and technical support is often included.

The next thing to consider is how easy is the software to use? Is it easy to understand? Are you comfortable using the software? Can you get technical support easily and quickly, both by phone and by email? Does that support cost extra?

The final question is, how much are you willing to spend for this software? Would you rather pay less on a monthly basis for web-based software, which will add up to much more over time, or pay one reasonable amount up front and get the features, speed and reliability of a desktop application?

As a small business person, I’m sure you would rather find ways to save money and at the same time have the features and capabilities you are looking for in bed and breakfast management software?

With these things in mind, you can now determine what would be the best bed and breakfast reservation software for your needs. The best bed and breakfast hospitality software for a small business person like you, in my opinion, is Bed & Breakfast Tracker Plus. It is a reasonably priced desktop application that is easy to use and is available for most Mac and Windows computers.

To better appreciate its ease-of-use, how it can make you more productive, and to download a free trial of Bed and Breakfast Tracker Plus today, visit http://www.productivity-software.com/bedbreakfast/

Garth Catterall-Heart has been creating productivity software for self-employed professionals and rental property managers since 2002. You may reprint this article only in its entirety with this bio. ©2011 Garth Catterall-Heart

Keywords:bed breakfast reservation software, booking software, hospitality software, lodging software, reservation booking software, reservation program, reservation software, reservations software, room reservation software, software for reservations,

There are many types of bed and breakfast management software available. You can pay a monthly fee for online software or buy a desktop program that does not require an Internet connection for a one time charge. Some rental property software companies even provide you with updates and customer support for no extra charge.

By using bed and breakfast management software you will be able to produce confirmations, receipts and notices with just a few clicks of your mouse and to record all your expenses – categorized and ready to give to your accountant – easily and effortlessly. You can also see at a glance which units are rented and which are available.

Beware of using Quickbooks or other traditional accounting software which is designed for accountants and does not have the property management features you need. Features to look for are reservation confirmation and other notices, income and expense reports, work orders, schedules, contact management and form letters

In my (not so humble) opinion, SpiritWorks Software offers the best bed & breakfast management software for anyone who does not need multiple user capability. This free trial desktop software for Mac and Windows has all the features you need (plus some that are unique to our software) for a very reasonable price. Great technical support and updates are included for no additional charge. Please call or write for more information about our “accounting software for the rest of us”.

Resort Rental Tracker Plus, Vacation Rental Tracker Plus and Bed & Breakfast Tracker Plus also have a new Admin Tasks feature in Reservation Tracker, which reveals the following new features and controls:

• Create Statement – When the guest arrives, you may want to print a Statement for them.
• Misc Notice or Contract – you can use this feature to send an email to a guest for any purpose (ie, a rental agreement or contract).
• Click Open Daily Reminders to view a scrolling list of reminders with a Done button for each Task. Each line contains the Date the software has assigned for this task, the name of the task and the reservation number. You can click any of these lines to go to the Reservation Tracker record.
• Security Deposit Due – you can send an email to a guest to remind them that their security deposit is due. Click Enable to add a reminder for this task.
• Tentative Res Expiring – you can send an email to a guest to remind them that their Tentative reservation is expiring. Click Enable to add a reminder for this task to the Daily Reminders list.
• Arrival Reminder – you can also send an email to a guest to remind them that their Arrival date is approaching. Click Enable to add a reminder for this task to the Daily Reminders list.
• Thank You Note – you can also send an email to a guest after their departure.
• Add a Property Management Invoice reminder to the list by clicking the Enable PM Invoice Reminder option. Click the Create PM Invoice button to create an invoice.
• You can also add dates to your Daily Reminders list to make sure Pre Cleaning and Post Cleaning for each reservation are performed.

Download a free trial of any of these programs for Mac or Windows today.

This software is very similar to Vacation Rental Tracker Plus and Resort Rental Tracker Plus which have also been updated along with this new release. Find out more about our complete line of rental property management software.

Here’s a video introduction to Bed & Breakfast Tracker Plus. Click here for a Quicktime version or here for the YouTube version.

Welome to SpiritWorks Software’s new website, devoted exclusively to Bed & Breakfast Tracker Plus, an easy-to-use, room property management program you can use to manage any number of units, guests and reservations.

You can try it free for ten days by using the form in the upper right of this page. You will find this to be the most complete tenant management desktop application (for both Mac and Windows) you can find at any price. Please take it for a test drive and see for yourself.