After you have customized your survey and crafted your emails, the next step is to create and format your guest list for uploading.
Step 1: Identify your system
The first step in the guest list upload process is identifying the system where your guest information is stored. Common systems include:
- PMS (Property Management System)
- CRS (Central Reservation System)
- CRM (Customer Relationship Management)
Once you’ve identified the source of your guest list, engage a technical resource who can assist you in extracting the guest information into an Excel (.xls) or Comma Separated Value (.csv) file. The .csv file is the recommended format in order to ensure a seamless upload.
Step 2: Format the guest list
Next, the guest list needs to be formatted correctly. The file must be on one of the allowed file types:
- CSV - We support all delimiters (standard or arbitrary)
- TXT
- XLS
- XLSX
- XML (Requires a sample file be sent to Revinate for customized development on file configuration)
The file should contain the following information for each guest:
- Title
- First Name
- Last Name
- Email *
- Phone
- City
- State
- Country
- Check In Date*
- Check Out Date*
- Room Number
- Loyalty Number
- Confirmation Code
- Channel
- Rate
- Room Type
- Rate Plan Code
- Checked In By
- Checked Out By
- Group Name
* indicate mandatory fields.
If first and last names are not incorporated in your guest list, guests who submit a survey will not have the opportunity to submit their name. Their survey will be submitted from “anonymous”.
It is also important to note that Revinate Surveys supports three date formats for Check in and Check out dates with any variation of delimiters or digits. These formats include:
- D-M-Y
- Y-M-D
- M-D-Y
If your guest list is extracted to an Excel file. Make sure to format it correctly.
Below is an example of an Excel guest list containing the guest data for upload.
Step 3: Save guest list as a .csv file
Below is an example for how the *.csv file must be formatted for successful import:
Lastname,Firstname,Check in Date,Check out Date, Email Address, City, State, Country
Appleseed,John,5/13/12,5/19/12,appleseed@gmail.com,San Francisco,CA,USA
Erik,Jay,6/1/12,6/4/12,jayerik@yahoo.com,San Francisco,CA,USA
Bell,Kate,5/19/12,5/21/12,kate.bell@gmail.com,San Francisco,CA,USA
At this point, you will be ready to upload your guest list.