Checkfront Erfahrungen

Long-time user, and a happy one.

Kommentare: We are a sightseeing tour operator company and we have been using Checkfront late 2018. We have explored other options thoroughly and this is still the one we like the most after several years.

Vorteile:

After years of use, my favorite thing about Checkfront is the helpful support team. They always provide detailed, competent and helpful answers.

Nachteile:

Our only real issue is that they seem to be falling behind on channel integration (especially OTA's) compared to other reservation systems. But the functionality and usability of existing features is very good.

Simple Yet Robust

Vorteile:

There are many things that I love about Checkfront. It's online booking capability and ease of use when training employees how to use it once it is setup. With a little coding expertise you can make the booking process for clients very easy and reduces the friction toward payment, so you can concentrate on operations.

Nachteile:

The Guest form and Guest information are essentially useless and would be better if it was removed altogether. I have been hoping that over the last 2 years since its implementation there would have been improvements to this portion of checkfront, but it has not been improved. There are no triggers if guest have not filled out the info, nor is there anyway to use the information in dashboard or organize it using the daily manifest or send the information somewhere else to be used in another program via automation.The email suite lacks any organizational capability I have created so many that it is nearly impossible to figure out what triggers them and we run many different trips to many different locations and it creates choas when I don't know if clients are getting the correct emails about those trips. Then you get into the creation of emails, there is no way to send test emails to check your formatting. Also you cannot create html emails in the notifications editor. I have to create email templates in Mailchimp and then export them and import them into checkfront. this might be the most ridiculous thing that I can think of. There should be a way to catogorize your emails into folders, and there should be email templates that allow you to design emails in checkfront that have mobile friendly options. If there was a way to see all the triggers without having to open every email to see that would be amazing.

Overall Poor, but with Some Plus Points

Vorteile:

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.

Nachteile:

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.

Absolutely love Checkfront

Kommentare: When we first started out we took reservations in a paper book....yes you read correctly, on paper...knowing there had to be a better way I researched different software to use. Since then we have been so happy with Checkfront. The support from their team has been amazing. From setting us up to answering my everyday questions, their team is always friendly and helpful. I highly recommend them to anyone.

Vorteile:

We have been with check front for 7 years now and we love everything about it. It's simple to use, training new employees to use it is easy, the booking process just flows nicely so it makes sense. Customers also compliment us on how simple and straightforward it is to use. I also feel like they are there when I need them to help me out with any issues I'm having.

Nachteile:

I would like to use the waivers section but it didn't quite work for our set up. There's a couple of little things that would be nice to be able to do with the calendar etc. I also which the app was a bit more useful. I usually always send suggestions in when I come across something that I think would be beneficial for everyone.

Simple to use for our customers and has increased online sales

Kommentare: Great experience and great customer service. Very helpful when we need trouble shooting.

Vorteile:

The interface is very easy to use and straight forward for our customers. This software has definitely increased and enhanced our online booking procedures.

Nachteile:

The system is very robust and there is definitely a bit of a learning curve on the back end, but once you figure it out it's easier to use.

Great value and functionality, excellent support

Kommentare: Great, would 100% recommend to any business operating some type of activity, tour, rental etc.

Vorteile:

Checkfront is an easy-to-use reservation system that can be customized very well to fit the needs of almost any type of activity or experience provider. It's excellent value comes from the fact that it only has a monthly fee and no extra per booking or per user etc which can literally save you thousands of Euros per year compared to other products that often have lesser or similar functionality. The support team is also worth mentioning, they are always quick and friendly and looking to provide good solutions.

Nachteile:

The number of OTA integrations could be higher and feature requests could be handled more quickly but other than that it's excellent.

Great Booking Software

Kommentare: 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.

Vorteile:

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.

Nachteile:

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.

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

Kommentare: 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.

Vorteile:

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

Nachteile:

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.

Customizable reservation system

Kommentare: Very very good customer support team

Vorteile:

Checkfront allows us to customize our reservation system to fit our specific business needs

Nachteile:

There is a definite learning curve to using this product.

Easy software for Booking Tourist Activities / invoice

Kommentare: - I decided to say with checkfront, because their team is very helpful, there is a community and a forum to get inspired, to get help if you are a beginner in the tourism industry

Vorteile:

+ All in one place : Booking / customers / invoices + You can customize every detail of the Activity you are selling to your customers + The support team listens to your needs

Nachteile:

- During covid, the hibernation plan means that your website goes offline

Had high hopes:( Hoping it will turn around...They will do it, I KNOW IT!

Kommentare: Now is the time for private, and I would guestimate that you're at least 6-months away, if not more, from you guys nailing that. Perhaps your software is much more comprehensive? A photoshop, undiscovered? A Linkedin, now FB rival? IDK. I can only find little bugs that make zero sense (on both sides). A mandatory forced parameter can never be one, and it must be less than zero, or it's NOT enforceable. I have an extensive list for your guys if I can find the time. Great people, GREAT value, guys! I just sincerely wasn't about to pay a setup fee due to the complexities of my business. I'm a HUGE what-if person, and those variables are not there yet.

Vorteile:

The sales folks have been incredible! Very patient, helpful, and lovely.

Nachteile:

You guys are on the right track, but I think that your growth will possibly hurt you. I've been watching your Company for many years and finally convinced one of my customers to switch over from Rezdy. The integration has not been easy, and I've not slept for days, challenged with the tiniest minor bugs that I can't believe no one hasn't mentioned? I hate to say it, but I miss Rezdy. They have not changed much in at least 10-years+. What was so illogical with their software now is not so bad now. They also amped it up a notch. I also miss calling you guys up and working through a problem, impossible to get through, just in between the old and the new. Bad timing, I think?

We love it!

Kommentare: We love it and may change our entire booking system over to it !

Vorteile:

That customers can see the calendar of what is booked - we do not have to manage that! They can't double book

Nachteile:

Not much we don't like - maybe could be easier to block off a day . Had to play around a bit to figure it out

Versatile, Cost-Effective Platform with Good Customer Support

Kommentare: Checkfront helped us migrate from a very inefficient reservations system (email and paper) to one that is largely automated and this has vastly improved our customer experience, saved us a lot of staff time, and given us better tools to manage and understand our business. As a small non-profit tour operator with tight margins, we are not only very happy with Checkfront's pricing structure, but also grateful that they offer a non-profit discount. In spite of a few limitations, overall we are very happy with Checkfront and have been using it for 3+ years.

Vorteile:

Checkfront is very affordable relative to other tour booking platforms (they charge a flat annual fee rather than a percentage of sales - which I believe is the fair way to operate), and it works great for many purposes. There are lots of options for customization, and it is easy to learn how to configure and manage the platform using Checkfront's tutorials and documentation. There are lots of helpful integrations (Stripe, PayPal, Google Analytics, etc.) that are easy to set up. Checkfront support is always very responsive and helpful.

Nachteile:

Checkfront is designed to work across many types of booking environments including hotels, hourly tours, daily tours, weekly tours, etc. Because these types of businesses have different needs, Checkfront balances those but, in my experience, isn't perfect for any one type of business. As a tour operator, sometimes we have needed to come up with workarounds to meet our specific needs or live with certain shortcomings. Checkfront support is always helpful, but if there is a feature that you need, the best you can do is submit a "feature request" and hope that enough other people request the same feature for development.

Checkfront Booking Engine

Kommentare: Using Check-front as my online booking engine. Great tech support. Tech Support is friendly, knowledgeable, and usually very quick to reply.

Vorteile:

The software is great value for the money. Best out there in my opinion. Great telephone software support during the set-up/onboarding. Ongoing support via email is extremely good, with tech support promptly replying with step-by-step detailed explanations and screen videos of how to address the issues.

Nachteile:

1. For vacation rental managements, this software in it's current version is very awkward & time consuming to update rates, descriptions, etc if the property falls in more than one category, such as a being 4 bedroom, ski-in/ski-out, base area location, private hot tub & pet friendly. For each category, rates need to be added for that property each time a rate change or new set of dates is added. It seems to be that there should be a main listing that communicates with each of the categories the property is listed under. In the initial set-up, an "alias" can be used, but once the property is up, new rates, fees, taxes, etc have to be added to the property in each category it is listed under. Takes way too much time to do things this way. Needs to be an option to "link" the same property throughout each category it is listed in so rate adjustments can be done with just one entry. 2. Wish they had ongoing telephone support though the email support works well 3. Wish Checkfront had calendar connections with other vacation rental sites such as VRBO, HomeAway, AirBnB, Expedia, Booking.com and so one so once a reservation is made on one site, all the other booking calendars updated at the same time.

A really good all round system

Kommentare: Overall, Checkfront is a good, well rounded product. Day to day use causes little frustration, so using it constantly during my working day is a pleasure and where issues arise, a creative solution will normally fix the problem or make it easier to complete the task

Vorteile:

Checkfront offers a number of key features that make it fully customisable and suitable for a range of businesses including activity companies, rental companies and hotels. If you run a combination of things, then it is the perfect solution as you can adapt different parts of the system to the needs of your staff and guests.

Nachteile:

Checkfront's front-end booking portal plug-in is fairly ugly and is not particularly customisable (even with the new upgrade to this). If there was greater customisation to this, we would likely look to use the booking page option. For the moment we will stick with the API integration, however this is also not particularly great with no updates made to the API for years now (which our web developer mentions frequently).Checkfront's new prices raised an eyebrow - Their previous pricing felt very competitive however the new pricing tiers have made us really question whether Checkfront is value for money

Accommodation Management using Checkfront

Kommentare: Checkfront has met our every business need, so far. Yes, we have had to reach out to Checkfront support for assistance from time to time, but they have come to the party with a solution every time. Make no mistake, this is a great product.

Vorteile:

Flexibility to meet our business processes, automated customer communications via "Notifications" (which you can tailor to your needs), calendar functions, ability to specify requirements for the booking page and guest lists. We also like the different look and feel options for your booking page.

Nachteile:

If I had to make a criticism, and I mean "had to", I would say that because Checkfront is so flexible in its design features, there is a learning curve to understand how the functionality works. That is why you need good customer support, which you also get with Checkfront.

I have a very small business. I wanted software to handle online bookings. In no time it was done!

Kommentare: It handles all my bookings. It's like I have someone in an office full time.

Vorteile:

The most thing I like about this software is the support. Even before I became a customer, Checkfront was answering my questions. I didn't know if the software would handle the things the way I wanted. The tutorial got me started and it provide the base for me to ask intelligent questions. Checkfront answers each question quickly and usually gives me 2 to 3 step by step solutions I could use. The software interfaces seamlessly with my website and their E-Commerce handles my selected payment method flawlessly. Because my business is seasonal, I simply select hibernation mode and my monthly charges are ended until next season. I had no idea what a great fit it would be.

Nachteile:

The only 'Con' I have is when I search help I can't think of the right term to define what I'm looking for so, I get frustrated with the search. However, I can easily overcome that by dropping a note to Checkfront support.

Best product for multi product offerings

Kommentare: Very positive!

Vorteile:

Checkfront has been a game changer for our industry and especially the company. The online booking has freed up time to focus on other necessary duties and the price allows us to run our business more effectively and efficiently.

Nachteile:

The glitches of trying to change a reservation and sometimes it just won't. That's a little time consuming and annoying but it doesn't happen that often. Sometimes the reports can be cumbersome.

Great for small camp and conference centers.

Kommentare: We are a small Christian Camp and Conference Center in southern New Mexico. The previous director was fully analog, doing reservation in a Day-Planner. This dramatically helped to bring us into the 21st century. We had looked at other camp and conference center booking systems, but they were in the thousands of dollars, plus initial setup fees. Checkfront allowed us set everything up on our own. There was a significant learning curve to setting it up, but once done, it has been a breeze.

Vorteile:

The software is very customizable and affordable. It has allowed me to create an online booking system for our camp and retreat center. The biggest advantage is that it provides most of the functionality we need, at half the price, or less, of other camp booking systems. The pictures and video option for our various cabin rentals is great.

Nachteile:

There are a few minor function problems that I wish would be fixed. We sometimes have a group of folks who set up a booking together. They then want to pay separately, and there is no place to input the credit card zip code on the payment page. I have to go back and edit the original booking zip code to do this. Again, it’s a minor issue, but would be a nice feature. One other one would be an option to print a payment receipt, rather than just printing an Invoice that lists the payment being made.

Solid Booking Software

Kommentare: I use it on a daily basis and find it really easy to navigate.

Vorteile:

It is easy to use once you have everything set up. Your bookings are on automation. Booking comes in, emails and confirmations are set. Follow-up emails can be set up. Easy search functions for bookings and daily manifest sheets are clear. Nice to use.

Nachteile:

It doesn't always fit your specific needs, but the support is always there to help with a workaround. It takes ages to get specific items added to the updates.

Best booking software in this price range by far!

Vorteile:

First and foremost, Checkfront is affordable for a small business our size, and even though they are much more affordable than the high-cost competition, Checkfront doesn't scrimp on features and functionality. Checkfront takes a day or two to get used to but that's only because it's jam-packed full of useful and necessary features. Checkfront is a fully functional and complete booking system that won't leave you feeling like there's always something missing, as is the case with so many other low-cost providers.

Nachteile:

I can't complain about a system that does everything the big high-cost alternatives do for a price that's affordable and cost-effective for small businesses like mine.

Pleasant end-user experience

Vorteile:

The reservation management feature is excellent as is the in-built facility to collect waivers from guests.

Nachteile:

We have two separate components to our business and whilst Checkfront works seamlessly for the standard rental letting element, it does require some manual manipulation for the other components.

Solid, feature-filled software product that seamlessly integrates with our business

Kommentare: Checkfront very easily allowed us to move the vast majority of our reservations from over the phone reservations to online reservations freeing valuable staff time. Nothing but good feelings about Checkfront.

Vorteile:

Checkfront is easy to use for our customers, extremely reliable on the back-end, provides amazing value for our business at its cost, is continually improving their product, and provides fast and clear-cut support for any issues. It is easy to integrate with our existing services and online presentation, giving our customers a seamless and easy-to-use experience when ordering through our website.

Nachteile:

Sometimes I wish the customizations for automated email communications were more granular in terms of controlling what information goes out and comes in based on product types.

My review

Kommentare: I like it.. I just don't like the app. I wish the app was better. I would prefer to use the app on my phone and for our employees - but it's limited and it kicks you out on a daily basis. Pretty frustating.

Vorteile:

Lots of great stuff about this. Pretty easy to use..

Nachteile:

The app is awful. Kicks me out daily. Needs to be improved big time.

Booking and Build With Ease!!

Kommentare: Great the support guys have been fantastic in helping me refine the application and adjusting it to our requirements.

Vorteile:

I managed to build an entire booking system from scratch and can maintain it without and army of tech prople.

Nachteile:

I was being billed for users i did not require but the team have now resolved that issue.