Self Check-out System

The Self Check-out system can be used either with or without Self Check-in.  The basic 'setup' concepts are similar to those for Self Check-in, in that the property can Setup the time, exemptions, and default Letters to deliver email and/or SMS messages to trigger the Guest to 'Check Out Online'.  When the following Business Rules have been met, Self Check-out can progress:

1. The booking departure date = today (System Date);
2. The folio is balanced to $0 (ie, total payments = charges on the folio);
3. The booking has not been set as self checkout exempt.  

When the Guest receives a message via email and/or SMS (to create these communication message, see Creating Default Letters) to 'Check Out Online', they will see a 'checkout' button: 

..if the business rules above have been met.  Upon clicking this button, the message: "Thank You. Your self check-out has been completed." is presented and the booking is set to Complete status, as if someone had checked them out manually.  The log will document that the Guest checked out via the MyBookings area, as this example shows:

Many customers will setup Self Check-out to run automatically, and yet there may be situations where the communication occurs (via email and/or SMS) but the booking Folio is not balanced.  As anyone who runs Night Audit knows, there are some folios that just aren't ready at 7 am on the date of departure.  In this situation, a message to the guest will present:

Self Check-out is not available for this booking. Please visit the office or contact the property directly for more information at <email> or <phone>.

..and these bookings will not be able to Self Check-out, but will have to be checked out manually.

Because MyGuest is a great <optional> tool to manage Self Check-in/out the events  that do not go according to plan, these MyGuest events help manage Self Check-out:

1. Inform the property when a Guest changes are made to the Guest Details (email, address, phone, etc);
2. Notify the property when a Guest Changes the credit card for guaranteeing the booking;
3. Inform the property when a Guest has checked out (this closes the MyGuest Request that was opened for the Self Checkin/out event) .

Thus, MyGuest tracks these important events and closes them automatically once the Guest completes Self Check-out.

Identifying Self Check-in and Self Check-out bookings:

Note which Bookings have checked-in and out via the Tape Chart, as this screen shot shows:

These icons represent the action recorded on the Tape Chart :

Thus, note below that the Jennifer Stangle booking completed both Self Check-in and Self Check-out.  But Nathaniel Wyrick completed Self Check-in, but checked out manually via a PMS operator.