This article tells you how we chose to design Open Door, and why.
Its Base Package is designed to have all the features that any hostel must have. The Base Package can be used by any small or medium hostel. There is no licence -- you buy it for a modest price, and you don't have to keep on paying year after year. It is best learned with help, but if necessary it is straightforward enough to learn to use on your own, with the help of the complete and clear user guide that is included.
Every product is a compromise. Open Door is a 'necessary and sufficient' solution. This means that the Base Package aims to have everything that EVERY hostel will need, but no additional features that only some hostels will need. We reasoned that, if we put in all such features, the size of the package would double, the price would double, and the waiting time would double. But that doesn't mean you can't have them! If you need specific facilities, such as representation of separate genders, or a fuller treatment of rooms, or procedures for storing credit card information safely, such additions can be provided at a reasonable additional cost.
Some users might want a package to include facilities for financial analysis, printing of invoices etc. If these facilities were included, we would end up with another all-purpose, elaborate, expensive package. Open Door has a simple approach to this need: it is designed to output any of its information in any standard format -- as a printout, a comma-separated text file, or in XML. In this way it can link in with any specialised package that can accept one of these formats. If you need to export any specific data in any specific layout, just tell us, we will do it for you free or at a small cost.
All hostels want this. We can output data in any suitable layout, but up to now there has been no way in which we could transmit a data file to a booking engine.
BUT NOW, THERE IS A WAY!
A new Company is about to offer a service in which you can enter your vacancy data, and they will then distribute it to a selection of booking engines. You enter your data manually, but only once.
But if you use Open Door, your vacancy data can be sent automatically!!
We are currently working on this link, and within months the arrangement will be set up. Open Door is the first software system to offer this facility, so if you think this service would be very useful, please get in touch!
