We are happy to announce that Peter Woodward has joined ResPax as General Manager.

As well as having a general IT background, he has worked in tourism for the last 7 years in management roles at RnR Whitewater Rafting, Jungle Tours and Tropic Wings Coach Tours where he had hands-on experience in the ResPax system. Prior to tourism, Peter worked in the Finance industry for an ASX listed company in IT systems and support. Previous to this, Peter co-developed reservation systems for Tropic Wings and Rainforestation whilst completing a double degree in Computer Science and Commerce.

If you are attending ATE, email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to schedule a time for Peter to drop by your stand.

In the last newsletter, we advised that in addition to reprogramming ResPax Enterprise to keep pace with technology, changes would include:

• a modern look and change in the layout and structure of the system
• faster navigation and loading of content
• ability to open multiple screens of the program.

Of course, there is more (such as easier approval of agent mappings) and we are dying to tell you about these new features!

Our first release of intended changes to ResPax is almost upon us, as ResPax staff are in the final stages of testing.

You can get a sneak preview by registering for a special webinar next week, and existing ResPax Enterprise tour operators can This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to alter their training databases to use the new system so that their staff can become familiar and comfortable with the new user interface and changes prior to taking the step of upgrading to the latest release.

Online Documentation
Online documentation for new releases of ResPax Enterprise is being improved through the production of training movie clips. This will give you the choice of using the text-based instructions, or following the recorded actions and notes of our trainers. Webinars will also be held from time to time on a variety of subjects.

Although we know ResPax Enterprise is one of the best and most flexible tour reservation systems available, we are still striving to bring tour operators better features!

Here are some of the ideas on our drawing board for development:

• POS functionality
• mobile compatibility
• invoice emailing capability
• improved CRM features
• more flexible reporting options
• netwizard integration of third party applications such as Facebook, Twitter
• integration of third party applications such as TripIT and Google maps to assist in planning and scheduling sales calls
• adding features for customer use giving additional tour operator exposure, eg. adding booking to TripIt or Facebook.

Your feedback is very important. We need to know how you want these features to work for your business, and what features are most important to you so we can plan our development priorities accordingly.

On Monday, 18 April we will be holding a Future Features Discussion Forum in the online space via our webinar software.

During the forum, we will talk about various features we are proposing to ResPax Enterprise and seek your feedback via polls and questions to presenters. We will also be wanting to hear about other features you feel are important for the future direction of ResPax.

Many of our development priorities will be based upon the level of importance attributed to each feature and the number of tour operators who nominate those features at a high priority level.

Click here to register for this discussion forum to be held next week - Wednesday, 30 March.

ResPax are now holding webinars as a convenient tool for both ResPax and tour operators for training and communication purposes. As long as you have access to a computer and the internet, you can join these informative sessions from anywhere you may be.

Currently scheduled webinars are:

• Introduction to ResPax Lite, Part 1
  Covers the differences between basic & extended versions, company and tour setup, activating & editing your subscription. 
  Scheduled date: Thursday, 14 April, 3-3.30pm
  
• Introduction ResPax Lite, Part 2
  Covers setting up agents, agent booking tools, reports, working with the bookings and availability screens. 
  Scheduled date: Tuesday, 19 April, 3-3.30pm
  
• ResPax Enterprise New Release Sneak Preview
  A quick look at the new features and modern layout of the "soon to be released" latest version of ResPax Enterprise. 
  Scheduled date: Tuesday, 12 April, 3.00-3.30pm
  
• Future Features Discussion Forum
  Feedback and discussion session around proposed ResPax Enterprise development plans. 
  Scheduled date: Monday, 18 April, 4.00-4.30pm
  

Cairns tour operators will be interested to know that TTNQ's new VICres booking system will be connected to the ResPax Operator Network. If your ResPax account is available on the ResPax Operator Network, TTNQ will be able to map to your system to view your tour availability and make immediately confirmed bookings.

If you are not sure if your staff have requested your business to be available on the ResPax Operator Network, you can check your status by logging into the agent booking tool ResPax Tour Voucher. You will need to create a Tour Voucher account if you do not already have one.

Once you have logged into the Tour Voucher application, go to Tools/Settings then Operator Mappings, select your region from the dropdown list and check whether your business is in the list and if so, what the status is.

If your business is not in the list or the status states "not accepting mappings", you will need to email a request to be made available on RON This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

New ResPax Operators (since last newsletter)

Alice Springs Holidays (Northern Territory)
All4Adventure (Tasmania)
Centre Highlights (Northern Territory)
Chillout Winery Tours (Victoria)
Clearwater Island Lodge (Northern Territory)
Earth Sanctuary (Northern Territory)
Pepperbush Adventures (Tasmania)
Perth Tram Company (Western Australia)
Quicksilver Group of Companies (Queensland)
Tassie Convoy Tours (Tasmania)