Ahhh.... the smell of summer. That special odor of chlorine, fresh paint, and the old grease trap being cleaned out. Summer is almost upon us. Soon pools across America will be opening up. Already, I've had a rush of calls on how to track and charge, yes, charge for those guests.

We have a couple of options for tracking not only how often and which of your members are using that cherished of summer amenities which may, if your club opts to, charge for use.

Imagine this:

Great news! In today's tech savvy world we have choices. Those choices all happen to be integrated into the Jonas member billing systems so it takes very little effort for your club to provide these really great services to your members. No worries on having to do file export of member charges or billing information. Another bonus is that there is not a interface to either that can stop working at any time.

Which one is right? Should a club do both? Why would we do either?

How smart is automating how members pay their bills? Well.... there is a GREAT benefit to giving members options on how they pay their bills. As competition for your member's dollar and attention has increased, clubs have been loosening up on how they accept payment as a heightened member service. Today we see clubs getting very flexible and creative. Some options include Bank Draft and Credit Cards for either ePayment through a secure, password protected website or a batch processing with records kept at the club.

Recently I worked with a client who came to me with several challenges and requests:

* There is no way to know when an employee is about to go into overtime... Nothing alerts us when someone approaches overtime or is jeopardy when comparing actual to scheduled hours.

* We spend too much time adding up our hours and make tons of mistakes.

* We don't know when someone miss punches and punches in too early or late.

* Our employees have different pay rates for when they work in different departments.

When I was in college, we had a favorite hang-out called “The Late Night Library”. I have been told that my college town was not the only one to have a similar named establishment. Of course, this was the “in” place to be and quite naturally, it was convenient to tell parents, professors or even your girlfriend you‘re “at the library”.

Clubs have cut back personnel everywhere they can without impacting member service but, has this forced to cut back so far where handling reservations for member events has become very difficult? The good news is that Jonas released an Event Registration system that is incredibly user friendly for your team and accessible via the web for member reservations.
Reservations absolutely makes "cents". Simply put: Member Service = Increased Foot Traffic = Higher Revenues = Happy Members = Member Retention & More Members.

Many clubs struggle with how to handle their beverage inventory. Over-pouring, theft, tedious physical inventory practices, and breakage problems can rob a club of that little bank we like to the "bar".

The Excitement! The Thrill! The long awaited Dining Reservation is now in Beta. Jonas just released a sneak peak to us, at TTA, of the new Dining Reservations module and it looks g-r-e-a-t.

As with all of Jonas products it's fully integrated with the member database, POS Sales items & categories, reporting, etc. This makes an extremely easy tool to setup and use not to mention all of the robust existing capabilities such as flow of data such as member file, demographics, etc. Here is a quick list of functionality that I've only quickly scratched the surface on:

Orders from the waiting staff can be transmitted directly from the terminal to your Jonas network for processing via the wireless network. With its 4.3” widescreen LCD and touchscreen and 4 way direction sensor, the terminal will eliminate operator errors and improve customer service.

Packed with comprehensive features and accessories, the OT-100 is a very affordable handheld terminal which will enhance any hospitality solution. Features of this mighty little POS workstation include:

Screen: Small and discreet, with a stunning 4.3” widescreen touch LCD

Connection Interface include:

Jonas' promotion has me thinking of an article I published in the TTA Update several months ago. Below is that article on the importance of rewarding your membership and some ideas on how to accomplish this.

A strategic, well thought out loyalty program can have a tremendous impact of member club usage, satisfaction, and retention. Reward and entice your members for their participation and spending at your club. Jonas has a flexible loyalty system that when paired with the Cash (or Gift) Card module will draw your members back to the club.

Loyalty Programs