Q:  What is SKIGEE?
A: SKIGEE is the first practical SMS solution for hotels, spas, restaurants and loyalty programs! It is a downloadable software package that gives users the ability to easily connect with their mobile guests while leveraging integration with existing guest systems of record.

Q: How do I install SKIGEE?
A: Please refer to the Install guide by clicking here . The Install guide will give you a detailed description of the SKIGEE installation and deployment process.

Q: Is there a limit to the number of messages that SKIGEE can send?
A: No, there is no limit. SKIGEE can handle from 1 message to 1 million messages.

Q: How does SKIGEE send a message?
A: SKIGEE will connect to SKIGEE Central server in order to send messages and to receive message delivery confirmations. The SKIGEE Central server will process those messages and use the appropriate SMS gateway to deliver messages to your guests’ mobile devices anywhere in the world!

Q: Does SKIGEE have a Corporate License?
A: SKIGEE uses standard Terms of Service as opposed to a license.  If you wish to use SKIGEE  in a multi-site environment, you can contact us at sales@skigee.com for special volume pricing.

Q: Is SKIGEE secure?
A: Yes.  All messages sent by SKIGEE are encrypted using SSL while being sent from the Client to the Central Server over the Internet.   

Q: Do I need to give Special rights to domain User for using SKIGEE?
A: No, SKIGEE does not require any special Windows user rights for operating the software.  At the start, it requires you to have permissions to install an application on your system.  You can obtain this from your local system administrator.  

Q: What operating systems are supported by SKIGEE?
A: SKIGEE has been tested and is supported by Windows XP®, Windows Vista®, Windows 2003 Server® and Windows 2000 Professional® operating systems.

Q: What is the difference in Auto messages and Scheduled messages?
A: The basic difference is that Auto messages are based on triggers and Scheduled messages are based on time.  Auto messages are sent when any activity, such as reservation booking or Check-In/Out, is performed in the hotel system (PMS, Spa, etc), whereas Schedule based messages are messages that have been set up to be sent at a particular time of day or day of week.  

Q: What is a Template?
A: Message templates provide the ability to use standard, consistent messages over and over again.  They are a basic body of text to which the specific recipient variables (title, last name, etc) can be added.  For example, you may want the message for reservation confirmations or weather reports to always be the same. You would use templates to handle this.

Q: What is a variable?
A: Variables are the list of guest related fields that can be inserted into templates or auto messages that will be replaced by actual value by SKIGEE at the time the message is sent. An example would be that you want to include the guest’s reservation confirmation number in the message.  Rather than looking this up and typing it in manually for every message, you would insert the variable for <reservation confirmation number> and SKIGEE will automatically insert the correct value into the message text.

Q: How are variables used in the message?
A: Let’s say that you want to send the same message to all In-House guests and want to address each guest by title and last name.   In this scenario, we can insert the variables <Title> and <Last Name> and SKIGEE will replace them with the guest’s title and last name while sending out the messages.

Q: How do I send messages to all In-house guests?
A: Simply click on the icon labeled – “Send Message to all In-House Guests”, which is in the top right corner.  This gives you a new SMS screen with all the In-House Guests as recipients.  Go ahead and type in the message, click Send and you’re done!

Q: How do I send messages to all guests who will arrive in the next 24 hours?
A: Simply click on the icon – “Send Message to all Pre-Arrival Guests”, which is at the top right corner of the SKIGEE Client.  This gives you a new SMS screen with all Pre-Arrival Guests who are expected to arrive within next 24 hours as recipients. All you need to do then is to type in the message which needs to be sent.

Q: Does SKIGEE support multiple languages?
A: Yes, SKIGEE does support multiple languages. For the beta version, only English and Simplified Chinese are supported.  Future languages will include – French, German, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Dutch, Turkish, Russian, Italian, Korean, Traditional Chinese and others.

Q: What is the maximum length of SMS messages that SKIGEE supports?
A: For most of the languages SKIGEE supports up to 466 characters as maximum text length over multiple SMS messages. For double byte languages, such as Chinese and Japanese, SKIGEE supports 198 characters as maximum length of the message.  

Q: What is the length of each individual message?
A: For most languages SKIGEE supports 160 characters per message, but double byte languages, such as Chinese and Japanese, supports 70 characters per message.

Q: How do I track delivery of a message I have sent with SKIGEE?
A: The message delivery tracking is handled by SKIGEE automatically.  You simply select the Monitor button and look for your message under the ‘Delivered’ status.  

Q: How do I disable sounds in SKIGEE?
A: Once you are logged into SKIGEE, you have to go to Menu bar and Select Tools > Sounds. To deactivate this feature you would uncheck the checkbox next to Sounds.

Q: What are the costs involved with using SKIGEE?
A: There is no license fee for downloading and installing the SKIGEE software.  You only need to pay for the messages that you send.

Q: How do I set auto messages for a new reservation or reservation cancellation?
A: You will need to configure an auto message and select new reservation or cancel reservation as the trigger for the execution of the auto message. For more details, please refer to the User Guide by clicking here .

Q: How do I notify all guests for any urgent issues during their stay?
A: This can be done using 'Send Message to all In-House Guests' button which is placed in the upper right hand corner of the application.   

Q: Can I use SKIGEE even when I am not connected to Internet?
A: Sort of.  You can logon to SKIGEE and review all the guest related activity like Check-In, Check-outs, Reservation booking etc. You can also add Users, configure settings, and configure auto messages, but you will not be able to send any messages.

Q: Do I need to be in the hotel LAN to use SKIGEE?
A: If you are using a standalone version of SKIGEE then you can work independently of hotel network, but if you have an integrated version of SKIGEE (that interfaces to your PMS, Spa or Table management systems) then SKIGEE needs to be used on the hotel network to connect to these systems.

Q: How do I create my own templates?
A: From the SKIGEE Client, go to Tools > Templates and then select New.  Give the Template a name and then start typing.   For more details, please refer to the User Guide by clicking here .

Q: Can I change the predefined templates?
A: Yes, the predefined templates which are in built in SKIGEE can be changed. These templates have been derived out of best practices from different SKIGEE users.  However, if you wish to edit the template, simply right click on the template and choose Edit.

Q: Will the new import of contacts overwrite the existing one?
A: While importing the contacts you will get 3 options
a)    Replace duplicate records with the item imported
b)    Allow duplicate records to be created
c)    Do not import duplicate records
SKIGEE will update the records based on the option selected while importing contacts

Q: Can I divide my address book contacts into my own category?
A: Yes, SKIGEE allows you to categorize contacts into any number of different categories.  SKIGEE also allows you to have one individual contact to be a part of one or multiple categories available within the property.  

Q: What do the different color backgrounds in the Guest mobile number field mean?
A: SKIGEE tries to validate every mobile number using a sophisticated mobile number validation program.  If the number does not validate, then the background is set to red.  Other colors indicate that SKIGEE performed some action to try to correct the number and make it validate, for example, adding the default country code.  For a detailed explanation of different color backgrounds, please refer to the User Guide by clicking here .

Q: Can I update the contact number of a guest in the hotel from SKIGEE?
A: SKIGEE allows you to enter an additional number to a guest which will be used for all the   communication between guest and hotel from that point onwards, but SKIGEE will generally not update any information back to your PMS. (Specific interfaces may have this feature, but in general, SKIGEE only receives data from your system, it does not send data to it.)

Q: Will the changes in the guest contact info get updated in PMS too?
A: No, SKIGEE doesn’t write back to your PMS, it only receives the information. (Specific interfaces may have this feature, but in general, SKIGEE only receives data from your system, it does not send data to it.)

Q: Can I restrict some users from sending messages?
A: Yes, SKIGEE allows you to restrict a user’s ability to send messages in the Admin settings.

Q: If I delete a contact from my address book, does it get deleted for other users in the hotel too?
A: If the contact is a Public contact, then yes, other users in the hotel will no longer be able to view this contact.   

Q: How can I save my customized view?
A: SKIGEE automatically saves your last saved customized view.  If you wish to return to the SKIGEE default view, you can click on “Default View” to restore the default.

Q: Can each user import his/her own personal contacts and keep those from public view?
A: Yes, while importing or adding contacts you can mark contacts as Private.  Those contacts will be visible only to the user who has imported or added them.

Q: Where can I find the messages sent data beyond 7 days?
A: SKIGEE gives you a detailed report maker that helps you to view data from the day you have started using SKIGEE.

Q: Can I see messages that have been sent by other users?
A: Using Monitor, each user can view all the messages which have been sent by other users. This feature helps users view all the communication that has been exchanged with a particular guest.

Q: How can I stop a user from seeing reports?
A: You can restrict users for accessing the reports by removing rights for reports section under Admin Setup > User Administration.

Q: Do guest data changes in the PMS get updated in SKIGEE automatically?
A: Yes, SKIGEE receives changes made in the PMS automatically.

Q: Can I send messages anywhere in the world or just local messages?
A: SKIGEE allows you to reach your guests irrespective of their location or mobile network – even when they are roaming.

Q: Is there a limit on the number of categories that can be created in the address book?
A: No, there is no limit on the number of categories you can create.

Q: Is there a limit on the number of templates that can be created?
A: No, there is no limit on the number of templates you can create.

Q: Does SKIGEE store users’ preferred settings like language and categories?
A: Yes, SKIGEE automatically saves language preferences and maintains them for individual users.