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Frequently Asked Questions General Questions
Audit Details
System RequirementsAudit Requirements for Event Sponsors
Audit Requirements for Hotels
Privacy & Security
Data Formats
RoomChecks Reports
General Questions What is RoomChecks Housing Audit?RoomChecks automates the audit process. Sponsors, hotels and CVBs now have the ability to gather information to better estimate what future block sizes should be, and to understand how, when, and why people book outside the convention block. They can find out what sources attendees use when making reservations and collect key marketing data without violating privacy concerns. RoomChecks is a web-based service that allows event organizers and hotels to compare the registration list for an event to a hotel�s in-house guest list. RoomChecks identifies event attendees who stayed at the hotel but did not book their room through the official housing block. It does away with the days of work required to do a manual audit by hand-matching names to rooms; and it eliminates the potential for errors and omissions in the final tally. When the audit is complete, the sponsor and the hotel each receive a report showing the matches found (and the match criteria) to identify which attendees booked around the block. Why is a housing audit important?Housing audits are becoming the primary means of eliminating or reducing attrition penalties, and more recently, are also being used as a method of documenting total occupancy for an event — both through the housing system and around the block. Event sponsors, hotels and CVBs all have an interest in documenting the total room nights used for an event. Sponsors are concerned about the impact on-line booking services are having on their room blocks, and may be facing attrition penalties and reduced concessions, or loss of priority positioning for space and dates in many prime convention venues. A housing audit is a preferred method of eliminating or reducing attrition penalties and maintaining concessions. It is also the most accurate way to document occupancy for an event — both through the housing system and around the block. Hotels use audits to determine whether attrition charges are payable by crediting reservations made outside the event block. The audit data may also result in additional complimentary concessions due event sponsors. Audits can provide useful marketing data not available using other channels. Housing audits are important to CVBs as a method of estimating the true economic impact of citywide events. An audit collects more complete and accurate data because it accounts for rooms booked around the block and non-block hotels can be included in the audit. What information does RoomChecks Housing Audit provide?RoomChecks automatically provides a match report that shows all names on the event registration list that appear on the hotel's guest list (outside the official housing block). The report shows the match criteria for each name and the match data from both the event registration list and the hotel guest list. Each name match also indicates whether the hotel automatically accepts the name as a bona fide match. RoomChecks can also generate reports on booking and pacing patterns, sources used by attendees when making reservations outside the block, and rate analysis for each hotel. If more than one hotel is audited, RoomChecks can provide “rollup” reports showing data on an aggregate basis as well as by individual hotel. Audit Details How do I sign up for an audit?To use RoomChecks Housing Audit you must have an active
account with RoomChecks. The RoomChecks representative will ask basic information about the details of your event and the number of hotels you plan to audit and give you a price quotation. When your account has been set up and payment has been made, you will be provided an event ID and can begin the audit process. How does the audit process work?
A report of potential matches is generated. Both the sponsor and the
hotel have access to the match report. What are the rules for matching?Guest names are considered to match if:
Phone numbers are stripped of white space, parentheses, hyphens and periods and are considered to match if the last seven digits match exactly. E.g., 1.950.331.7175 will match (950) 331-7175 or 331-7175. Email addresses must match exactly, excluding case, e.g., “Richard.Thompson@ROOMCHECKS.com” will match “richard.thompson@roomchecks.com”, but will not match “RichardThompson@ROOMCHECKS.com”. ZIP codes must match exactly on the main (five) digits. If a postal code is given, this must match exactly (excluding case). What constitutes a match?Primary matching is on the guest's first name and last name. Additional information, such as city and ZIP code, and optional information, such as phone number and email address, if provided, is used to increase the reliability of the match and eliminate false-positives. RoomChecks uses the following data to confirm potential matches:
All potential matches appear on the match report. For each potential match, the report indicates the data on the sponsor list that matched the data on the hotel list. RoomChecks does not confirm matches. The hotel is given the opportunity to indicate on the match report which potential matches the hotel is willing to credit to the sponsor. It is then up to the sponsor and the hotel to reach agreement on the potential matches that will be credited to the sponsor as confirmed matches. How can I improve the accuracy of the matches?The more information in the registration list and in the hotel's rooming list, the better. The accuracy of each match is greatly improved if the audit wizard can compare email addresses or phone numbers. (Since these pieces of information are generally unique to an individual, names that also match on email or phone number are considered "full" matches.) In addition, providing address and company names also improve the accuracy of the matches. It is highly recommended that both the sponsor and the hotel provide optional information, particularly telephone numbers and email addresses, on the lists they upload. If this information is included in the match report, it takes much less time for the sponsor and the hotel to verify the audit results and agree on the names to be credited to the sponsor. What are the system requirements for doing an audit?
Audit Requirements for Event Sponsors What does a sponsor need to use RoomChecks?RoomChecks is easy to use. You will need the following:
The registration and housing lists must include the following information for each attendee:
It does not matter in what order information appears on a list or whether the list contains additional data. Any additional data is ignored in the audit process and does not affect the audit results. Sponsors are strongly encouraged to review the registration and housing lists to make sure all data fields are complete prior to beginning an audit. Each attendee should appear only once in the registration list. Click here to see a sample registration list. Note: Including as much optional information for attendees as possible, such as phone number, company name and email address, on the registration and housing lists increases the accuracy of the audit match results and reduces the time spent by the sponsor and the hotel in verifying the matches to be credited to the sponsor. RoomChecks technology ensures privacy protection and confidentiality of all audit data. The event sponsor has access only to the registration and housing lists it uploads; each hotel being audited has access only to the guest list it uploads. No audit participant can view the audit data uploaded by any other participant. What if I don't have a housing list?You can still use RoomChecks Housing Audit even if you don't have a housing list for your event. RoomChecks automatically compares the housing and registration lists and removes the names that appear on the housing list from the registration list. The resulting “audit list” is then compared with the hotel's guest list. Because the names of attendees who booked in the official housing block have already been removed, the match report shows only the names of attendees who booked outside the block. If you don't have a housing list, the audit process works the sameway, but you create an empty file and upload it in place of the housing list. (To create an empty file, open any text editor, such as Notepad or Word, enter one row of empty data: ",,,,,", and save a file as a plain text file, i.e., as a *.txt or *.csv file; do not save the file as a formatted document, such as a*.doc or *.xls file). To avoid having the names of attendees who booked within the official housing block appear on the audit match list, you will need to notify the hotels that their guest list should exclude all names booked under the group code for your event. What do I need from my housing company?You will need a list of everyone who booked inside the official housing block for the event. The housing list must be in CSV format (see “What is a CSV format file?”). The list must include the following reservation information (column order does not matter, and the list may include other columns in addition to those listed below):
Note: Including as much optional information for attendees as possible, such as phone number, company name and email address, on the registration and housing lists increases the accuracy of the audit match results and reduces the time spent by the sponsor and the hotel in verifying the matches to be credited to the sponsor. Click here to see a sample housing list. Audit Requirements for Hotels How does a hotel know that an audit has been requested?Hotels automatically receive an email notice requesting them to participate when the event sponsor signs up for a RoomChecks Housing Audit. The email noitifies the hotel of the system requirements needed to run the audit and explains the steps of the audit process. A second email is sent immediately prior to the event, reminding the hotel to save the peak night in-house guest list to a file on their computer system. When the event sponsor uploads the registration and housing lists after the event, a user login and password are emailed to the hotel to enable the hotel to download the registration list and run the audit. What does a hotel need to use RoomChecks?To use RoomChecks Housing Audit software you will need the following:
The guest list must include the following information for each registered guest. The order of information in the coloumns does not matter, and if the list has additional information it will be ignored. Additional columns of data are ignored and do not affect the audit results:
Click here to see a sample hotel rooming list in the proper format. Note: Including as much optional information for attendees as possible on the guest list increases the accuracy of the audit match results and reduces the time spent by the hotel and the sponsor in verifying the matches to be credited to the sponsor. RoomChecks technology ensures privacy protection and confidentiality of all audit data. The hotel has access only to the guest list it uploads; the event sponsor has access only to the registration and housing lists it uploads. No audit participant can view the audit data uploaded by any other participant. Reservation source, reservation date, room type and room rate provide additional information to help both the hotel and the event sponsor better understand decision-making behavior that prompts booking outside the event housing block. RoomChecks does not report the specifics associated with name matches. The match report shows only aggregate results and general categories, e.g., the percentage of attendees who booked online; the percentage who booked with a travel agent; the percentage of rooms booked by event attendees within a certain rate range; the date on which reservations were made (to help you determine whether the reservations were booked early on or late in the reservations process). What are the steps in the audit process?
Privacy & Security How do I know my information will be secure?RoomChecks uses the latest in security technology to protect your information:
What is SSL?“SSL” is the acronym for Secure Sockets Layer, the standard web security protocol for protecting sensitive data. SSL encrypts information so that it cannot be intercepted. For an explanation of how SSL works, please go to http://www.interwebinc.com/security/ssl.html. How do I know my computer and network will be safe?The RoomChecks software uses Microsoft's .NET Framework, a technology developed by Microsoft to provide for completely safe use of applications downloaded from the Internet. .NET Framework provides a security system that confines code to run in tightly constrained, system-administrator-defined security contexts. Applications built using .NET Framework run within .NET and the application's access to the computer's resources is strictly controlled by .NET. RoomChecks runs in the default security mode of .NET, which are the strictest settings. RoomChecks cannot access any files on a user's computer, the network the computer is running on, or any database or other applications. The only files that the RoomChecks software can read are the files provided by users, namely the event registration list and official housing list provided by the event sponsor, and the in-house guest list provided by the hotel. RoomChecks cannot create or modify files. A user can copy information from RoomChecks only to a computer's clipboard (the location where documents are temporarily stored during a cut-and-paste operation); from there it must be manually saved by the user to a location on the user's computer. What is the .NET Framework?For more information on .NET go to Microsoft’s “.NET
Framework Version 1.1 Product Overview”: You can find additional information on .NET at the following:
Data Formats What is a CSV format file?A CSV formatted file is a text file where each row of text represents a different record, for example, all the information for a single hotel guest. The rows of information are broken up into columns. Commas separate the columns. Each row has the same number of columns and the same type of information in each column. Following is an example of a CSV file with each piece of data in a separate column from left to right: room number, first name, last name, city, state, zip code. This example also includes a heading row shown in capital letters: ROOM NO.,ROOM RATE,ARRIVE, DEPART,FIRST NAME,LAST NAME,CITY,STATE,ZIP,PHONE,EMAIL Note: A comma is used to separate each column of data. However, if the data in the file includes a comma, (e.g.: Jones, Jr.) surround the data with quotation marks to indicate that the comma is part of the data. For example: "Jones, Jr." indicates that the comma between Jones and Jr. is part of the last name and therefore should be in one column. How do I create a CSV file?The easiest way to create a CSV file is to use Microsoft Excel to convert a file from one format to another. If you can generate a file that is in the proper format in Excel, simply save the Excel file as a CSV format file. To do this, use the command File: Save As, then select "CSV(Comma delimited)(*.csv)" in the "Save as type" field. Excel will issue a warning that if you save as CSV some features of the spreadsheet may not be saved. This is okay. Click OK to save the file in CSV format. What do I do if my list has the first and last name in the same column?RoomChecks software requires that the first name and last name be in separate columns. If the event registration list or hotel in-house guest list has the first name and last name combined in one column you must first separate them into two columns. This is easy to do. If the names have a standard format such as "Smith/John", the slash ("/") indicates where the last name ends and the first name begins. (Your list may use a different character than the slash mark as the separator.) If your names are formatted with a separator character go to "Splitting Up Formatted Names" below for an explanation of how to split the names into two columns, Alternatively, the first and last names may be simply listed as a full name, such as "John Smith". If that is the case, go to "Splitting Up Full Names" below. Splitting up formatted namesThe following instructions will assume the separator is a slash, if it is any other character, simply replace references to slash, with that character. To easily split up the names, you can use a spreadsheet program, such as Microsoft Excel. These directions will assume you are using Excel. Note: Do not use Microsoft Word as the text editor for this process.
Note:
Splitting up full namesThis section explains how to split a column of full names (e.g., "John Smith") into two columns, a first name and a last name (e.g., "Smith, John"). This works exactly the same as the instruction for "Splitting Up Formatted Names" except the separator is the space (" ") character. Some last names consist of multiple words, such as "De La Hoya" or "von Neumann", so you will have to do a quick inspection of the list to keep the names in one column. This can also occur with first names too (e.g., Betty Jo, Mary Ellen). Follow the steps for "Splitting Up Formatted Names" above, specifying the space character (" ") as the delimiter. After you complete step 4 (in Excel, opening the temporary names file you have created) review the names and adjust any name that are split into more than two columns. For example:
How do I change the date format on my list?RoomChecks requires all dates to be formatted as MM/DD/YY (or MM/DD/YYYY). It is okay if the number of the month or day is only one digit. If you have dates in a different format, you will need to convert them to this format. If your file can be read into Microsoft Excel, you can use Excel to convert the dates:
What happens to data in columns marked IGNOREIt is not necessary to delete or hide columns of information(for event sponsors: member number, paid status, booth number,chapter affiliations; for hotels: market code, other internal data) prior to running an audit. The audit wizard provides an "IGNORE" data type to eliminate the work of removing unneeded data from the file. In the audit wizard, when you label the type of data contained in each column of the file you are providing, you can specify that a column should be ignored, by selecting "IGNORE" from the drop-down menu. The RoomChecks wizard will skip over and ignore this data. Such information will not be used or uploaded to RoomChecks or accessible to the event sponsor. This information will remain private on your computer. What reports can I get?In addition to the Match Report which shows a list of potential matches and the match criteria for each name found, RoomChecks will provide a variety of custom analysis reports upon request. The amount of data that can be provided is dependent upon the scope of information provided by the hotel. For audits that include multiple hotels, a summary roll-up of the audit results can also be provided. Contact RoomChecks at admin@roomchecks.com or call 1.800.338.6638. How do the hotels use the Match Report?The Match Report shows the list of potential name matches, i.e., those names that appear in both the event registration list (after the names on the housing list have been removed) and also appear in the hotel's in-house guest list. In addition the match report provides the match criteria for each name found, and shows both the registration version of this data (the person's address, city, zip code, phone, and email) and the hotel's version of the same data to expedite the verification process. The "Matches On" column (shown below) shows the data that matched between the two sources for easy visual comparison of the match criteria. This report lets the hotel quickly review the list of names and determine which names represent a valid match and which do not. The report is provided in a structured format that can be read using a text editor or Microsoft Excel. This report can be copied to your clipboard and then into an Excel spreadsheet (shown above). In Excel, the data can be sorted to expedite the review and verification process. After sorting, the list can be reordered back into its original order by sorting on the "match number" column and selecting Ascending order; This will reorder the list to show two rows for each name (one for sponsor data and one for hotel data) for easy visual comparison of the match criteria. Does the sponsor get the same Match Report?No. Sponsors receive a Match Report of summary data that shows a numeric calculation of the number of rooms on peak night and the total room nights found at each hotel. The report also provides a name listing and company affiliation for each potential match found and indicates the names that have been validated by the hotel. All information shown on the Match Report is derived from the sponsor source data. Hotel name/affiliation data remains private and confidential and is only accessible by the hotel.
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