Arctic Reservations

Common Questions about Arctic Reservations

Below are common questions about Arctic Reservations. To see the answer, simply click a question of interest.

Transitioning to Arctic Reservations

  • How long does it take to set up a new installation?

    A new installation of Arctic Reservations can be set up within a day. We simply need to collect general outfitter information from you, such as your logo, address and contact information. With this information, we can create a blank installation and give you access to the backend software (the software used by you and your staff to book and manage reservations).

    For the premium edition, processing credit cards requires having a payment gateway account with one of our recommended providers. If you do not already have a payment gateway account, the payment gateway signup process may result in a slight delay before you can process credit cards in Arctic Reservations.

    For the online edition, creating the guest-facing website can take longer. In order to set up the website for guests, we will need to work with you and your hosting company to install Arctic Reservations on a subdomain of your website (for example, "reservations.yourwebsite.com"). In addition, it will take our staff up to a week to customize the guest facing page to match the design of your existing website. On average, the guest facing website is active and available within a week.

  • How long does it take most outfitters to learn Arctic Reservations and start booking their season in it?

    Arctic Reservations is intuitive and many people are able to learn their way around the software quite quickly. Despite the fast learning curve, some time is required to customize trips, upload appropriate attachments and truly personalize the software to your company. Since Arctic Reservations provides substantial flexibility and customization, many outfitters want to take sufficient time to integrate all the different options and features before they begin using the software, thereby ensuring a smooth transition.

    Each outfitter varies, depending on where it is are in the season, but most outfitters are able to customize the software and set up their upcoming season in two weeks. (From our experience, the range is between one and four weeks.) During this setup time, we work closely with you to teach you about the software, answer questions and point out potential features that you may want to take advantage of.

  • Can you import my existing customers into Arctic Reservations?

    Yes! This somewhat depends on your existing software, but as long as there is an export feature or a way for us to access the raw database, we can move your existing customer records into Arctic Reservations.

    We can sometimes extract past reservation information as well, and reflect this information in the customer history, allowing you to retain the ability to differentiate your loyal customers.

    There is no cost associated with importing customers into Arctic Reservations.

  • Can you import my existing reservations and invoices into Arctic Reservations?

    In most cases, no. Every reservation management system has its own paradigm for storing trips, reservations and invoices, making it difficult to transition them into Arctic Reservations. We are always willing to try, but generally such data cannot be directly imported. As a result, we often encourage customers to transition to Arctic Reservations during their offseason, to decrease the need for duplicate data entry.

    Although active reservations cannot be imported, we can sometimes extract past reservation information and associate it with customer records so that you can still see a customer's history.

    Please inquire with us if importing reservations and invoices is important to you, and we can work to identify a solution.

About the Software

  • How are updates handled in Arctic Reservations?

    Arctic Reservations is a living piece of software... updates are always being released, ranging from the simple (improving instructions) to the substantial (releasing new functionality). Updates become immediately available to all customers using Arctic Reservations. The intention is that Arctic Reservations will continually become more powerful and easier to use.

    We may develop new products independently at times, either designed for different industries or redesigned from the ground up.

    Users of the distributed edition of Arctic Reservations receive updates once a day, meaning that updates may appear slightly after other customers.

  • Is my data safe? Do I need to back it up?

    We take care of backups for you, so you don't have to worry. This is one of the great advantages of cloud-based software. Arctic Reservations keeps incremental backups throughout the day in case of database corruption, and stores full backups of all data every night to a secondary machine. For added redundancy, data is even copied to an offsite server once a week, ensuring that there is no single point of failure.

  • How reliable is the software?

    Arctic Reservations is available 99.95% percent of the time (at least, that is our track record for the past two years). We even guarantee that it will be accessible 99.9% of the time. We work hard to ensure that updates run smoothly and that disruptions to your service are minimal. Occasionally, we do have to take the software offline for scheduled maintenance, but such maintenance is rare and is scheduled in such a way as to be least disruptive (off season, and late at night).

  • What if I do not have a reliable internet connection?

    As cloud-based software, Arctic Reservations is online software and needs an internet connection. We feel confident that the growing prevalence of high-speed internet makes this a viable option for many outfitters. But, as we work with outdoor adventure companies, we know that some offices are situated in areas without the luxury of high-speed internet. For unreliable connections, we offer a distributed edition of Arctic Reservations.

    The distributed edition places a Arctic Reservations server within your office, so the software will load instantly, even if your internet connection is offline. Whenever your internet connection is live, your local data is synchronized with the server. Whenever the internet is up, you will see new online reservations in real-time and can rest assured that your data is continually backed up on the main Arctic Reservations servers. So an internet connection is still required, but you are no longer dependent on it for your business needs.

  • Is Arctic Reservations PCI compliant?

    Yes, Arctic Reservations meets all the PCI standards set by the credit card industry for processing and storing credit card information. All credit card data is transmitted via SSL encryption, stored using industrial-grade encryption within the database and is only accessible to users of your installation. It is important that you take sufficient precautions within your office to ensure that all accounts remain secure, and that no credit card data is stored outside of Arctic Reservations.

    Arctic Reservations receives ongoing PCI scans to ensure that our software is secure and not vulnerable to common internet threats.

Demonstration Installation

  • Can I get a walkthrough of the software?

    Yes! We would love to show you some of the key features and functionality. Please fill out the sales form to let us know you are interested.

  • What features are available on the demonstration installation?

    When you register, you are given a super user account on a full-featured, up-to-date installation. As a super user, you have access to almost all sections of the software, except for the installation settings and the user management page.

    Since all modules are enabled on the demonstration installation, there are a lot of features to see and try. For a real installation, we encourage outfitters to disable those features that are not relevant to their business in order to streamline the relevant functionality.

    Two parts of Arctic Reservations are not available in the demonstration installation:

    • The credit card module is not available in the demonstration installation, as we do not want users entering actual credit card data.
    • Although the online edition features can be configured on the demonstration installation, there is no guest-facing site. To see the online booking process, please contact us.
  • Where can I see a demonstration of the online booking process and other guest-facing pages?

    We are happy to show you what the online reservation, online payment and online registration process look like to guests, as well as other guest-facing features. Please send us a message, and we will get back to you quickly to provide a demonstration of these guest-facing features.

    We also encourage you to look at the outfitters listed on the right-hand side of our website, as they all accept online reservations through Arctic Reservations.

  • Is the demonstration installation private? Who else has access?

    The demonstration installation is publicly available to all users who complete the demonstration sign-up form on our website. For this reason, we encourage you to use discretion when entering personal or real details into the system. We occasionally reset the demonstration installation.

  • Can my company get its own installation for demonstration purposes?

    Yes, if you are considering signing up for Arctic Reservations in the near future, we are happy to provide you with a full installation where you can try entering actual outfitter data. Please contact our sales team if you are interested.

  • Where is my welcome e-mail for the demonstration account?

    As soon as you fill out the demonstration sign-up form, you should receive an e-mail with a randomly generated password that will allow you to log in to the demonstration installation. If the e-mail does not arrive, please check your spam folder.

    If you forgot your password, or would like to have the password resent, you can use the reset password tool on the demonstration installation.

Pricing

  • Will the price go up once I sign up?

    No, we stand by the initially agreed upon pricing. If you change editions, then your price will adjust accordingly.

    Beyond the initial configuration and customization of your installation, some additional customization may have an added cost. We will always provide ample time to review these costs before making changes.

  • Is a commitment required when I sign up for Arctic Reservations?

    No. You only commit to Arctic Reservations through the remainder of the billing cycle (i.e., the remainder of the month or the year, depending on what payment plan).

    If you have the seasonal payment plan, we ask that you commit for one year of service.

About Us

  • Whose behind Arctic Reservations?

    Arctic Reservations was created by Nathan Perkins, a graduate from MIT, who has since been joined by an outstanding team. We seek to improve reservation processes for many sectors. We will post a page with more information about our company in the coming months.

  • How long has Arctic Reservations been around?

    Arctic Reservations was first launched for a single outfitter back in July 2005. It was a continuation of an earlier project to create a photo sharing website for rafting guests, and slowly grew into a full-service reservation management solution.