CellarPass Platform Update Completed | 4/5/23

We have completed the scheduled platform update that introduced many enhancements, improved features and bug fixes throughout the ecosystem.

These release notes are designed to alert you of these changes and help you understand that some of benefits of the new features and improvements included in this release.

As with all release notes we distribute, we strongly recommend that you take a moment to review them and share them with your fellow team members.

Updated 4/5/23 5:43AM

NEW FEATURES
Today's update includes many new features designed to help you grow your business that we know you are going to be excited about.

1. NEW! Synergy Commerce Point of Sale Announced at WiVi 2023
   We're pleased to announce the official release of our brand-new DTC platform with the launch of the Point of Sale today at WiVi 2023 in Paso Robles on March 29th. You can schedule a demo of the entire platform here (Tuesdays & Thursdays).
   
   
2. NEW! Display Products on Business Page
   You can now setup your products to be displayed on your Business page. Learn how to display your products. After a review with one of our team members, we will approve your Business page to display your Products menu.
   
   
3. NEW! Food Menu on Business Page
   You can now setup your Add-Ons & UpSells to be displayed as Food menus on your Business page. Learn how to display Add-Ons & UpSells After a review with one of our team members, we will approve your Business page to display your Products menu.
   
   
4. NEW! Migration of Images to Webp Formats
   We are continuing our quest for delivering the fastest website possible and to do so, we are changing all of our image formats from .png and .jpg to .webp formats. You can continue to upload .jpg and .png formats through the various image uploaders, but these are now converted to the .webp format saving on average 22% file size, allowing webpages and images to be loaded faster, especially on mobile devices.

ADMIN PANEL
Today's update includes some new features and bug fixes.

1. REMINDER! Sharing of User Accounts
   We have come across many cases recently where Admin accounts are being shared across the entire tasting room staff. This is not only not following PCI requirements and best practices, but is not condoned during our training sessions for security reasons. Every User that access the CellarPass admin panel must have their own login credentials as this not only helps us identify technical support issues, but Users can personalize their settings that may not work for all. There is no additional charge nor any limits to the number of Users, so follow best practices and invite others to use their own account to login.
   
   
2. UPDATED! Concierges Renamed as Hospitality Network
   We are planning many major upgrades to our new Hospitality Network that will take place over the coming weeks. We have renamed Concierges (previously under Team) to Hospitality Network and have moved this to a new link within the Business section. We will be including additional information regarding these changes in an upcoming release, so stay tuned.
   
   

RESERVATIONS
Today's update includes some new features and bug fixes.

1. IMPROVED! Mobile Apps Download and Login
   Based on feedback we've completely redesigned the pages related to gaining access to the credentials for Guest Link Pro and TablePro. "Download" has been renamed as "App Credentials". Clicking this button will now show the QR code needed to access the apps instead of linking to the pages to download the apps.
   
   
2. FIXED! Concierges Receiving Copies of Confirmations
   We found an issue that caused some confirmation emails to not be delivered to Concierges booking on behalf of their guests when booking through our website. This upgrade fixes this issue.
   
   
3. NEW! Manually Send Reminder Email
   We have added a new option to the More Actions menu in the Reservation Details screen that will allow you to manually trigger the Reminder Email to be immediately sent to the guest's email address on file with the reservation. You can also select to send the Reminder to an alternative email address just as you can with Confirmations and Cancellations.
   
   

TICKETING
Today's update includes some new features and bug fixes.

1. NEW! Ticketed Event Editor
   We have made some slight revisions to the Ticketed Event editor. The "Date & Time" section has been moved above the Event Description section.
   
   
2. NEW! Additional Discount Capabilities
   We're pleased to introduce new discounting capabilities on ticketed events that now allow you to limit discounts by:

1. Total Number of Tickets
2. Total Number of Uses per Customer

1. NEW! Draft Mode is Disabled After Publishing Ticketed Event
   We have removed the Draft status mode once an event has been published. If you need to terminate your event, you must use the End Event function which will shut down all ticket sales and provide instructions on how you need to refund all orders.
   
   
2. Credit Card Processing Fees
   NOTE! Starting May 1, 2023, CellarPass will no longer refund CC processing fees. You can however cover those fees in cases where a ticketbuyer paid them and you are now cancelling the entire ticket order. Those CC processing fees will be deducted from your payout. See further details below.
   
   
3. NEW! Image Format
   When you upload an image, we are now saving those images in the industry-standard WebP format for both event listing and event banner images.
   
   

CELLARPASS.COM
This release includes many improvements to our website.

1. UPDATED! Ticketed Event Pages
   We have completed the upgrade to all code related to our ticketed event pages which take advantage of our new network's speed and Google Page Speed scores of 100 for Accessibility, 100 for Best Practices and 100 for SEO.
   
   
2. Pre-Paid Reservations
   We have updated the widget and anywhere an experience is listed on CellarPass.com to denote whether a reservation is pre-paid or not by including an icon. Pre-paid denotes any reservation experiences that would required a credit card and would be pre-paid prior to the guest's arrival.
   
   

COMING SOON
We've got some other projects in the works that we will be sharing with you in the coming weeks.

1. NEW! Interactive Regional Maps
   We're currently in the final days of testing our new regional pages that include an interactive map of the region and expect this to be released the third week of April 2023. Filters have been added to be able to view availability based on party size, tasting fees and much more. Once this is moved into the beta stage, we will be sharing the details in upcoming release notes.
   
   
2. CellarPass Payments Credit Card Processing Fees
   Many credit card processing companies are no longer refunding their credit card processing fees which requires CellarPass to follow suit. Starting Monday May 1st, 2023, CellarPass will no longer refund any credit card processing fees on ticketed events, no matter if the guest pays or you as an event organizer.
   
   If you choose to pass on credit card processing fees on ticketed events and then subsequently cancel the order or process a refund, you have the option to either not refund the guest or refund the guest the cc processing fees, which will then be deducted from your payout. This configuration follows the "Refund Service Fees" setting in the Fees section while editing your ticketed event.
   
   
3. UPDATED! Concierge Bookings
   We are completely re-writing the user experience when booking on behalf of a guest, which is typically done by Tour Guides, Tour Operators, Hoteliers and personal assistance. We are renaming these features and will be sharing the details in upcoming release notes.
   
   

TRAFFIC STATISTICS
We know many of you have been concerned about reduced tourism traffic which is evident across all the regions we work in. Many factors are playing a role in this downturn; economy, weather, job security, seasonality and cost of living.

Many of the upgrades and optimizations to our entire website are netting all of you more bookings. Our conversion rate is up 16%, while revenue is up 17.8% with number of sessions up 4.3%. We expect additional search engine conversion over the coming weeks as Google indexes our new pages.

During our last few focus groups, guests continue to complain about the high cost of hotel stays and tasting fees which is causing them to change from weekend getaways to day trips and visiting less properties, averaging 3.4 properties per day, instead of 4.7 in 2022.

CellarPass' Cellar Scout program not only inspires guests to visit wine country, but is designed to have them visit at least 3 times per year. If your tasting room is looking for new guests, then we recommend you sign up for Cellar Scout as it's 100% free as part of your subscription. It takes just a few minutes to setup and you'll be welcoming our Scouts in no time.