PMS Interface for Aloha

[Alohamco]

Good morning,

The company I work for decided to purchase the Aloha PMS interface from our reseller. We are having a butch of issues with the reseller giving us the information we need to make the interface with our reservations system. So my question is, Can anyone give a clear idea on how to make the interface work? We are using a generic Micros driver to build the interface back to Aloha. The reseller wants us to buy another PC/hardware to connect to the BOH serve in order for the interface to work. Everything I call the reseller, they want to charge a per hour rate ($$$) and after a few hours on the phone, they tell me that they need to check with Radian to make sure they don't give me incorrect information. Call back in a few days, give us some time to look for a solution (so they can charge ($$$) me again for a new call). I need help, this reseller is only looking for money every time we talk to them.

 

[DrZogg]

Someone here has asked me to look at the same thing. In Australia Aloha is called Riva, and they are looking to interface to Respak. (Reservation system by Analytical Systems). Riva has quoted $7k to set up the interface so it is integrated. I cant find any information about it online, I will tell you how it works with Micros:
1. POS server and reservation server should be on separate computers
2. An interface is configured that points to a script file and to the IP of the computer the INTERFACE resides on (could be the POS server or the reservation server)
3. The interface script gets modified to have the correct SEND, PRINT CHECK codes used locally, + PMS sequence number for responses from the Reservation system
4. Additional files are loaded called ENHANCED INTERFACE that contain the DLLS to run queries, transmit and receive messages between the systems.

From a logical point of view, POS -> script -> EIFC.dll -> PMS

I would imagine that for Riva it would be much the same, and the script would be almost the same.

 

[glcpark]

Caution - steep learning curve ahead, this can be tricky. Sometimes the hardest part is managing the finger pointing between your POS and PMS vendors. From what I've seen, Aloha emulates the Micros PMS interface communication dialog. Did your company purchase a Micros interface for the PMS? Most PMS vendors sell the Micros interface as an option. This will most likely be software running on either your PMS server or another box next to it. The Micros interfaces I have dealt with have been serial connected with a COM port to the Aloha server. Your company will also need to consider how they want the charges to appear on the guests bill, that should be part of the configuration questions from your PMS vendor.

In my experience the flow is like this:
Aloha POS > EDC > Serial Data > PMS interface > PMS

If you have more specific questions, I will try to answer the best I can.