Aries is designed to be user friendly and easy to use – this guide will help you to get started, or if you need help when using the system. The guidance notes here can also be accessed using the blue information or help buttons when online.
For additional help you can contact us at qualitydevelopment@gov.gg
New users need to sign up and obtain a password so they can log in and claim their accommodation site.
A series of automatically generated emails will prompt you to visit ARIES during the monthly input window to input your data. Screens are blank to start with, but after an initial entry has been saved, screens will open each time you visit showing the data saved the last time you used ARIES.
Two sets of data are requested each month:
Room/unit nights sold is the monthly total of rooms/units actually occupied by paying guests each night.
ARIES knows the maximum room nights available at your establishment for any given month, and will not let you exceed that level. The number of registered rooms is shown at the top of the screen. If these numbers are changed during the Boarding Permit period you should advise qualitydevelopment@gov.gg.
Data is entered by sliding the appropriate button to the right, until the correct result appears in the box at the end of the slider; OR you can type the total directly into the box. Remember to SAVE your input after entering it.
You can go back into ARIES as often as you want during the current data input window to make adjustments or corrections, but remember to save the data each time. At the close of the input window ARIES will grab the data is currently saved, and this will be used to generate your reports.
If you enter zero occupancy ARIES will prompt you to confirm if you were actually closed, and if so to select a reason from the drop down list.
TOP TIP: if you have access to a percentage occupancy figure from another source, you can use the Predicted Occupancy Table to translate this into actual room nights – simply select the slider in a month with the correct number of nights, and move it to the appropriate % level – the equivalent in room/unit nights appears in the box at the foot of the column.
This part of the survey asks for your realistic expectation of levels of business for the current month, and for each of the 11 following months. Please submit your best projection of the % of available room/unit nights sold and/or firmly allocated for each month, based on the current information you hold – in other words, the room stock that you consider is no longer available for sale in each month.
Attention to the quality and accuracy of this information is vital - a simple guestimate of predicted occupancy based on historic performance levels may only disguise a significant trend in actual booking patterns.
Do not include winter lets or other long term non-visitor uses (e.g. rooms used for staff accommodation).
The maximum possible number of room/unit nights available in a given month appears at the top of each column. Data can be entered using the sliders against the % scale at the left hand side of the chart, (a precise % value appears at the foot of each column under the box labelled projected). The projected box shows your % as the actual number of room/unit nights allocated: if you prefer you can type the number of allocated room/unit nights direct into the box labelled projection, and let ARIES do the rest.
If you know in advance that your accommodation is to be closed to visitors completely for any particular month, (for self-catering operators this includes periods of winter letting) simply click on the box provided and select the reason for closure from the drop down list.
ARIES will prompt you to indicate which month’s projection is of the most concern to you, for example where projected bookings do not match normal expectation. You must select one month before you can submit your data.
The data input screen has a facility for us to carry out simple surveys from time to time, which you may wish to respond to. The topics will vary and there may be no poll at all at certain times. Simply click on the most appropriate choice and submit.
From the Data input screen you can also select previous months and years to review the data submitted on past visits – this provides a chance to amend or replace an incorrect submission, or to backfill ARIES with historical data which may be useful for comparative purposes.
The reports returned to participants allow you to benchmark your activity against your peer groups. This is a key benefit of participating in ARIES. All reports can be filtered by date using the selection fields at the top of the report.
Achieved occupancy reports can be compared against peer groups using the drop down list. Results can printed from screen or exported as Excel spreadsheets, so you can easily build up continuous records of your booking and occupancy profiles.
Results are calculated on the accommodation stock reporting to the system, so the higher the level of response the better and more valid the information we get.
Key to report terminology:
Update your password, change a user name or assign a new one. Keeping this information up to date will help us communicate with you more effectively.
The email address you provide is crucial for effective communication with ARIES. If you need to change the address you must contact the Quality Development Section to update the information – use qualitydevelopment@gov.gg. If you don’t do this Aries will lose contact with you.
You can use a generic email address such as reception@xxxxxselfcatering.gg
The audit trail allows the user to see when and how they have been accessing ARIES, and what actions have been carried out on it.