Patent Publication Number: US-2006015491-A1

Title: Method and system of managing an online reservation system for real estate properties

Description:
BACKGROUND  
      1. Field of the Invention  
      The field of the invention relates generally to systems for maintaining and managing customer relationships. More particularly, the present invention relates to the field of managing a reservation system for real estate.  
      2. Related Background  
      Real estate centers have grown increasingly popular as the demand for temporary office space, meeting rooms and conference facilities has grown. Most real estate centers provide offices, conference rooms and other space on a rental basis by the hour, day, week, month, or longer. Often, these rentals are sporadic, where clients rent space in different locations or at different times on an as-need basis. This makes managing the use and availability of space a complex and challenging task, with customers requesting space on short notice and often changing or canceling reservations.  
      The need for efficient management of such space is heightened by the economics of the real estate center business. Real estate centers have high fixed costs in real estate, furniture, and equipment (such as projectors or video conference equipment). Profitability is highly dependent on the ability to maximize utilization of the real estate centers facilities.  
      Currently, real estate centers utilize brokers and online referral sites to generate business. Current referrals sites provide a general description of the facilities, such as the size, quality, and amenities. A potential client can enter their information and the referral site will forward the potential client&#39;s contact information to the real estate centers or real estate center brokers who contact the potential client. These referral systems do not provide real time availability information, as conventional referral systems are not integrated with the management systems used by real estate centers. Other than a referral, these systems provide little in the way of efficiencies or automation, leaving much of the process of booking space and billing clients to traditional manual methods.  
      Finding, comparing and booking real estate center facilities can be a time consuming and difficult process for the real estate center consumer. Using referral sites often leads to multiple brokers contacting the consumer, potentially after the consumer has booked with another broker. As conventional systems do not include comprehensive information from multiple real estate centers, and do not provide real time inventory and availability, consumers are unable to quickly and easily compare the available offices or other facilities resources from a wide range of real estate centers to find the real estate center that best meets their needs.  
      An example of current real estate center sites is given by Regus Real estate Centers (www.regus.com). Visitors are allowed to enter their contact information and some information specifying what their interests are, and a broker will contact them by phone or email.  
      Similarly, the process of locating and renting an apartment, long-term office, or other real estate space can be a time consuming and inefficient process.  
      Accordingly, a need exists to provide an efficient and automated booking and payment system.  
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES  
       FIG. 1  is a generalized block diagram of a computer system that may be used to implement the present invention.  
       FIG. 2  is a generalized block diagram of a computer system that may be used to implement the real estate portal.  
       FIG. 3  is a generalized block diagram of a server computer that may be used to implement the present invention.  
       FIG. 4  is a generalized block diagram of a real estate portal page displaying available real estate facilities, according to one embodiment of the invention.  
       FIG. 5A  is a generalized block diagram of a location selection page, according to one embodiment of the invention.  
       FIG. 5B  is a generalized block diagram of an real estate properties page, according to one embodiment of the invention.  
       FIG. 6  is a generalized block diagram of an office date selection page, according to one embodiment of the invention.  
       FIG. 7  is a generalized block diagram of a conference room date and time-slot selection page, according to one embodiment of the invention.  
       FIG. 8  is a generalized block diagram of an available property listing page, according to one embodiment of the invention.  
       FIG. 9  is a generalized block diagram of the selection page, according to one embodiment of the invention.  
       FIG. 10  is a generalized flow diagram of the process of updating the inventory database, according to one embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 11  is a generalized flow diagram of the process of selecting a real estate facilities resource, according to one embodiment of the present invention.  
    
    
     SUMMARY  
      The present invention provides for a computer based system and method for presenting, searching and reserving real estate facilities. A potential customer can locate available real estate facilities, view available offices, conference rooms or other facilities currently available, select according to price, location, quality, amenities, or other criteria, and reserve the available facility. The reserved real estate resource is then removed from the available inventory for future inquiries by potential customers.  
      In one aspect of the present invention, the real estate portal updates the real estates servers to reflect the reservation of a real estate resource. Additionally, the real estate portal may determine whether changes have been made in the available inventory of the real estate server, and update the inventory database of the real estate portal to reflect changes in the available inventory.  
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
      The present invention is described in the context of a specific embodiment. This is done to facilitate the understanding of the features and principles of the present invention and the present invention is not limited to this embodiment. In particular, the present invention is described in the context of a web site for displaying and booking real estate facilities.  
       FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a computer system  100  that may be used to implement embodiments of the present invention. A real estate portal server  101  is connected to a communications network  102 . Real estate servers  103  are connected to the real estate portal server through communications network  102 . End-user communication devices  104  are connected to the real estate portal server through the communications network  102 . The real estate servers are the servers used to manage the inventory and/or sales of a given real estate center. Typically, each real estate center maintains its own inventory of available facilities resources which is available on the real estate center server.  
      In the presently preferred embodiment, the end-user communications device is a personal computer. Additionally, in the presently preferred embodiment the communications network is the Internet. Connection to the Internet could be by any form of Internet connection, including broadband and wireless connection. Alternatively, a private network or direct link could be established between the real estate center portal server and the real estate center servers. Alternatively, the end user communications device could be a mobile phone (including web enabled mobile phones or mobile phones with text messaging capabilities), standard telephone, or any other device capable of receiving text or voice messages.  
      The real estate center portal server could be implemented on one single server or on multiple servers. As used in the present application, the term server may refer to a physical computer or to software performing the functions of a server.  
       FIG. 2  is a generalized block diagram of the real estate center portal server shown in  FIG. 1 . A web server  201  provides web pages describing the real estate center facilities and services available through a communication network  102 . The web server is connected to a real estate center inventory database  202 , a customer database  203 , a transaction server  204  and a database update server  205 . The transaction server  203  allows potential customers to reserve facilities and order services. The customer database server  204  stores information relating to customers and the services and facilities they have requested or purchased. The database update server  205  updates the real estate center inventory database from the real estate center servers and provides update information to the real estate center servers.  
      While the presently preferred embodiment utilizes an inventory database as a separate database from the customer database, alternate embodiments could have utilize one database for both inventory and customer information. Additionally, the information stored within any single database of the presently preferred embodiment could be distributed among several databases in alternative embodiments.  
       FIG. 3  is a generalized block diagram of a real estate center portal server computer  300  including a central processing unit (CPU)  301 , main memory (typically RAM)  302 , read-only memory (ROM)  303 , a storage device (typically a hard drive)  304 , and a network device (typically a network interface card, a.k.a. NIC)  305 . The network device connects to a communications network  307 . The server includes a bus  306  or other communication mechanism for communicating information between the CPU  301  coupled with bus  306 . The CPU  301  is used for processing instructions and data. The main memory  302 , ROM  303  and storage device  304  are coupled to bus  306  and store information and instructions to be executed by processor  301 . Main memory  302  also may be used for storing temporary variables or other intermediate information during execution of instructions to be executed by processor  301 .  
      Server  300  may be coupled via bus  308  to a display  309 , such as a cathode ray tube (CRT) or flat panel monitor, for displaying information to a computer user. An input device  310 , such as a keyboard, is coupled to bus  308  for entering information and instructions to the server  300 . Additionally, a user input device  311  such as a mouse, a trackball, or cursor direction keys for communicating direction information and command selections to the processor  301  and for controlling cursor movement on the display  309  may be used with the server  300 .  
      The server  300  is designed to run programs implementing methods, such as the methods of the present invention. Typically such programs are stored on the hard drive of the server, and instructions and data of the program are loaded into the RAM during operation of the program. Alternate embodiments of the present invention could have the program loaded into ROM memory, loaded exclusively into RAM memory, or could be hard wired as part of the design of the server. Accordingly, programs implementing the methods of the present invention could be stored on any computer readable medium coupled to the server. The present invention is not limited to any specific combination of hardware circuitry and software, and embodiments of the present invention may be implemented on many different combinations of hardware and software.  
      As used within the present application, the term “computer-readable medium” refers to any medium that participates in providing instructions to CPU  301  for execution. Such a medium may take many forms including, but not limited to, non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media. Examples of non-volatile media include, for example, optical or magnetic disks, such as storage device  304 . Examples of volatile media include dynamic memory, such as main memory  302 . Additional examples of computer-readable media include, for example, floppy disks, hard drive disks, magnetic tape, or any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, any other optical medium, punchcards or any other physical medium with patterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM, and EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chip, stick or cartridge, a carrier wave as described hereinafter, or any other medium from which a computer can read. Transmission media includes coaxial cables, copper wire and fiber optics, including the wires that comprise bus  306  and  308 . Transmission media can also take the form of acoustic, electromagnetic or light waves, such as those generated during radio-wave and infra-red data communications.  
      The real estate center server and end user communication device are similar in general architecture to the real estate center portal server.  
     Presenting and Selecting Real Estate Center Inventory  
      The present invention provides a web accessible portal for visitors to search for, view, reserve and book real estate center facilities resources, such as offices and conference rooms.  FIGS. 4-9  illustrate the real estate center facilities resource selection and booking aspect of the present invention. In the presently preferred embodiment, the pages shown in these figures are accessible to a potential customer over the Internet using a web browser.  
       FIG. 4  is a generalized block diagram of a real estate center portal page  400 . A location selector  401  allows visitors to move to a specific region or location. The location selector is described in connection with  FIG. 5A . A reservations link  402  allows a visitor to connect to a reservations page which display&#39;s the visitor&#39;s current reservations. An office link  403  allows a visitor to view an office properties page  520  shown in  FIG. 5B . While location indicators  502  are text indicators, alternate embodiments of the present invention may use graphical indicators depicting a symbol or map. A apartment link  404  allows a visitor to view a apartment facilities page  520  shown in  FIG. 5B . A log in link  405  takes a visitor to a sign in page where the visitor can enter their username and password to allow them to view specific information particular to that visitor. A register link  406  takes a visitor to a registration page where the visitor can create a personal account with a username and password. A real estate center log in link  407  connects a visitor with real estate center management page.  
      Additionally, page  400  also includes a partner link  408  which connects to partners of the real estate center portal, a contact link  409  which takes a visitor to a page displaying contact information for the real estate center portal, and a menu  410  which has links to several pages within the portal. As described, real estate center portal page  400  has several links common to several pages of the present invention.  
       FIG. 5A  is a generalized block diagram of the location selection page  500 . A location selector  501  allows visitors to move to a specific region or location. Locations where real estate center facilities are available are presented at the location indicators  502 . In the presently preferred embodiment the locations are cities where there is a real estate center. Alternatively, the location indicators may identify countries, states or provinces, regions, neighborhoods or any other geographic location. In the presently preferred embodiment, by selecting a location the visitor is taken to the office properties page  520  shown in  FIG. 5B . Optionally, once the visitor has made their sections of dates and number of persons the visitor may hit enter or click the submit button  503  to be taken to the office properties page  520 .  
       FIG. 5B  is a generalized block diagram of the properties page  520 . The properties listed on mage  520  may be for offices (long or short term rental), apartments, town homes, single family homes, whare-houses, storage facilities, or other property facilities. The properties according to a given criteria, for example in a specific region as selected on page  500  described above, are shown in a real estate center property list  521 . Property identifier fields  522  identify the real estate centers. The real estate centers located on the page could include all the real estate centers available through the portal, or a subset of the real estate centers available. The subset of available real estate centers displayed on the properties page could be based on geographic area, type of facility, services available, quality level, price level, length of time available, minimum contract length, ownership or affiliation, or other aspects of the property or service provided by the real estate center.  
      In the presently preferred embodiment, the real estate center properties page also includes property image  523 , property location  524 , facilities type  525 , facilities rate (or price)  526 , and facilities amenities  527 . The property location indicator can either be a textual indicator, indicating a city, town, region, neighborhood, district or street address, or it could be graphical, representing location information in a map or symbol form. The facilities type indicator provides information on the type of building, such as an office tower or high rise, executive office park, office park, strip mall, mixed live/work, or other type of facility. A visitor to the real estate center portal may check on the availability of a particular property by selecting the Check Availability button  529 , which will take the visitor to the date selection page  600  described below.  
       FIG. 6  is a generalized block diagram of an office date selection page  600 . An arriving date selector  601  allows visitors to select the date they would first need an office at a real estate center. A departure date selector  602  allows visitors to select the date they would last such an office. The arriving date selector and departure date selector are in the form of a month, day, day year selector. Additionally, the date selector may include the arriving time and ending time for the visitor. Alternative designations could be sued such as a calendar selector, where the visitor selects a date from a calendar, or any other form of representing the date or time. In the presently preferred embodiment the date selection page  600  also includes a number of persons selector  603  where the visitor may specify the number of people who would need offices a the real estate center. Once the visitor has made their sections of dates and number of persons the visitor may hit enter or click the submit button  604 .  
       FIG. 7  is a generalized block diagram of a conference room date and time-slot selection page  700 . A date selector  701  allows visitors to select the date they would need a conference room at a real estate center. A time slot selector  702  allows visitors to select the time-slot they would need a conference room. The time-slot selector  702  includes a start time selector  703  where a visitor may specify the start time for the conference room reservation. The time-slot selector  702  also includes a start time selector  704  where a visitor may specify the end time for the conference room reservation. In the presently preferred embodiment the conference room date selection page  700  also includes a number of persons selector  705  where the visitor may specify the number of people the conference room would need to accommodate. Once the visitor has made their sections of dates and number of persons the visitor may hit enter or click the submit button  706 .  
      Once the date and time-slot selection query is entered from either the office date selection page  600  or conference room date and time-slot selection page  700  the real estate center portal system returns a list of available properties as shown in  FIG. 8 .  
       FIG. 8  is a generalized block diagram of an available property listing page  800 . The property listing page  800  includes a list of properties returned from the search for available properties. In the presently preferred embodiment, the properties returned meet all of the criteria specified in the prior selection page. Alternatively, the returned results may meet a subset of the specified criteria, or may represent a closest relevant fit to the specified criteria.  
      The visitor may view the properties returned as well as compare and contrast the available offices or conference rooms. In the presently preferred embodiment, the properties returned are listed and displayed with the property name indicator  802 , property image  803 , property location  804 , facilities type  805 , facilities rate (or price)  806 , facilities range  807 , facilities amenities  808 , and real estate center rating indicator  811 . The property location indicator can either be a textual indicator, indicating a city, town, region, neighborhood, district or street address, or it could be graphical, representing location information in a map or symbol form. The facilities type indicator provides information on the type of building, such as an office tower or high rise, executive office park, office park, strip mall, mixed live/work, or other type of facility.  
      When a real estate center has more than one type of facilities resource the property listing page may include indicators  807  for the range of facilities resource types. For example, some real estate centers offer premium executive offices, standard offices, junior offices, and office suits within the same facility. As another example of the range of facilities resources, some real estate centers offer small conference rooms, large conference rooms, meeting rooms, or other types of meeting facilities. The facilities range indicator may specify the different types of facilities resources available.  
      The amenities indicator indicates the type of amenities or services available at the real estate center. Examples of amenities and services include phone answering services, package handling services, secretarial or word processing services, video conference services, or any other type of service or amenity offered by real estate centers.  
      The real estate center rating indicator  811  provides a quality rating of the real estate center. For example, some facilities are rated according to stars, such as three starts or four stars, based upon the quality of the facility.  
      Once the visitor decides which real estate center they would like to rent an office (or conference room) from the visitor may select that real estate center and be taken to the office selection page  900 .  
       FIG. 9  is a generalized block diagram of the selection page  900 . The selection page  900  gives the visitor additional details of the real estate center and office or conference room selected at the property listing page  800  shown above.  
      In addition to the information shown on page  900 , such as the property name indicator  902 , property image  903 , property location  904 , facilities type  905 , facilities rate (or price)  906 , facilities amenities  907 , and real estate center rating indicator  911 , the selection page  900  includes the number of available offices  912 , the size of the office (or size range of the different types of offices)  913 , the floor plan  914 , and the types of available contracts  915 . The types of available contracts  915  may include term contracts, such as hourly, daily or monthly, contract minimum commitments, for example 3 hour minimum for an hourly contract, deposit requirements, or other aspects or terms of the contract to book a real estate center facilities resource.  
      The visitor may book the real estate center facilities resource by clicking on the booking button  910 .  
     Updating Real Estate Center Portal Inventory  
      The present invention provides the access to available inventory in “real time” by synchronizing the inventory of the portal and the real estate centers. Real estate centers have the option of manually entering their inventory to the real estate center portal, or they may have the real estate center portal obtain inventory updates from the real estate center server.  
       FIG. 10  is a generalized flow diagram of the process  1000  of updating the inventory database. According to the presently preferred embodiment, the real estate center portal queries the real estate center servers at step  1001  to determine whether the inventory in the real estate center&#39;s server is synchronized with the inventory of the real estate center portal, contained in the inventory database. At step  1002  the real estate center portal determines whether the two inventories are synchronized. If at step  1002  the system determines they are synchronized, then process  1000  proceeds to step  1003  and the synchronization ends. If at step  1002  the system determines the inventories are not synchronized, then the system proceeds with synchronization and advances to step  1004 .  
      At step  1004  the system compares the two inventories to determine if the real estate center has added or removed inventory since the last synchronization. If at step  1004  the system determines the real estate center bas not changed its inventory or its availability, and that the real estate center portal has not changed the availability of the real estate center&#39;s inventory, the system proceeds to step  1005  and the synchronization process is stopped.  
      If at step  1004  the system determines the real estate center has added or removed inventory since the last synchronization the system proceeds to step  1006  where the changes in the real estate centers inventory is reflected in the inventory database of the real estate center portal. If the real estate center removed inventory, for example when the real estate center booked an office or a conference room, at step  1006  the system will remove these booked facilities resources as available from the inventory database of the real estate center portal. If the real estate center has added inventory, for example when a booking is cancelled or additional facilities are added during an expansion, then at step  1005  the system will add these facilities resources as available in the inventory database of the real estate center portal.  
      If at step  1004  the system determines the real estate center portal has added or removed inventory since the last synchronization the system proceeds to step  1006  where the changes in the real estate center portal&#39;s inventory is reflected in the real estate center server. If the real estate center portal removed inventory, for example when the real estate center portal booked an office or a conference room, at step  1006  the system will remove these booked facilities resources as available from the real estate center server. If the real estate center portal has added inventory, for example when a booking is cancelled or a tenant moves out early, then at step  1006  the system will add these facilities resources as available in the real estate center server.  
      After step  1006  the system proceeds to step  1007  where a reconciliation check is performed. Depending upon the frequency of synchronizations between the real estate center portal and the real estate center server, there exists the possibility that the real estate center portal and real estate center may make conflicting changes to the availability of a facilities resource, for example when the real estate center and portal both book the same office for a given day. At step  1007  the system checks for such conflicts and in the event of a conflict sends a conflicts message at step  1009  to the management of the portal and the effected real estate center indicating the details of the conflict. If no conflict is detected at step  1007  the system proceeds to step  1008  where the synchronization process ends.  
      While the current embodiment performs the conflicts check at the end of the synchronization process, alternate embodiments could perform the check before the two inventories are synchronized.  
      An alternate embodiment of the present invention allows real estate center management to use the portal as their own inventory management system. In this embodiment the real estate center management make direct changes to the real estate center portal inventory database. For example, when real estate center management book a facility, as is done with brokers, the management (or the broker) may log in to the real estate center portal and enter the booking, thereby removing the facilities resource from the list of available resources for the given time period.  
     Selecting and Booking Real Estate Center Inventory  
       FIG. 11  is a generalized flow diagram of the process  1100  of selecting and booking a real estate center facilities resource using the real estate center portal described in connection with FIGS.  4  though  9 . At step  1101  the system receives a query from an end user communication device. The query may specify the geographic area, the type of facility, as well as particulars relating to time, price or other aspects of real estate centers. At step  1102  the system retrieves the available real estate center facilities resources matching the query parameters from the inventory database of the real estate center portal. At step  1103  the system presents the results retrieved form the inventory database. In the presently preferred embodiment, the results are presenting by sending a web page to the end user communication device. The potential consumer may do additional searching, submitting additional queries, may ask for more information on a particular real estate center or real estate center facilities resource. The present invention will receive and respond to such queries as described in connection with steps  1101  through  1103 . Once they decide to book a resource the customer clicks a book button which sends a book request to the real estate center portal. At step  1104  the real estate center portal receives a booking request. At step  1105  the system checks that the resource has not already become unavailable while the consumer was viewing search results. If at step  1105  the system determines the resource is no longer available the system presents an update to the end user communication device at step  1103  indicating the latest state of the inventory, where the consumer may select and book from the available resources. If at step  1105  the system determines the resource is still available the system updates the inventory database to reflect the resource as booked, to prevent other consumers also viewing available properties from simultaneously booking that resource.  
      After the inventory database update step  1105 , the system proceeds to step  1106  where the system enters a reservation and booking process. The reservation and booking process may include paying for, or putting a deposit down on the reservation. In the presently preferred embodiment the booking process may only be accomplished when the consumer is logged into the system. However, alternate embodiments of the present invention could allow booking without the consumer being logged into the system. In such and embodiment the reservation and booking process may include collecting information on the consumer, and the reservation and booking process may occur prior to the inventory database update step.  
      While the above embodiments were described in the context of web accessible pages viewed through and internet browser, alternate embodiments could use other technologies or client side agents, to provide access to the pages and functionality described in the present application.  
      The invention has been described with reference to particular embodiments. However, it will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that it is possible to embody the invention in specific forms other than those of the preferred embodiments described above. This may be done without departing from the spirit of the invention.  
      Thus, the preferred embodiment is merely illustrative and should not be considered restrictive in any way. The scope of the invention is given by the appended claims, rather than the preceding description, and all variations and equivalents which fall within the range of the claims are intended to be embraced therein.