Vanilla Hills got featured.
We’ll just be over here by the pool, suppressing a smile.
When Cloudbeds published a glowing article about Vanilla Hills in Belize, we couldn’t help but smile. A Planniac® user in the spotlight? Love that for them.
The piece covers everything: stunning jungle villas, personal touches, a resort cat named Schnitzel (actual name), and an experience guests clearly never forget. But as we scrolled through the story, we saw something quietly satisfying: a lot of what makes Vanilla Hills run so smoothly? That’s us.
We do the part between “You’re booked” and “This place is amazing.”
Cloudbeds provides the robust foundation—reservations, folios, and the core logistics that keep properties like Vanilla Hills running smoothly. The Planniac integration builds on that—so when guests start asking about cave tubing, anniversary surprises, airport pickups, or whether their masseuse knows they’re gluten-free, the only surprises are happy ones.
We pull reservation data straight from Cloudbeds and help Vanilla Hills create custom itineraries, manage daily ops, and keep everyone—staff and guests—on the same beautifully organized page. Then we sync it all back to Cloudbeds so billing stays tidy and no one’s asking awkward questions at checkout.
It’s a smooth handoff: Cloudbeds powers the bookings. Planniac keeps the guest experience on track (and out of meltdown territory).
Vanilla Hills made it look effortless. That’s kind of the point.
If it seems like the amazing staff at Vanilla Hills deliver flawless, made-just-for-you hospitality—it’s because they do. But it helps to have a tool that keeps the chaos corralled.
- Guests see a curated experience.
- Staff see clearly assigned tasks, automatic itineraries, and fewer surprises.
- Managers see everything running on time without needing to scream into a pillow.
Planniac isn’t flashy. We’re just quietly running behind the scenes while making your staff look like absolute pros.
So, while we’re not the headline,
we’ll happily take our place in the credits.
Vanilla Hills did the hard part: delivering genuine hospitality in a habitat of monkeys. Cloudbeds laid the digital foundation. And Planniac? We were the nerds in the background helping the staff ensure the guides showed up on time and the vegan dinner didn’t come with a surprise shrimp.
Want to be next? We won’t write the article. But just maybe we’ll help make you look like you deserve one.
Being front desk is hard. Like, actually hard.
Somewhere between “concierge,” “crisis manager,” part-time therapist,” and “where’s-my-shuttle” whisperer lives the real job title: Front Desk.
If you’ve ever worked one, you know. If you haven’t—well, lucky you.
Running front desk at a hotel, lodge, or resort sounds simple on paper. Greet guests, check them in, hand out keys, answer questions. Easy, right? Adorable.
Now let’s add a few things.
The real job description
Guest arrives early. Room isn’t ready. They want you to fix time.
Tour pickup is late. You didn’t book it, but it’s still your problem.
Kid wants pancakes. Kitchen’s closed. Kid is now melting.
Someone forgot their yoga mat. It’s somehow your fault.
The airport transfer changed. Again.
Room 3B needs more towels, but Housekeeping is at lunch. Also your problem.
A couple wants to plan their entire honeymoon itinerary. At the desk. While you’re checking in three new guests and fielding a call from a tour guide who doesn’t speak your language.
And through it all? You smile. You reassure. You somehow make magic happen.
It’s no wonder most front desk pros have PhDs in multitasking, people-pleasing, and low-key sorcery.
Everyone wants something. Usually all at once.
Guests want answers. The owner wants reviews. Housekeeping wants to know who’s checking out early. Drivers want to know who’s ready now. And the tour operator just sent you a voice note that sounds like it was recorded inside a blender.
You’re the glue, the filter, the fixer.
But being “the glue” gets exhausting when you’re also the calendar, the call center, the CRM, and the unofficial snack bar.
That’s why we built Planniac
Planniac wasn’t made in a vacuum. It was made by people who were the front desk. Who stayed up late manually writing tour pickups on a whiteboard, then got blamed when a driver showed up at the wrong gate.
We don’t promise to solve everything. (We’re still working on that guest who asks the same question six different ways.) But we can:
Sync all your bookings and plans so no one misses anything
Automatically generate guest itineraries that don’t live in your head
Let drivers, guides, and staff see what they need without asking you five times
Give you one less reason to cry into the back-office mini fridge
You’re the hero. We’re just your utility belt.
Being front desk means knowing a little about everything and a lot about nothing going wrong. It’s thankless. It’s relentless. And when it goes well? Nobody notices.
But we notice. And we’re doing our best to help you keep your cool, your smile, and your sanity—one confirmed pickup and allergy-friendly breakfast note at a time.
Hang in there, superhero.
Worth the wait – now Planniac is Cloudbeds certified!
Now you’ll find Planniac on the Cloudbeds app marketplace. We’re grateful for the trust Cloudbeds has in our system and we hope many more small to medium sized hotels will give Planniac a try!
And if you like the idea of Planniac but don’t yet have a PMS for your property, we can help you get things started with Cloudbeds too.
The Planniac brand
Coming up with a name for our software was not easy. We had to create a name that hadn’t been used before and that had a relevant meaning. Then the logo symbol needed to reflect on the same meaning.
Planniac is a combination of words; planning, and maniac.
We chose this name because it we think it implies the organization and attention to detail that a front desk manager or concierge needs in a busy resort environment. Planniac is a modern version of the old fashioned planners or organizers we used to use around the office.
Some guests also plan like maniacs. They want to be busy, active and organized, from the day they arrive until the day they leave.
The logo symbol reflects on the software as well. Do you see the open door, suggesting a guest room? Do you see the bed with two pillows? How about “dotting the ‘i’?” — we all know that crossing your “t”s and dotting your “i”s is key when you’re in a busy guest service environment. Finally, you can also see the communication or thought bubble representing Planniac’s focus on staff handoff and guest itineraries.
Do you like our new logo? Let us know!
User feedback from Pilot users improves Planniac
Resorts using Planniac so far have benefitted from the way our web app keeps details organized and on-hand for front desk staff. At the same time, Planniac has benefitted from the Pilot program by learning more about the unique needs of resorts.
For example, one of our Pilot resorts, a jungle lodge, has a lot of groups booking multiple rooms and tour packages. Planniac handles those bookings better than ever. By linking rooms that are traveling together, the resort staff can track group activities but still provide individual guest itineraries. Someone in the group might prefer to “sit this one out” when it comes to a particular tour. No problem for Planniac to keep track of that so the guides know exactly who is and isn’t joining in.
Several Pilot resorts have given us feedback on reports and now they are more useful than ever.
And one Pilot user in particular, we call her our Super User, loves being the first to report little bugs. There aren’t many, but we don’t want any!
If your resort uses Cloudbeds and you’d like to try Planniac for guest itineraries and resort activity management, there’s still time to help us in our Pilot phase. We hope we can help you and you can help us!
Belizean resorts get free trial of Planniac
Running a hotel or resort is complicated, we know! But Planniac software can help a busy resort stay on top of it all. Track everything guest-related; comings and goings, tours, activity tracking (the list goes on and on). It’s never been easier to concierge and front desk tasks.
Why should large resorts or franchises be the only ones with great activity management tools? Why should hardworking mangers and staff have to rely on post-it notes and spreadsheets because they don’t have another option? It shouldn’t be that way. Planniac’s goal is to give small operations big tools.
Since this software was developed by people with experience running an independent resort in Belize, we’d love to give other Belizean resorts first crack at it during our beta phase.
Learn about our:
- Daily activity management
- Task tracker
- Guest mobile itinerary
- Housekeeping assignment tools
- and a lot more!
Your resort can participate in our free beta trial offer, which means you can use the software free through the end of 2023. No strings attached to the offer, or tied around your finger to try and remember stuff! Just click here to give us a shout!
