Gearing Up For The New Year – Tips To Ensure You’re Ready For Bookings.

As the year comes to a close, now is a great time to make sure your booking system is updated, and ready to manage reservations for the next year. You certainly want to avoid any issues that may arise, so we outlined a small checklist with a few key things you need to review to make sure you have a green light for the upcoming year.

1. Update your rates

The online booking system will only allow customers to make a reservation if it can find valid rates for the season. If your rates aren’t updated, the booking calendar will show grey, and your products will be unavailable for booking.

To check your rates, log in to your account and go to Setup – Rates. If your current Rate List shows a Valid To that is ends in the current year, then you’ll want to edit or create a new rate list for the new year. You can Edit the existing Rate List or Copy an existing rate list to make a new list with new dates.

If you make a copy of an existing Rate List, it will duplicate the rate list, and you can edit the Name (include the new year dates), and update the Valid From-To dates. Update the pricing as needed.

2. Update your schedules (for tours, events, and tickets)

If you are using the calendar type, “Schedules”, for your tours and events, then you will want to check the dates of your time slots to make any updates for the new year. Once again, if the system can’t find any valid schedule, the calendar will show grey and your customers won’t be able to book. To update your schedules go to Setup – Products and Reservation Rules – Schedules. You’ll either want to update the Valid To dates to extend into the new year OR create new schedules for the coming year. If your time slots/days offered is changing for the new year, then select Add Schedule to create new ones.

IMPORTANT! Do no delete or override the dates of an existing schedules as this will affect availability and historical data.

3. Make sure your products are available for bookings

It is possible to set a block on your Rentals or Activities during the off season. When this is done, you’ll notice on the booking calendar that the product is showing as Sold Out. You can remove the manual block through the Master Calendar. Go to Frontdesk – Master Calendar, and look for rentals that show in grey with the letters N/A (not available). To remove block, click N/A and then click Delete adjustment.

4. Update your discount codes

Don’t let your discount codes expire! When you create a discount code, valid dates are required for setup. Remember to check these dates to keep these discounts active. You can update the discount codes under Setup – Discount Codes.