Group Booking Engine

What is the Group Booking Engine?

The Group Booking Module is an online booking engine that offers a central location for individuals to book a room as part of a Group Reservation. By logging in to a secured area, bookings can be viewed and added to a group without having to contact the property directly.

The booking engine provides Rooming Lists, individual payment options and group booking details to give guests the information they need to choose a room and complete payment. Guests can select the Room type they want from availability based on the hard allocation in the Group Booking in MyPMS.

All bookings made on the group booking engine are automatically updated and managed in MyPMS giving the Group Booking Manager complete control without the time commitment of taking individual bookings.

The group booking engine can also be customized to your property by adding a logo banner, displaying your marketing policies and room type images.

Note: The Group Booking Module is available to MyPMS customers who currently use the BookingEngine.

Features and Benefits

• Full availability control and guest management in MyPMS
• Secure guest access with User ID and Password
• Availability and rates based on group booking allocation
• Seamless integration of rates and availability with MyPMS
• Customized banner and Room Type images
• Display Deposit, Confirmation, and Cancellation Policy

How does the Group Booking Engine work?

• First, create a Group Booking in the Group Booking Wizard in MyPMS. The confirmation # of the booking will become the User ID.
• Open the Group Booking and go to the Booking Data Tab.
• In the Booking Information section, create a password and enter it in the password field and click Save. (See below)
• The Group Booking can now be accessed through the Group Booking Engine, https://groups.bookingcenter.com/ using the Confirmation # as a User ID and the password you created for the Group. The User ID and password is the same for all guests logging into the Group Booking.
• Give the Group Contact the User ID and password and direct them to https://groups.bookingcenter.com/ to log in and start making bookings.
• To easily email the USER ID and Password to the Group Contact, add the USER ID and Password to the Group Confirmation Letter using merge fields.  See for details. 

NOTE:

• User ID: is auto set via the system. This field is not editable.
• Password: is set via the property. Guests cannot change this field.

Customize the Group Booking Engine

There are several settings in the Setup Area of MyPMS that are used to customize the group booking engine to your property. You may already have some or all of these set up for your website booking engine. The booking engine settings that are already enabled will automatically be used on your group booking engine.

These settings are all located in SETUP in MyPMS.

• Email Notifications and Guest confirmations of bookings
• Deposit Policy and terms
• Deposit, Confirmation, and Cancellation Policy Message
• Customized logo/banner
• Room Type images

Enable email Notifications and Guest confirmations of bookings-To enable email notifications of bookings and booking confirmation emails to guests, go to SETUP | SETTINGS | BOOKING ENGINE SETTINGS.

Check the following settings:

• Email Notifications –An email gets sent to the property, as well as to the guest. If you choose to not send an email, choose NO for this setting.

• Confirmation of Deposit Policy – This will provide a check box for guests to agree to terms and policies before completing the booking.

Deposit, Confirmation, and Cancellation Policy Message-This message will display at the bottom of the Add Booking Tab in the booking engine with the check box to agree to terms.

Room Type Images

All Room Type Images will display when a guest chooses the Room Type in Add Booking. To add or modify Room Type images, go to SETUP | FEATURES AND IMAGES | ROOM TYPE IMAGES

Customized Logo or Banner

To add a logo or banner to the Group Booking Engine, go to SETUP | SETTINGS | FEATURES AND IMAGES.  Add an image to the Banner image area and it will appear at the top of your group booking engine.

Group Booking Engine Overview and Instructions for Guests

After the group booking is created. Give the Group contact the User ID (Confirmation #) and password and ask them to log in at https://groups.bookingcenter.com/.

Note:  If the Group check-in date is in the past, or the group has been cancelled, then the system will not allow anyone to log in.

Once logged in, the guest will be logged in to the Group Booking Engine and the Add Booking Tab.

The Group Booking Engine has four Tabs:

• Add Booking
  
  • Arrival and Departure Date cannot be changed in the booking engine. If a guest has different booking dates than the group, they will need to call the hotel to make their reservation for the different dates.
  • Choose # of guests.
  • Choose the room type from the drop down menu. (These have already been allocated in the Group Booking)
  • Enter First and Last Name and Email Address
  • Choose method of payment from the drop down list.
  • If Credit card is chosen, then enter the credit card number and expiration date.
  • The last step is to agree to the terms and conditions if present and click Complete Booking.
  • The booking will now display in the Rooming List.
• Rooming List – This list displays the bookings that have already been booked as part of the group.
• Group Information – This page shows basic information about the group, i.e. check in and checkout dates, etc.
• Property Information – Basic contact property Information, phone, address, Address of the property.