After you have gone to SETUP | SETTINGS |BOOKING ENGINE SETTINGS and clicked the Edit button, a screen will appear with the fields available to enable certain features on your Booking Engine. These settings primarily that will appear on your website and GDS, go to . Settings effect display and information required from guests.

 

 

 

 

To see the details:


  • Don't ask for Dietary Information – if you serve meals and need to know preferences then tick this box.
  • Don't ask for Special Needs Information – if you want guests to indicate special needs tick this box.
  • Phone number Mandatory – if you require a phone number with every booking tick this box.
  • Address Mandatory - if you require an address with every booking tick this box.
  • Use Sources – Tick this box if you want to turn on the ability for guest to select where they heard about your property.
  • Source mandatory – Tick this box if you want to make it a requirement that the guest selects where they heard about your property.
Guest Must Agree to Terms – some people would suggest that the terms and conditions at the time of booking are a binding agreement, but in reality we all know this must be tested on a case by case basis. Still, requiring the guest to tick a box to agree to your terms may help you in case of disputes.
  • Show Room Type Calendars – if you tick this box, a menu appears below the calendar so that guests can see availability for specific Room Types. Useful for properties with many room types, or properties where each room type is a unique room such as a Vacation Rental or a B&B with theme rooms.
  • Number of Guests: Don't prompt for number of guests on enquiry page Every Room Type has a Maximum Capacity. If you prompt for 'the number of guests' on the enquiry page, then results will be limited to Room Types with capacity to match the number of guests. In fact, guests often book several rooms; if you limit the available options to rooms that match the group capacity then you may miss out on bookings. For example, 4 people may prefer to book 2 Double Rooms (max capacity 2) rather than a Family Room (max capacity 4).
  • Show Guest Types – This flag determines if the booking engine exposes Guest Types during the booking process.
  • Use Promo Codes:
  • Room Assignment - This flag determines if online bookings will automatically be assigned a room number when they are made  If checked online bookings will come in with type assignment but not room assignment.
  • Allow non Continuous Bookings – This flag tells the booking engine if it should check to make sure a single room is available continuously during the queried method. This flag is unchecked by default as most guests do not wish to change rooms during their stay. When unchecked the booking engine will only show results when there is a room continuously available for the length of stay, on all queries five days and shorter in length.
  • Do not use Multi Lingual Engine – Tick this box if you want to turn off the multi-lingual functionality of the booking engine. See Multi-Lingual Booking Engine
  • Round Bookings to Whole Number – tick this box to round bookings
  • System Theme Color - Changes the background colors of the Enquiry screens used by guests to make bookings. Select from the picker or place in your HEX values.
  • Maximum Book Ahead days - Place a value in this box to allow guest to book x number of days in the future – note, this does not affect GDS and Global Booking Network sites, they can always book 365 days in advance, so place rates for at least these many days if distributing to them.
  • Email notification of web site bookings Remember every new booking will debit availability for future bookings. In addition, the system can send the property notification of bookings by e-mail or SMS. You also have the option to send an automated booking confirmation to the guest.
  • Email booking confirmation to guests
  • Advertise rates tax exempt - if your property is tax exempt tick this box.
  • Display room capacity and number of beds on results page – displays under each available room on the results screen - helpful information.
  • Number of Rooms Available – on the results screen, there is a column that will display the number of available rooms for ach room type. Some properties want to prefer to hide this information.
  • Display Room Type Thumbnails – Displays a small thumbnail image of the room type on the results page.
  • Display Restricted Rates – if you wish to show restricted rates with an explanation of the restriction – such as a minimum stay or maximum stay – then select this. If not checked, then only bookable rates will show on your Booking Engine requests. It is recommended to always have this option turned on so the guest receives a message like: This rate plan requires a two night minimum to book.
  • Show Rate descriptions – This displays the rate description in addition to the rate value. Example: Spa Package rate : $220.00 per night.
  • Rooms to Display – Defines maximum number of types to display on results page. 0 = unlimited.

SMS Active – Tick this box if you want to activate SMS. This will send a special message to the operator. There is a set-up fee, monthly fees and a per message fee to receive SMS booking confirmations. Please ring +1-707-847-3922 ext.201 for a quote.

Items are displayed for sale during the booking. For example, you may want to sell tours and services with a booking. Items will allow you to upload pictures and descriptions for Items.
There are no commissions on the value of Item sales. If you do not use this feature ignore the box titled Online Items Header. If you do use this feature, enter the Header that will display above your Inventory Items.


Example for Cape Schanck Lightstation - http://requests.bookingcenter.com/enquiry.phtml?site=SHANCK

Custom System Labeling Please change the labels to suit your property, i.e., Suites, Cabins, Camp sites, Beds, etc. If your tax is called T.O.C. for example, change the label.
There are 3 fields on the booking form that are often labelled – 'Adults', 'Children' and 'Infants'. The first label (Adults) must be used. The 2nd (Children) and 3rd (Infants) labels are optional. Many properties switch off the 2nd and 3rd label and change the first label to Guests. If that is your preference, change the field for Adults to "Guests" and go back No Children and No Infants in General Settings and tick the boxes "No Children Allowed" and "No Infants Allowed".



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