Training Kit: Reservation Management

This training kit covers the basics of creating and managing reservations. It is especially useful for the Apaleo user roles Reservation Manager and Senior Front Desk. 

Topics covered:

Lesson 1: Create Reservations
Lesson 2: Amend Reservations
Lesson 3: Add Services to Reservations
Lesson 4: Create and Export Reservation Lists
Lesson 5: Create and Manage Group Bookings
Lesson 6: View Reservation Logs

Lesson 1: Create Reservations

1A: What you need to know

Definitions: reservation, guest, booking, and booker

• A reservation is always for one room ("unit").
• Each reservation has one or more guests - whoever is staying in that room.
• A booking is the container for one or more reservations.
• The person who makes the booking is the booker. 

How to check room availability and view offers

• In the reservations section, click on + New booking.
• Specify the dates and number of people per reservation
• Click on Show availability to see the number of available rooms meeting these criteria. Click the expand icon (Ξ>) next to each unit for more details.
• Click on Search offers to see available offers. Click the expand icon (>) next to each offer for more details.
• To view unavailable offers, click switch the toggle Show unavailable offers. Each unavailable offer will show an explanation for why the offer is unavailable. 

How to create a new booking

• From your list of offers, choose the number of units you want to book. Each unit will be one reservation within the booking.
• Click Select offer
• Add the guest details and save them by clicking on + Add guest 
• To add additional reservations to the booking, click on Add more reservations, and select additional offers, and enter guest details for those reservations.
• Add the booker details and click on Create booking.

How to copy reservations

• From the reservation list: Click the 3 dots (⋮) next to the reservation and select copy reservation. 
• From the booking: In the GENERAL tab of the reservation you want to copy, click on Jump to booking.  Click the 3 dots (⋮) next to the reservation and select copy reservation. 

1B: Practice

• Exercise 1: Create a single reservation Claudia Loewe wants a room for 3 nights, arriving next Monday, for herself and her partner. She requests the cheapest rate you have available. 
• Exercise 2: Copy a reservation Claudia Loewe calls you again. She and her partner will come again on the 15th of next month, and stay for 2 nights. She wants the same type of room as their previous stay.
• Exercise 3: Create a booking with multiple reservations Zach Patel wants to book 3 rooms for the last weekend of next month (check in Friday, check out Sunday). The 2nd room is for his parents, Ashok and Emma, and the 3rd room is for his sister Ella. 

1C: Apahero trainer notes

• Run through the practice activities ahead of your training to ensure that they work with your rate plan settings and availability, and adjust the instructions as needed.
• Find a more detailed guide on bookings and reservations here.

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Lesson 2: Amend Reservations

2A: What you need to know

📍You can amend reservations in the TRAVEL DATES tab of a reservation.

How to change the stay dates

• Shorten a reservation: to choose a later check-in date and/or an earlier check-out date, click on Shorten stay, click on the cards to select new arrival and departure dates, and click on the shorten stay button. 
• Extend a reservation: to chose a later checkout date, click on Amend stay, select the new departure date, and click the Search rates button. Click Select offer, check that the rate plan is the same on your new and old cards, and save using the Apply changes button.

How to change prices

• Click Change prices. 
• Edit individual prices by clicking on each card, or click on Edit multiple prices. Save using the Apply changes button.

How to change the booked rate plan

• Click on Amend stay,  and turn on the toggle Recalculate prices.
• To change the number of guests: Specify the new number of adults/children and click the Search rates button.
• To change the unit group: turn on the toggle Show offers for other unit groups and click the Search rates button.
• Click Select offer for the new rate plan and save using the Apply changes button.

How to cancel a reservation

• From the reservation list: Click the 3 dots (⋮) next to the reservation and select cancel reservation. 
• From the reservation: in the GENERAL tab of the reservation, click on Actions and select cancel reservation. 
• Depending on the cancellation policy that the guest has booked on (you can see this in the Reservation details in the GENERAL tab of the reservation), the guest may have to pay a cancellation fee.
• Cancellation fees can either be posted manually or automatically. Check with your Apahero to find out how they are collected in your property.

2B: Practice

• Exercise 1: Change stay dates Select any future reservation and make the check-in date one day later.
• Exercise 2: Change the unit group The guest from exercise 1 calls and asks to be moved to a different room category. Change the unit group and see what the difference in price is. 
• Exercise 3: Cancel a reservation 2 days later, the guest informs you they cannot come. Cancel the reservation and check if they need to pay a cancellation fee. If yes, how will this be collected? 

2C: Apahero trainer notes

• Ahead of this lesson: 1) ensure that there are enough future reservations in your training hotel for your team to do the practice activities; and 2) be prepared to explain how cancellation fees are collected in your property. 
• Find a more detailed guide on amending reservations here and on handling cancellations (including collecting cancellation fees) here.
• Note: if a reservation is extended and the assigned room is not available for the new dates, then Apaleo assigns a new room and flags that there is a room move.

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Lesson 3: Add Services to Reservations

3A: What you need to know

How to add services

• In the EXTRAS tab of the reservation, click +Add service 
• Select the service, when it will be offered, quantity, and price (default price or a custom one) and add.

How to make changes to added services

• Services can be edited and removed as long as the service date is in the future, via the EXTRAS tab of the reservation
• Delete using the 3 dots (⋮) next to the service.
• Expand the Service (>) to see the option to Edit.

Services which are included in the rate plan

• If a service is included in the booked rate plan, it will automatically appear in the FOLIO tab of the reservation as well as in the EXTRAS tab when the reservation is created.
• It is not possible to edit services included in the rate plan - to change them, you need to change the rate plan.

3B: Practice

• Exercise 1: Add a service Select any future reservation where the guest will stay multiple nights, and the rate plan includes at least one service. First, check the EXTRAS tab and the FOLIO tab to see how the included service appears on both. Second, add a service (one which is not already included in the rate plan) to the reservation. Check the FOLIO tab to see the changes to the guest folio.
• Exercise 2: Edit the service Change when the service will be offered, the quantity, or price. Check the FOLIO tab to see the changes to the guest folio.
• Exercise 3: Delete the service Delete the service and then check the FOLIO tab to see the changes to the guest folio.

3C: Apahero trainer notes

• Ahead of the training, set up your services and ensure you have at least one rate plan with an included service.
• Here are more detailed guides on on setting up and using services.
• If your team works with service reports (e.g. breakfast lists) or limited services, expand the practice activities to include those. 

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Lesson 4: Create and Export Reservation Lists

4A: What you need to know

How to create reservation lists

• In the reservations module at the property level, all reservations are listed.
• Use the Quick and Advanced filters to create custom lists
• Export the lists in Excel (recommended format as you can further edit the list), PDF, or CSV format

Key lists

• Show only reservations with open balance: Quick filter > Open balance
• Show only warnings: Quick filter > Show only warnings

4B: Practice

• Exercise 1: Create departures list Use the filters to find all reservations that are checking out today
• Exercise 2: Create arrivals list Use the filters to find all reservations that are checking in today
• Exercise 3: List export Export the arrivals list to Excel and use the Excel filters to see what guarantee types the reservations have.

4C: Apahero trainer notes

• Before the training, create reservations to ensure that there are reservations with check-outs and check-ins on the day of the training
• Adapt the practice activities to include the list formats that are most relevant for your operations. 
• Find more information about reservation warnings here.

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Lesson 5: Create and Manage Group Bookings

5A: What you need to know

A group booking allows you to block rooms for specific dates without having to create reservations. Room blocks can either be tentative (visible in the availability section to help you plan) or definite (reduces your availability).

How to create a group booking

• In the Reservations module, click on Show group bookings
• Click +New group booking and enter the booker details. 
• In the tabs BOOKER, PAYMENT ACCOUNT, and SETTINGS, you can edit the booker details, add a payment account, or edit the group booking name. 

How to check availability and create blocks

• In the BLOCKS tab, click on + New block.
• Specify the dates and then click Show availability to see the number of available rooms in each room category. Click the expand icon (Ξ>) next to each unit for more details.
• Click on Search rates to see available offers. Click the expand icon (>) next to each offer for more details.
• To view unavailable offers, click switch the toggle Show unavailable offers. Each unavailable offer will show an explanation of why the offer is unavailable. 
• Click Select offer and specify how many rooms to block and what the gross daily rate of each room will be. Note: this price overrides the pricing rule of the rate plan and will apply regardless of room occupancy. E.g. if you specify a gross daily rate of 100 EUR for a double room, this price will apply regardless of whether the room has one or two guests. 
• When created, the status of the block is tentative.

How to pick up reservations

• Click the 3 dots (⋮) next to the block and select confirm. This sets the status of the block to definite and removes the rooms from your availability.
• Click the 3 dots (⋮) next to the block and select Pickup. 
• For each reservation, enter the guest details and click +Add reservation
• Click the create reservations button.
• Note: if you edit a group booking reservation (e.g. change stay dates) this has no impact on the block from which it was picked. To make changes to the block, see "How to edit blocks" below.

How to edit blocks

• Click the 3 dots (⋮) next to the block.
• Edit lets you modify the dates, the number of blocked units and the gross daily rate. The dates and the number of blocked units cannot be reduced below what has already been picked.
• Release sets the status to Tentative. You can only release a block, if nothing has been picked up yet.
• Wash releases all not yet picked units from a block. 

How to cancel or delete blocks

• Click the 3 dots (⋮) next to the block.
• Cancel will set the status of the block to Canceled and return the inventory back to your availability. You can only cancel a block if no reservations have been picked up yet or all picked reservations for this block are canceled.
• Delete removes the whole block. This is only possible if there was never a reservation picked up for this block.

5B: Practice

• Exercise 1: Create a group booking and create blocks Lydia Panina calls to book a 6 night group booking next month under the name Giant GmbH. She wants three rooms in one unit category, and 2 rooms in another unit category. The company address is Schaarsteinweg 10, 77790 Steinach. 
• Exercise 2: Pick up a reservation Lydia confirms the name of a guest: Laila Ahmed. Pick up Laila's reservation for the block with three rooms.
• Exercise 3: Edit a block Lydia calls to cancel two rooms. Release two rooms from the block where Laila's reservation has been picked. 
• Exercise 4: Cancel a block Laila will no longer be able to come. Cancel her reservation and cancel the block where her reservation was picked. 

5C: Apahero trainer notes

• Only the user roles Reservation Manager, Property Admin, and Account Admin have the full permissions needed for this lesson.
• Find more details on group bookings here, and on how to use routing rules to set up group invoices here. 
• Tip if you are delivering this training before you go live on Apaleo: group bookings from your old PMS need to be manually created in Apaleo as they cannot be bulk migrated. Following this training with its practice in your training hotel, your Reservation Managers can apply what they have learned by setting up the group bookings in your real property!

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Lesson 6: Amend Reservations

6A: What you need to know

How to view logs for a specific reservation

• In the GENERAL tab of the reservation, click on Actions and select Jump to reservation log.
• The most recent actions are listed at the top.
• Expand each log action (>) to see full details. 

How to view all reservation logs

• Open the Reservations section of the Audit/Logs module.
• Use the filter to sort by User, App, Action, or Date.
• Use the three dots (⋮) next to each action to jump to the reservation.

6B: Practice

• Exercise 1: See the the history of a specific reservation Open any reservation and jump to the reservation log. At the bottom, expand the action "Created" to see what the reservation details were at the time the reservation was created. 
• Exercise 2: See all reservation amendments In the Audit/Logs module, filter by Action to view all reservation amendments in the training hotel. Expand a few to see the details. 

6C: Apahero trainer notes

• Only the user roles Reservation Manager, Property Admin, and Account Admin have the full permissions needed for this lesson.