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M1 Lesson 5: Create and manage group bookings

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In this guide:

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.

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. 

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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