Hold a Room / Pencil Booking

PMS users only

Instead of making a confirmed reservation for someone, a client may ask you to hold the room for them. You can do this by selecting Hold instead of Book when making the booking and update it to a confirmed booking when required.

A held booking will have a unit assigned to it. This means that the unit cannot be booked through your public booking screen or by any staff users unless the held booking is cancelled.

If you do not want to hold a unit for the customer you might want to just provide a quote.

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Instructions

 

1. Either make a Quick New Booking or select New Booking in the Bookings section in the menu.

   TIP
   
   If you are going to email the customer it is recommended that you use the New Booking method as you can then add notes which will be emailed to the customer.
   
   If you are not emailing the customer, you may want to create it using the Quick New Booking method as this requires minimum input but will still provide a reference and be shown on your Bookings Calendar.
   
   Please see the example below for more information.
   
   

2. Complete the booking details as required.
   
   
3. Instead of clicking Book, select Create Held Booking from the Booking button drop down options.
   
   
   

• Once the Create Held Booking option has been selected, your customer will receive an email notification (if email was opted) advising them of their Held option and any public Notes (Booking Comments and Other Info) that you may have added (as demonstrated in the example below).

The Held booking will be shown on the Bookings Calendar in blue and in the Bookings List with a blue On Hold icon in the Status column.

You can view a list of your Held options in the Bookings List by using the Filter button and filtering the search for Status - On Hold bookings only.

You will need to manage the Held booking and either confirm it or cancel it as necessary.

Using the Notes Field for a Held Booking

 

When creating a held booking. using the notes field for public and private use can be very helpful. You can place information for the guest in public notes as in the example below, and place a short private note for yourself and other staff: 

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1.) Customers will receive public notes under the "Other Info' section in their emails, so the information is easily visible:

2.) Any private notes you make will be shown on the booking when you hover over it in your booking calendar:

3.) You will also see these notes in the Departures/Arrivals screen of the booking (if you have this set to do so in your Screen Options)

For more information about using the notes within iBex, please go to the booking notes help documentation.