Add a Booking

PMS users only - if you're excluding a unit from sale - click here for more information.

There are 2 methods in which you can manually add a booking to your Bookings Calendar.

    1. Quick New Booking

    2. Full New Booking

Making a Quick New Booking allows you to do just that - make a booking with minimal requirements. iBex will only ask for the information that you set to be required, and is the preferred option where the booking is simple (ie. one room only, no extras).

Once the Quick new booking has been created, you can add payments, extra's, notes, etc, but these would not show on the booking confirmation as they would have been added after it would have been sent (unless opted not to and you manually send it at a later stage).

If you want to add more than one room to a booking, any extras, public notes, or a payment before confirming the booking, you will need to either opt to open the Open Full Booking option within the Quick New Booking pop up or create a new booking (by selecting the New option in the Bookings section in the menu).

Whenever you click on an available cell in the calendar, the Quick New Booking pop up will appear where you can either add a Quick New Booking, Exclude a unit from sale, or Open Full Booking.

Quick New Booking: Instructions & Video

Instructions

TIP

At any stage you can click the Open Full Booking button which will take you to the full booking option. iBex will transfer any guest and room details already completed and also allow you to add multiple rooms to the booking, extras, notes, and a deposit.

    1. Check the availability on your Bookings Calendar to see if you can accommodate the booking.

Use the Unit Filter and the mini calendar on the right hand side to update what is shown on your Bookings Calendar.

    2. If the room is available, simply select the date and room required by clicking on the cell that represents that date and room.

    3. When you click on the required cell, you can either release your mouse to book 1 night or drag your mouse across the number of nights required before releasing the 'click'.

    4. This will bring up the Quick New Booking form.

There are 4 stages in making a quick new booking:

You can customise your Quick New Booking screens through Screen Options:

• You can set what fields you want to appear on the form in the Lead Guest section (such as their Name, Address, Vehicle registration, Booking Notes, etc),

• You can set what fields appear in the Room section (such as the ETA and Room Notes) and set auto options (such as the auto fill for room occupancy).

• You can switch the tabs around so if you prefer the Rooms tab to be displayed first you can swap it round

Please note that these settings apply to each user name so if your staff have different logins then they (or you) can set their own preferences.

Stage 1 - Lead Guest Details

No fields on the form are mandatory so you do not need to enter all fields to make a booking.

1. Enter the Guest details.You can search for existing customers in your database by typing in their name (or part of) in the Search Customers field.
   
   If a previous customer is selected, iBex will auto fill all of their details in the appropriate fields and also advise you of alerts and notes about your client (such as room preferences, anniversary dates, unpaid bills, etc), and if they are associated to a company.
   
   If they are a new customer, enter as many details as possible so that iBex saves the customer to your database for future reference.

*The country will default to the same location as your property, however you can easily change this if needed.

Stage 2 - The Room details

    1. Click on the Room tab.

   

    2. If the booking is through an agent or a company registered in your iBex account, select them in the drop down option.

If you did not select the correct dates or number of nights on the Bookings Calendar, you can amend them here by clicking on the necessary field.

If you have an ETA field (as set in your Screen Options), add the time. If left blank, it will default to your standard check in time.

    3. Select which room type to book (if the unit has multiple options).

    4. Amend the number of guests occupying the room (if incorrect).

The number of occupants auto populated by iBex is calculated from the maximum number of occupants included in the base rate of the rate shown (unless the room type or unit has a lower occupancy).

 

You can easily amend the number of occupants by writing over it or using the up/down arrows.

This function can be turned off in your screen option settings

    5. Select which rate to use and iBex will provide a suggested rate calculated from the rates loaded in the system (which can be overridden if required by entering a different amount in the Rate field).
        

        If you want to add more details to the booking such as additional rooms, extras, customer/room notes, or the deposit taken, you can click on the Open Full Booking button which will then transfer any data added to the Full Booking option (including the room details that you selected from the calendar).

Stage 3 - Email

Do you want a confirmation email to be automatically sent to the client? If so, tick the Email option.

You can set your preference so that this option is always ticked or not ticked by default in your auto email settings by changing the 'Back Screen Booking Activate' option.

Whatever is set as your default setting can be manually overridden when you're making the booking.

Stage 4 - Commit the booking

Either click Book or Book & Check In as required

The Book & Check In option will only appear if the booking is for today's date.

 

As well as making a booking, you could create a Held booking or a Quotation by selecting alternative options in the drop down selector as shown below:

The Booking will now be on the Booking Calendar and a confirmation will appear at the top of your calendar advising the booking number, the amount due, and a link to the Guest Registration Form for you to print and get the client to fill in (if you clicked Book & Check In) as shown below:

TIP - Like any system, you may develop a preferred method which may miss out a step or 2. 

For example, if the date requested is not currently showing on the Bookings Calendar , rather than selecting the date in the mini calendar, you can make the new booking for any date shown on the calendar and amend the date in Step 2 on the Room page.

You may also prefer to go straight to Step 2 (the Room page) before taking the guests name and details – no problem as you can flick between tabs as you please.

Having made the Quick New Booking, you can then add a payment or the credit card details to the booking if necessary.

If you hover your mouse over the credit card symbol or the amount due, a pop up appears allowing you to add a payment, create an invoice or simply store credit card details for later.

If this is missed, you can easily add it at any time by opening the booking (by clicking on the booking on the calendar or the booking number) and selecting the Finance tab.

Video Instructions

Full New Booking: Instructions & Video

Instructions

This option allows you to add in more options into the booking such as extras, notes, and the option to add more than 1 room to the same booking. As with the Quick Booking method, no information is mandatory so you can skip whatever parts of the process you wish.

    1. Check the availability on your Bookings Calendar to see if you can accommodate the booking. This step can be missed if you know that you have availability.

    2. To make a new booking either click the New Booking option in the Bookings section in the menu and the New Booking screen will appear or use the Quick New booking method as explained below.

TIP

 If you are checking the availability on your bookings calendar first, you can click on one of the rooms that you want to book as if making a Quick New Booking. You can enter as much or as little information in the Quick New Booking pop up that you want and then click the Open Full Booking button.

All information entered will then be transferred to the New Booking option so you can continue with the booking as needs be.

Follow the steps below or jump from one to another. There are some helpful hints for each stage below:

Stage 1 - Lead Guest details

You can search for existing customers in your database by typing in their name (or part of) in the Search Customers field.

If a previous customer is selected, iBex will auto fill all of their details in the appropriate fields and also advise you of alerts and notes about your client (such as room preferences, anniversary dates, unpaid bills, etc), and if they are associated to a company.

If they are a new customer, enter as many details as possible so that iBex saves the customer to your database for future reference.

*The country will default to the same location as your property, however you can easily change this if needed.

Stage 2 - Room Details

In the Rooms tab there are 2 sections - Rooms and Add Rooms.

As mentioned above, if you selected a room on your Bookings Calendar to create a Quick New Booking and then clicked on Open Full Booking, the room details will already be preloaded in the Room section as the selected room so you will not need to add another room (unless you require more than 1 room in the booking).

If the room or dates are incorrect, you can amend the details or remove it from the booking by clicking the 'x' option at the end of the line for that room.

If you hadn't selected a room from your bookings calendar (or if you want to add more rooms to the booking), you will need to use the Add rooms section:

Some useful tips:

Room Type or Unit?
The Room Type selection will only display the units that are assigned to the selected room type (for example, a Standard room).
The Unit Type selection will only display the units that belong to the physical unit type (for example, Hotel rooms).

 

 

Using Spinners 

You can either manually enter a number in the box or use the up/down arrows to increase/decrease the number.

 

iBex has the functionality so that you can set individual room prices or a total price for all rooms. This is ideal for group bookings when a total amount is being charged regardless of what units are used. This is set at the 'Calculated Price By' option.
Please see the group bookings help for more information.

 

 

If you are adding multiple rooms to a booking, you can change the name for each room once the room has been Accepted into the booking (ie so it's in the Rooms section) by clicking on the Room name.

 

Stage 3 - Add any Extras

If you have extras registered in your system, you can add them to a booking by selecting it's iBex name in the drop down option in the Extras column.

If you want to add multiple extras to a booking (or if the booking already has an extra added), you will need to click the Add Extra button so that an additional extra can be selected.

You can change any Title or price for an extra by clicking on the necessary field. To remove an extra, simply click the 'x' at the end of the appropriate line.

Stage 4 - Add any Notes

You can add in public and private notes, select found via (from the drop down menu customised by you), add an Estimated time of arrival, and add an external voucher/Order reference.

Public Booking Notes will be shown on the customer's booking receipt (which is attached to their confirmation) as shown below.

Notes in the booking in iBex (see example below).

How they appear on the customer's confirmation(see example below).

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

Stage 5 - Record a Deposit

Entering an amount here will not physically take payment. You will need to process the payment before or after making the booking.

iBex will advise you a suggested deposit amount (which is calculated from your deposit and payment conditions). Enter the amount (if any) which you have (or will take) from the customer and the payment method as necessary.

If you tick the Hold Payment option, iBex will not log the payment to the booking but log that you have had an authorisation code. This functionality is used by properties who would get authorisation for a payment for a credit or payment card.

If a payment is held, the amount held will not be deducted from the booking total amount as no payment has actually been taken. When payment is taken at a later date, you edit the held payment in the booking and un-tick the Hold Payment option so that the payment is then logged as taken in the booking.

Stage 6 - Email

Do you want a confirmation email to be automatically sent to the client? If so, tick the Email option.

You can set your preference so that this option is always ticked or not ticked by default in your auto email settings by changing the 'Back Screen Booking Activate' option.

 

Whatever is set as your default setting can be manually overridden when you're making the booking.

Stage 7 - Commit the booking

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Once you click the Book button, the booking is created. iBex will refresh and provide you with a booking number and an overview tab.

If you need to amend any details in the booking you can select the necessary tab.

As well as making a booking, you could create a Held booking or a Quotation by selecting the options in the drop down options as shown below:

Video Instructions