To create a Reservation simply click the ‘+ CREATE RESERVATION’ button on the Overview page to get started.
A Reservation can only have one Rate Type and one set of dates. If a Reservation requires more than one Rate Type or more than one set of dates, create two Reservations and link them.
Dates
On Step 1 of the wizard, choose your dates by selecting the Arrival and Departure Dates from the calendar controls. The Arrival Date may not be in the past and the Departure Date must be after the Arrival Date. Then click ‘SEARCH’ to go to Step 2 AVAILABILITY.
Availability
This screen will show you all the rooms available for that date selection. Simply click the headings to expand the selection to show the available Rate Types for each Room Type. Select the number of required rooms to continue. The information in the top-right corner of the page will update as the room selection changes.
Clicking on the Rate Type row will give you more details about that Rate Type, including the Guarantee and Cancellation Policy linked to it as well as the rates for the period chosen.
Click the LOAD CLIENT WITH EXCLUSIVE RATE TYPE to search for a particular Client. A page will appear allowing you to either Search for the Client or ADD NEW CLIENT OR ENTITY. Once loaded, only the Rate Type loaded against that Client (or any Associated Entity) will be displayed.
Only one Rate Type can be selected in a Reservation. Once a room has been selected on one Rate Type, you will not be allowed to select any other Rate Type.
You will not be able to select more than the number of available rooms in each Room Type. Once you are happy with the selection, click ‘NEXT’ to move to Step 3 GUESTS. Or you can click ‘BACK’ to return to Step 1 CHOOSE YOUR DATES.
Guests and Extras
This next step will allow you to do a number of things, but perhaps the most important thing is the ability to assign particular Rooms within a Room Type to the Reservation. Allocating a particular Room is not required, so if a Room is not selected, Benson will simply allocate a Room automatically.
Tell us how many Guests (for each age category, if this has been enabled) will be staying in each room and the requested Bed Configuration. The price of the stay and that room will be adjusted as the number of Guests are changed, if applicable.
You can also select a specific Room for your Guests at this point, and add any Movable Assets to the Room as well.
You will not be able to select more Guests than are allowed in that Room Type.
Click ‘NEXT’ to go to Step 4 CHARGES or ‘BACK’ to go back to Step 2 AVAILABILITY.
Charges
Here you can add any manual charges that you would like. Take note of the date for the charge to make sure it is in line with the reservation dates.
Click ‘NEXT’ to go to Step 5 CONTACT DETAILS or ‘BACK’ to go back to Step 3 GUESTS AND EXTRAS.
Contact Details
The final stage of the Reservation process is capturing the necessary contact details. At a minimum Benson requires at least the selection of a Client or the capture of Quick Contact Details (or both).
If a Client was selected in Step 2 AVAILABILITY then the Client will remain selected at this stage and you will not be able to select a different Client without going back and changing it in Step 2 AVAILABILITY. This is to ensure the connection between the Client and the Rate Type selected.
If a Client is selected, then you can search for a Consultant to allocate to this booking by clicking ‘+ LOAD A CONSULTANT’. If you can’t find the correct Consultant you can also ‘ADD A CONSULTANT’ at this point. When you find the correct Consultant and click ‘SELECT’, Benson will update the Quick Contact Details with the Consultant’s details.
The Reservation Name allows you capture anything that will assist you in finding or recognising the Reservation in future. An example where this might be useful is when there is a big event at the Property such a wedding; you could then give the Reservation a Name like: SMITH WEDDING.
If you need to make any changes to previous steps, click ‘BACK’ otherwise finalise the Reservation by clicking ‘CONFIRM RESERVATION’.
At this point, you can also decide if you want to copy the Responsible Client (if they’re human) and/or the Contact Person of the Reservation into a Room as a Guest. This will save you time from having to capture them as Guests as well if they’re the ones staying.
Reservation Confirmed
When the Reservation is successfully created, Benson will automatically generate the first Invoice and allocate all the pending accommodation and auto-charges to that invoice.
The Manage Reservation page for this new Reservation will automatically display and any changes required to the Reservation can be made. This includes editing accommodation charges which you may know need to be manually adjusted at the time of creating the reservation.
The Status of the new Reservation is automatically set to PROVISIONAL. Don’t forget to update the status as it changes so the Overview is always up-to-date with the latest information.
You can easily download or email the Reservation Confirmation document at this stage by selecting the appropriate button in the top-right corner of the Manage Reservation page.