Creating Block Reservations

 

Facilities can be reserved using the block reservations function to handle multiple days and times.  This can be handy for seasonal or long-standing regular use of a facility by the same person, group or activity.   Block reservations can be “linked” which means they are associated with an activity (for example Monday night Volleyball league).   Block reservations are efficient to use when you have the same reservation week after week, such as a social club or weight management meeting that is held in the same room at the same time and day (or days) each week.   You can even use block reservations to block out regularly scheduled maintenance times (such as ice rink resurfacing, grass mowing, pool maintenance etc.).  

 If you want to create reservations associated with League, you will need to do that via league scheduling and not using the following methods.   If the reservation is for a team sport there is a place to reserve the field when creating the game schedule so that is accomplished when defining the Activity.      

 

Before getting started consider how you would like the fee to be structured for the Block as there are several choices including no fee, a single block fee, or a per-use charge that is posted to a patron’s account.   

 

Prerequisites:  Sportsman user permissions to create block reservations

 

Additional Resources:

Changing and Managing Block Reservations

 

This document will cover:

ü Creating a Block Reservation

o  Establishing the Reservation Name and Fee Type

o  Add-On Fees / Billing Notes

o  Viewing from the Calendar

o  Adding Notes

o  Blocking the Days, Times and Facilities Required

o  Completing Simple Single Fees or Facility Billing

 

Creating a Block Reservation

 

Establishing the Reservation Name and Fee Type

 

 Begin from the Main Sportsman screen click on the [Facility Reservation] button.

 

 

 

Navigate to the ‘Block’ tab.

 

 

 

Here you can see a list of any existing block reservations meeting the criteria and date range selected at the top area of the screen. 

 

Click the [Add] button at the bottom of the screen.

 

 

If not already selected, click the ‘Reservations’ tab at the top and enter in the name of the event. 

 

 

Now click on the ‘Fees & Billing’ tab to select the type of billing and any account that is associated with this (accounts are required unless it is a ‘No Fee’ structure).

 

 

 

We recommend a fee structure be selected before adding reservation times, thus have come to the Fees & Billing screen quickly. There are four fee types to choose from:

 

ü No Fee: This does not charge any money but the reservation can still can be attached to a customer’s account.  Note that this DOES NOT have to be attached to a specific customer’s account and if it is not, then you will only be able to modify the reservation by searching for it under the Block tab of the Action>Facility/Parks Reservation screen (which is also accessible from the main screen button [Facility Reservation]. 

ü Simple Single Fee: This charges one fee for the entire reservation.  Once the block reservation is made you can generate the fee which will take you to the Sportsman Cash Register to pay the fee. 

ü Facility Billing: This charges a per-individual reservation fee and allows an invoice to be generated. Please note that this fee type allows you to create and charge associated add-on fees.  These add-ons could be for room set up, cleaning, etc. Note if you do not select this option prior to generating the specific reservations you will need to edit each reservation to enter your per-use fee price. 

ü League/Program: if this reservation is for a team sport you can reserve the field when creating the game schedule.  This selection will be unavailable for standard block reservation made in this way.  Facilities can be defined when setting up team or league activity schedules. 

 

At this stage all you need to do is choose the type of billing on the left and [Select Account] to associate it with a billing account. If you select Simple Single Fee or Facility Billing you will be required to [Select Account] to associate the charges with.  

 

We will return to the Fees & Billing tab after creating the block reservations to establish more specific parameters.   

 

  

 

 

Add-On Fees / Billing Notes

 

The ‘Add On Fees / Billing Notes’ tab will allow you to add fees to each individual reservation in the block.   For example, you may have a room set up fee to add to each new reservation added to the Block.  You will gain efficiency if you establish Add On fees before you generate specific reservations.  Click on the tab and then click the [Add] button at the bottom of the screen.  From there select your fee (or add a new one), quantity, price.  You may also select to Automatically Add This Fee to Each New Reservation.   Click [OK] to save the fee. 

 

 

 

 

Viewing from the Calendar

 

The ‘Calendar’ tab will allow you to review the reservations created for the block in a Calendar view. It will also allow you to use the [Print] button print or email a calendar view of the reservation block.   You can return to the ‘Calendar’ tab to review your completed block reservation.

 

 

 

Adding Notes

 

There are basic information notes and schedule related notes that will be displayed on reports. You can add these notes at any time, before or after the reservations are created, but not after the block has invoices created.  Click on the ‘Notes’ tab to start and then add your notes in the fields as needed.  Click [OK] to save them.

 

 

 

You can also add individual reservation notes (such as a reminder to hang holiday decorations) as needed.  You can access these from the ‘Reservations’ tab.  Simply double click on the individual reservation list to bring up the ‘Add/Edit Individual Block Reservation Item’ screen after the individual reservations have been created.  Add Reservation Notes and click [OK] to save.

 

 

 

Blocking the Days, Times and Facilities Required

 

Once the Fee & Billing type is selected, return to the ‘Reservations’ tab and click the [Add Multiple Days] button.

 

 

 

On the Multi-day Reservation Creator screen we recommend you use that ‘Via Formula’ tab screen for best efficiency. 

 

Note that the ‘Interactive’ tab provides a second method to make block reservations by individually selecting days and times on a facility timeline.  This method is generally less efficient and individual blocks need to be reserved separately.  This method can be helpful if you have many facility reservations and want to easily see what times and days may be available

You will start by choosing the facility from the drop down selector and enter in the date range and time of reservations. If you need to alter facilities you can generate reservations for one facility with days/times first and then return to the ‘Via Formula’ screen again to generate additional reservations to add to the Block.

 

There are several important things to notice on this screen:

·       There is a [See Availability] button if you need to see a calendar view of facility reservations already made or times available.

·       If you will be using Facility Billing you should enter the “Fee for Each:” on this screen.  This will save you from going back and editing each individual reservation to add the fee later.

·       Notice the options to [Increase] or [Decrease] can change beginning and ending times by a certain number of minutes to help with adding more reservations.

·       There is also an option,  [Copy From Existing] to copy dates from an existing reservation at another facility.

·       [Exclusion Dates] can be defined to accommodate for holidays or facility closures.

 

 

 

Once you add your parameters on the left of the panel you must click [Generate Preview] to generate the list of specific reservations and facilities on the right side.

 

If there are any conflicts with existing reservations (the facility is not available at one or more of the day/time requested) you will see a pop up warning.

 

 

When you click [Close] on the pop up window you will see the line item with the conflict in red font. 

 

 

You will likely want to highlight the individual reservation in red font on the right panel and use the [Delete] button to remove it so that you can save the successful reservations to the block.  It may be convenient to remember the date of that reservation so you can substitute it in the next round.

 

 

Next click [Add These Reservations] to complete all the successful reservations that were generated. This will clear the right panel and allow you to enter in an alternate date, time or facility for the reservation(s) with conflicts that could not be added to the block. 

 

Use the same process to set parameters on the left panel, select [Generate Preview] and then [Add These Reservations]. 

 

 

This will again clear the right panel and add the specific days/times and facilities you just generated to the list for the Block Reservation. 

 

Once all individual times/days/facilities needed for the block are created click [Close].  This will return you to the ‘Facility/Park Block Reservations’ screen.   Be sure to take a few moments to review the complete list for the block reservation.   You can [Add], [Modify] and other tasks using the buttons at the bottom of the screen if you need to adjust anything.  You can also [Print] the reservation report and email it if needed. 

 

 

 

Completing Simple Single Fees or Facility Billing

 

While remaining on the ‘Facility/Park Block Reservations’ screen, click on the ‘Fees & Billing’ tab.

 

 

Simple Single Fee

If you have not done so already you can enter a single fee for the entire reservation block and select [Generate Fee] to move to cash register and accept and process a payment.

 

 

Facility Billing

The Facility Billing selection will display the number of remaining reservations to be billed.   You can select additional parameters on the screen including whether to send invoices or to charge to a credit card on file.   You can also select a Default Pricing Group or establish a new one, add a PO number to appear on invoices.   You can also generate and pay for invoices from this screen.   More information is available in Changing and Managing Block Reservations document.

 

 

 

 

SM:DFR:I:Oct20