The reservation category is one of the most important parts of the distribution channel. The reservation category deals with the type of bookings e.g. Group Booking, Owner Booking, Corporate Booking, etc. The owner can get an idea about the type of bookings made under the distribution channels with the help of the reservation category and he can classify them accordingly. Reservation categories are in use to define specific Channel procedures and calculations by linking multiple reservation categories to one channel, the number of channels will remain limited.
One example of a combination of one channel with multiple reservation categories is Owners. We can have multiple booking types for one channel (Owner) such as Own use, Owner books for himself in another house, Owner books for guests in his own house, and Owner books for guests in another house. So four different procedures need four different reservation categories to manage reservations for one channel. Another example would be business DCs in Roompot for which various RCs can be used for different types of bookings like 1st Booking, Group booking, Follow up booking, Extension, etc.
Under the reservation category, you can see some cards/sub-modules/tables. Some cards are available in Newyse but not in MXTS as we are moving towards Maxxton from the Newyse. Some functionalities are yet not developed and some are in progress.
Here is the first table for the General page where we can find the checkboxes or options like RC name, Code, Color, Right on Swimming pool cards, Auto validate, Override billing configuration, etc.
General- On this page you can find out some checkboxes on Newyse where In Maxxton you can get the same options in the Settings options.
Show vat on confirmation - It will show vat on the bill after confirmation.
Always show the unit on the reservation - This is used to show a Unit on the reservation and it is a confirmation for the user and service provider. It will help you to know which unit is booked.
Unit in reservation may not be switched - This checkbox does not allow switching to another unit than the reserved unit. Sometimes user wanted to switch units at last moment and it can be done only with the same units that has same amenities and add-ons. If this toggle is enabled means you do not wanted to give an option to the customer to switch other units.
In Maxxton we have same options in settings that is available in Newyse General page with some exceptional options. We will go through one by one.
Color - Different RCs can have different colors. So we can select any color for any RC that we can see in the planning chart to recognize RCs by that color. If we have selected a specific color to the RC then we can easily recognize the RC by seeing only color. It will help us to differentiate RC’s by color and perceive the RC by color only. e.g. - For Color Blue RC is Reserver, For Color Yellow RC is own use reservation.
2. Internet user group - This configuration option is used to specify which reservation category is allowed to be seen/enter on the web application. There are types of Internet user groups as shown in the below screenshot.
3. Business Snapshots - If this toggle is enabled then the user can take a business snapshot and the Invoices will be created in the reservation. The invoices are helpful to the finance and related calculations to be shown at the time of reservation that will give us a clear idea about bill. Also the payments that has been paid and due will also reflects in the invoices.
4. Show Reservation Check IN/Check Out - Check In/Check Out is a separate module that we can find out in the front office manager. If the show reservation check-in/check-out toggle is enabled then the reservations with this RC will appear in the check-in/check-out module. This is used the bifurcate the reservation statuses that has been check-in, check-out and some are initial, provisional, definitive, cancelled, declined. So check IN and check out will give us clear idea about that particular type of reservations and we can prioritize the specific reservations by this function.
5. Invoice settings -
Invoice type - If invoices created via work order management can be invoiced via the owner debit card, via maintenance fund debit card, or only via a work order invoice.
Eligible for energy bill - Enabling this toggle key the RC is applicable for energy bills to calculate the utility bill for the reservations which need to have an energy invoice e.g.- Electricity, Water, Gas. Utility bill will be generated as per the meter readings. As per the consumption and meter readings It is calculated on the monthly basis.
Owner year-round reservation - Enabling this toggle key this RC indicates that a reservation created with this reservation category is allowed to have invoices created for work orders and energy settlements. This is specifically for owners DC and RC who wanted to make bookings for a whole year.
E.g. European clients are using dates such as 01/01/23 to 31/12/2023 and US clients are using 01/01/2023 to 01/01/2023.
6. Reservation settings- In the reservation settings we have options like
Manage Certificates - If that toggle is enabled then we can view or manage certificates of a reservation created with this reservation category.
Alter Billing configuration - It is used to change the payer. If this toggle is enabled then It will enables the change payer button for the reservation with this reservation category and allows to move the resource from one bill to another i.e. from bill agent to bill customer or vice versa. In Newyse we have the same function for Alter Billing configuration is Override billing configuration distribution channel allowed.
Group Booking- This will enable group booking for more units with different accommodation types. Sometimes customer wanted to book more units they might be wants more units at one time and this RC has enough
Owner Use- This is specifically for the owner and a separate RC is created for this category. It enables this RC for owner reservations.
Resource internal price for owner settlement - By enabling this toggle the resource in the reservation with internal bill lines needs to be
7. Allow Redirection When turnover is Zero - In an owner reservation the accommodation prices are zero as most of the time these resources are defined as free resources and the turnover will be zero however for other resources if the toggle is enabled it will allow redirecting and the charges will be debited by the owners debit card.
8. Auto-validate reservation - This is used to change the validation status automatically whenever the reservation status changes and if the toggle key is enabled then it will auto-validate the reservation.
9. Exclude from Datawarehouse/BI data - This is used to visible reservation data in the data warehouse/BI data. If this toggle is enabled then the reservation with this RC’s Data will not be visible in the Data warehouse/BI data.
10. Reservation excluded from My Environment - My Environment is a guest portal where guests can log in separately and guest can make changes to their booking. If this toggle is enabled then the reservations with this RC will not be visible in My environment. This is used for the guests/customers who wants to edit their reservations as per their requirements and some channels are using this type of configuration to provide access for the customers convenience.
11. Free Resource - This card is used for any resource type or specific resource(e.g.-accommodation, extra, product, package, special, activity) that has been selected as a free resource for a reservation the rent/amount will not be charged to the customer for the selected resource for the selected RC. As we can see in the below screenshot that for RC-own use reservation there are some resources are added as free resource. E.g.- Accommodation(Parent Level) and Some Child accommodation types also added. Any booking has been made with this RC will be not be charged. This type of configuration is mainly useful for the owners who will book their properties for own use.
12. Accommodation Priority - This card is used to specify owner units to be booked for an owner of that property. If the checkbox is checked as Mark for own use then it means this RC is specific to the owner reservations. It has almost the same function that we have discussed in the above mentioned point that if this checkbox is checked means this is a specific RC that can be book specifically for owners. We can see in the below screenshot that RC is Own use reservation where mark for own use is checked. It means this RC will be available to book owners units and own use is defined for specific period.
13. Expiration Rule - This card is used for conditions like optional booking. If there is a condition added for this RC and any booking comes under this RC the booking gets expired if it will not confirmed/provisional/definitive as per the configured condition. Sometimes users/customers will leave bookings and bookings not proceeding further after the initial booking status so the accommodation is not available in the planning to book anymore. So this rule helps to remove the bookings status and makes it available in a defined time. The booking validity automatically expired and the accommodation is available to book again.
