Summary
In this guide, we will show you how to create a Block Booking schedule.
These can be useful if you have customers that would like to book one of your resources for a certain period of time. Creating and publishing a block booking schedule will automatically cancel a previous Adhoc schedule in the same location and at the same time.
- Have you created a Template for this activity schedule? If yes, continue to step 1, if no, check out our How do I create an ad-hoc activity template guide.
Step by Step Guide
1. Go to the Activities module.
2. Go to the Schedules section.
3. Choose the Facility and Template using the drop-down menus to create your new activity schedule with, then hit Create New Schedule.
Did you select the wrong Facility or Template? Just hit the Clear button and follow step 3 again.
4. Complete the fields on the Location & Access tab:
- Location - The resource(s) that the activity is to be held in i.e., Squash Court.
- Override the location name displayed when booking (optional) - This allows you to name a resource it's locally known name such as Left Court.
- Availability - This will hold the default value from the Default availability field in the template. Online and offline means the activity can be booked via FOH and the customer bookings app.
- Spaces - This will hold the default value from the Spaces field in the template.
The Access fields will also hold the default value in the corresponding fields in the template:
- Minutes before the activity starts that user can still access the facility to attend - This allows the customer to gain access to the facility via turnstiles prior to the start of the booking.
- Minutes after the activity starts that user can still access the facility to attend - This allows the customer to gain access to the facility via turnstiles after the start of the booking.
5. Complete the following fields on the Timetable tab:
- Schedule Start Date - The first date that the scheduled activities are to take place.
- Schedule End Date (optional) - The last date that the scheduled activities are to take place. If this field is left blank (i.e., dd/mm/yyyy) the activity will roll until cancelled.
- Setup duration - The default setup duration prior the activity taken from the template i.e., how long does it take you set up any equipment for this activity?
- Teardown duration - The default teardown duration after the activity taken from the template i.e., how long does it take you teardown any equipment for this activity?
6. Complete the Recurrence section of the Timetable tab:
- Day(s) - Which day of the week is this activity to be schedule for? Leaving the tick boxes blank will schedule the activities every day of the week.
- From - A start date for this block of activities. This can be used for activity schedules that have Summer and Winter schedule timings such as Outdoor Tennis.
- To - An end date for this block of activities.
- Start time - The start time of the first session in this block of activities.
- Duration - The duration of each activity in minutes. This duration defaults to same number given in the template.
- Use all x available slots - By unticking this box, you can configure which times between the Start Time and the Facility closing time are available to be booked. Note that the length of each activity is the same length as the Duration.
In the example below, the Squash (60 minute) sessions will be available on the hour 8am and 8pm Monday to Friday.
7. Add one or more activity blocks (optional)
In the example of Badminton below, the facility hosts the activity a little later on the weekends.
If you wish to remove a recurrence block booking slot, you can click the red Remove button underneath that block.
8. Once you have completed configuring the Timetable tab it is time to Create the schedule by clicking the Create button.
9. Once you have created the schedule you will see a preview of the schedule that you have created. Please note that the blue clock denotes that the activity is not yet bookable and must be published.
BEFORE the next step, check that the preview is correct and make any changes at this point by following the steps above and hitting the Update & Preview button.
Only limited changes can be made to published schedule after the next step has been completed.
10. Now it is time to Publish the schedule and start taking bookings!
Once you have clicked the Publish button, there will be a delay whilst the activities are scheduled. The time this takes can vary based on the number of activities being published in the schedule. Once the activities have a green tick the sessions will now be bookable.
8. Fill in the details in the Block Booking tab.
- Select the customer you wish to link it to and add the reference for internal purposes (can be an invoice number or department name).
- Add the Usage Type (optional) and the amount of people due to attend each booking. For example, if the club usually has 12 people attending, set usage to 12.
9. Click on Create
10. Click on Update & Preview on the bottom left corner; then on the top right corner, enter the dates you have for this block booking and click on Update. This will highlight if there are any clashes between this schedule and another.
11. Click on Publish
You can cancel the entire schedule on the red button at the bottom as shown on the screenshot above.