Getting started with the gift certificate module!
With the gift card module, you can quickly create gift cards, send them with ease, and manage both sales and redemptions efficiently.
Each gift card receives a unique code that can be used once or multiple times. This allows you to show extra appreciation to your valued customers in a professional and effective way.
Gift cards are a powerful tool to boost customer loyalty.
Reward your loyal customers with a discount that encourages repeat purchases, or use gift cards as a smart campaign to introduce new customers to your product at an attractive rate.
In this guide, you’ll learn step by step how to create, send, and manage gift cards and how your customers can easily redeem them.
To use the module correctly, a few settings must first be properly configured.
Check if the Gift Card Module is Activated
Before you can get started, we need to make sure the Gift Card Module is active. You can check this by following these steps:
- Log in to your admin dashboard using the license holder’s account.
- Click your account name in the top-right corner. A dropdown menu will appear — click the item for license management and load the next page.
- On the license management page, under the “Modules” column, check if “Gift Cards” is listed:
- "Gift Cards" is listed:
- The Gift Card Module is installed and active in your environment!
- "Gift Cards" is not listed:
- It usually takes 5–10 minutes after activation confirmation for the module to appear.
- If the module still isn’t active after that time, you can revalidate your license. Click the edit button (with the pencil icon on the right), which opens a dialog. Then click the revalidate button and refresh your license.
- Refresh your browser using CTRL/CMD + SHIFT + R to see the changes.
- "Gift Cards" is listed:
General Settings for Gift Card Types
Your gift cards are created based on a specific gift card type. There are a few settings that apply to all types.
In i-Reserve, gift card types can have many different settings that vary per type. However, there are two key settings — Gift Card as Payment and Fully use gift card — that apply universally to all types.
Gift Card as Payment
- Navigate to Configuration > Modules > Gift Cards. At the top, you'll see the setting Gift Card as Payment.
- If this option is set to No, gift cards will be applied as a discount rule within the reservation’s pricing rules. If set to Yes, nothing changes in the price rules — the gift card will be processed as part of the payment section instead.
Fully use gift card
- Navigate to Configuration > Modules > Gift Cards. At the top, you'll see the setting Fully use gift card.
- In most cases, setting this to Yes is sufficient. For specific use cases, click the link below.
Check if Customers Can Enter Gift Cards
To allow customers to enter their gift card codes themselves during the checkout process, follow these steps:
- Go to Configuration > Booking Dialog > Checkout. Here you will see the current settings for the checkout page.
- Set Enable Gift to Yes. This will add an input field on the checkout page where customers can enter their gift card code.
After this change, customers will be able to easily apply their gift cards themselves during the reservation process.
When creating a gift card type, you can configure various settings. These act as a blueprint for generating individual gift cards. Many of these settings can still be adjusted manually for each gift card later. In this article, we explain how to create a gift card type, which settings are important, and how gift cards are eventually made available to customers.
Creating a Gift Card Type
- Go to: Configuration > Modules > Gift Certificates. You’ll see an overview of the gift card types already created.
- In the bottom right corner, click Add Gift Card Type.
Here, you define the properties of the gift card type, such as price, validity, associated product, and so on.
In the next step, we’ll dive into which settings are most important when creating a gift card type.
Important Settings for a Gift Card Type
When configuring a gift card type, the following settings are important:
Price
The amount for which the gift card is sold on the customer-facing pages.
For gift cards with a variable amount or a discount percentage, you can leave this field empty.
Product
You can configure the gift card for a specific product or allow it to be used for all products.
Validity
How long the gift card remains valid after purchase.
Note: This defines the period in which the gift card can be used to make a booking. The reservation itself may fall outside of this validity period.
Code Requirements
You can set specific rules for how the generated codes should look (e.g., length or structure).
Price Type
Determine whether additional booking options (such as lunch or extra services) are included in the gift card’s value. This allows you, for example, to exclude discounts on extras.
Username Mandatory
You can require customers to enter a username when purchasing a gift card through the customer pages.
Template
This enables the gift card to be automatically formatted according to a design template, allowing it to be printed or attached as a PDF in an email.
Now that you've created a gift card type, it's time to actually create the gift cards themselves. In this article, we’ll show you how this process works.
Creating a Gift Card
- Go to: Modules > Manage Gift Cards. Here you’ll see an overview of all previously created gift cards.
- In the top right corner, click Add Gift.
Here, you can configure the properties of the gift card or batch of gift cards, such as price, validity, associated product, and more.
Many of these settings were already defined when creating the gift card type, so there’s no need to re-enter them unless you want to override them.
If you do specify a setting during gift card creation, that value will be leading — it will override the value from the gift card type, even if it was already defined there.
In the next step, you'll find a brief overview of the various settings and how they affect the gift card type.
Settings When Creating a Gift Card
When configuring an individual gift card or batch, the following settings are important:
Add a number of certificates in one go
Specify how many gift cards of the same type you want to create at once. Each will have its own unique code.
Gift CertificateType
Select the gift card type that will serve as the basis for this batch.
Validity Period
Define how long the gift card remains valid after purchase. If the validity period is already defined in the gift card type, you only need to enter a “start” or “end” date here. The system will calculate the other date automatically using the type’s settings.
Note: This determines until when the gift card can be used to make a booking. The actual reservation may still take place outside of the gift card’s validity period.
Reusable
Indicate whether a gift card from this batch can be used multiple times. For example, a 10% discount code valid only during the summer can be created once and reused by the same or multiple customers during its validity.
Blocked
Specify whether the gift card is currently blocked. You can later update this setting to activate the gift card.
Price
Define the value of this batch of gift cards. If this has already been defined in the gift card type, you may leave this field blank.
Apply to Product
If the gift card should apply only to a specific product or package, you can specify that here.
If already defined in the gift card type, this can be left blank. If neither field is filled, the gift card will apply to all products.
