How do I configure a product for reservation requests?
In i-Reserve, you have the option to receive reservations on request. Several settings can be configured to ensure this process runs in such a way that you can handle it efficiently while communication to the customer remains clear. This guide explains step by step how this can be set up.
To set up reservations based on requests, we first need to ensure that they receive a different status when they are reserved. To do this, go into configuration mode, navigate to the product for which you want to configure this, and choose the Schema view.
In this view, click Edit next to the active opening hours. In the Open column, you can select the Request option. This ensures that the times listed afterward will be reserved upon request. For example, you can set the calendar to Open between 9:00 and 17:00, and to Request between 17:00 and 21:00.
To inform customers about the request, we will create two templates: reservation_request and reservation_confirmation. If there is no booking_rejected template yet, you can also create reservation_rejected.
To do this, go into configuration mode and navigate to Templates > Templates. The easiest way is to copy an existing template, such as booking_made, and then adjust the name, subject, and text of the template.
In reservation_request, specify that a request has been submitted and that you will notify the customer whether it can be accepted. In reservation_confirmation, state that the reservation has been accepted.
Now that the calendar is set to Request, we only need to configure the statuses for the workflow. First, you need to know which status a reservation set to Request receives. To find this, go into configuration mode and navigate to Configuration > Reservation Settings. By default, this is 11 - NEW for customer reservations and 20 - OPEN for reservations made in the admin panel (the same as regular admin reservations). You can also change this here. Make sure to uncheck the box under inherit before saving the new status.
Next, we need to create a new status for when the reservation is accepted. This could be, for example, 12 - ACCEPTED. To do this, go into configuration mode and navigate to Configuration > Status codes booking. At the bottom, click Add new config. Here, enter only the number of the status (for example, 12) and click Save. On the right side, you can also set a label and color for this status.
In this screen, you can also configure the accept status for statuses. If you set the accept status of 11 - NEW to 12 - ACCEPTED (assuming you followed the statuses as described in this guide), then in the action block of reservation requests you can click the shortcut Accept to change the status to 12 - ACCEPTED. You can also select 80 - REJECTED as the reject status to be able to reject reservations by clicking the shortcut Reject.
Finally, we bring together all the settings we configured so far in the workflow of the desired product. To do this, go to the Workflow view for that product. In the following example, we use the default statuses and templates mentioned in the previous steps.
Transition 1: Request is received
- Old status transition: *Do not select anything*
- New status transition: 11 - NEW
- Email to: To customer
- Copy to BCC: *Depends on whether you want to receive a copy of the email*
- Valid for: *Depends on whether you want to send an email only for the main product or also for subproducts, if present*
- Specify email (optional): *Enter the email address where the BCC mail should be sent, if relevant*
- Template: reservation_request
Transition 2: Request is accepted
- Old status transition: 11 - NEW
- New status transition: 12 - ACCEPTED
- Email to: To customer
- Copy to BCC: *Depends on whether you want to receive a copy of the email*
- Valid for: *Depends on whether you want to send an email only for the main product or also for subproducts, if present*
- Specify email (optional): *Enter the email address where the BCC mail should be sent, if relevant*
- Template: reservation_confirmation
Transition 3: Request is rejected
- Old status transition: 11 - NEW
- New status transition: 80 - REJECTED
- Email to: To customer
- Copy to BCC: *Depends on whether you want to receive a copy of the email*
- Valid for: *Depends on whether you want to send an email only for the main product or also for subproducts, if present*
- Specify email (optional): *Enter the email address where the BCC mail should be sent, if relevant*
- Template: booking_rejected/reservation_rejected
