Priority Period

Members can make booking requests without regard to lodge capacity during the Priority Period.

You set the last day that Priority Period bookings can be made on each Season Period. At the end of the Priority Period you can run a ballot, or use rules to determine which bookings are accepted.

You can give your Priority Period a name using Configuration Item PRIORITY_BOOKINGS_TITLE.

All bookings made before and on the date specified are on an equal footing. When a booking is made, the email sent to the member is not the usual TENTATIVE email, you can find the email template in Configuration Items CLIENT_PRIORITY_EMAIL_HTML or filter variable name on CLIENT_PRIORITY to also find the email subject template.

Reminder invoice emails are not sent for bookings made during a Priority Period, instead you send an email after the Priority Period ends either

• If all bookings are waitlisted (see options below), you “bump in” successful bookings by making the booking TENTATIVE and accepting the admin price to generate the invoice. You can click on the “email invoice” button after saving.
• Alternatively you can send all members a bulk email with a link that shows all their bookings, both successful (TENTATIVE) and WAITLIST. Members can pay from this page.

You can choose between two ways of allocating a Booking Status during a Priority Period:

1. Bookings are TENTATIVE if capacity exists, and silently waitlisted behind the scenes otherwise. Members can see demand on the matrix, which can help them choose less busy periods, but may be confused if the lodge appears full – even though you have advised members to book regardless of apparent demand.
2. All bookings are waitlisted. You use config item WAITLIST_PRIORITY to turn this feature on. Invoices are not created for WAITLIST bookings. When you decide which bookings to accept there are two ways to make a booking TENTATIVE:
   (i) use admin -> bookings -> allocate rooms and drag the booking into room(s). This makes the booking TENTATIVE but does not generate the invoice. Then click on the booking to go to the Manage Bookings screen and click on “Accept and Update Price” button. Click save to generate the invoice. You can then click “email” if you want to email the information to the member.
   or
   (ii) find each booking via Manage Bookings, change the status to TENTATIVE and proceed as above.

Method 1 has the advantage that members can see and choose less demanded periods, and requires fewer adjustments when you finalise the bookings.

Method 2 has the advantage that invoices are not created and members do not have to understand the waitlisting process. Plus it avoids confusing members who might think the lodge is booked out.

Note that method 1 will create invoices but in all cases, no invoicing information is shown to members when they book, and payment is not possible when booking. However nothing stops members from finding a booking and paying for it, or paying their outstanding balance prematurely. This is an advantage of method 2.

You set up the Priority Period using Season Periods. The date set for Member Bookings Opening must be later than the Priority Period date. Between these two dates no bookings are accepted, giving you time to finalise the booking requests.

The two empty fields above are what defines the Priority Period. Up to and including the Last day of Priority Bookings Period, members can book regardless of capacity. Between this date and Member Bookings Opening Date, no bookings can be made – this is when you run your ballot or otherwise decide which bookings are accepted. From the latter date, members can book whatever is still vacant.

Typically you send a bulk email with a link to member’s view of their own bookings after you finalise the Priority Period bookings, and members can pay online at this point. Alternatively you can send individual invoices for each booking by clicking on the email button in each booking.