Kiosk for Room Allocations
Display room allocations on a tablet or computer screen in the lodge.
Show real-time bed/room allocation information via a kiosk. The kiosk works on a TV, a wall-mounted tablet, a phone or a desktop browser.
The kiosk has two views, switched with the List / Day toggle in the top-right.
List view (default) shows the whole date range on one scrolling page, each day under a date heading with its bookings beneath. On a screen with no touch (for example a TV or Raspberry Pi at the lodge) it auto-scrolls through the days on a loop, holding each day still long enough to read before moving to the next, so the full list is seen without anyone touching it. This is the right setup for a fixed display.
Day view shows one night at a time as a grid of room cards, with a date strip across the top so members can tap to switch nights. Best for a wall-mounted tablet that people interact with.
Tap any room (in either view) to see who is in it, with member types. Every guest has a coloured dot for their tariff type; the key sits in the footer, or behind a Member types button when the screen is narrow. The board refreshes itself once an hour, and there is a manual refresh button in the top corner.
For example you can fix an Android tablet to a wall, using an enclosure e.g. https://sprocket.com.au/. Set up the device so it automatically runs a browser, and the browser is locked down to a single address: https://{your Booking Service domain}/api/index.php?r=information/roomoccupation&apikey={apikey}
Choosing which view a screen opens in
The order of precedence is:
- URL parameter always wins. A fixed screen pinned with &view=list&autoscroll=on stays that way on every reload, even if someone walks up and changes it.
- Remembered choice, what was last picked on that device, when the URL does not say.
- Default, List view with auto-scroll on.
So: pin the view in the URL for fixed screens you never want changed; leave the URL plain for a shared tablet where staff should be able to flip the view and have it stick.
One option for Android tablets is Kiosk Browser Remote Management. This locks the tablet to the room allocation display URL and prevents users from accessing the address bar, browser history, menus, or other apps. If using Kiosk Browser, you can provision the tablet with the Kiosk Browser QR Code Generator.
Use these hyperlinks:
Kiosk Browser Remote Management →https://www.android-kiosk.com/
Kiosk Browser QR Code Generator →https://www.android-kiosk.com/qrcodegenerator.htm
Leave Registration Key blank, get the Licence key from the receipt email from the Play Store (Google), enter the URL as above (remember to add &lodge= if you are a multi-lodge club), Configure WiFi with SSID and password (other fields don’t need to change). Then follow the instructions at https://help.android-kiosk.com/en/article/kb-provisioning-devices-1kgrrg5/ Method 1 via factory reset.
The kiosk URL: Parameters start with &
In practice you only need apikey (and lodge for multi-lodge clubs). The rest are optional.
[code]&view=list or &view=day sets which view to open in. Default is list. Pin &view=list for a fixed display.
&autoscroll=on or &autoscroll=off sets whether List view auto-advances through the days. Default is on. Pin &autoscroll=on for a fixed display so it cycles the week unattended. Any touch, scroll or key press pauses it; it resumes on its own after 30 seconds. If the device's operating system requests reduced motion, auto-scroll stays off unless you force it with &autoscroll=on.
&scrollspeed=slow, medium or fast sets how long each day is held before advancing (about 12 / 8 / 5 seconds). Default is medium.
&lodge={lodgecode} only used if you have multiple lodges. You need to ask support what your lodge codes are, can be e.g. buller, falls, thredbo etc but if that doesn't work please ask.
&field= can be used to override default fields shown against each guest. Default is &field=name,tariffType. If you turn on Configuration Item LOAD_MEMBERCLASS, the default is to show three fields: &field=name,tariffType,memberClass. (N.B. LOAD_MEMBERCLASS also adds Member Class to admin Allocate Rooms screen.) In this case to omit tariff type, use &field=name,memberClass.
&datetext= will include Date Text information for the day being viewed. If you put any text after the = equals sign, it will be prepended to the Date Text information, e.g. Lodge%20Captain:%20. %20 decodes to a single space, this is called URL encoding.
You should omit &start and &end. Default start is today, default end is 7 nights from start. You can override the 7 night duration using Site Config item INFORMATION_WEEK (create the configuration item if it does not already exist).
&delay=hours Defaults to zero if you omit this parameter. Otherwise sets a number of hours after midnight to continue displaying yesterday's room allocation.
Special tiles
Car Park bookings appear as a full-width tile at the end, showing each booker and their party contact. Car-park entries are not counted in the guest or room totals.
Unassigned guests, on a confirmed booking that has no room assigned yet, are grouped into an Unassigned card. They count as guests but not as a room
You can create a Configuration Item named "KIOSK_MESSAGE".
The configuration item type can be set to:
- text,
- text area or
- Rich Text.
Your message will appear below the header. If you need any styling, get in touch, we can provide any custom CSS you need.
To set up your API key, give it the role "roomoccupation", without the quotes.
Security
Only give the API key the one role.
Make sure the device (kiosk) is locked down and the user cannot:
- see the address bar of the browser (this would expose the API key)
- see browsing history
- see any browser menu
Change the API key periodically. To do this, edit the key and click on "generate key". Don't forget to click on "save". Copy the key to the clipboard and update your kiosk device.
Feedback
If you find a better or cheaper way to control your kiosk, please let us know so we can share the information here.
