Adding custom field display conditions

The custom field in the WebReserv booking system is an extremely powerful and versatile feature. We’ve described in the past how you can utilize the custom fields to handle pet fees, lunch baskets and much more (you can see these and other examples here: http://www.webreserv.com/help/).

With the most recent release of the WebReserv booking system, the custom field is even more powerful. A new feature, called a display condition, has been added to the custom field definition. This allows you to specify when the system should display the custom field, based on certain rules.

Example: Additional customer/guest name fields

A typical example where this may be used is if you need additional customer or guest name fields, depending on the number of persons in the reservation. Let’s say that you allow up to 4 guests on the reservation and want to get the customer/guest name for each guest.

To do this, create a custom field for each additional guest name:

For the same custom field, scroll down to display rule condition and specify that it should only be shown if number of persons >= 2.

Repeat for the remaining guest name fields. After defining the custom fields, you must assign them to one or more products/rooms/rentals. You can assign each custom field separately under Setup – Products & Reservation Rules – [Select Product] – Customer Information.

That’s it. The WebReserv booking system will now display the Guest Name 2 only if the number of persons on the reservation is 2 or greater.

Handle pet fees (and other fees) in your booking system

The custom fields in the WebReserv booking system makes it really easy to add additional options, such as a pet fees. This example shows you how to create a custom field for pet fees, how to assign it to your room(s) and finally how it will show up on the booking calendar.

Step 1. Create the custom field.

Go to Setup – Custom Fields and click add new custom field. Select List as the custom field type and click Continue. You are now on the main custom field definition page.

- In the name enter “Pets” or a similar name for the custom field.

- We allow for a maximum of 2 pets. Since many customers won’t have any pets at all, we’ll enter 3 options in the options field: No Pets, 1 Pet and 2 Pets. The options field also allow us to enter a price (if selected). In this case we charge $10 per pet per day, so we enter [10.00] on the line for one Pet and [20.00] on the line for two pets.

- We also have to specify that the rate is per day. By default, the booking system assumes that the price is for the entire stay, regardless of length. To change the  charge to be per day, change the Price is for to be 1 day(s) – per unit. This instructs the system to charge 10 (or 20) per day per room.

Your custom field should now look like this:

Step 2. Assign the custom field to your products/rooms

After saving the custom field, we have to assign it to one or more products/rooms. This tells the system to include the Pet custom field  on the booking calendar. To go Setup – Products & Reservation rules and select the first product/room where you want the Pets custom field to be included. In the left-hand menu, select Customer Information and scroll down to the bottom. Here you’ll find the custom fields. Set the Pets field to optional.

Click save and continue.

Step 3 – Validate the custom field.

To validate that your custom field is working, go to your booking calendar and select the product/room you just modified. Check that the Pets field is included.

You are done. That was easy right?

Tip: By default, custom fields will show on a separate page called “Additional Requests”. You can group custom fields on the date/time page (as shown in the example above) or you can group custom fields on the customer information page. To modify the custom field groups, go to Setup – Custom Fields and click the link to customize the display order.

Tax on custom options

The WebReserv system now uses the tax field for custom options to determine if the custom option is taxable. To set or update the tax rates for your custom fields, go to Setup – Custom Fields.

The tax rate can be set independently from your products (rooms, condos, tours etc).

Adding lunch baskets to tour bookings

This example shows how to add different types of lunch baskets to bookings, but it can be used for all other types of add-ons to bookings including segway tour bookings, boat tour bookings etc.

First create a custom field (list) with the Sandwiches.

After creating the custom field. Go to the product/tour where the lunch basket is to be included and add it under “customer information”.

The lunch basket is not added to the booking calendar is the customer can select the number of sandwiches during checkout.

In some cases, you may have different types of sandwiches. Say, ham and hurkey. This can easily be supported using the WebReserv booking system. Just create two custom fields, one for ham and one for turkey.

Again, remember to select the custom fields under “customer information”. In this scenario, we also created a custom field of type “information” and called it “lunch options”.

When the customer makes the reservation, the customer can now select how many ham sandwiches to add and how many turkey sandwiches to add.

The cost for the sandwiches are included in the total during the check out process:

Adding time and cost to custom fields

The WebReserv booking system has many great features. One of the features is the ability to add prices and/or time to custom fields. This feature allows you to add options to reservations and during the booking process, your customer can select which option they want.

The screen shot below shows a “lunch option” that can be used for tours and rentals.

The custom field list can also include additional time that should be added to the reservation. This feature should only be used for hourly reservations. To specify additional time, enter it as [xdyhzm] where x = days, y=hours and z=minutes. So if you want the length of the reservation to increase by 20 minutes, enter [0d0h30m].

New custom field options for the booking calendar

We are pleased to announce several new setup options for the custom field:

Selection label

If entered, the selection label will be shown instead of the custom field name when the custom selects the option.

Rate label

If entered, the rate label will be shown instead of the custom field name when charges are shown in the rate details.

Show price in selection list

If checked (default) the price for each selection item will be shown in the selection list. If unchecked, the price is not shown.

Office use only.

If checked the custom field will not be shown to the customer during the reservation process, but the field will be available when a reservation is made in the administration tool. Note that an office use only field will still be included in printouts and emails if those are checked.

 

“Office Use Only” custom fields

It is now possible to create custom fields that are for office use only. This can be used to create fields that are internal to the office.

To create a custom field that is for office use only, create new custom field or open an existing custom field and select Office use only.

Note that custom fields that are marked Office Use Only will still be included in customer emails if Include In Customer Email has been selected.

Custom Field price calculation

You probably already knew that you can add a price to a custom fields and use the custom field to charge for additional items, for example, extra equipment or catering. Starting with the latest release of WebReserv.com you, you can now specify the time basis for such charges.

To set up your custom field charges, go to Setup – Custom Fields.

If the price for an add-on charge is for the entire reservation, simply leave the time setting at 0. If the price depends on the length of the reservation, select the time frame that the price is for.

Say for example that the charge for DVD player is $15 per day, enter 1 in the time field and select day(s). Now the price will automatically be calculated based on the length of the reservation.