Please Note: This feature is an optional extra and must be activated.
With GuestDiary.com, the user is able to add an Auto-Release Date to a Provisional Reservation. Essentially, an Auto-Release Date is a date and time for the allocated room to be automatically released i.e. the date and time that the reservation will be cancelled.
When adding a reservation to the diary, just above the Accommodation Details section, there are 2 status options that you can choose from - Confirmed & Provisional.
Confirmed - the guest has confirmed that they will be arriving on the specified dates.
Provisional - the guest has asked you to "hold" the room for them as they have intentions to stay at the property but are unable to provide a guarantee at that time.
When clicking the "Provisional" button, a new pop-up window will open with some fields for the user to set the date and time that the room will release.
The options seen in the above image are the default options when the pop-up opens.
In the first section you will notice that there are 2 radio buttons, 1 checkbox and 1 toggle switch. The purpose of the radio buttons are for the user to decide whether or not to set an Auto-Release Date. The "Notify guest by Email" checkbox, when selected, will automatically send an E-mail to that guest (if there is an E-mail address saved) explaining that they have a provisional reservation with the property and detailing the date and time that the reservation will be cancelled unless they contact the property to confirm.
In the second section there is a drop-down menu with a list of times, ranging from 1 hour up to 72 hours. Clicking the "Use Datepicker" toggle will remove the drop-down and replace it with a button that, when clicked, will display a date-picker that the user can use to set a release date and time further than 72 hours. Changes made in this section are reflected in the third section.
If the user were to click on "Save" at the point shown in the above image, an Auto-Release date of Fri, Oct 19, 2018 @ 12:00 AM would be added to that reservation and the guest would be notified.*
It is also possible to make a Provisional Reservation that has no Release-Date. Clicking the "Do not automatically release room" radio button will hide the second and third sections of the pop-up window.
Clicking on "Save" at this point would still notify the guest and mark the reservation as Provisional, however, if the guest failed to confirm the reservation, the user would need to manually cancel the reservation.
If there is less than 12 hours left before the room is due to Auto-Release, the reservation will be shown in the Reservations Requiring Attention area on the Dashboard.
Clicking on "Click here to resolve" will take the user to the Needs Attention page where an action can be taken to deal with the Provisional Reservation.
This section shows the most essential information regarding the Guest and Reservation and also provides 3 buttons for the user to use to take action.
Email - clicking on this button will send another E-mail reminder to the guest
Edit - will take the user to the Edit Reservation page where the user can reset the Release-Date or Confirm the reservation.
Cancel - will cancel the entire reservation.
*please note that there are measures in place to prevent a release date that has already passed being set. Setting a release date that has already passed would immediately cancel the reservation.