New Activity Calendar
We've introduced a new, much more functional calendar with numerous new features. It combines the availability of Meeting Rooms, Restaurants, and the Hotel into one, making it quick and easy to make decisions when selling events.
- New Activity: Always goes through the Availability Calendar. A new event can also be started from the calendar.
- Activity Calendar: Combines the occupancy of meeting rooms, restaurants, and hotel rooms (select Settings - Show Occupancy for hotel availability).
- Interactive Calendar: Marking and creating, moving, and editing activities.
- Tracking Availability for Restaurants: Tracks the number of guests per hour, depending on existing catering activities.
- Views (1): Four different views with varying levels of detail:
- By Hours: Detailed view for one day with different granularity - 60, 30, 15, 10 minutes. Calculates the number of guests for each slot, especially useful for the restaurant. Activities can be created from this view. Click on the start time and then the end time. You can add more selections this way. Finally, save everything. You can edit them by clicking on them. Drag-and-drop is also supported for easy movement.
- By Activities: Calendar for a period, showing specific activities for each day. You can edit them by clicking on them. If you select an empty cell, the hourly view opens with a filter for the selected room.
- By Half-Day: Calendar for a period, with days divided into two slots - before and after noon. Each slot has summarized information on the number of reservations and guests.
- By Day: The most compact periodic calendar, showing each day in one slot. Summarized information is also available.
- Filtering (2): By meeting rooms and restaurants. Filter by number of guests according to the min/max guests for rooms and restaurants. Filters to select multiple rooms and restaurants.
- For Restaurants: Added staff description, similar to meeting rooms.
- Catering Without Restaurant: Not included in the calendar, with messages and icons indicating this.
Capacities According to Setup Style
In the new version of Events, we have added a useful feature related to the Setup Style of meeting rooms and restaurants. With this feature, you can immediately see the capacity of rooms and restaurants based on how chairs/tables will be arranged in them. To take advantage of this functionality, the following settings are required:
- Add Setup Styles: Add all setup styles you use for meeting rooms and restaurants: All Settings (new) - MICE - Activity setup style.
- Configure Room and Restaurant Capacities: For each Meeting Room and each Restaurant, click the edit icon in the Capacity column. Add all Setup Styles supported by the room/restaurant, and for each style, fill in the minimum and maximum number of guests that the room/restaurant can accommodate in that arrangement. Save.
How to Use This Information
- Quickly View Supported Setups and Capacities: Quickly see which rooms/restaurants support a specific setup requested by the client and their capacities. In the calendar (applies to all views), select the Setup for Rooms and Restaurants from the selector below the table label. Only the rooms/restaurants that support this setup will remain, and their capacities for the specific setup will be shown in the capacity column.
- Filter by Guest Count: If you fill in the number of guests in the calendar filters, the rooms/restaurants will be further filtered to show only those whose selected setup and limits match the desired number of guests.
- Automatic Setup Population: When you select a setup and mark rooms/restaurants, it is automatically filled in for the reservations when creating them.
- The activity details screen Information: The activity details screen also shows whether the setup is supported by the room/restaurant, the specific capacity, and whether it matches the guests in the reservation.
- Event Templates: Setup styles have been added for each element of the templates. You can create different price packages based on different arrangements by creating separate templates.
- Adding Event Templates: When adding an Event Template to the calendar, if a Setup is pre-filled, it will be suggested on the screen. If you save it or set another, it will affect the automatic allocation of free rooms and restaurants. Their allocation will consider whether the room/restaurant supports the setup and the capacity of the specific setup.
By implementing these new features, you can ensure a more streamlined and efficient process for managing event spaces and their setups, tailored to client needs and room capacities.
Event Templates
A new feature that allows you to package and price various reservations and catering into one package. With event templates, you can create multiple reservations for meeting rooms and catering with one click and charge for the associated services. Event templates can "search" for available rooms and restaurants and automatically allocate them.
- Event Templates: With templates for meeting room and catering reservations, including associated charges.
- Template Filters: Specify which meeting rooms/restaurants the template applies to. Use this filter along with the charge prices to shape your pricing policy.
- Charges: Can specify a specific price for each template. No need to create different charge templates.
- Charge Quantity: Can be fixed or per guest, corresponding to the number of event guests. For greater flexibility, the number of guests can be changed for each element when adding the template to the event.
- Automatic Allocation: Templates are allocated based on meeting room and restaurant availability, considering the min/max guests for each room/restaurant relative to event guests. The smallest room that satisfies the guest count is chosen if multiple rooms are available.
- Meeting Rooms: Searches for an available room. For restaurants, searches for one with the required number of free seats.
- Template Duration: A template refers to one day. For a single day you can add one or more template which will accumulate. Of course, for different days you can also add different templates.
- Template Settings Link: Located at the bottom of the screen where they are applied. They are applied from the activity calendar in the top-right corner.
Automation of Event Changes
We automated the activities necessary for event changes such as period adjustments, guest count changes, or cancellations.
- Guest Count Change: An interactive screen helps easily change the main guest count in the event or for each activity if they differ. Changing guests in an activity adjusts the quantities of charges based on the guest count.
- Automatic Quantity Change: Only for charges made through the new screens. During the transition between the old and new event versions, check the charges.
- Period Change Options:
- Move Entire Event: Moves all activities and charges to the new start date.
- Extend Event Period: Adds empty dates to the event.
- Shorten Event Period: Cancels activities and charges on shortened dates.
- Manual Period Edit: No automatic changes (hotel room blocks are exceptions - they always follow the event period automatically).
- Event Cancellation: A new screen assists with the cancellation process. Activities are automatically canceled. The screen reviews related folios and suggests which to cancel and which have payments needing specific processing. Related hotel room reservations are opened in a screen where they can be canceled or other operations performed.
Documents and Emails
We revamped document handling, print templates, and email, making it easy to perform each operation without unnecessary actions.
- Documents and Emails Tab (4): Separate tab to save space on the main screen. Links and attachments are also on this tab.
Other
- New "All-In-One" Layout Includes Block Pickup if the event is up to 4 days long.
- Block Pickup Calendar: Full-screen view (calendar button in blocks), showing all hotel rooms and availability. Add and edit blocks directly from the calendar.
- New Field Editing Approach: Inline editor allows users to stay focused on the main screen while editing detailed fields.
- New Activity View: By days and hours, showing meeting rooms and restaurants together within a day, providing a clear picture of the entire day.
- Quick Edit for Each Activity: Including charges associated with it.
- Old Mass Update Functionality: Removed and replaced with new automation of changes.
For full information on how to use the new MICE features, see our detailed articles on Events v.2.