The Reservation Details Dialog

Note:  Many common questions related to making and editing Reservations have been answered in our newsletters -- be sure to check the Newsletter Category Index (click this link) to see if your question is answered there.

This is the main dialog for editing everything about a reservation.  While most common changes can be done outside this dialog (with right-click functions, for instance), some functions are only available here and nowhere else.  This dialog also has a number of information fields that are not editable, such as the time, date, and operator who made the reservation, checked it in, checked it out, or canceled it.

Helpful Hint -- If you ever close the Reservation Details dialog by mistake (or the Transactions dialog for a reservation) and want to get back to the reservation you were just working on, use the shortcut Ctrl-R to recall the last reservation you were working on.

From this dialog you can open further dialogs to see Customer Details or Transaction History, and to add New Transactions, Manage Guests, Assign or Change the Site, or edit Site Preferences.  You can also Print a reservation record or Delete the reservation completely (if you're logged in as an Administrator), or Find a reservation if you're browsing from the main menu (see the Find Reservation Dialog below).

Note that the Cancel button on this dialog does not cancel the reservation!  It only cancels any changes you have made to the fields, so you can avoid making changes by mistake.  If you're just looking at the reservation and have not planned to make changes, you should use Cancel just to make sure you don't save changes made by errant keystrokes.  If you make changes that you want to keep, use the Save button. (If you actually want to cancel the reservation, click the Canceled check box to start the cancellation process.)

Customer Details

This button will open the Customer Details dialog for the reservation's customer, so you can make additional changes or see more customer details.  See Working with Customers for more information on this.  If the customer has the "Warning Flag" set, you will see a red warning icon next to this button.

Note that there is no way to actually change which customer record is assigned to the reservation.  You can change any of the customer details, but remember that those changes will be permanent in the customer database.  If you selected the wrong customer for a reservation and want to change it once it's made, the only way is to delete the existing reservation and start over with a new reservation.  (You could also cancel the reservation instead of deleting it, but that would result in a cancellation in your reports that wasn't really a customer cancellation.)

Cust. Bal. -- This amount is the customer's total balance due, which includes not only this reservation, but also any other reservations this customer has (past or future), as well as any transactions added to the customer directly, through Customer Details.  Therefore it's normal to see this balance as a different number than the Reserv. Bal. the the below section.

Change to a Different Customer

This button allows you to change which customer this reservation is for.  This should only be used if a mistake is made initially, or when checking in individuals from a group.  If the reservation is already checked in, Manager access is required to change the customer record.  To change the customer, click this button, which will open a Find Customer dialog.  You can then select an existing customer, or click "Add New" to enter a new customer for the reservation.

While not recommended in general, changing the customer with this function is much preferred to just editing the customer details to change the actual customer this reservation belongs to -- you should never just overwrite customer information with that of another customer, in case that customer record has been used for other reservations or transactions.

If the reservation already has transactions, all transactions will be transferred to the new customer, which could result in that customer's balance to be wrong -- make sure you know what the consequences will be (if the reservation has a balance due, if can result in the wrong customer getting a bill).

Also note that if this reservation is currently synchronized with others, it will no longer be synchronized after changing the customer.  This is done without warning, since that's usually what you want to do (if it's a different customer, they're likely to check in or out at different times).  However if the reservation has sub-members linked to it, the customer for the sub-member reservations will automatically be changed to the new customer (because all sub-member reservations must have the same customer so their billing can be combined).

Manage Guests

This function opens a dialog for adding, viewing, and removing guests of this reservation.  See the Managing Guests section for more details.  The total number of guest reservations and any balance due for them is also shown for convenience. If you don't see "Manage Guests", then it's likely that there isn't a Reservation Type "Guest" (with the required "Guest" Base Type), or else it's been disabled.  See Maintenance / Pick Lists / Reservation Types.

Reservation Status

The current status of the reservation will be indicated by a check-box.  You can change the status by simply checking a different box (only those possible will be enabled), or by unchecking the box that's checked to undo a status like Checked In, Checked Out, etc.  Any appropriate confirmation prompts or other messages will appear, the same as if the action is done from the right-click functions on the rack.  The status of Day Pass and Owner reservations cannot be changed (they have no applicable status), so the status options will be disabled.

Activity History

This will show a summary of the date, time, and operator for when the reservation was made, checked in, checked out, and/or cancelled.

Don't Move

The Don't Move flag can be set if you want to avoid moving this reservation to another site.  This will be flagged as such for color coding, plus the Assign Site functions will be disabled for this reservation.

Assign or Change Site

This will let you change the site assignment for the reservation -- see the section on Changing Site Assignments for more details.

Site Preferences

Although the reservation probably already has a site assigned, changing site preference settings can still be useful if the reservation rates are based on preferences (e.g. 50A, pull-thru, ocean view, etc.).

Reservation Type

Some reservation types can be changed and others can't.  Guest and Day Pass reservation types cannot be changed, but you can change a reservation to and from Normal, Group, Monthly, Owner and Free Stay as needed.  (Free Stay can only be selected if you have Manager access.)  In addition, changes to the reservation type might be restricted based on your operator access level (configurable through Maintenance / Park Setup / Access Levels).

Guarantee Info

If the reservation has been guaranteed, this will have any notes or credit card information entered when it was guaranteed.  While this field can be edited here if necessary (if logged in with a suitable access level so that the credit card isn't masked), this should be done with care.  Putting information here won't automatically make the reservation guaranteed, nor will clearing the text undo the guaranteed status (use the status checkboxes for this).  Also note that if credit card information was entered, this information is also in the guarantee info field in a special "encoded" format, so care must be taken to avoid corrupting that data.  To edit the information without disrupting the credit card data, click the "..." button next to the text field.  This will open a dialog with the credit card information and other notes separated and you can edit them as needed.  Note that the credit card number may be masked, depending on your access level.  If you need to change a number that is masked, you need to re-enter the entire card number.

Linked Reservations

If this reservation is linked with other reservations, they will be shown here in a drop-down list.  (Although the list appears "enabled", you cannot change the contents of the list.)  If this reservation is the Master of a synchronized list of reservations, it will show "Master of:" in front of the linked reservations. You can jump to the Reservation Details of the linked reservation shown by using the View... button next to it.  Note that this will open a new Reservation Details dialog in the same position, and may happen so fast that you don't notice it.  Be sure to check the Site field to see which reservation you're viewing.

You can also add additional linked reservations using one of the Add... buttons (see Groups and Linked Reservations for more details).

Group

If this is part of a group, the Group Leader (group name) will be shown, and there will also be a button to View the group leader's customer details.  (Note that this views the Customer Details of the leader, not the Reservation Details -- use the View button next to the linked reservation list above to view the reservation details.)

The group leader cannot be changed for a reservation once it has been made (although its customer details can, but that would of course affect anything else that customer is used for.)

Label

If the Label Reservation field is enabled, it will be shown here.  This is the only place you can change the Label, which is primarily used to override the text shown for the reservation on the Rack view (i.e. instead of the customer's last name).  The label field is covered in detail in the Reservation Label Field section.

Disable automatic rate calculations

If auto-rates are enabled, there may be times when you want to disable the automatic re-calculations (for instance, if you are giving a special rate to a reservation).  Check this box to prevent further automatic re-calculations.

New / Edit Transactions

This opens the Reservation Transactions dialog for the reservation, the same as using the Transactions function from the right-click menu on the Rack, etc.

Reserv. Bal. -- This is the total balance of transactions on this reservation.  As mentioned above, it could be different than the total customer balance shown in the customer section.  Note that if you are using post-dated Charge transactions (as enabled through Program Options / Transactions), then this balance does include any post-dated transactions.  It's not simply the balance "as of today".

Transaction History

This will open a list of all transactions for this reservation, in the Transaction History dialog.  This can be used for reference, or to print a complete transaction history.  You can also use Transaction History to move transactions up or down in the list, to create a more logical ordering for prior transactions.  (To edit the individual transactions or print a receipt, use the New /Edit Transactions option.)  

Auto-Charged Thru

If auto-rates are enabled, this shows the last night that has been included in auto-rates calculations.  This is primarily used for Monthly reservations, e.g. for the Monthly Billing function.

Quote / Confirmation

This is an extremely useful function, originally designed for generating a quote or checking rates and also for printing confirmation letters without actually adding charges to the reservation yet.  It essentially opens the Reservation Transactions dialog, but with some important differences.  

One difference from Reservation Transactions is that the default "receipt" type (and number of copies) can be set specifically for this function -- typically this is set to the Confirmation Letter.  See File / Printing Options / Receipts to set the default.  You can also send an E-mail confirmation to the customer instead of printing a confirmation letter.  To enable this function, the SMTP Setup must be completed and the customer must have an E-mail address.  A Send E-mail Forms button will be added to the Quote/Confirmation dialog if this is enabled.

In addition, it can be set to automatically add the appropriate charges as soon as Quote/Confirmation is opened (see the Auto-Rates Options in Program Options), so it can be used like the Check Rates function.

The main difference, though, is that transactions added here are not normally saved.  Starting in version 10, however, it can either function the same way or it can save the transactions as post-dated.  To see more about these options and proper usage, see the section Recommended Transaction and Reporting Methods.

Default/original Quote/Confirmation operation:

The default operation is that any transactions added during Quote/Confirmation will not be saved.  Therefore you can auto-calculate charges (if enabled), select rates, or even add manual charges to the reservation for the purposes of printing a confirmation, without actually charging them yet.  This can be important for accounting if you don't want to show charges until the reservation is checked in, or if you simply don't want to add transactions that might later have to be reversed.  

All of the Payment/Deposit buttons are disabled -- this is to prevent these transactions from being entered here by mistake, since they won't be saved.

Optional Quote/Confirmation operation -- Saving Transactions:

If you have the system configured for post-dating charges to the reservation check-in date, you can also opt to have Quote/Confirmation save any transactions added.  This includes the (post-dated) auto-rates charges, any manually added charges, and even Payments and Deposits.  This means you don't have to switch to New/Edit Transactions just to enter the deposit.  Since the charges (and any Deposit Applied) will be post-dated, they still won't appear on reports until the check-in date -- so it's "safe" to go ahead and save them immediately.

Online Req. text

This button will only appear if this reservation came from an online reservation request (processed by Campground Master), and if the Reservations data field "Online Raw" has been enabled so that the raw request text is saved.  This allows you to view the original online request text in its raw form, just in case you need to review it.

Notes

Notes will be shown as a single line here, but you can enter multiple-line notes as long as you like by clicking the "..." button at the end of the notes entry field.  This will open a separate Notes dialog for entering the notes.  Any current notes will of course be shown, and the cursor placed at the end so you can begin entering notes immediately.  When multi-line notes are displayed as a single line, for instance on the Detail dialogs or in lists, each line break will be shown as a double-backslash (" \\ ").

Journal...

In addition to the single-entry Notes field, you can add any number of Journal entries to a reservation, which are date/time/operator tagged.  This can be used any way you like, for instance to track issues with the reservation, or make notes as to why certain changes were made to it.  This button opens a list of existing entries and also the adding/editing functions. Important: The Journal entries for the Reservation record will not show up in the Journal for its Customer record, and vice versa.  Likewise if a reservation is split or linked reservations added, the Journal entries will not show up on the other records.  They are specific to that particular record.

Audit Trail...

This button opens the Audit Trail for this particular reservation, showing a list of all changes made to it (at least as far back as when version 6.0 was installed, since the Audit Trail function did not exist before then).  Note that audit trail entries for any of the reservation's Transactions will also be shown, since they indirectly affect the reservation.  There is also an option to also view entries for any Linked Reservations.  However, Customer record changes will not be shown here -- to see those, go to Customer Details and then view the Audit Trail from there.  

Printing a Reservation

You can print an entire reservation record or any reservation form with the Print button.  This opens the Form Selection dialog, which gives you the option to print a grid or a form.  The grid format prints a simple table with each field name and value, generally meant for reference purposes.  You can also choose to print any Form defined for this type of record, which allows you to easily print a receipt, envelope, label, and any custom form you've created for reservations.  (You can also print "Receipt" types of forms from the New/Edit Transactions dialog.)

E-mail Form

If you have SMTP set up, then you can send an E-mail directly from Reservation Details.  This can be a free-form E-mail or a defined Form such as a confirmation letter or invoice.  A Form Selection dialog will appear where you can choose what to send and whether to preview it first.

Deleting a Reservation

If you made a mistake in a reservation that can't be undone (such as selecting the wrong customer) or if you made a duplicate reservation by mistake, you may want to delete it entirely.  Only an operator with Administrator access can delete a reservation, since it's a permanent deletion and can affect the integrity of the database if the wrong reservation is deleted.  (This is another reason to avoid using an Administrator login unless you know that you need to make such changes.)

To delete a reservation, simply click the Delete button.  You will be asked to confirm the permanent deletion.  However, if the reservation has any transactions then it cannot be deleted.  This is a safeguard to prevent deleting financial information by accident.  Generally if a reservation has had transactions then it wasn't a mistake and should not be deleted, but perhaps just needs to be checked out or cancelled instead.  If you absolutely want to delete the reservation and all of its transactions, you can go to the New Transactions dialog, delete all of the transactions, and then delete the reservation.

When a reservation is deleted, all references to it are cleaned up as well.  This includes removing it from the reservation history of the customer and any guests, and removing it from any linked reservations.  If this was the "Linked Master" for synchronized reservations, the next synchronized reservation in line will become the new master.

Temporary Operator Override

If you're entering a reservation but you're unable to complete a function due to your Operator Access Level, you don't necessarily have to go all the way out to have a manager log in.  Just right-click in the caption bar, and select "Temporary Operator Override".  That will allow someone to log in for this function only -- after leaving this dialog, it will revert to the previous operator automatically.