The timeline is the graphical display of all bookings in a selected time period, organized primarily by room type and secondly by room number within that room type.


Bookings are automatically allotted to rooms on the timeline. In the (accommodation options) configuration of the hotel you can decide whether you would like bookings to be assigned from the top-down, bottom-up or randomly.



If the hotel has made more bookings than the number of rooms available in the category, the system will automatically create a "dummy room" in which it will place the reservation until the hotel has resolved this room type overbooking. You can resolve the overbooking by moving the booking from the dummy room to another available slot (maybe in a higher or lower room category). Once you have moved the booking out of the dummy room, the system will automatically remove the room from the timeline. Note that you cannot manually place bookings into the dummy rooms, as the system is designed to try to close these "fake" rooms as soon as possible, so the only way to close them is by moving bookings out of the red allocations.


You have the ability to zoom in and out of the entire timeline, which can be done not only to display a large amount of bookings at the same time, but also to optimize usage on mobile devices.


Room Numbers


The numbers on the left of the timeline can be selected, and a flow will open up with details of the status of the room. From this screen you will quickly be able to change the status of the room to dirty/clean/inspected/out of service and out of order.


House Use


On the timeline you will find the button to create a "House Use Booking.” House Use should be used for reservations for staff members and people doing work for the hotel. It will block the room from sales, but will not impact the Average Rate and Occupancy Rates, as the room is used for internal purposes.


Note that people who are booked on House Use will not appear in reservation and breakfast reports.


Bookings


Bookings appear as blocks on the timeline and block a period on the timeline in line with the length of the booking. Each booking has the name of the main contact on the booking (last name first).


Note that the timeline shows the arrival and departure time. So for example if the departure of a booking is later than 3 PM, but there is another arrival for that same room at 2 PM on the same day, the system will try to reallocate the arrival room automatically.


Selecting one of the bookings on the timeline will open a screen from the right with basic details (rate, arrival, departure, etc.). From this screen you can select the “Manage” button to open the reservation management screen, fully described in the "Managing Existing Booking" section.


Clicking on the Guest Name will take you to the guest profile from where you can maintain the customer details.


Locking rooms on the timeline


When you select a booking on the timeline, the booking information will appear on the right, here you will see a small icon of a lock. Pressing the lock will lock the reservation in the room number selected. The booking can no longer be moved. It may be that the guest specifically requested this room or a room with a specific view. Locking a room will prevent others from moving the room into a different room number, ensuring happy guests.


Moving bookings across the timeline


Selecting and holding a booking on the timeline will allow you to drag the booking into another room number.


You will also easily be able to update a room to a higher room category. Once you have dragged-and-dropped a booking into a higher category, a icon of an upward arrow will appear on the booking in the timeline, highlighting that this was one of the upgraded bookings. If the booking is not locked in the upgraded room, the system may try to move it back down to the originally booked room-type in order to optimize revenues. If you wish to lock the room in the higher category, it is recommended you visit the "manage booking" screen where you can change the room category.


The timeline will not allow downgrades of a room to a lower category. This will help prevent accidental downgrades. If you do wish to downgrade a room, you need to enter the “Manage Booking” screen where you can override the room-type.


An important feature is dropping bookings on top of each other. The system will not allow 2 bookings to be accommodated in the same room, so when you top a booking on top of another one, (if the existing booking is not locked) it will try to reassign the existing booking in that slot, to a new room automatically, if it cannit find another suitable room, it will place the booking in an overbooking slot (red room allocation). Once a booking is placed into the overbooking slot, they will have to be moved manualy by someone in the hotel to a better suitable room allocation.


Colours used on the timeline


Reservations Colors


  • Blue Bookings: Reservations that require action today. They are either bookings that need to be checked in or checked out within today.
  • Black Bookings: Reservations that are currently in the hotel and do not require any action within today. They are already checked in and have a check-out date that is on a date later than today.
  • Grey Bookings: Bookings that are either in the past or future and do not overlap with today, thus not requiring any action within today. Also House Use bookings are indicated in grey.
  • Yellow Bookings: Bookings that are indicating Out Of Order rooms. Once a room is placed out of order, it is no longer available for sale.

Housekeeping States - Colors


  • Black Room Numbers: Inspected room
  • Orange Room Numbers: Dirty room
  • Blue Room Number: Clean room
  • Grey Room Number: Out of Service Room