We get a lot of questions about how to take reservations online, and here’s our first of many public reservation options. By default, access to all of your calendars is set to “private”, meaning only you and your staff can manage them. Now you can edit any calendar to set it’s access to “public requests” so that anyone can submit a reservation request.

The way it works is pretty simple… once you set a calendar to “public requests” a web address will be assigned to that calendar which is displayed any time you are using that calendar, usually below it.

You can use this web address in e-mails, ads or on your own website to bring users to a form that collects their details, shows them what’s available for the timeframe requested, and allows them to make a reservation request.

Both parties then get an e-mail with the request details and the reservation is automatically added to your ResEngine calendar with the status of “Requested”. All you have to do is switch the reservation status to “Reserved” or “Confirmed” and use the contact information provided to deliver any reservation or payment details.

This is the most simple, flexible way of managing online reservation requests, and it allows you to follow in any way you choose. Since you enable reservation requests on a calendar by calendar basis, you can even choose exactly what portion of your inventory to make available in this way.

We’ve expanded the traditional ResEngine “activity log” to be as versatile as the new calendar views. You can now view the Activity List using the same range slider, and easily switch back and forth between calendar and list views by using the two small icons to the left of the range slider.

Calendars are great for checking availability, but list views are better when “working the desk”… when you have to quickly look up reservations as people arrive. The list views offer the same access to guest and reservation details.

ResEngine calendars are now more powerful than ever, and it’s easier to manage them while working. Calendars now have a revamped edit screen with new features for adding and removing resources, setting display preferences through Profiles (more info here) and setting options for taking reservation requests from the public (more info here).

And working with calendars has been pulled out of the “My Settings” section and placed directly in the Calendars sub-menu for easy access.