Activity Bookings
Clock presents a beta version of its new activity management and booking module—a modern and flexible solution that helps hotels and resorts expand their services beyond accommodation.
With it, you can easily offer, manage, and sell experiences such as yoga sessions, spa therapies, tastings, transfers, or excursions—anything your guests can experience and remember.
Hotels with all-inclusive, performance-based contracts receive the module as part of their package. For other hotels, the module can be tested and used free of charge during its beta version.
The Activities module in Clock allows you to offer and manage additional services and experiences with fixed time slots, limited capacity, and clear organisation.
We will look in detail at how the module works and create an example activity with several options, time slots and shared capacity. The settings are divided into the following sections: Activities, Options for each Activity, Time slots for each Option, Rates, Work schedules.
To set up the Activities, Options and Time slots, select Settings > Activities > Activities.
Activity
This is a specific experience or service that you want to present to guests, such as Wine Tour, Yoga Class, Boat Trip, Massage, Cooking Class
Each activity has:
- Name, Description and Photos.
- Work schedule. It defines the periods of the year and the working days of the week within each period, as well as the start and end time. It also defines non-working public holidays. It can be shared between Activities.
- Min and max guests per booking;
- Whether children are allowed or not
- What is the Capacity that is tracked - whether it decreases with each booking or per guest.
Option
Each activity can have one or more options. Each option has:
- Name
- Rate. The rate is responsible for pricing and can be shared between different options and Activities.
- Charge template. The charge data - tax, revenue group and category, custom fields. The text, quantity, price and currency are automatically generated. For this reason, you can use one charge template for different Activities, as long as the main fields - tax, revenue group and category, and custom fields are the same.
- Time slot - the time slots are defined for each option. This is the final element that the guest selects and books.
Important: Each booking is for one time slot only and cannot occupy two or more time slots.
Each Time slot has:
- Start time
- Capacity counter - this is the counter by which the capacity is determined. Booking a time slot creates a charge with this counter. In turn, the charge reduces the value of the counter for the specific date. Ultimately, the charges and their counters manage the availability of time slots. The counter can be the same for different time slots and between different options and activities. In this way, the counter will manage the capacity for all time slots for which it is selected.
Easy setup of time slots:
For certain activities, you may have a large number of time slots. For example, in golf, the standard time slot is 10 minutes. This means that you can have about 50 time slots per day. And if you have several options for a similar activity, this can lead to hundreds of time slots. For the quick configuration of such cases, we have provided the following tools:
- Automatic generation of time slots - specify the start time, repeat interval, and end time. Also, specify the name for the capacity counters to be created, as well as the capacity itself. The system will generate the specified number of time slots, as well as the necessary capacity counters - one counter for each time slot.
- Copy/Paste. This feature can be useful if two or more options or activities have shared capacity - for example, you have one tourist guide, but you offer two different activities or two different options. When copying/pasting, the time slots are transferred directly, i.e., they retain the assigned capacity counter. When pasting, you have the option to choose whether old time slots should be deleted and also to exclude some of the time slots you do not wish to transfer.
Rates
The rates you create can serve one or many options. This "sharing" allows for easier price management - if the given products (options) have identical prices and therefore the same rate, when changing the price you will only need to edit one rate.
To edit the Rates, select Settings > Activities > Rates. For each rate, you can set: a base price, a price per adult, a price per child. The price per adult/child is multiplied by the number of guests and added to the base price. For example, if your rate is: Base price 50, price per adult: 20, price per child: 10, then for an Activity booking for 2 adults and 1 child, the price will be = 50 (base) + 40 (20 multiplied by 2 adults) + 10 (1 child) = 100. If you do not have a base price or a price per guest, enter 0 in the corresponding field.
When charging for an Activity service that has capacity per guest, there is a peculiarity related to rounding. Since the charge must have a quantity corresponding to the number of guests, the price of the charge needs to be averaged. Let's look at the example above, where the price for 2+1 is 100. In this example, if the activity has capacity per guest, a service will be charged with a quantity of 3 (total number of guests) and a price of 33.33. That is, the total final price will be 99.99, not 100. Due to this rounding peculiarity, the price that the customer will see when booking and subsequently in the folio will be 99.99.
Work schedule
Work schedules can be shared between Activities. This means that once you create a work schedule, you can select it for many activities. Thus, when editing a specific work schedule, the changes are reflected for all activities for which that work schedule is selected. A work schedule can have multiple periods in which you can select the start and end time slot for the Activity, as well as the working days of the week. Through different periods and start and end times, you can precisely change the available time slots so that they follow the daylight hours. In this way, you can extract the maximum number of bookings from each season.
The start and end time are treated as "inclusive", i.e., these are the earliest and latest possible slots. Here is an example:
- Let's assume that for a specific Activity, you have defined the following time slots: 08:00, 09:00, 16:00, 17:00, 18:00
- You create a period (e.g., summer months) in which you enter 08:00 - 18:00 for the start and end time. This will leave the above time slots for sale.
- You also add a period (e.g., winter months) with time slots 09:00 - 17:00. This will leave 09:00, 16:00 and 17:00 for sale.
To quickly exclude a given day, for example a holiday, entirely from sales, you can add it to the "Holidays" section for the respective work schedule.
Setup Examples
Example 1 - Wine Tour
Your hotel offers the following Wine Tours: "5 wines" or "7 wines + premium wine", both having different prices. Groups are up to 10 people, and within these 10 people, different guests can book their spots, and each booking can be for a different option. Each tourist is served 5 or 7 wines depending on what they have chosen. The visit time slots are 11:00, 13:30, 15:30. This option is sold both at the reception and through the WBE.
Settings:
- Create an Activity "Wine Tour".
- Create a work schedule and select the working days of the week,
- Enter minimum guests 1 and maximum 10.
- Leave "Allow children" blank
- Select "Capacity per guest"
- Add the option "5 wines" to it
- Add a new rate "Wine Tour - 5 wines". Fill in the price per adult in it.
- Create a charge template "Wine Tour" and select it here.
- Add the option "7 wines + premium wine"
- Add a new rate "Wine Tour - 7 wines". Fill in the price per adult in it.
- Select the charge template "Wine Tour".
- Add the time slots for "5 wines".
- Fill in the time slot: 11:00
- In the Capacity Counter field - click the "+" button. The system will suggest a name for the counter, composed of the name of the Activity, Option and Time slot. Enter capacity: 10. Since you have selected "Capacity per guest" in the Activity, this means that the capacity is 10 people. This allows bookings for different numbers of guests to be accepted until the capacity is filled. Save.
- Repeat the steps for 13:30 and 15:30
- Copy the time slots from "5 wines" and paste them into "7 wines + premium wine". This will transfer the same capacity counters.
- After completing the configuration, re-edit the "Wine Tour" Activity options and select the checkbox that it is sold through the WBE.
- Also, don't forget to set up the remaining fields and the tax for the newly created "Wine Tour" template. See more examples of Activities below.
Example 2: Tennis Court
The hotel has 4 tennis courts that guests can book. Bookings are for 1 hour each, with courts operating all days of the week from 7 AM to 6 PM. They offer 3 types of services at different prices - court rental, court + rackets rental, court + rackets + 4 balls rental.
- Create an Activity "Tennis Court". Work schedule - all days of the week, 7 AM - 6 PM; minimum guests 2, maximum 4; children are allowed; Capacity is NOT per guest.
- Add three options for the three types of services, setting a separate rate for each. In the base price, set the court rental price. In the rate for "court + rackets rental" - in the base price, set the court rental price, and in the prices per guest and child, enter the price for renting 1 racket. In the rate "court + rackets + 4 balls rental", in the base price, set the price for court rental and 4 balls and again in the prices per adult and child, set the price for renting a racket.
- In the first option, add the time slots.
- Use "Generate": Start time 07:00, End time: 18:00,
- Repeat interval: 60 min.
- Prefix for the capacity pools that will be automatically created - since the capacity pools will be the same for all options, edit the name so that it only contains "Tennis Court".
- Capacity: 4 - corresponds to the number of tennis courts.
- Copy the created time slots from the first option and paste them into the other two. This will then transfer the same capacity counters, meaning that booking one time slot for any option will also deduct from the time slots of the other options.
Example 3: Massages/Hydromassages with fixed time slots
The module is not intended for services that are freely booked by hourly schedule, where bookings can have different durations and the aim is to maximise schedule occupancy. However, there are situations where similar services can also be sold on the principle of fixed time slots. For example, if you offer services in the SPA that have a relatively similar duration, you could set up time slots, e.g., on the hour or half-hour, and offer different services (options). The disadvantage is that if you use 1-hour time slot, even if a service is 30 or 40 minutes, the entire time slot is occupied. The greater the difference in the durations of the options provided by one specialist, the greater the loss of time in the fixed time slot model.
Here is an example setup. For instance, if you offer manual massages and a hydro-massage bath, you can approach it as follows:
- Create two Activities: "Massages" and "Hydromassages". Min/Max guests: 1.
- As different options, add the different types of massages and baths, setting different prices for each option.
- For massages, set the time slots to 1 hour, and as capacity, set the number of masseurs you have. Copy the time slots between the different options to share one capacity (to use the same capacity counters)
- For Hydro-massage baths, set the time slots to 30 minutes, and as capacity, set the number of Baths. Again, copy the time slots between the different options to share capacity.
Booking
Guests can book Activities through the WBE, and reception through the new "Activities - Availability" screen. This creates bookings without a room, which you can see on the Arrivals, Departures, and In Hotel screens. Find more details below.
Here's how a guest's booking is reflected in the system:
- Booking each Activity creates a new, separate booking for it with guest contact information.
- The booking is marked as a booking without a room.
- The service usage date is in the Arrival field.
- The service usage time is in the "Arrival Time" field.
- The service itself is added as a daily charge to the booking with the tariff price calculated by the Activity.
- The consumption of the time slot's capacity is carried out by the created charge, its capacity counter and its service date.
The recommended approach when changing the date or time of a booking is by cancelling the old booking and creating a new one through the "Activities - Availability" screen. If for some reason you cannot or do not wish to cancel the old booking, you can manually change the date and time by:
- In the booking itself, you edit the arrival date and time.
- In the charge, you edit the service date and the capacity counter corresponding to the new time slot.
New "Activities - Availability" screen
Open the new screen from "Availability" > "Activities - Availability".
- Fill in the number of adults and children
- Select a date.
- Select an Activity.
- You will see the available and occupied time slots (coloured). In the upper corner of each time slot, you can also see the remaining capacity.
- Click the time slot to add it to the cart. This selects the time slot, but you do not yet have a booking.
- You can add more time slots for other Activities in the same way.
- Open the cart from the top right corner of the screen. There you will see the price of each booking, as well as the total amount. From there, you can also remove added lines.
- When you wish to complete and create the bookings, fill in the guest's name, email or phone and select "Create".
- On the next page, you can see the status and creation of the bookings. After creation, you can open all created bookings in Advanced Search.
WBE
In the WBE, you can book Activities independently of rooms or along with them. The bookings for Activities themselves are not linked to room bookings. This provides maximum flexibility in selling Activities.
The processes for booking a room and an Activity are different and go through different steps, with the final page being the same - where bookings for all added rooms and Activities are completed.
The WBE now also has new entry points. This means that depending on the integration or the link the guest receives, one of the following pages can be opened:
- Calendar (the old home page) from which room booking begins.
- Selection. This is a new simple and clear screen where the guest has to choose what they want to book: Rooms or Activities.
- Activities. The Activities screen opens directly.
You can choose to use the universal entry point "Selection" everywhere or opt for a more specialised approach - on pages describing room types, have a link to the "Calendar", and on pages describing Activities - a link to "Activities".
Either way, on the internal pages, the guest can switch between the rooms page and the Activities page, and thus book either one of the two or both together. The switch is made via two new buttons just above the date change button. Besides being convenient for the guest, this also provides an opportunity for an upgrade.
Booking an Activity goes through the following steps:
- Activity Selection. The guest sees photos and descriptions for each Activity.
- Date and number of guests selection
- Options and available Time slots. The guest sees the different options and their prices, as well as the available time slots. Selects a time slot and adds it to the cart.
- Final page. From here, the guest can complete their booking or add more Activities or Rooms beforehand.
Guarantee Policy
Bookings for Activities are made with the default Guarantee Policy selected in the WBE settings. The Guarantee Policy determines the deposit amount, the method of guarantee, and the cancellation policy.
Arrivals and Bookings - Advanced Search Screens
Bookings for Activities can be viewed on the booking search screens - Arrivals and Advanced Search. In Arrivals, Departures, and In Hotel, we have provided a new filter with which you can filter bookings by type: All, Room bookings, Non-room bookings, Activity bookings. Thus, if Activity bookings are served at a different reception, it can be chosen for each of them which bookings to see: the hotel reception - room bookings, the Activities reception - Activity bookings. The setting is remembered for the station and is automatically selected the next time the screen is opened.
Visually, you can also easily distinguish Activity bookings: In the Room column, you will see the name of the Activity for which the booking is, it also has an icon and is coloured differently.
In the Bookings - Advanced Search, you can find similar bookings using the existing Booking Type filter: Non-room bookings.
Other Improvements
- Activity Calendar - similar to the room calendar, you can now view and manage special days that you can colour differently. In the same way as in the room calendar - click on the date row to set or remove a colour. Keep in mind that the list of special days is common between the room calendar and activity calendars - i.e. whatever you choose in one calendar, you will see in the other.
- Event Reports / KPI Groups - in the Other Revenue column, we have added the sum of charges from two more categories: 1. Charges transferred from the POS to the Event folios. 2. Charges from bookings or other sources and different from rooms and meals.
- Events - Activity search
- We improved the Activity Type filter. You can now select several positions and thus get several different selected activity types in one report.
- New grouping - by Activity Type. Grouping in combination with filtering makes the list more readable and clearer.
- When grouping by date, we also added the day of the week
- Event Code (WBE). We improved the screen for entering the event code and selecting a block to make it clearer for your guests. The selected event and block, as well as the process for changing or removing the code, are shown more clearly.
- For all channel managers, we added an additional check when importing bookings. Changes and cancellations are imported only if the booking has a "Expected" status. If the booking already has "Checked-in", "Checked-out" or "Cancelled" status, no changes are imported. In the Inbox, such changes appear with a 'Processed' status, and tasks are created for the bookings.
- Booking.com- we improved the import of existing, expected bookings (reservation summary). Upon initial launch of Booking.com, the system can import existing, expected bookings through a special procedure performed by Clock's service team. In certain situations, which are beyond our control, Booking.com may provide only partial information for expected bookings, although in other situations it provides full information. In our opinion, Booking.com does not send full information for past bookings in situations where the hotel has not used a PMS connection before. On our side, we have implemented both protocols so that you receive as much information as possible. When using the "Import" function, we try to get full information for the bookings. If full information is not received from Booking.com through this function, you can use the new "Import by summaries" function, where bookings will be imported, but with partial information. Partial information means that Booking:
- does not send information for all guests per booking, as well as contact details. Only the names of one main guest are present.
- does not send additional services, their prices, or information on included taxes and fees
- does not send remarks, client requests, and other descriptions
- does not send credit card details
- sends information about companies and commissions
- We changed the list of countries and the behaviour of the custom list. Before the change, what you entered in the customised list replaced the full list. So, to add one country, you had to fill in all - i.e., fill in the entire list. After the change, in the custom list, you can add only the countries you wish to add or replace their names. The full list is "merged" with the customised list and is thus presented for selection. The customised list has priority and replaces the codes if they exist in the full list. Additionally, the selected "preferred" countries now appear at the top of the list in all places where there is a country select.
- By default, the Guest data retention period now has a default value of 120 months.
- Housekeeping tasks - archive - now also shows completed tasks for common areas.
- Adyen - we added the payment methods Alipay and WeChat.
- We removed the limit on the number of components that make up the virtual room. Previously, the limit was up to 10, but there are properties that need more components for one virtual room.
Fixes:
- Activities Calendar. We resolved an issue where the calendar did not work if it included a day with a change in daylight saving time (summer-winter).
- Room features - icons whose name contained a number could not be added - for example, sticky_note_2
- Rooming list - bookings were not created if they were linked to an Event and a "default transfer folio" was selected in it.
