Bookings and holds

A booking records who it is for, what the event is, when it starts and ends, and the quoted amount. It starts as a request. Holding the booking checks the resources it needs: the capacity available, the setup and cleanup time around the event, and whether the resource can be used for this kind of booking. If another booking already claims the same space for an overlapping time, the hold is refused. If the checks pass, the reservation lines are written together and the booking becomes held.

From held, the booking is confirmed once the deposit evidence is in place, moves to in progress when the event starts and to completed with the actual completion time. It can also end as cancelled or as a no-show. The revision number rises with every change, so an action taken on an out-of-date view of the booking is refused.

The booking coordinator owns each booking from request to completion; the venue manager follows the calendar.

• Hold before you sell. A booking is held, with its resources reserved, before the package is finalised or the deposit is taken.
• Buffers count. Setup and cleanup minutes are part of the reservation, so back-to-back events still leave time to turn the room.
• One effect per action. Each hold, confirmation and cancellation carries an operation key, so a double click never books twice.

Agree your resources, their capacities and default setup and cleanup times. Agree how long a booking may stay held without confirmation, what deposit is needed to confirm and who may confirm. Prepare examples of two enquiries for the same hall and time, a back-to-back booking, a confirmation without a deposit and a late cancellation.

Two couples ask for the main hall on the same Saturday evening. The coordinator holds the first request; the hall is reserved with two hours of setup and an hour of cleanup. When the second request is held for the same evening, the overlap is found and the hold is refused. The coordinator offers the garden room instead, which has capacity for the smaller party.

The first booking is confirmed when the deposit is verified, runs on the day, and is completed with the time the last guests left.

• Open bookings — Requested, held, confirmed and in-progress bookings with their times.
• Booking lifecycle board — Bookings grouped by status.
• My bookings — Each coordinator’s own bookings.

• Request to confirmed booking: From a request to a confirmed booking.
• Event day to completion: Running the day, cancellations and no-shows.

Review the implementation plan before importing bookings.