Reservations and stays

A reservation is one guest’s stay in one unit: the guest, the unit, the arrival and departure dates, how many people are coming and the nightly rate. It starts as a request. The front desk confirms it only after checking that the dates make sense, that the unit can take that many guests, and that no other confirmed stay holds the unit on any of those nights. When the stay is confirmed, every night from arrival up to departure is reserved at once, so two guests can never end up holding the same room.

From there the stay moves to checked in when the guest arrives, and to checked out when they leave. A requested or confirmed stay can be cancelled, which releases its nights. Each step is a recorded change to the same reservation, so the front desk can always see where a guest is in their stay.

The front desk agent runs reservations from request to checkout; the retreat manager follows occupancy and the program calendar.

• Requests first. New bookings come in as requests with the guest, unit, dates, guest count and rate, and wait in the confirmation queue.
• Confirm once. If the same confirmation is sent twice, the second one returns the first result rather than booking again. A confirmation with different details is rejected so the agent can check what changed.
• Check in the right guest. Check-in is recorded for the exact guest and unit on the reservation; the unit becomes occupied and the stay’s charges start on the folio.

Agree which unit types you sell, their capacities and the nightly rates for each season. Decide who may confirm, cancel and check in stays, and what happens to a stay that is still requested a week before arrival. Agree how group bookings are handled: one reservation per unit with the same guest or party. Prepare examples of a simple stay, a double-booking attempt, a late cancellation and an early departure.

Two enquiries arrive for the same garden suite over the same weekend. The front desk records both as requests. The first is confirmed and its nights are reserved. When the agent tries to confirm the second, the availability check fails and the agent offers the guest another unit or different dates instead of discovering the clash at check-in.

On arrival day the confirmed guest appears in the arrivals list. The agent checks them in, the suite shows as occupied on the turnaround board, and the stay’s charges appear on the folio as drafts ready for posting.

• Reservation pipeline — Requested, confirmed and checked-in stays by guest and unit.
• Stays awaiting confirmation — Requests with their dates, unit and rate.
• Arrivals due — Guests arriving today or overdue.

• Booking to checkout: The full path of a stay.
• Folio and payment reconciliation: How the stay is settled at checkout.

Review the implementation plan before importing existing bookings.