This feature will allow the clients to make a quick booking for small meetings when using the clients’ portal. We have designed the system to be as touch-free as possible and whilst improvements can always be made, this is how the current processes work.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Setting up the payment options
• Instant Book on MEP
• Making the booking
• Payment
  • Card Payment
  • Bill me later (pay by invoice) 

Setting up the payment options

When requesting the Instant Book to be made available on the portal, the client will have to define how they want the payments to be processed. The options are:

1. Credit Card only;
2. Billback only;
3. Credit Card and Billback together.

Instant Book on MEP

When Instant Book is switched on, the user will see the bar below in the Venue Search area of the portal. The user sets the criteria for the venue search and the venue that has the availability will come up with the green “Book” button. 

Once the client clicks on that button, they will be able to see the rooms that are available and select the one they want.

Please note that currently, the system does not group the venues by Instant Book availability so they will have to look through the pages to find the ones that can be booked. 

If they only see the “Add to list” option, it means that the venues do not have the Instant Book availability and the same logic applies for the meeting rooms that do not have the "Instant Book" green button.

Making the booking

The user will have to add the number of delegates, select the room layout, enter the event name, the arrival and departure times, they can also add any catering or equipment requirements and any additional notes they consider relevant.

They will see at the top of the page a blue bar showing the time they have until the system releases that space. When they select the room, they will have up to 20 minutes to finish the booking process.

Any extra charges, such as equipment or catering, will be automatically added to the charges table.

Once they click on “Next” they will be directed to the Contacts page where they will insert their contact details.

The next step is to set up the booking payment. 

Payment

Card Payment 

If the client books using their credit card, they will be directed to the payment screen where they will enter their credit card details, once they press confirm the payment is taken and both the venue and the client automatically receive the confirmation documentation.

The credit card used can be the client’s credit card or if the GRATIS user is booking on behalf of the client, they can use their company’s one.

The booking drops in as a Confirmed booking in GRATIS, and once the booking has departed you can raise your commission claim.

At this point, the GRATIS user won’t receive any notification because they don’t need to manually action anything about that booking. When they run the report on the next day, for instance, they will see the Instant Book bookings that have dropped into GRATIS.

Bill me later (pay by invoice) 

If the GRATIS user has defined in the client profile in GRATIS that their client can make an Instant Booking, when they make a booking, the client will receive an automatic confirmation and the venue will also receive a confirmation saying that the GRATIS user will follow up on the account details. The space will be held but they won’t receive any information about the payment details.

The booking will drop into GRATIS as a Provisional booking and this is the only point where manual intervention is required, you will need to adjust the billing details to reflect how you want the venue to billback (either credit card or account) then confirm the booking and send the venue confirmation out.

TIP: As the client has received the confirmation already, we suggest only the venue’s document be sent to avoid misunderstandings. However, the decision is completely up to the GRATIS user.