Reservations

The Reservations screen holds every booking: those made by travelers on your website, those submitted by partner organizations, and those your staff create for phone-in, walk-in or agency clients. From here you confirm bookings, keep passenger lists up to date and answer travelers' change requests.

How to get there

In the Almotawif menu, click Reservations. Recent bookings also appear on the Almotawif dashboard under Recent Reservations.

The reservation list

Bookings are split into three tabs:

• Upcoming Packages — bookings whose arrival or return date is still in the future.
• Archive — bookings whose dates have all passed (or were never set).
• Partner Bookings — bookings made by an affiliate organization, including cancelled ones, with the partner's name and commission %. These don't appear in the other two tabs. See Affiliate Partner Portal.

Click a column heading to sort. Use Filter by Package to show only the bookings for one or more packages, then Apply Filter. Click Edit (or View) on a row to open the reservation.

Create a reservation

Click Create a New Reservation and choose one of three options:

Using the New Booking Wizard

1. Select Client — search your existing clients, or enter a new client's details. Search first to avoid creating the same person twice.
2. Select Package — pick one of your active packages and a Departure Date.
3. Choose Room & Passengers — pick the Room Type, any flights offered with the package, and add each passenger (first and last name, nationality, age group, birth date, gender). An Estimated Total updates as you go.
4. Review & Submit — check the summary, choose the Payment Method (Cash, Cheque, Purchase Order or Complimentary), add Admin Notes if needed, then click Create Booking.
5. Confirmation — the reservation number is shown and the confirmation emails are sent. From here you can View Reservation or View Public Invoice (a link you can share with the client).

The Estimated Total is a guide. Open the saved reservation and check the amounts before you share the invoice. If the confirmation email couldn't be sent, the booking is still saved and you'll see a message asking you to resend it.

Customize a Package (build-your-own Umrah)

1. Client Contacts & Departure — enter the client's details, any special requirements, whether they want travel insurance, and each stay: city (Makkah, Madinah or Jeddah), check-in date and nights. Use Add Another Destination for more cities, then enter how many adults, children and infants are traveling.
2. Services — mandatory services are added automatically; tick any optional services the client wants.
3. Accommodation — for each city you'll see the hotels and rooms you have rates for on those dates. Click Add on the rooms you want.
4. Summary — review the services, rooms and total, then click Submit Booking.

After submitting, open the reservation and add each traveler on its Passengers tab. Hotels only appear here if you've entered rates for them. See Hotel Rates.

Working on a reservation

A reservation opens on tabs:

• Reservation Overview — client details, special instructions, arrival date, package type and package, Status, travel insurance request and private Administration Notes. Click Save after changes.
• Passengers — add or edit each traveler's name, age group (adult, child or infant), birth date and gender.
• Accommodation — hotel stays: check-in date, nights, room type, hotel and price.
• Services — extra services with date and price.
• Custom Fields — any extra information you want to keep with the booking.
• Conversation — change requests travelers send from their portal, and your replies (see below).

For a new hand-entered booking (Book a Package), fill in the client details, choose the package and click Save first. The accommodation and services tabs can be used once the reservation is saved.

Some reservation edits aren't saved yet: changes on the Flights and Transportation tabs, and removing an accommodation or service line. Editing a saved service line also adds a new line instead of changing the existing one. Until this is fixed, note flight and transfer details in Administration Notes, and contact support if a line needs to be removed.

Statuses

Passengers can't be added or changed once a reservation is confirmed or canceled, so finish the passenger list before you confirm.

Replying to change requests

When a traveler asks for a change from their portal, it appears on the reservation's Conversation tab. Type your answer in Reply to traveler and click Send reply. The traveler is emailed, and the email subject includes the conversation number. See Traveler Self-Service Portal for the traveler's side.

Email your travelers (Mailing List Audiences)

If you use Broadcaster3000, you can turn your bookings into email lists that stay up to date by themselves, for example everyone booked on this year's Ramadan packages.

1. In the Almotawif menu, click Mailing List Audiences, then Create Audience.
2. Enter a Title. A mailing list with this audience appears in Broadcaster3000.
3. Choose who to include: Package types, and optionally Specific packages (hold Ctrl or Cmd to pick several). Tick Upcoming departures only to leave out past trips, and pick the Reservation status values to include (by default, every status except canceled).
4. Click Save.

In Broadcaster3000, choose that list for your campaign. Who is on it is worked out again each time you send, so new bookings are included automatically. Open an audience to preview its contacts and Unsubscribe anyone who shouldn't receive emails. Deleting an audience also deletes its list and subscribers in Broadcaster3000.

Tips

• Check Upcoming Packages daily for new Unconfirmed bookings.
• Delete Selected permanently removes reservations. To keep a record, set the status to Canceled instead.