Reservation lifecycle (stages)

tracking a rental through its lifecycle

This diagram shows the typical journey that each Reservation takes;

Reservations have a lifecycle as shown above.  There is a colour associated with each stage to make it very obvious which stage a reservation is in.  You tell BRM when a reservation goes to the next stage.

Which stage do we start at?

BRM uses 'immediacy detection' to know which stage to start your reservation at.  For example, there is no point in having the provisional / pending stage for immediate bookings. (e.g. walk-in rentals)  It is, however, useful for future reservations:

• Future reservations - Provisional / Pending
• Immediate - Confirmed

(you can also set a reservation type to start at confirmed if you like)

Knowing which stage each rental is at

BRM clearly shows each reservation's stage, both in the list and on the detail page:

How to progress reservations through their lifecycle

To progress a rental to the next stage, simply press the next stage button.

BRM knows when to ask for payment

BRM helps you and your staff ask for the right money at the right time.

If you take a 'provisional' reservation and add a payment it will progress to 'confirmed', likewise, if you press 'next stage' button on a 'provisional' reservation it will check to see if the minimum deposit has been paid.  If not it will prompt for payment.

You have three choices:

1. record what money was taken (or indeed actually process payment via Stripe or Lightspeed)
2. 'continue without payment'
3. cancel and don't go to next choice

Please note that an INVOICE NUMBER is generated automatically for reservations once they reach the confirmed stage - this can't be revoked.

Note also; you can make your reservations start at the 'confirmed' stage if that is appropriate for that type of reservation.

Anatomy of a rental

This diagram shows all the many touch points involved in doing just one rental, and hence why reservation lifecycle tracking is so important.

See Also

recording transactions

processing payments

fixing the stage of a reservation (or cancelling)