Release Details

Product: Bookings - EQ1

Release Date: Tuesday 19th November 2024

Summary: A new feature in Equiem One which allows you to configure a resource so that manual approval bookings apply to specific companies

Overview

Manual Approval for Specific Companies

Background

Previously, resources could only be set to either automatically approve all bookings or require manual approval for every booking. Customers requested a more flexible option to allow manual approvals for specific companies while enabling automatic approval for others.

Manual Approval for Specific Companies

It’s now possible to have a combination of both. In the Permissions section of the resource form, there are 3 options to choose from for BOOKING APPROVALS:

Open

The first two options relate to the original functionality:

• Automatically approve all bookings

• Manually approve all bookings

The third option Manually approve bookings for selected companies enables you to specify which companies require approval for their bookings. When selecting that option, you’ll be presented with a drop down field to select which companies this applies to:

Open

Booking Cost Visibility

This feature can be enabled when the resource is configured for manual approvals for either of the following conditions:

• Manually approve all bookings

• Manually approve bookings for selected companies

When one of the above is enabled, an additional section will be shown on the form called BOOKING COST VISIBILITY:

Select the Hide the booking cost from users during the booking process checkbox. The help text further clarifies how this feature works:

Enabling this option hides the 'Costs' section when a user makes a booking that requires manual approval. This is often used when the booking cost needs to be negotiated directly with the end user. The 'Costs' section will be displayed to the user once the booking is approved.

Booking a Resource With Hidden Costs

If the Booking Cost Visibility is hidden the following will happen when a user requests to book it:

Limited Visibility of Resource Rates

When a user views the resource, they will only see the Hourly price configured for the resource as an indicative cost. All other configured rates will be hidden (e.g. Half/full day rates, weekend rates etc)

Additionally, in the information banner at the top of the right hand panel they are notified that their booking cost will be confirmed before it is finalised:

Your request will be sent to the bookings team, who will confirm the total price before approving your booking. You will receive an email notification once the approval is complete.

Completing the Booking

Once the required date and time of the booking is configured, and any additional extras added (if applicable), a user will be able to continue to complete their booking but they won’t see the Costs section which is normally displayed at the bottom of the side panel. As can be seen on the below example, this section is no longer visible:

When the user proceeds to the final step, they will be able to request the booking. They’ll again be informed that the booking team will confirm the total cost before approving the booking.

Invoice is the only payment option which is supported with this feature. What the user sees at this step will be dependent on whether they are using billing details enabled for the company (the example below) or their own personal details for the invoice.

Once they select the REQUEST BOOKING button, a request will be sent to the bookings team.

Viewing My Booking

When the Host views the booking request, via the My bookings tab, the Costs section will remain hidden and they will be informed that the booking is pending approval by the bookings team (including finalising the total cost).

Email Confirmation

End User

There are a few notable differences on the confirmation email which is sent to the end user after they’ve requested their booking:

• They are informed that the request is pending approval and the price will be confirmed beforehand

• There is no cost outlined on the request (this applies to the resource and any added extras)

An example of this email is shown below:

Booking Team

There are a few notable differences on the confirmation email which is sent to the booking team after a booking has been requested by an end user:

• They are informed that the cost of the booking needs finalising before approving the booking

• There is no cost outlined on the request

An example of this email is shown below:

Converting the Booking Request

There are three options available to the bookings team at this point.

• Approve the booking which will approve it based on the default rates applied to the resource i.e. the booking total is the regular price the Host would pay based on the resource configuration

• Decline the booking

• Edit the booking and override the default rates

Approve/Decline the Booking

There’s no change to the current workflow, simply select the Approve or decline option in the menu.

Edit the Booking & Override Default Rates

Select the Edit option and set a new total price for the booking.

FAQs