Reviewing and importing external bookings from the Booking Index

Review and import bookings received from external sources—like Partner channels or third-party integrations—directly from the Booking Index to keep your records and inventory fully up to date.

Learn how to:

• Access and review external bookings for import
• View external booking details
• Initiate the import
• Complete the import once reviewed
• Unlock new bookings
• and update external bookings

New to the Booking Index? Be sure to read the first article in this series for an introduction to this feature!

Accessing the features mentioned in this article

Where can I find this feature using the top menu?

• Reports > Booking Index > External Bookings
   

What more do I need to use this feature?

• Admin permissions or restricted permissions to View all Reports or the Booking Index.
• Third-party channel integrations (e.g., myallocator) with external bookings.

Which Checkfront version supports this feature - Classic Items, Classic Products, or both?

• The Booking Index is available to both those using classic items (Inventory > Items), a key feature of our Classic Items version of Checkfront, and those using classic products (Inventory > Products), a key feature of our Classic Products version of Checkfront.

Once a booking has been made through one of your third-party channels (e.g., myallocator...), it is automatically synced to Checkfront as an external booking.

How it is handled next depends on whether your account has the auto-import feature enabled. The auto-import feature automatically imports your myallocator bookings into Checkfront, saving you the step of manually importing each booking via the External Bookings tool.

• Accounts using items only (classic items version) do not have the auto-import feature enabled by default. This means the option to import bookings manually is visible within new external bookings. Please reach out to Customer Support to learn more and have the auto-import feature enabled within your account.
• Accounts using products (classic products version) utilize the auto-import feature. This means the option to import bookings manually is not visible within new external bookings. There is no need (or option) to manually import your external bookings, as your bookings are automatically imported and synced!

To review your external bookings, go to Booking Index (Reports > Booking Index) and click the External Bookings button, as shown above.

The External Bookings page lists bookings that come in through third-party integrations.

Select information is displayed for each record, including the following:

Auto-imported status Bookings that have been auto-imported bypass the NEW status and go directly to imported (✓ XXXX-######).

1. Go to Reports > Booking Index > External Bookings.
2. Click the external booking status to view the information synced from myallocator, including the Order ID number from the external system.
3. Click the View Booking button to open the related booking invoice in a new tab.

Don't have the auto-importer enabled within your account? Then, the option to manually import your booking is visible for each booking. As mentioned above, the auto-importer is a feature of our classic products version, but can be enabled on your classic items account if you reach out to Customer Support.

To import a new booking:

1. Click the button under the Booking column. This opens a modal with the booking details displayed.
2. Verify that the booking details match the original channel booking processed
3. Click Import Booking to proceed with the import.

4. Next, you can change the booking details before importing the booking. Click Add to Booking when you are satisfied with your changes.

5. The Next button becomes active, and you can click it to accept the booking.

6. Once the booking has been imported, the Booking button displays the booking code pre-fixed by a checkmark (✓ XXXX-######). You can click on the button to view the booking details.

1. Click Import Bookings to start the import process for any New external bookings.
2. You are given the option to make changes to the booking before proceeding.

When new myallocator bookings come through, and myallocator is set up to lock inventory automatically (see Setup in Checkfront), the Unlock option is present on New external bookings. 

This feature only applies to accounts that do not have the auto-importer enabled on their account. The items related to this booking are locked to prevent someone else from booking them. Unlocking this booking risks creating an overbooking.  Staff should be provided with training or instructions on when or under what circumstances a new external booking should be unlocked.

External Channel Booking Updates with myallocator All booking edits are sent from myallocator to Checkfront; however, this only updates the 'external booking'. If the booking has already been imported, any changes to the external booking are not reflected in the imported Checkfront booking.   Solutions The best solution is to disable booking edits in all enabled channels in myallocator, such as Booking.com. If you proceed with this solution, the Guests must contact you directly for any changes. Another option is not to import external bookings (under Reports > Booking Index > External Bookings) until after your Guests arrive at the reception and check in. With this solution, the items are blocked in Checkfront, even if you don't import the external bookings. However, Checkfront notifications are not sent to Guests until the booking is imported, so this is something to consider when deciding.  If you want to allow edits and need to import your external bookings, the third option would be to edit the Checkfront bookings when any changes are made manually. Providing you are notified (by either Booking.com or MyAllocator) that a change has been made to a booking. After receiving such a notification, you must edit the check-in booking in Checkfront to match the changes.

Next Steps

The following article explains how to bulk update invoices from the Booking Index.

< Accessing select invoices from the Booking Index     |     Bulk updating invoices from the Booking Index >