[Early Access Program] Product Builder: Availability

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Plan Availability: ✓ Soho | ✓ Pro | ✓ Plus | ✓ Enterprise | ✓ Flex |
Locate: Inventory > Products > Products > Add Product/Add New Product/Edit Product > Availability
Prerequisites:  

• Admin permissions to manage inventory or restricted permissions to View products and assets and Manage products and assets.
• Your account is a member of our Early Access Program. Please reach out to Checkfront Technical Support to learn more!

New to the product builder? Check out the first article in this series: [Early Access Program] Product Builder: Introduction.

Early Access Program This feature is currently part of our Early Access Program, which means it is available to select Customers to try out and provide us with feedback. To learn more about becoming part of our Early Access Program check out our related blog post or contact our Technical Support team. Find our complete set of help articles related to the Early Access Program here: Early Access Program.

 

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Within this step of the product builder, you can determine...

• when the product is available to be booked (Year Round or definitive dates).
• how the product is booked (Timeslots, Nightly, All Day or Flextime).
• when can this product be booked (times and days of the week).
• who the product available to (Guest types).

 

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This setting is available within both the Quick setup⚡  and The Works🔓  path.

Year Round

Products that are offered throughout the year without any fixed start or end dates. 

 

Limited Dates

Products that are only available for part of the year with definitive Start and End Dates, for example, a Kayak Tour of the Gulf Islands from July 3, 2021 - July 10, 2021. Provide the Start Date and End Date for this period.

 

Do you need to ensure that the booking is for the full period of your Limited Dates? You can add a Booking Rule, where the Min Duration is equal to the number of days of your offering. For example, a Kayak Tour of the Gulf Islands from July 3, 2021 - July 10, 2021, has a duration of 7 days, so you would configure the Min Duration for your product to be 7. Learn more about Booking Rules below.

 

 

This setting is available within both the Quick setup⚡  and The Works🔓  path.

Determines how the product is booked and later priced. Choose between All Day, Nightly, Timeslots or Flextime.

 

Keep in mind, that bookings depend on a combination of inventory numbers and availability settings. For example, you may several timeslots available for a given day, but if you have fixed inventory or inventory based on a limited number of assets, then the day becomes disabled within the booking calendar, once all that inventory is booked.

 

 

This setting is used for full-day or multi-day experiences. Most commonly used for Tour and Rental businesses.

 

To configure your offerings per night, decide which days of the week the Product is available - S (Sunday), M (Monday), T (Tuesday), W (Wednesday), T (Thursday), F (Friday) and/or S (Saturday).

 

Products are not available on the days that are greyed out.

 

Finally, configure any applicable Booking Rules. Further details provided below.

 

This setting is used for experiences booked per night with next-day check-outs. Most commonly used in Hospitality.

 

To configure your offerings per night, decide which days of the week the Product is available - S (Sunday), M (Monday), T (Tuesday), W (Wednesday), T (Thursday), F (Friday) and/or S (Saturday).

 

Products are not available on the days that are greyed out.

 

Next, configure any applicable Booking Rules. Further details provided below.

 

Timeslots are used for bookings with fixed start and end times. Timeslots are most commonly used for Tour and Activity providers.

 

To add Timeslots, select the Timeslots option to expand and view timeslot-specific settings. Next, click the +Create Timeslots button to open the Add Timeslots modal.

 

From the Add Timeslots modal...

 

To configure your offerings per night, decide which days of the week the Product is available - S (Sunday), M (Monday), T (Tuesday), W (Wednesday), T (Thursday), F (Friday) and/or S (Saturday).

 

Products are not available on the days that are greyed out.

1. Click + Add Timeslot for every Timeslot you need to reflect the availability you are offering.
2. Save your Timeslots.
3. Preview what Guests see during booking, described in detail below.
4. Apply any Booking Rules, described in detail below.

 

These settings determine and illustrate how the timeslot options display during booking using example timeslots.

 

Dropdown display

Select to display timeslot options as options within a drop-down menu. By default, options display as buttons.

 

Show end times

Displays timeslot end times during the booking. Deselect this setting to hide end times.

 

Show unavailable times

Select to display unavailable timeslots during booking. Guests won't be able to choose those options but this provides the context in terms of what is available.

 

This setting is used for experiences with flexible start and end times resulting in flexibility with durations. Most commonly used for Rentals businesses.

 

Options always start at the top of the hour. Increments range in length from 10 mins, 15 mins,  20 mins to 1 hr. The duration of the booking is flexible, so Guests can select one or more sequential increments.

 

Setting	Number of Increments	Length	Start Times	Examples
10 mins	6	10 minutes	:00, :10, :20, :30, :40, :50 every hour	09:00 am - 09:10 am 09:10 am - 09:30 am
15 mins	4	15 minutes	:00, 15, :30 and :45 every hour	09:00 am - 09:10 am 09:15 am - 09:45 am
20 mins	3	20 minutes	:00, :20 and :40 every hour	09:00 am - 09:20 am 09:20 am - 10:00 am
30 mins	2	30 minutes	:00, and :30 every hour	09:00 am - 09:30 am 09:30 am - 10:30 am
Hourly	1	60 minutes	:00 every hour	09:00 am -> 10:00 am 10:00 am -> 12:00 pm

 

This setting establishes the Start Time for all bookings according to the configured time, for example, 09:00 AM.

Bookings must start at the same time, but can be of different durations depending on the increments you have configured and the Guest's selection, for example, 09:00 AM - 10:00 AM for a short kayak rental or 09:00 AM - 12:00 PM for a longer experience.

 

Determines when your product can be booked. You can either Use Business Hours or Custom days and hours independent of your Business Hours (Manage > Setup > Calendar) and configured specifically for this product.

 

Have you chosen to configure Custom days and hours for this product? Then, use the settings displayed to determine the range of hours your product is available each day, Monday through Friday.

Settings default to your Business Hours as a starting place and to give you context, for example, Monday to Friday 09:00 AM to 05:00 PM. 

You can remove (X) a day altogether or add (+) a day that is normally outside your Business Hours, for example, Saturday and Sunday.

Finally, configure any applicable Booking Rules. Further details provided below.

 

You can apply Booking Rules to further refine availability for your product via any of the above settings: Timeslots, Nightly, All Day or Flextime. Enable the Booking Rules section and configuring the settings to suit your business needs.

 

Which Booking Rules are applicable depends on how this product is booked...

Setting	How this product is booked	Description	Options
Min Duration	Nightly, All Day, Flextime	Set if this product requires a minimum duration when being booked, such as a minimum of 3 hours. This setting is helpful if your product is booked for limited dates and you need the booking to cover the full duration of those dates (e.g. Full 7 days of a kayak tour).	Apply to Staff Bookings Only Apply to Customer Bookings Only Apply to Customer & Staff Bookings
Max Duration	Nightly, All Day, Flextime	Set if this product requires a maximum duration when being booked, such as a maximum of 10 hours.	Apply to Staff Bookings Only Apply to Customer Bookings Only Apply to Customer & Staff Bookings
Booking Window	Timeslots, Nightly, All Day, Flextime	Set how far in advance bookings can be made and availability displayed.	Minutes Hours Days Weeks
Cutoff Window	Timeslots, Nightly, All Day, Flextime	Restrict bookings from being accepted too close to when the booking is meant to start.	Minutes Hours Days Weeks

 

This setting is available within The Works🔓  path only. See the Quick setup section for more info.

Guest Types allow for specific price points for your product and support the ability to collect Guest information for Guest Forms. Select one or more to associate with your product. For example, Seniors, Adults, Youth, Children or simply Guests.

Start typing in the field to create a new Guest Type or select a pre-existing Guest Type from the drop-down list.

 

This setting is available within The Works🔓  path only. See the Quick setup section for more info.

Set restrictions on the amount that can be added to a single booking.

 

No min/max required

No restriction on the amount that can be added to a single booking either in terms of the number of Guest Types or the Guest Total.

 

Min/Max by guest type

Specify a minimum (Min) or maximum (Max) per booking by Guest Type. For example, you may wish to require at least one Adult to attend with every booking of one to five children.

1. Make sure you choose one or more Guest Types selected under Who is this product available to?.
2. Select the Min/Max by guest type option.
3. Choose to Apply to both customer & staff bookings, Apply to customer bookings only, or Apply to staff bookings only.
4. Next, set a Min (minimum) or Max (maximum) for each Guest Type.
5. Save your changes.

Min/Max by guest total

Specify a minimum or maximum per booking by Guest Total. For example, you may wish to limit the total number of Guests per booking to six, but they can be any combination of Adults and Children.

1. Select the Min/Max by guest total option.
2. First choose to Apply to both customer & staff bookings, Apply to customer bookings only, or Apply to staff bookings only.
3. Next, set a minimum (Min) or maximum (Max) per booking by the Total number of Guest Types.

 

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Once you Save the initial Details (Name, SKU, and Category) of your product, you can navigate between the steps in the product builder via the links listed in the top navigation menu (Overview, Details, Inventory, Availablity, Pricing, Advanced) or in the footer of the page.

 

The Advanced step is only enabled for those following The Works path when adding a new product. To enable the Advanced step, you need to turn off the Quick Setup option.

 

Want to get started as quickly as possible? The Quick Setup path bypasses Advanced configurations so that you can get started with a simple product or become familiar with how products are presented to the Customer.

Disable Quick Setup mode to unlock the Advanced tab and enable The Works path once you are ready to further configure the product to meet your business needs.

 

The Advanced step provides the option to offer additional products as upsells. Learn more here... [Early Access Program] Product Builder: Advanced Learn more about the differences between the Quick Setup and The Works paths here... [Early Access Program] Product Builder: Introduction

 

 

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The following options are available from the Actions menu at the top-right of the product builder.

 

Need to Activate your product? Click the button in the top-right corner of the product builder. Once your product is Active, it is displayed on the Customer Booking Page and bookings can be accepted according to how you have configured your product.

 

What is the minimum amount of information I need to activate my product? This depends on your business needs, but the most basic product includes a product Name, SKU, Category with unlimited Inventory. With more complex configurations, follow the system prompts for any mandatory information. The Activate Product becomes enabled once you have provided the minimum amount of information.

 

If your product is already Active, then you are presented with the option to Deactivate your Product.

 

The Deactivate your Product option removes it from your booking page. No new bookings can be accepted, but any future bookings already made for this product remain intact unless manually cancelled or changed.

 

You can re-activate your product, from the same menu, if need be.

 

Need to copy your product? Select this option from the Actions menu in the top-right corner of the product builder.

Click Copy to instantly create a duplicate, draft copy of the product in focus. Be sure to Save your copy via the navigation options in the footer of the product builder! 

Once saved, the copy can be found within the Products list prefixed with Copy of in the Name of the product, for example, Copy of Kayak Tour. The copied product has a status of Draft, so be sure to filter the Product list accordingly.

 

Need to archive your product? Select this option from the Actions menu in the top-right corner of the product builder.

 

Archiving a product removes it from your booking page, and prevents you from changing its configuration. No new bookings can be created, but any existing bookings for the product remain intact unless manually cancelled or changed.

 

Once Archived, the Product can be found within the Products list with a status of Archived.

You can unarchive the product by editing the product and selecting the option to Unarchive the product from the Actions menu.

When a product is unarchived, it is given a status of Draft. This gives you a chance to update the product before setting it to Active.

 

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Use this navigation option to move back a step in the product builder.

 

Preview allows you to view the product from the Customer's perspective within the Customer-facing booking page once the product is active.

 

Allows you to save the progress you have made so far when building a product or any edits to your product.

This option is available, once the minimum required product information has been added.

 

Navigate forward through the steps of the product builder. Continue becomes enabled once the minimum required product information has been provided. 

 

 

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