In the spring of 2020 Member Splash built an integrated reservations system that was made available to all client clubs to help them open safely and in accordance with their local regulations. The system was a big success, processing well over 2 million individual reservations. Over the course of the season, and then in a series of one-on-one calls with club board members, tennis pros and other end users of the platform, we received feedback as to additional functionality that would make it even more helpful in the future.

A number of enhancements will make that extremely easy, such as the ability to duplicate schedules and facilities; manually specify reservation block start and end times (in addition to the drag-and-drop scheduling tool); and much more.  The following guide explains how to use the new system. This is a comprehensive overview, in addition, you will also want to take the Facilities Chair Course - Lesson 1 and Lesson 2 at  https://membersplash.com/course/facilities-chair/

Enabling/Disabling Reservations Access for Members: Admins can now choose to show or hide the Reservations tab in the Manage Account Screen menu bar. Go to Member Splash Settings > Member Splash Settings > Account Settings and look for the Manage Account Screen Tabs section. If you would like members to access Reservations, check the box next to Reservations. If you prefer members not have access to Reservations, just uncheck the corresponding box.   

Creating Facilities

Facilities refers to anything that a member can make a reservation for: a lap lane, the main swim pool, a tennis court, etc. Your first step in setting up the reservations system is to go to Reservations -> Facilities and create your first one.

Here you'll encounter your first major change from v1 of the reservations system: Facility Groups. Facility Groups is a collective of facilities. For example, if you have six lap lanes and allow each member to make a single reservation per day you can now create a Lap Lanes group, define the individual lanes, and apply reservation restrictions that apply to all lanes regardless of which one a member selects.

In the screen shot below we have two facility groups defined: Tennis Courts and Lap Lanes. To create a new group simply click on the Add Group button. 

NOTE: All facilities have to belong to a group, even if there is only one facility in that group. For example, you might have a group for Main Pool and the sole facility in that group would be Main Pool.

Clicking on Add Group will open a window with a number of settings options. This is where you can set all of the rules that apply globally to facilities in the group.   See Reservations - Setting limits on your Group Facilities for more details. 

Here is what each of those options controls:

• Group Name: This is required. Name this generically, we will get to specific lanes or courts when we create our unique facilities;
• Visible to Members: Optional. This allows you to create a facility grouping that is not visible to members. This allows you to set up facility groups and facilities and only make them visible when everything is complete;
• Allow Guests: Optional. This setting allows you to enable guest reservations made from the member account screens. The accompanying field allows you to set the maximum number of guests that a member is allowed to add to their reservation. 
• Restrict Access By Account Type/s: The dropdown menu allows you to select which account types can make reservations.  For example you may only let the 'Swim & Tennis' Account type access to make reservations on the courts, so they should appear here.  Leave the field blank if you want all Account types to be able to make reservations. This setting is only available from the Group Facility. 
• Reservation Periods: Optional. This allows you to control how far in advance your members can make a reservation. You might create a Facility Group with a schedule that applies for the entire season, but want your members to only be able to make reservations a week in advance;
• Reservation Limits: Optional. This allows you to control the maximum number of reservations that can be made per day or per week. It supports applying those limits on a per-member basis and per-account basis;
• Default Schedules: Optional. This was one of the big asks for 2021. A group default schedule will apply to all facilities in that group unless an individual facility has a superseding schedule set. An example use would be setting time slots for all six lap lanes at a club. If applied at the group level they would all inherit this schedule. If lane one follows a different schedule due to something like swim lessons you could then define a schedule for lap one which would supersede the group schedule;

To add a default schedule, start by selecting a beginning and end date at the top left. These are required and control what time frame the selected facility group will be available to reserve. Once you've selected your date range, add your first-time block by clicking and dragging on the calendar for the time slot you would like to create. 

If you wish to delete the time slot, right-click the specific time slot to bring up the delete option. 

If you would like to create the same schedule on any given day, there is a feature to copy the schedule. To do that just hover over the name of the day at the top of the schedule and choose Copy, then choose the day you would like to apply the schedule to and choose Paste. 

Keep in mind that when creating blocks of time to keep it as one block if there are no breaks. Creating multiple time slots that can be made in one block can warrant unwanted issues. 

Example: 

            Left: Not Recommended                                           Right: Preferred

When you are done setting up the schedule click on the Add button at the top right.

This will bring you back to the Create Facility Group screen where you click Create to save your new facility group.

Your new Facility Group is now created but it doesn't yet have any facilities to reserve. To add one click on the + button within the Facility Group.

This will open a window similar to the one for facility groups where you can create an individual facility that belongs to the group. 

• Facility Name: Required. This identifies the particular facility; 
• Visible to Members: Optional. Just as a facility group can be hidden from members an individual facility within a group can be hidden until you want it published;
• Custom Email Message:  This allows you to send email messages by facility, letting your members know things about the space they are reserving (for example the Court lights turn off at 9:00 pm or the party room must be cleaned or a $200 charge will be placed on your account) 
• Maximum Capacity: Required. The maximum number of people who can use the facility at one time;
• Max Reservation Length: Optional. The maximum length of time a single reservation can last. For example, you could set the maximum length at 1 hour which would allow someone to book a half hour reservation if they choose but no longer than an hour. NOTE: be sure to enter a value into the Minutes dropdown, (even if it is 0), or your limits will not function correctly.  
• Single Account per Time Slot: Optional. If enabled this means that only members of the same account can make reservations for the same slot. If your club has cabanas for example, you could allow up to 6 people per reservation slot but use this option to mandate that all six must be members of the same account;
• Allow Guests: Optional. This toggle can be set at either the Group Facility level or at the Facility level. If set at the Group Facility level, a note will present in the facility modal telling you that settings are enabled at the Group level and any updates to this setting will need to take place on the Group Facility modal. 
• Add a Schedule: Optional. Follow the same steps as account grouping and create a schedule for this specific facility. If none is selected, the Facility Group schedule will be applied. 

Once you have added your schedule and click create, your new facility is ready to be reserved!

(If you need to edit, delete or clone your Facility Group or Facility click the respective edit button)

How to Make Reservations

When members log in they are taken to the Manage Account screen, shown below. As an admin you can also go to the list accounts screen on the admin dashboard and use the Switch To link to view the page as any member account you choose. Once on the manage account screen hover over reservations and click Make Reservation

The Dropdown menu at the top left of the screen shows which facility groups are available, the facility itself is listed on the calendar below highlighted in red. 

Once you have selected a facility group you'll see each of the facilities within that group.

Click on the facility and time slot you'd like to book. This will open up a window where you can confirm or change the duration of the reservation and choose which member(s) should be included. For members who have an email address on file you can also elect to receive email confirmation and reminder notifications.

After clicking on Book It the member will see a confirmation screen showing their reservation details. 

The Member's Point of View:

The member will see their reservation within the facility. 

To see details about the reservation, the member should go up to the blue navigation bar menu, click on Reservations > My Reservations.

Within this screen is where a user can see and add additional members to or cancel their reservation by clicking Manage or canceling a reservation by clicking Cancel

Programs & Events

Creating a program or event makes a time slot temporarily unavailable for guests to book. To create one, go to Reservations -> Programs & Events 

In this next screen, you will see a list of all of your Facility Groups that are currently active and the events within them. Right now it's blank. To add one, click the +

Here is where you name your event, add a description, and pick a Schedule. You are able to set repeat days if you have an event that follows a certain schedule, as well as setting a Start and End Date. 

NOTE: If no End Date is added it will create the event every day indefinitely. Creating an event will delete any existing reservations at that time

When you have everything set the way you expect, click the update button. You will see your new event listed under the Facility Group you created it in. 

To edit your Event, hover over the event name and click the circle icon 

When a member goes to book at that specific time slot, they will see it blocked out as such: 

When a member clicks on the event - a details window will pop up showing them the description you entered

Calendar

The calendar currently gives an overall view of all bookings within a specific Facility Group. 

Within the calendar view, hover over any empty space to see the remaining in that specific time slot. To add a specific member to a reservation, click on a time slot.

You are able to search for an account by name or account number 

Click Book It and the reservation will be made. 

Reservations - Admin

To navigate to the Admin side of reservations, hover over Reservations -> click Reservations

Within this screen, you are able to look up and manage all reservations within the selected date. To change the date, click on the filter by date range option 

To manage a specific reservation, click Manage. 

Here you'll be able to update the members or cancel the selected reservation. If the facility rules or capacity are reached then you will not be able to add more members to the reservation.