Accommodation Blocks

On this page

On this page you set up the "accommodation blocks". Accommodation blocks are pre-booked blocks of rooms for use at the event.

Prerequisites

These room blocks are at hotels set up on Accommodation > Hotels. These room blocks use room types set up on Accommodation > Room Types.

Imports

You can import blocks on Accommodation > Import.

Sub-Blocks

Note that blocks can be used to set up sub-blocks. See Accommodation > Sub-Blocks.

Videos

All Certain University videos about Accommodations.

Click Add New (at lower right) to open the Accommodation Block Information pop-up window described below.

Existing accommodation blocks are listed. The list shows one section per block. The list shows one row per night in each block.

If you have a lot of blocks, use the navigation buttons in the lower right corner to navigate between blocks. The navigation buttons are First / Previous / Next / Last.

Buttons before the table

The table of blocks is preceded by three sets of buttons.

Buttons 1 (for grouping/sorting)

Click one of these four buttons to group and sort the list by that field.

• Date
• Hotel
• Room Type
• Block

These three each display a box for you to filter the blocks shown.

• Hotel — search by hotel name.
• Room Type — search by room type.
• Block — search by hotel name or room type.

Buttons 2 (for display options)

• Show Inactive — include blocks that have been deleted.
• Expand All — expand all blocks displayed, showing all their rooms nights.

Expand All does not add extra blocks to the page.

Expand All still follows any criteria you have entered.

• View All — display all blocks, regardless of any criteria entered.

Buttons 3 (Utilization)

Three buttons are available. The three buttons are By Hotel, By Date, and By Attendee.

Click one button to display the relevant Accommodation Block Utilization report, as described below.

List of Blocks

The information displayed depends on the display option selected. The display options are by Date, Hotel, Room Type, or Block.

The description below is for the default display option, which is by Block.

Each block is shown in its own section.

Accommodation Block actions (per block)

• Accommodation Block — the name shown in the header for each block is the hotel name and the room type.
• Expand the block — expand the block to show its room nights, if collapsed.
• Collapse the block — collapse the block to show just the block and hide its room nights, if expanded.
• Edit the entire block — edit the entire block in the Accommodation Block Information window described below.
• Delete the entire block.
• Restore a deleted block.

Video: Accommodation Block maintenance

• Video: Add a Room Block (1 min.)
• Video: Delete a Room Block (30 sec.)
• Video: Restore a Deleted Room Block (20 sec.)
• Video: Add nights to a Room Block (30 sec.)
• Video: Remove nights from a Room Block (20 sec.)

Details listed for each block

The following details are listed for each block.

• Date — the date of the room night.
• Hotel
• Room Type
• Occupancy
• Rate
• Working Inventory
• Inventory
• Allocated
• Booked
• Remaining
• Contracted Inventory
• Inventory
• Adjustment
• Actions — edit that night's Rate or Inventory.
• Edit that night's Rate or Inventory (under Working Inventory or Contracted Inventory).
• Add inventory with a new rate.
• This option is for adding extra rooms at a different rate, but of the same room type at the same hotel on the same night.
• This option may be organized after the original deal was done.
• The interface prompts you to enter figures for the Rate, (Working) Inventory, and Contracted (Inventory).
• The currency for added inventory remains the same as the currency for the rest of the inventory.

Video: Room night and inventory edits

• Video: Edit Room Night (30 sec.)
• Video: Add inventory at new rate
• This video is shown in the page content near the option to add inventory with a new rate.
• The page content does not include a separate duration for this item.

Accommodation Block Information

This pop-up window opens when you click Add New to add an accommodation block. This pop-up window also opens when you click to edit one.

Video: Add Room Block

• Video: Add Room Block (1 min.)

Fields in Accommodation Block Information

• Hotel (Required) — for a new block, select a hotel from the drop-down list of those set up for the account in Accommodation > Hotels.

The Hotel cannot be changed when editing a block.

• Room Type (Required) — for a new block, select a room type from the list of those set up on Accommodation > Room Types.

The Room Type cannot be changed when editing a block.

• Start Date (Required) — the first day that rooms in this block are available.

Click the field to display a calendar from which to select.

• End Date (Required) — the last day that rooms in this block are available.

Click the field to display a calendar from which to select.

• Inventory (Required) — the total number of rooms available per night in this block.

Inventory must be between 1 and 9999.

Note: If you reduce the inventory while editing an existing record, the inventory must still be enough to cover the number already Booked.

This includes rooms booked for both Complete and Incomplete registrations.

• Contracted — the number of rooms that you have contracted with the hotel to purchase.

Contracted may be less than the Inventory.

Contracted must be between 1 and 9999 if entered.

• Room Rate — the cost per room night.

Room Rate is in the currency set as the Travel & Accommodation Currency Label on Event Setup > Details.

The page shows this currency using the label before the field.

Room Rate must be between 0 and 9999.

Room Rate has a maximum of two digits after the decimal point.

• Show Block Online (Optional) — if selected, the block can be shown to attendees on a registration form.

If not selected, the block is available to planners only.

• Override Info — this check box is displayed only when you are editing an existing block.

Override Info is not displayed when you are creating a new one.

• If Override Info is selected, an Inventory figure must be entered.
• If Override Info is not selected, then any new dates in the block must have an Inventory figure.
• Inventory for existing dates may already have been used.

Inventory for existing dates may therefore have reached zero.

Video: Edit Room Block Override (45 sec.)

• Attendee Types that Can Select this Block — initially, all the attendee types are listed in the Allowed column.

By default, all attendee types would be able to see and select the block on the registration form.

You can drag any of the attendee types into the Not Allowed column to hide the block on the form from anyone of that attendee type.

Save actions

• Click Save to save the block and return to the Accommodation Blocks page.
• When adding a block, click Save & New to save the block and add another one.

Accommodation Block Utilization Reports

The Accommodation Blocks page ends with one of the following on-screen reports. The displayed report depends on which Utilization button is clicked at the top of the page. The three options are By Hotel, By Date, or By Attendee.

Accommodation Block Utilization by Hotel

This report is displayed when you click:

• the Utilization: By Hotel button at the top of the page
• the View All button after viewing the Detailed or Consolidated Pickup Report
• the Accommodation Block Utilization report under Accommodation Reports on the Reports/Analyze page

Note: This report includes two Pickup Report buttons. The two Pickup Report buttons are Detailed and Consolidated. Click one to open that report, as described below.

For each room night in this report

For each room night, this Accommodation Block Utilization by Hotel report shows:

• Hotel
• Working inventory
• Date
• Room Type — click the Room Type Code to open a Report Results window listing the attendees with those reservations.
• Occupancy — the maximum number of occupants for that room type.

The maximum is set on Accommodation > Room Types.

• Rate — the room rate.

The column heading shows the currency defined by the Travel & Accommodation Currency Label in Event Setup > Details if one has been added there.

• Inventory
• Rooms Used — the number of rooms, not bookings.

This allows for partial bookings.

Example: if Mary and Anne are sharing a room, but Mary is only arriving on the second day, then the first day is counted as 1 instead of 0.5 in the Rooms Used column.

• Booked — the total booked.

Booked includes both Complete and Incomplete registrations.

Booked excludes Pending registrations.

• A room is still counted as booked even when the registrant's event registration is Incomplete.

This behavior avoids potential overbooking by an admin-side action.

The admin-side action changes an Incomplete record with a room reservation to being Complete.

• Remaining — the difference between Inventory and Booked.
• Utilization — the percentage of the Inventory that is Booked.

Detailed Pickup Report

This report is displayed when you click the Detailed Pickup Report button at the top of the Utilization: By Hotel report.

• Opens a printer-friendly view of the report in a new browser window.

Rows: One per block.

Columns:

• Hotel
• Room Type
• Rate — if any room nights in the same block have different rates, each permutation is a separate row.
• [Room Nights] — one column per room night.

Shown (as unlabeled figures) for each room night:

• Booked / Inventory — e.g. 15/30
• Utilization % — e.g. 50%

Click the hyperlinked Booked figure to open a Report Results window listing those attendees.

Consolidated Pickup Report

This report is displayed when you click the Consolidated Pickup Report button at the top of the Utilization: By Hotel report.

It is a consolidated version of the Detailed Pickup Report. This consolidated version aggregates all the rooms in each hotel.

• Opens a printer-friendly view of the report in a new browser window.

Rows: One per hotel.

Columns:

• Hotel
• [Room Nights] — one column per room night.

Shown (as unlabeled figures) for each room night:

• Booked / Inventory — e.g. 45/90
• Utilization % — e.g. 50%

Click the hyperlinked Booked figure to open a Report Results window listing those attendees.

Accommodation Block Utilization by Date

This report is displayed when you click the Utilization by Date button at the top of the page.

For each date included in any room block, this report shows:

• Date
• Inventory — the total inventory across all blocks for that date.
• Rooms Used — the number of rooms, not bookings.

This allows for partial bookings, as explained above.

• Booked — the total booked across all blocks for that date.

Booked includes both Complete and Incomplete registrations.

Booked excludes Pending registrations.

• Remaining — the difference between the Inventory and Booked columns for that date.
• Utilization — the utilization percentage.

Utilization equals Booked divided by Remaining.

Accommodation Block Utilization by Attendee

This report is displayed when you click the Utilization by Attendee button at the top of the page.

This report is similar to the Accommodation Block Utilization by Hotel report described above. This report breaks the information down further. This report shows rows for each attendee type under each date. This report populates values for Booked and Utilization.

• Attendee Type
• Working Inventory
• Date
• Inventory
• Booked
• Attendee
• Number
• Remaining
• Utilization