Important to know:
This article covers settings relating to guest display options for your booking engine. To get started, go to Direct booking > Configuration > Guest display options.
General settings
Enquiry settings
To configure your enquiry settings, go to Direct booking > Configuration > Guest display options > Enquiry settings.
If you wish for guests to fill in a form to request a booking (instead of enabling instant booking through your booking engine), tick Allow enquiry only. This setting is used when you need to disable your online bookings, such as when your property is closed for renovations.
When enabled, the “Book now” button will be replaced by an “Enquiry” button. All enquiries will be sent to the nominated e-mail address set in Direct booking > Configuration > Guest communications > Enquiry e-mail.
You can also add a customised message into the text field, which will be displayed above the enquiry form.
Room availability display
To configure your room availability display, go to Direct booking > Configuration > Guest display options > Room availability display.
Hide certain rates and enable settings that may help attract more reservations by selecting the following options:
Hide unavailable rates — hide rates that are not available for booking due to the date range and booking criteria (availability, number of nights, and other restrictions).
Show low-availability alert — let potential guests know if there are not many rooms left. You can configure the alert to show when the room availability reaches a certain number — a useful setting to help create a sense of urgency to encourage guests to act quickly.
Show "Early bird special" — let potential guests know that a room rate has a release period (the reservation must be made a certain number of days prior to the check-in date). You can alert your guests when the release period is equal to or more than the number set, in order for the "Early bird special" term to display on your booking engine.
Hide public rates when a promotion code is applied — when potential guests apply an applicable promotion code, they will only see specific room rates related to the promotion code.
Default booking engine search criteria
To set the default search criteria to apply when no filter has been selected, go to Direct booking > Configuration > Guest display options > Default booking engine search criteria. If these settings are left blank, the default search criteria will be 1 night for 2 guests.
Enter the values for the following fields:
Default calendar length of stay — the number of nights that will be searched by default in your booking engine when no filter has been selected.
Default number of guests — the number of guests that will be searched by default in your booking engine when no filter has been selected.
Guest details form
To add more fields to the guest details form (for guests to provide additional information when they complete their booking), go to Direct booking > Configuration > Guest display options > Guest details form.
The guests’ responses to the added fields can be found in your reservation data (on the Reservations page). Add the following fields (if relevant):
Ask guests for their title — if you require the guest’s title, type in your options (for example, ‘Ms’, ‘Mr’, ‘Dr’). Your guests will see these options in a drop-down menu.
Ask guests to include their phone number — if you require the guest’s phone number.
Ask guests to include their address — if you require the guest’s address.
Ask guests if they would like to receive newsletters or marketing emails (this includes GDPR consent) — during the booking process, the guest will see a checkbox alongside a customisable question. If you tick this option, you must enter a GDPR consent text to be displayed in the GDPR consent checkbox.
Ask guests the question "how did you hear about us?" — ask your guests how they found out about your property. If you tick this option, you will have to fill in the Referral channels text box. There are already some default options in the text box, which you can add to, edit or delete. (For example, potential answers could be: ‘From friends/family’, ‘Word of mouth’, or ‘Online banner ads’.)
Include an optional custom field — a custom field label to capture additional guest information. For example, in the Optional custom field label, you could add “Do you have any allergies?”, “Customer Loyalty ID”, or “Special requests”.
About the GDPR:
The European Union approved the GDPR in 2018, to control how companies and other organisations handle personal data.
The GDPR is a set of strict legal guidelines that govern how the personal data of European Union (EU) citizens and residents can be collected and processed.
The law has regulations that protect the data of European citizens living anywhere in the world.
Its jurisdiction is global: even if your property is not located in the European Union, the regulation will still apply to you when a European citizen or resident visits your website. Which means that it is likely that your website can be accessed by members of these countries.
Our booking engine does not have the option to send newsletters. The guest responses to this option are only recorded for reporting purposes.
As per the GDPR, never send marketing e-mails to customers who have elected not to receive them.
We strongly advise you to research and understand the regulation. If you fail to comply, you could be fined. See the GDPR website for further information.
Occupancy age settings
To enable occupancy age settings, go to Direct booking > Configuration > Guest display options > Occupancy age settings. We recommend enabling these settings if your property charges fees for any extra children or infants. Your guests will see the age range of children and infants when selecting the number of occupants in your booking engine.
Select the following options and enter the values (if relevant):
Enable maximum child age — set a Maximum child age (in years). Any occupant older than the set number will be considered an adult, anyone younger will be considered a child.
If you enter ‘12’, any guest who is 12 years old or younger will be considered a child, and any guest of 13 years old or older will be considered an adult.
Enable maximum infant age (in years) — set a Maximum infant age (in years). Any occupant older than the set number will be considered a child — unless older than the Maximum child age (in years). Anyone younger will be considered an infant.
If you enter ‘2’, any guest younger than two years old will be consider an infant, and any guest of three years old or older will be considered a child (up to the Maximum child age, which establishes when someone starts being considered as an adult).
Maximum room occupancy
To set maximum room occupancy, go to Direct booking > Configuration > Guest display options > Maximum room occupancy.
Configure the below settings:
Maximum adults — the maximum number of adults allowed to stay in any room.
Maximum children — the maximum number of children allowed to stay in any room.
Maximum infants — the maximum number of infants allowed to stay in any room.
Include children and infants in maximum occupancy — count children and infants within the maximum occupancy of each room. If this option is not ticked, children and infants will be counted on top of the maximum occupancy.
Only adults are counted on the Maximum occupancy by default.
Display order
To select how you want your room types and direct rates to be displayed to your guests, go to Direct booking > Configuration > Guest display options > Display order tab.
Select the options below to arrange by:
Cheapest first — display your direct rates to your guests organised from the cheapest to the most expensive.
Custom order — customise the order in which your room types and direct rates are displayed to your guests. If you choose the Custom order, you can click on the Customise button. To reorder, drag and drop. Rates can be sorted within their room types. Room types can also be sorted.
Use the View on the booking engine button to be redirected to your booking engine and check the order of your rooms and rates.
Booking Engine URL
To show your guest-facing booking engine’s URL, go to Direct booking > Configuration > Guest display options > Booking engine URL tab.
Click Copy link to copy the URL to your browser’s clipboard.