Modify a Group Block

Depending on your Property's configuration, you may have the Modify a Group Block command available from the Quick Menu.

OR

If not, you can select Modify A Group Block from the Reservations Menu.

The Reservations Menu may be reached either directly from the Quick Menu, or by using the Full Menu and selecting Reservations => from the Other section.

OR

Click the Modify a Group Block command in the Group Reservation section of the Menu.

OR

Alternately, IF your Property is using Skyware Systems Sales and Catering system module, you can also use the Sales and Catering menu, by clicking on the Modify a Group Block command in the Groups section of the Menu.

Note: This module (and therefore this menu) may not be available at your Property.

OR

 

Changing the Arrival Date for your Group Block is one of the most common modifications to make. This is a simple change to make, and may be done to ALL rooms in the Group Block, INCLUDING any that have been Picked up.

Upon using the Modify Group button on the Main Folio screen, the reservation wizard opens on the Dates screen.

Select the new Arrival Date on the Dates screen of the Wizard, by clicking within the date field to expand the calendar and choose the desired date. This will automatically change the Departure Date by the number of days the reservation was made for.

If no rooms have been picked up, this is all you need to do.

 

If you have any rooms picked up, however, you will see that ONCE YOU CHANGE the arrival date, a new check box will appear.

In red, you are asked "Adjust Pickup?"

IF you check this box, any rooms that have already been picked up with this reservation WILL ALSO BE MOVED, meaning you can move all the reservations as a block.

This allows you maintain any patterns in the picked up reservations, and importantly, prevents any of the individual pick up reservations from being overlooked for the date change.

Note: You do NOT have to check this box, but it is recommended.

For example, you had a Group Block reserved for four days, beginning on the 18th. The reservation was moved by a week, now beginning on the 25th. One room that has been picked up had a guest not arriving until the 19th. By checking the "Adjust Pickup?" box, the picked up room will be moved with the reservation now beginning on the 26th instead of the 19th, rather than need to be manually adjusted separately.

 

This special Skyware Feature applies to Functions and Packages also:

If you have any Functions attached to the Group Block, you will see that ONCE YOU CHANGE the arrival date, a new check box will appear.

In red, you are asked "Move Functions?"

If you check the relevant box, any Functions attached to this reservation WILL ALSO BE MOVED, again MAINTAINING ANY PATTERNS in the Group Block reservation - so if a Function was to occur on the third day of the Group Block, it now still will.

Note: Packages are moved automatically thus if a package was attached to the Group Block for the last day, it still will be WITHOUT YOU NEEDING TO ALTER THEM INDIVIDUALLY.

This enables you to ensure your arrival date change is applied to ALL aspects of your Group Block reservation with ease, ensuring nothing is forgotten.

Note: Again, you do NOT have to check this box, but it is recommended.

 

Changing the departure date or number of nights stay will act similarly to changing the arrival date; changing only the departure date will automatically also adjust the number of nights for you to reflect the change in length of stay as well as generating the "Adjust Pickup?" check box. Changing the number of nights stay will similarly automatically also adjust the departure date field to reflect the change and generate the "Adjust Pickup?" check box.

Changing the departure date of the group will change the departure date of the pickup (by the offset of the original group departure) to the new group departure date, as long as the "Adjust Pickup?" check box has been checked.

Note: Departure date or length of stay changes do not generate the "Move Functions?" check box unless the date to which the function has been assigned is now not part of the reservation (i.e. the reservation length has been shortened enough to exclude the function date) as the arrival date and therefore the function date is still the same as before.

Another important modification that can be made to your Group Block is changing the number of rooms, and the room types attached to it.

Again, if you have not yet had any rooms picked up, you can change the numbers and/or the Room Types in the Group Block very easily.

However best practice if you are modifying the Group Block rather than creating it, is to use the Set Remaining option, rather than the default Set Block option, in case you have had any rooms picked up.

Set Block shows Block/Pickup/Remain, meaning how many rooms are blocked, how many have been picked up and how many in the block are remaining as available. BLOCK is the active field.

Set Remaining shows the same, but in a different order; Remain/Block/Pickup, meaning how many rooms are remaining as available, how many have been blocked, and how many in the block have been picked up. Thus REMAIN is the active field.

If you simply wish to ADD more rooms or an additional Room Type to the block (to increase the TOTAL number in the Block) you can simply do as you did when creating the Group Block:

Enter in the number of rooms of a particular type that you want to attach to this Group Block, and click the gray button "Set". This will highlight the Room Type row selected in yellow, and put the number into the cell for each day of the Group Block reservation.

Entering a number into the field on the left next to the Room Type will enter this number into ALL dates for the reservation.

Clicking on any Room Type will add one room of that type to those included (and therefore available) in the Block. Please be aware: Clicking the Room Type button will automatically add ONE PER CLICK to each date of the reservation if the rooms are available (so clicking it three times will increase the number of rooms of that type selected by three if the rooms are available).

(See Create a Group Block for more information).

If you wish to CHANGE the rooms in the Group Block, you should ALWAYS click the Set Remaining option, rather than the default Set Block option.

Using the Set Remaining option means any room changes DO NOT AFFECT any rooms that have already been picked up.

Using the Set Remaining option means that you cannot remove any rooms that are already taken, meaning you cannot accidentally oversell.

Change the number in the REMAIN field(s) to the desired number(s).

The Rates screen will display the Rates for the Room Type based on the Rate selected. You can modify this subsequently at any time. Altering the Rates is performed as when creating the Group Block. Note: Changing the Room Rate AFTER rooms have been picked up WILL NOT alter the rates on the INDIVIDUAL pickups.

For each Date/Room Type you can manually enter it into the individual boxes to change the rate amount for that night, for that room.

If the room rates are the same regardless of occupancy, enter the appropriate rate (by room type) and click the Set button.  

Entering it into the box next to the Room Type and then clicking "Set" will set the rate for that Room Type for ALL the nights included in the Group Block.

You WILL need to set the rate for EACH Room Type SEPARATELY here. The rates do NOT have to be the same for each Room Type.

With a group booking you can enter "custom rates" which allow you to define a rate by occupancy (single/double/triple/quad) for a specific group, or by each room type associated with that group. When you check the custom rates box, additional fields will display allowing you to enter a single, double, triple, and quad rates for the booking.

This will create your Room Rates for THESE Room Types on THESE dates for THIS Group ONLY.

When you select Custom Rate by Room Type, the system allows you to enter a Single/Double/Triple/Quad rate for each Room Type.

 

You may reach the Rates screen through the Wizard, or by using the Modify Rates button in the tool bar of the Group Main Folio screen.

The Modify Rates feature allows you to modify the Group's room rates directly from the Main Folio screen, without having to go into the reservation Wizard.

The Rate Definition screen shown now is slightly different to that in the Wizard, in that there is an extra section showing the total per night for the rooms with the Rate amounts, and a Share Rate Definition section where you can add in a specific rate amount for the booking as a whole and buttons giving you the options to share or split this rate between any folios (splits) you may have in your Group Main Folio.

 

Releasing Rooms from a Block makes those rooms immediately available for booking outside of the block reservation/stay.

There are two ways to release rooms: Manually and Automatically as a function of the booking.

Manually: To Manually release rooms by % or by Date, open the Group Main Folio screen and click the Release all Un-Picked up Rooms button in the tool bar.

This will open a pop up window where you can specify which rooms that have not yet been picked up will be released.

You can specify by Date or Day; you can choose a day within the Group Block Date range.

You can specify if ALL rooms are released or a percentage of those left (If you select Percentage then any portion of rooms left will NOT be released. For example if 3 rooms remain and 50% then 1 will be released).

You can specify by Room Type, or you can choose -ALL- Room Types.

Once you have made your selections click the orange button Release Rooms. Any rooms that you specify from the block will now be released immediately.

 

Automatically: To Automatically release rooms by Date, you will need to complete the Days before Auto Release field. By default, this is set to 0, which will release the unpicked up rooms after audit on the night of Arrival.

Using this field will release ALL un-picked up rooms associated with this Group Block.

This field is located in the Reservation Wizard on the Payment screen, AND (once the reservation has been created) in the Accommodations section of the Stay tab of the Main Folio.

You can adjust numbers in either location when modifying the Group Block. Note: If entering a number on the Stay Tab, remember to click the Save icon at the top of the Stay screen.

Setting this field to a specific number of days before the Arrival date of the reservation will mean that any rooms not yet picked up when that date is reached will automatically be released and become available for booking. This number will be determined by your Property.

 

Note: With a wholesaler block, this will be a "rolling release", meaning that rooms will be released one day at a time (not the entire block on the release date as with regular Group Bookings) based on the number of days entered here. The system will “roll” through the booking, releasing one day of the block at a time.

For example, a group is in house on the 7th, 8th, and 9th and through the remainder of a given month, and the number of days out for this wholesaler block is set to seven.  This means that on the 1st, all the remaining rooms (that have not been picked-up) for the night of the 7th only will be released. On the 2nd, the remaining rooms for the 8th will be released and on the 3rd, the remaining rooms for the 9th will be released. This feature is especially helpful for room blocks with many nights.  

 

Another modification you may need to apply to a Group Block is the Allocation of specific charges. This is also called Posting Type Allocation.

When a Pick up occurs, any charges are made to the INDIVIDUAL reservation Folio, not against the Group Master Folio.

You can change this and apply specific charges to the Group Folio, by selecting Posting Types to have allocated to it.

Using the Folio/Def tab of the Group Main Folio, you can see which, if any charges have been allocated to the Group.

To add to this, or edit any already added, you will need to click on the Show/Add Posting Type(s) button.

Clicking on the Show/Add Posting Type(s) button will open the Posting Type Allocation screen.

This screen shows on the left the list of all possible posting types that can be allocated, with a check box next to each to allow it to be selected.

Note: Any pick ups already made will be displayed in a list on the right - if none have been made yet, this section will have no entries

Check a box beside the desired Posting Type and click the orange button Save to add it to the Group Folio.

This will then display the Dates for the Start and End of said addition; by default these will be the span of the Group Block booking.

Select the Date range you wish this Posting Type charge to be allocated to the Group Block for. This may be for part or all of the Group Block time period. You can change the dates so a certain posting type is only covered by the group Folio for certain dates.

 

You can also choose to have this posting type charged to the Group Folio for only SOME of the Pick ups attached to it.

This is where the right hand side of the screen is used.

All current Pick ups for this Group are listed here.

You may select which Pick ups have the posting type charge moved from them to the Group Master.

Select each Pick up that the allocation will affect by checking the check box to the left of their confirmation number.

If NONE are selected, ALL allocated posting types for ALL pickups will be redirected to the group master.

Again, click the orange button Save if you selected any Pick ups to allocate the charges for to the Group Folio.

Once you have clicked Save and completed any allocations to the Group Folio, you will see the message "Posting Type(s) have been allocated!"

When you have finished allocating charges to the group Folio, you should click the orange button Back to Stay to return to the Group Main Folio screen.

The Folio screen will be open on the Folio/Def tab, and you will now see any allocations you have added to the Charges Allocated from Section, with their Start and End Dates also displayed.

Note: To REMOVE an allocated charge you will need to return to the Posting Type Allocation screen and de-select the particular Posting Type (by un checking the box next to it). After saving and returning to the Folio screen as before, you will now see that the posting type is no longer displayed in the Charges Allocated from Section.