General Setup

How To: Prepare Your Admin Site for Future Reservations - A Comprehensive Guide

Use this comprehensive checklist to understand Best Practices to prepare for opening your calendar for new reservations with confidence.

Summary

Discover the essential steps for preparing your Admin Site to accept future reservations, ensuring a seamless process.

Get ready for the upcoming season with these key actions (click any to advance to that section):

  1. Verify Unit Setup
  2. Review & Update Sites
  3. Review Properties setup tab
  4. Update Base Pricing for Sites & Daily Add-ons
  5. Review Consumer Site Admin tab
  6. Audit & Update Rules

Uses

  1. Set up your system to accept new reservations

  2. Enhance Customer Experience: By thoroughly reviewing and updating site details, pricing, and policies, you can provide guests with accurate and appealing reservation options.

  3. Optimize Revenue Strategy: Utilize the rules and pricing adjustments available to tailor your park's financial strategy, making sure it aligns with your goals for the upcoming season.

For a quick reference, you can Downloaded as a PDF Version of this content.

Instructions:

Step 1: Verify Unit Setup

  1. Review Existing Site Types: Check Site Type details, photos, descriptions, Daily add-ons, Online Store Add-ons, and amenities

  2. Create New Site Types: Click to learn how to create a New Site Type here.

 

Need to Move Reservations between Site Types?

If a New Site Type is created and you need to move reservations between Site Types, click here to learn the process of moving reservations between Site Types.


Step 2: Review & Update Sites

  1. Review Existing Site Information: Including RV lengths, Site numbers / names, Map location

  2. Add New Sites: Click to learn how to create Add New Sites here.

New to update your Park's Booking Layout?

Click for information to learn more about updating your Park's Booking Layout.

Learn more about editing sites and site types in this webinar.

 


Step 3: Review the Properties tab

On this tab, you have the opportunity to update details on these tabs: General, Payment Methods, Messaging, Policies, Forms List and Base Pricing.

General Tab

Define your park's information like address, contact information along with:

  • Default Time Periods: including Pencil-In Hold expiration times, when to Re-rate reservations, and Group Reservation minimum campsite requirements.
  • Order Details: Enables you to hide unlocked site numbers on reservation order detail pages.
  • Online Check-In*
  • Electronic Signatures*
  • Online Cancellations*
  • Online Reservation Changes*

*Want to learn more about Campspot's Guest Self Service Functionality?

Click here to how the * features above will enable your guests to do more online with Guest Self Service Edits.


Step 4: Update Base Prices

Next you will want to input your pricing strategy for your Sites.

  1. Added New Sites Types? Pricing must be set for newly crated Site Types before they can be booked. 
    If you added a new Site Type, you will need to add the new addition to your Base . Click here to learn more about Adding a New Site Type to Base Pricing.
  2. Update the Base Price for Campsites Report to update your Base Pricing.

Have more questions about Base Pricing?

Click here to view additional content for Base Pricing


Step 5: Repeat Base Rate process for Daily Add-Ons if needed

Want to learn more about the revenue generating Daily Add-ons feature?

Click here to learn how to make other products available for rent (i.e. golf carts, bikes, pool cabanas, linens, event passes) available during the booking process.


Step 6: Review & Update the Consumer Site Admin


Step 7: Optimize functionality on the Rules setup page

Leverage various rules to define processes, limitations, calculations and more. Follow the path below to edit, update, and implement rules to maximize your system functionality:

1. Start in Date Groups

  • Most park setups have a “Wide Range” date group that does not need an end date and can be used year after year for rules that are constant.
  • Create additional date groups as needed. Examples include 2024 Season, Shoulder/Peak Season, Holidays, Special Events, and Seasonal. 
    Learn about creating new date groups here.

2. Consider implementing Rate Groups

Rate Groups are used in tandem with Date Groups to "override" pricing for occupancy surcharges. For example:

  • Maybe there are times of the you do not wish to charge additional people fees
  • Perhaps you want to implement a premium charge for additional people over a special event or season

3. Verify Reservations rules

  • Check each rule type. If you’re reusing the rule, you may just need to update the date group and expiration date. These rules include:
    1. No gaps of __ length allowed

    2. No arrivals or departures on __ day of the week
    3. Reservation minimum of __ days (minimum length of stay)
    4. Reservation maximum of __ days

4. Consider any updates to Pricing rules

Pricing rules are used to affect revenue generation through dynamic rate changes, packages, promotions and the addition of taxes and fees.
As some of these do utilize an Active Date Group or have an expiration date, you will want to give those special attention (noted below). Best Practice is to complete a quick audit of all active rules. These rules include:

5. Audit Occupancy Rules

6. Review and update Policy

This page enables you to define how you want to calculate cancellation, refunds, deposits, No Shows, and more.

7. Move to Functions

Finish your Rules audit by taking a look at these additional function rules:

Booking in Advance Limit Tip:

If you’re currently set to something like 365 days, you’ll need to extend that to allow bookings for next year. A good number to use is 999. 


Step 8. Double Check Your Work

Test out your system functionality by:

  1. Attempt to make a new reservation for the following year to ensure accuracy.
  2. Verify site availability, pricing, and adherence to business rules.