Please note we also have a video to demonstrate this process as well.
There are 3 methods of blocking availability in your properties, shown below and detailed underneath.
- Enter a blackout booking
- Enter a blackout for specific date ranges in the Calendar (good for recurring blackouts)
- Enter a blackout setting in Booking Rules - Exceptional Period Bookings (good for start/end of listing blackouts)
1) Enter a blackout booking
There are 2 ways to add a new booking.
a) Click on the 'Add New Booking' button on any main menu page in the Felix PMS, or simply click here:
b) Alternatively, in the booking grid (Bookings > Grid) page, click on an empty date on the calendar when you want the booking to start:
In the popup screen, make sure you choose 'Black' as the booking type, the correct dates for the blackout, enter ')' for the number of adults, and turn off any extra charges, which will result in a booking with an empty invoice. Then write the reason for the blackout booking in the first name box so it is clear when you look at any booking display in the Felix PMS.
2) Enter a blackout for specific date ranges in the Calendar
This option is your best bet if, for instance, you have a property which can be split into smaller properties to let and you don't want the smaller properties to be bookable on the weekend or during peak periods.
Go to the 'Calendar' page and make sure you have selected the correct property. Make sure you have selected the 'override' row to appear. If you can't see the override row, click on the 'Show' button next to the selected property box and tick the 'Show' box. Once you can see the override row, click on the override box correlating to the date you want the blackout to start from. For example, you might have a property which can be split into 2 smaller properties. You only want the smaller properties to be available from Sundays to Wednesdays so you can keep availability open for the larger property on the weekends to maximise your revenue. In that instance you would choose the day you want to start the function and click on the override box correlating to that date.
In the pop-up screen, click on the override status box and choose 'Blackout'. Pick an end date. If this is a permanent setting, then choose an end date just over a year in advance (the system does tend to freeze if you choose a date more than a year or two ahead, so you just need to repeat the process a few times by going to the end date once finished and entering a new override for a further year). You would then leave Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays ticked so only those nights of the week get blacked out for the stated period, and click on 'Save'.
3) Enter a blackout setting in Booking Rules - Exceptional Period Bookings
This is a one-off setting which lets you specify a specific period of dates that you don't want a single property open for. It is useful for the start and end of a management agreement. Please note, this setting won't appear on your bookings grid, but will rather mean any page where you can see inventory (Calendar page or Settings>Channel Manager>Channel Inventory), you will see that the inventory for those blocked nights would be 0.
Go to Settings>Properties>Booking Rules and scroll down to the 'Exceptional Period Bookings' section. Under 'Booking Type' choose 'Blackout period - closed for bookings'. Then select the start date and end date of the blackout period and click save. Easy!
