TABLE OF CONTENTS
In ThinkReservations, you can create custom attributes. You can decide if you want them to only be accessible by you and your staff, or if you also want to expose these to your guests who are booking via the ThinkReservations online booking engine on your website. Please note, however, that only reservation attributes can be used in the online booking engine.
As you can see in the below example, there are a total of two custom reservation attributes. This is how it looks for you and your staff on a reservation in the back office:
You have the option of showing these reservation attributes to your guests in the online booking engine. Here is what they might look like for your guests, as outlined in the red box:
Popular custom reservation attributes:
- How did you hear about us?
- Reason for stay?
- Agreed to policies (for phone reservations)
- May we text you?
- Interested in dining with us?
- Choose your door code
- Additional guest's last name
- Custom Arrival Time, to replace our default
Reservation Attributes can be managed under Custom Attributes in
Settings → Custom Attributes
To Create a New Attribute
Click the New button at the top right of the Custom Attributes page in ThinkReservations.
TYPE: Select if this is a Reservation, Group Reservation, or Customer attribute. Note that only Reservation attributes can be used in the online booking engine.
NAME: Give your attribute a name. This is an arbitrary title, and it WILL show to guests if you add this as a field on the registration page of your booking engine.
VARIABLE NAME: This is created automatically in the system. This is a new custom variable that can be used in print and email templates. If you wish to use this variable in your templates, you will need to note the displayed variable. You will need to add the ${reservation. before and the closing curly bracket } after in the template. Don't add those characters in this box here, add them when you use it on your email templates.
Please Note
Please keep in mind when using the variable in your print or email templates that the variable name is case-sensitive and should always be in only lower-case.
Note the hyphen will be replaced by an underscore automatically.
INPUT TYPE: You have three choices:
- Text - This is a one-line entry text box. Multiple lines can be added, however.
- Textarea - This is a multi-line text entry box.
- Select - This option will add a drop-down selector box where one can choose from the options set below
TIP: For Select, leave the first option empty/blank. This is because the first OPTION is the default. List them in the order that you would like them to appear.
Double-click to select text; triple-click to select the entire line. Then drag the text.
Please note that deleting a choice from the list of selections will also permanently remove it from any reservation or bill that had it selected.
☐ Required - If this checkbox is selected, it will require the guests to enter text or choose an option if you ask this in the online booking engine.
☐ Ask in booking engine - (Available for Reservation attributes only) If you check this box, it will provide this option as something that the guests will see in the ThinkReservations online booking Engine. (These choices will not be presented when booking via an Online Travel Agent.)
☐ Inactive - Do not show to staff internally or on the booking engine. This essentially disables it but leaves the options intact so you can report on them.
After you have filled out the form, click the Save button at the bottom.
Edit Attributes
If you ever wish to edit or make adjustments to your custom attributes, you can click on the attribute in the list of existing attributes (Settings → Custom Attributes) to update as you see fit. Click the Save button to save your changes. Please see above for more details on how each component of the attribute works.
Resorting Select Options
When using the 'Select' input type, it's important to keep the first option blank. If you need to add this blank option after the fact, you must add a new option and manually resort. Double-click to select text; triple-click to select the entire line. Then drag the text as in the below video.
Remove Attributes
If you need to remove or inactivate any custom reservation attributes, you can check the "Inactive" box to do so. Follow these steps to remove an attribute, making that attribute inactive, and only accessible in your settings. You can always reactivate by clearing the checkbox.
- From within the Reservation Attributes page (Settings > Custom Attributes) you will see the list of all custom bill attributes on your account.
- Click on the attribute you wish to work with.
- Near the bottom, you will see three checkboxes. Check the box labeled Inactive to effectively remove that attribute.
Reporting
There is a corresponding report for your custom attributes. You can find it under
Reports → Reservations Section → Reservations by Attribute
Default Attributes
The online Booking Engine's last step in the reservation is the "Registration" step. This is the page where the guest fills out their personal and billing information. Custom fields will show on this page, along with the default fields that are present for all accounts. The default fields cannot be modified, but some can be hidden with a setting.
- First Name
- Last Name
- Mobile Phone
- Names(s) of Additional Guest(s) - This field can be hidden
- Special Accommodations
- Dietary Restrictions - This field can be hidden
- Arrival Time - This field can be hidden
- Custom Reservation Attributes are shown below the arrival time - the location cannot be modified.
Navigate to Settings > Booking Engine to configure the fields that can be hidden.
