Your online room availability and the sell method in which they are set is displayed on the Availability Calendar screen and in the Availability tab when in a room type's details and settings. Whatever is displayed on this screen controls what (and how) they are sold on your public booking screen and at any sales channels.
Depending on the account you have and how your availability is controlled within iBex (either manually by yourself or by iBex or an external PMS system) determines what functionality you have on this screen.
All our PMS users and those who have an external PMS updating their iBex account with availability will have the option to set the Sell Method (both for Long Term and Short Term periods) of any room types available. The availability is controlled by iBex (or the PMS that is connected to your iBex account) so there is no option to manually set the availability.
Any users that do not have a PMS account or an external PMS connected to their account will need to manually manage the number of units available for sale in their account so will also have the option to set the Availability (again, for both Long Term and Short Term periods).
Regardless of which options you have, the calendar will provide you with the number of units within a room type that you have available aswell as whether or not they are available for instant confirmation, on request basis, or unavailable for sale (stop sell) for online bookings.
Below are some helpful hints on how to best utilise this screen, and, to the left, a list of help options for setting your availability and sell method.
In each column in the Long Term view, you can see the number of units available for each room type and the total number available for any given date at the bottom of the table.
Use the mini calendar to jump to a specific date by either using the arrows or the drop down option to select the month and then click on the date required.
If you want to change the sell method or availability, select either the Long Term method or the Short Term method.
The Long Term option allows you to click on a cell and select the dates that you want the change to be applicable for.
The Short Term option allows you to update the sell method or availability for any specific date and room type by simply amending the cell as necessary.
The option activated will be highlighted green.
An example - if you wanted to change the sell method from being Available to be On Request for a weekend when an event is happening, you would select the Sell Method - Short Term option, select the date in the mini calendar, and then set the sell method as required and set which room types it's for, and save.
You can select all room types to be selected for any one date by clicking on the date in the short term method.
Use the key below the mini calendar to see what each colour/number means:
If you hover over any of the Room Type names, a pop up will appear to advise you the maximum number of units that are set for that room type and if any On Request Threshold has been set (which is controlled in the room type settings).
If you click on a room type name, you will be taken to the details of the room type so that you can make any changes if necessary.
To open it in a new tab, right click on your mouse and select to 'Open in a new tab'. This way, you can make any changes, save them, and then just close the tab and refresh the original screen that you were working on by clicking the Refresh button.
Add events to your calendar (which will be shown on all calendars - Bookings, Availability, Rates and Extras Rates) so that your staff are aware of the event and any information you want them to be aware of (such as a minimum stay requirement, any package inclusions, etc).
The event line can be added to your calendar through your screen options and any event can be added to your calendar by clicking on a cell in the Event line, giving it a name, the dates it applies and any details (which will show when the event is hovered over). All events can be managed by clicking on Events (as pointed out by the red arrow below).
