This entire procedure can get very tricky if two people try to book the same package at the same time, when there is only one remaining time left. Let’s take a look at this scenario.
We will take the case of Bob and Mary, who each work for different companies. Bob wants to book a corporate event during the week, as does Mary. We will assume that your facility only runs one of the corporate events at a time by setting the Max Groups setting to 1. That way, the corporate event has exclusive use of your facility for their event. We will assume both are looking to book on January 1, and you have no other bookings for that day and your settings allow one corporate group to book in at any hour from 10 am to 5 pm for a three hour party, as your closing time is set for 8 pm. At approximately the same time, each go to your booking page, put in their number of guests, and choose January 1 from the calendar.
The times displayed to both are 10 am, 11 am, 12 pm, 1 pm, 2 pm, 3 pm, 4 pm and 5 pm, as no one has reserved any times for the day as of yet. Bob clicks on 12 pm. As soon as he does, that time and all associated times have to be blocked, so that Mary can’t choose the same time. Since the duration of the event is set for three hours, a 12 pm (noon) booking means that Mary cannot book in at 10 am, or 11 am, 12 pm, 1 pm, or 2 pm. If Bob’s group is doing a three hour event starting at noon, the only remaining available times for the day will be 3 pm, 4 pm, and 5 pm. But since Mary already has the page open, all the times from 10 am – 5 pm are showing. If she clicks on any of the earlier times, like 11 am, Vantora will tell her, “Sorry, this time is no longer available.” This will stop a double booking from occurring that would cause overlapping events.
If Bob decides to change his time, and instead of holding his event at noon, he clicks on 4 pm, the earlier times will instantly become available to Mary (or anyone else who wants to book). The first person to pick a time, Bob in this case, gets an opportunity to finish their reservation. A 15 minute timer starts a countdown for Bob to complete the reservation, and if applicable, the payment for it. If he does not finish in 15 minutes, the time is released and any other individual could book it. If Bob goes back and tries to book that time after someone else has claimed it, Vantora will inform him that the time is no longer available.
If you have someone call and tell you that on a particular day they can’t book in, but when looking at your registration it appears as if they should be able to, it is probably because someone has started a reservation that would conflict. You can inform the customer that if they want to check back in 15 minutes, the time may come back available if the other individual does not finish their reservation.
