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Manage Group Allotment Blocks

Gabriela Garcia
Updated

Overview

After you learn how to create, edit, and delete allotment blocks, the next step is to master the management of these blocks. To do this, you need to know how to:

  • Read and understand the allotment block details
  • Analyze the availability versus occupancy information in the calendar
  • Create and share allotment block URLs with guests
  • Keep an eye on the pickup numbers

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How to manage Group Allotment Blocks

Check the Allotment Block details

The allotment block details will appear on the group profile page under the Allotment Block tab, where you can edit them at any time (see Edit an Allotment Block).

You can filter the list of allotment blocks by:

  1. Search: View a specific group profile by entering its name or code. Leave the field blank to see a complete list of all your allotment blocks.
  2. Date Created
  3. Status: Select all or choose any of the options: Tentative, Lead, Definite, Canceled
  4. Type: Select all or choose Block or Based on Availability

In the allotment blocks table, you can quickly review the block's details:

  1. Allotment code: A unique block code that always starts with "b." 
  2. Allotment Name: click on it to edit the allotment block
  3. Type
  4. Date created
  5. Earliest Arrival: The earliest check-in date taken from the linked reservations
  6. Latest Departure: The latest check-out date taken from the linked reservations
  7. Auto-release
  8. Status
  9. Actions: remove the allotment block or generate a Booking Engine URL
  • In this view, you can also review each Allotment Block's intervals' details by clicking on the plus sign '+' on the left from the allotment block code, which will open another section with more details.
  • The name of your Allotment Block will always be displayed consistently in the Cloudbeds Booking Engine, regardless of the selected Rate Type (Base Rate, Rate Plan, or custom)

 The default status for Earliest Date and Latest Departure is N/A when no reservations have been linked. 

View Allotment Blocks on the calendar

Occupancy

The calendar's Occupancy percentage reflects booked reservations. Rooms held in a Definite Allotment Block do not increase the Occupancy percentage until they are booked.

Definite Allotment Blocks that belong to Open Group Profiles reduce the calendar's Availability for the corresponding accommodation type. This keeps the allocated rooms from being sold outside the allotment block.

Example:

  • Total capacity = 24 rooms
  • Allotment Block allotment = 5 rooms
  • Some reservations are booked within the Allotment Block
  • Some reservations are booked outside the Allotment Block

Occupancy on the calendar shows the following:

The calendar counts booked reservations only. This includes reservations picked up from the Allotment Block and reservations booked outside the Allotment Block.

In the example above:

  • Monday 1 shows a pickup indicator of 5/5, meaning all 5 rooms held in the Allotment Block have been booked. With a total capacity of 24 rooms, the calendar shows 20.83% occupancy because 5 booked rooms are counted toward occupancy.
  • Tuesday 2 also shows 20.83% occupancy, but the pickup indicator shows 3/5. This means 3 rooms were booked from the Allotment Block, and the remaining occupancy comes from reservations booked outside the Allotment Block.

Rooms still held in the Allotment Block are reflected in Availability and in the pickup indicator, but they are not counted in Occupancy until they are booked.

Availability

The calendar's Availability per accommodation type reflects rooms held in Definite Allotment Blocks that belong to Open Group Profiles.

 Definite Allotment Blocks reduce the remaining number of rooms that can be reserved for the corresponding Accommodation Type, but they do not increase the calendar's Occupancy percentage until reservations are booked.

For example, if all rooms/beds of this Accommodation Type are held by the Allotment Block, this Accommodation Type will not appear when making a new reservation (unless the overbooking option is allowed).

 

 When a definite Allotment Block is created, and rooms are allocated as a block, keep in mind the following considerations:

  • The system will modify the availability of the corresponding Accommodation Type based on the number of rooms/beds of this type in the Allotment Block.
  • If rooms are held in an Allotment Block but have not been booked yet, they will not appear as reservation blocks on the Calendar and will not increase the Occupancy percentage.
  • Whenever you update availability in an Allotment Block, and if its status is "Definite" and the Group Profile is "Open," the system instantly recalculates availability on the Calendar for the corresponding Accommodation Type.
  • When you book reservations from an Allotment Block with a Block type, the availability on the Calendar won't change because those rooms were already subtracted when they were allocated within the set interval. However, booked reservations will increase the calendar's reservation count and Occupancy percentage.

 

Share Allotment Blocks URLs with guests

Generate a unique URL for each Allotment Block so guests can book the allocated rooms directly from the Booking Engine. You can share the generated URL with a group of guests, a travel agent, or a wholesaler and start receiving reservations, which will be automatically booked within the Group Profile/Allotment Block.

 To create an allotment block URL, first:

  1. Create a group profile
  2. Create a definite allotment block for the group profile

Generate the URL

  1. From the Groups page Groups icon.png, click the desired Group Profile
  2. Go to the Allotment Blocks tab and click on the gear icon next to the desired allotment block name to choose the Booking URL option

  This function appears only on Definite Allotment Blocks: The lead or tentative Allotment Blocks won’t have this option.

  1. Select the date range (optional)
  2. Click Generate URL
  3. Copy the code and share it with your guests/agency

  1. URLs without dates will take guests to the booking page, where the Allotment Block availability is displayed for default dates (today).
  2. URLs with dates will take customers to the booking page, where the Allotment Block availability is displayed for the specified dates.

Booking Engine Group code field

The Booking Engine has a field for entering the Allotment Block ID, also known as the Group Code. This allows guests to make group reservations by simply entering the code instead of copying and pasting the URL created in the previous step.

  1. From the Groups page Groups icon.png, click the desired Group Profile
  2. Go to the Allotment Blocks tab and find the Allotment Block code
  3. Share the code with your guests/agency
  4. The guests/agency will be able to apply the Allotment Block code on the Booking Engine when creating the reservation (via the group code field)

  Important:

  • Rate Plans with Promo Codes cannot be linked to Group Allotments. When a rate plan contains a promo code, guests using the group allotment link will see no availability on the Booking Engine.
    • If you want to offer a special rate for a group, create a custom rate plan without a promo code and assign it to the allotment block instead.
  • To maintain privacy for group links, verify that the associated rate plan does not have "Website/Booking Engine" selected as a source. Public bookings can only be prevented if the rate plan source is limited to the one matching your Group Profile.

Review the Allotment Block Pickup

On the Pickup tab, you can see what inventory has been allocated and how many rooms have been picked up. You can also check the rates set for the dates in the allotment block and release the inventory that wasn't booked.

Pickup numbers on the Group Profile

  1. From the Groups page Groups icon.png, click the desired Group Profile
  2. Go to the Pickup tab
  3. Select the dates you want to look at. By default, it will be set to the first date of the selected allotment block.
  4. Select the room types
  5. Select the allotment block
  6. See the status/type of allotment block

 If the Allotment Block has the status Lead or Tentative, no rooms will be allocated from the general inventory. The status must be updated to Definite to book reservations from the block.

  1. The first number in the table shows how many accommodations from the allotment block have been picked up.
  2. The second number is the total number of allocated rooms in the selected allotment block.
  3. Under both numbers, you can see the rates set for the specific date and accommodation type in the selected allotment block.

In the example above, you can see that on July 15, a guest booked 1 out of 2 Double rooms allocated in the allotment block; the group still has 1 Double room left to book within this allotment block on that day.

  • Even if the allotment block type is Lead or Tentative, the numbers of inventory allocated will be the same as for "Definite." The difference is if the status is "Lead" or "Tentative," the allocated inventory is not taken out of the total property inventory.
  • Only if the block is Definite will the numbers in the table show the inventory taken out of the total property inventory.
  1. Click Release Inventory to release the unsold rooms back to the general inventory (optional)

 If the rooms allocated for the specific group were not booked, you can manually Release Inventory on this page or set Auto Release on the Allotment Block settings page (check how to Set Allotment Block Rates and Availability).

  1. If Auto Release is enabled in the Allotment Block settings, this page will display when the inventory will be auto-released.

Pickup numbers on the calendar

You can see the Definite Allotment Block pickup numbers on the Calendar for the corresponding days. The pickup number appears in the small circle at the top of the calendar date.

The first number shows how many rooms have been booked from the Allotment Block. The second number shows the total number of rooms held in the Allotment Block for that day.

Example:

Calendar view showing Group Allotment Block pickup numbers and reservations created inside and outside the Allotment Block

  • Allotment Block = 5 rooms
  • Monday 1 pickup number = 5/5
  • Tuesday 2 pickup number = 3/5
  • Wednesday 3 pickup number = 2/5

In the example above:

  • 5/5 means all 5 rooms held in the Allotment Block were booked for Monday 1. 
  • 3/5 means 3 out of 5 rooms were booked from the Allotment Block for Tuesday 2. 
  • 2/5 means 2 out of 5 rooms were booked from the Allotment Block for Wednesday 3.

Reservations booked outside the Allotment Block are counted in the calendar's Occupancy percentage, but they are not included in the allotment block pickup number.

 The numbers in this circle follow the same pickup activity shown in the Group Profile's Pickup tab. These numbers help identify how much of the held inventory has been booked, while the calendar's Availability shows the remaining sellable inventory.

  Regular allotment blocks cannot support reservations that cross over multiple blocks.

If you need to create one continuous booking that spans different blocks, see Manage Aggregate Allotment Blocks.

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