MyHallWizard allows you to easily create and manage Repeat Bookings. However, there are some features that can catch you out. This article explains the process to create and then edit Repeat Bookings, including those things you need to check when you do so.
Creating a Repeat Booking #
To create a Repeat Booking, start by entering the details of the first booking, including the Customer, Booking Name, Date/Time, Price, etc.
In the Repeat Field, select whether you want the booking to repeat Daily (including weekends), on Weekdays only, Weekly, Monthly or Annually.
If the booking is, for example, every other week or every 3rd month, you can change the frequency easily once you’ve selected the basic pattern. For example, if it is every other week, change the booking to repeat every 2 weeks.
For monthly bookings, you have the option to choose whether it is on a set date each month, a set day of a certain week of each month.
Enter the date of the final booking in the ‘until’ field.
Note: For bookings which repeat twice a week, for example on Tuesday and Thursday each week, you will need to create separate Repeat Booking series for each day.
Once you save the Repeat Booking, each booking will be created an added into the calendar.
If a booking would clash with another booking on a certain date, it will not be created. You will get a warning message on the screen saying “Some bookings are missing from the series”.
If you scroll down to the bottom of the page, you will see a list of all bookings which were created, and also any which are missing.
If a booking is missing, you can easily Create it from this list, maybe allocating it into a different room or agreeing a different day or time with your customer. Or you could go to any clashing booking and edit that prior to creating the missing booking in the series.
Editing Repeat Bookings #
Bookings within a Repeat Booking can have one of two statuses:
- ‘Repeat’, indicated by the symbol , applies to any booking which is in the Repeat Booking series and matches all the details of the Repeat Booking
- ‘Edited’, indicated by the symbol , is used for any booking in a Repeat Booking series which has been edited. For example, if one of the bookings in the series has different times to the others.
These symbols are used anywhere the booking is displayed, such as in the calender, when the booking is listed at the bottom of the Repeat Booking view, or when viewing the booking itself. The following list shows an Edited booking, on Sunday 10 September, as an example.
Editing a Repeat Booking does not apply any changes to Bookings marked as Edited, as this may cause important changes to be lost.
Changing a single Booking within the Series #
To edit a single Booking within a Repeat Booking Series, click on the Booking within the Calendar. You will be asked whether you want to open just this Booking or the entire Series. Select “Just this one”.
This will display the booking for you. Click Edit, make your changes, then Save. Your changes will only be applied to this booking, and its status will change to Edited.
Once a Booking is marked as Edited, changes to the Repeat Series will not be applied to it.
You can change the status of a Booking back to Repeat either by editing it to match the criteria of the Repeat Booking Series. Alternatively, open the Repeat Booking Series, delete the Edited booking and use the Create button to add it once again.
Changing future Bookings within the Series #
To edit future Bookings within a Repeat Booking Series, click on any of the bookings within the series from the Calendar. You will be asked whether you want to edit just this Booking or the entire Series. Select “The entire series”.
This will display the Booking Series for you. Click Edit Series.
If any bookings are missing or edited, you will have a warning message at top of the page telling you that changes will not be applied to these bookings.
Enter your changes and click Save.
Changes will be applied to all bookings in the series which have status Repeat and which are in the future.
- Bookings with status Edited will not be changed.
- Missing bookings will not be created.
- Bookings in the past will not be changed, but will have their status changed to Edited.
- Bookings which would now clash with a different booking are left unchanged, and their status is changed to Edited.
If you changed the until date of the Repeat Booking, new bookings will be created where appropriate (provided they would not clash with an existing booking). Existing bookings will be deleted if necessary, except where their status is Edited.
After making changes to a Repeat Booking Series, always check the list of Bookings to find any Bookings with status Edited to find those bookings which were not changed.
Changing Bookings from a specific date #
Often regular customers want to change details of their booking from a specific date. For example, a group which meets from 2pm to 3pm on a Wednesday, may want to change their end time after a certain date.
We do not recommend editing individual bookings or the Booking Series in this case, as multiple changes over time make managing the bookings complicated. Instead, we suggest you change the last date of the existing Booking Series and then create a new Booking Series for the new pattern.
For example, consider a group which meets each month between July and December, and so has the following bookings, all within a Repeat Booking:
If the customer decides they want their bookings to run until 22:00 from October onwards, then click Edit Series, and change the ‘until’ date to 11/09/2023 (the last booking which should end at 21:30).
When you save, the October, November and December bookings will be deleted. (Note: any ‘Edited’ bookings after the new until date will not be deleted – you will need to do this separately).
You can now create a Repeat Booking with the new times, starting on 9 October until 11 December.